Good Lord that series with the Rangers was a disaster. While the Rangers picked up three games on the Astros, the Angels only picked up one because they're having their own struggles, which is important to remember. There are 53 games left, and the Astros had a bad three days. A good four days at last-place Oakland can ease the memory of the second sweep of the Astros at the hands of the Rangers this season.
But seriously, though, the Astros were bad this series. Let's take a brief look at just how bad, because Astros County is the worldwide leader in misery.
Starters
This is going to look just terrible because of Lance McCullers' 0.1IP outing, but as a unit, the three starters of the series went for a combined 10.2IP, 19H/15R (11ER), 9K:6BB
Bullpen
The bullpen was taxed in the mid-to-upper 90s heat, because Tom Hicks would rather pay A-Rod than pay for a roof. But - even including Mike Fiers' weird relief appearance/Astros debut - the bullpen threw 13.1IP, 13H/6ER, 12K:4BB.
"Offense"
The Astros hypothetical offense...
*Left 22 on base
*Went 8x38 with runners in scoring position
*Had runner(s) in scoring position with less than two outs for 22 plate appearances with eight of those runners ultimately scoring.
Random Note
Following a 1x2, HR, BB game against Seattle on May 1, Jake Marisnick's OPS sat at 1.100 with a .383/.433/.667 slash line. Since then, Marisnick is "hitting" .178/.206/.259 with 65K in 197 PAs and an astonishingly low 23 wRC+ (100 wRC+ is average). Please come back, Springer.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
