*The Batguy wrote about recent Astros trades involving major-league players.
*From Thursday: The Astros and hitting w/runners in scoring position.
*Since starting the season 27-14 last year, the Astros are 64-74.
*Richard Justice says the Astros have plenty of time to live up to their hype.
*Hinch:
I think they're pissed off. I think they're frustrated.
*McHugh's early season struggles continued with 4IP, 10H/5ER.
My command wasn't very good. I didn't have a lot of bite on a lot of my pitches and they made me pay for it. They put swings on it and got guys on base and seemed to get a guy around every inning.
Yes, yes, that's exactly what it seemed like.
More McHugh:
You can believe that everybody in this locker room is going to be grinding, everybody is going to be putting the work in. Nobody is going to be sitting around and pouting. That's not the nature of this team.
*Jason Castro says the break right before the season got him out of whack, "The break" presumably meaning the ice-out in New York.
*Lance McCullers' bullpen session yesterday went well, but how he feels today will determine the next step in his recovery.
*Colby Rasmus - who is a got dang national treasure - will donate $1000 for every home run he hits to military vets-turned-emergency responders.
*A.J. Reed is seeing a lot - a lot - of off-speed pitches at Triple-A. He's hitting .208/.291/.478.
Maybe one fastball per at-bat, if that. Lots of off speed. Sometimes you get frustrated.
...which is probably why Reed is getting time in Fresno - to learn how to hit those off-speed pitches.
Tony DeFrancesco:
He's very selective...big power hitters are usually free swingers who strike out a lot. Once he gets comfortable here, he's going to become even more selective.
*It was down to A.J. Hinch, Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez, and Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo to replace Bo Porter.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
