The Astros got their 4th walk-off win of the season courtesy of Jose Altuve, who drove in Jake Marisnick, who got a 9th inning triple. It was Marisnick's second hit since July 29, and his first extra-base hit since a 3rd-inning double on the same date. So the Astros, Mariners, and Rangers won while the A's lost big and the Angels lost on a walk-off in Kansas City. The Astros are now 3.5 up on the Angels, and 4.0 up on the Rangers. FanGraphs gives the Astros a 72.6% chance of winning the division, and an 86% chance of making the postseason. There are 44 games left in the season, with 13 of those games scheduled against the Angels and Rangers. They start a four-game series against Tampa Bay tonight.
*Colby Rasmus hit two homers, his first 2HR game since June 19, 2012. He hit both homers off of LHP Matt Boyd, having hit just two homers off lefties all season.
*Carlos Correa form-tackled Jose Altuve after the walk-off. Correa:
Everything we do is just having fun. We're like brothers, and when you're brothers, you play around a lot, and that's what we do all the time. It was definitely a fun win and we had a chance.
*Marwin Gonzalez has been one of the League's best hitters since the middle of June.
*A.J. Hinch doesn't have a set rule for how often he uses relievers. Hinch, NSFW:
All outings are not created equal. All pitchers do not respond to outings the same. And also what's not noted in a box score is maybe how many days in a row you get a guy up, get him hot. We account for that. And there's a certain level of use even when he's not being used that we will use a day pitched.
*Preston Tucker's 9th inning homer on Saturday was the only home run of the season hit on a pitch thrown 99mph+.
*Ken Rosenthal says that the Cole Hamels trade could shape the AL West for "years to come," and that the Phillies preferred the Astros' package because they were including Brett Phillips and Josh Hader, and may have been willing to guarantee Hamels' option four years down the road.
*Over the weekend, George Springer was cleared to resume baseball activities, but it doesn't mean he'll be in the lineup tonight against Tampa Bay.
There's a bunch of stuff I have to do first and a bunch of tests I have to pass. We'll obviously take it one slow day at a time.
Non-Astros Read of the Day:
From the New York Times, "A Most Dangerous Game" - Welcome to calcio storico, a centuries-old competition in Florence with very few rules and the sort of human wreckage generally associated with the gladiators.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
