*The Astros beat the Diamondbacks for their fourth straight win and their seventh win in the last eight games. Of course, for the 2nd straight day, every other team in the AL West won, so no ground was gained.
*Lance McCullers:
We're playing with more confidence. It's as simple as that. You see guys taking really confident ABs, guys pitching with a lot of confidence. We're just starting to hit on all points of the game when we need to.
*Springer is hitting .457 and the Astros are 7-1 since he moved to the leadoff spot. Hinch:
His job to be a leadoff hitter is to be a good hitter first. What comes with that is a better hitter than when he tries to do too much and get too big. Whether it's mental or physical, I don't really care. I like the look of it, and I think he's made a conscious adjustment to try to set the table for Altuve, Correa, etc.
*Carlos Gomez's playing time is TBD, but you'll see him a lot over the next few days. Hinch:
It will be dictated over time. These next 10 days (including Tuesday) we face a lot of left-handed pitching, so he'll naturally be in there. We'd certainly like to see him contribute. He's an everyday player in the big leagues. But we're going to make sure we keep our other guys engaged who have stepped up during his absence
*Altuve is currently the vote leader for the AL All-Star team at 2B. Correa is 4th among shortstops, and Rasmus is 13th in outfielders.
*It's behind a paywall, but Ben Badler says that the Astros are expected to exceed their spending limits in the July 2 international free agent signing - mostly on Cuban shortstop Anibal Sierra. The Astros apparently agreed to a deal with Sierra back in April, but will have to wait until July 2 to announce it. At $3.5m, the Astros will essentially spend $7m on Sierra due to the overage tax.
*Here's FanGraphs on the weapon that has become Michael Feliz.
*FanGraphs scouted Brady Aiken's first professional appearance.
*New Jersey's Giuseppe Rossi wishes he wasn't an idiot, should have played for the USMNT.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
