Well that sucked. The Astros marched into the last place, 48-61 A's and marched out with a sore groin and a bloody nose, losing three of four after Luke Gregerson gave up two more 9th inning runs and letting the A's celebrate like they won the damn World Series or something. The Astros' division lead is now down to 0.5 games. FanGraphs still likes them more than I do at the moment, giving the Astros a 54.3% chance of winning the division and an 80.4% chance of making the postseason.
*The Astros started the season with a 15-8 road record. Since this arbitrary endpoint, however, the Astros are 8-26 on the road. They're 15-19 in 1-run games, and have lost ten of their last eleven 1-run road games.
Luke Gregerson:
I don't think anyone's pressing or anything, I think a lot of guys are just kind of a little upset with themselves...and I feel, like, just a little, just a little personal anger. Not even necessarily at teammates, just more so personally amongst guys. We know we (are?) better than this, and we know we can do better than this, and I think that they know they need to step up and we need to win some ball games.
*Jed Lowrie, who has been to the playoffs four times - twice with Boston and twice with Oakland:
I'll tell you one thing. Every playoff team I've ever been on has gone through at least one stretch like this during the year. And the good ones find a way to pull through it.
*Oakland's Danny Valencia, in three games versus the Astros this series: 6x13, 2HR, 5RBI, 3K:2BB.
*Oliver Perez knew he was leaving Arizona:
They just called me, and right away I thought I was going to get traded or released. Sometimes you feel bad, because you have a lot of relationships with your friends. But at the same time, I'm going to have a new experience. We're in first place right now, and I feel happy to be here.
*The Astros haven't talked too much about September call-ups.
*San Jose Mercury-News: When you see A.J. Hinch, think Steve Kerr.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
