*I wrote on the State of the Astros.
*Ned Yost called on Trill Harris to get the AL out of an 8th inning, bases-loaded jam, and now Game 1 will be in Houston. Harris:
You just want to do your job. And now the game counts for so much, with home-field advantage, that there's a little bit extra on the line, which makes it that much more fun.
*Richard Justice: Will Harris is a lesson in perseverance.
*Jose Altuve went 0x3 and doesn't have a hit in seven plate appearances across four All-Star Games. Trade him.
*Harris said that the 2016 Astros are like the 2015 Rangers and the 2016 Rangers are like the 2015 Astros. Hole Camels:
I don't think our schedule benefited us much. It's a good refresher for us, and I think it's going to re-energize us and get us back on our purpose and our track of what we've been setting up to accomplish.
*Hamels needed eight stitches after falling outside his hotel room at 5am...because of course.
*Jim Bowden caused a storm when he tweeted that a SOURCE indicates the Astros will call up Alex Bregman as early as this weekend.
*A new generation of shortstops is taking over the game.
*The AL Batting Champion will now win the Rod Carew Award.
*Commissioner Rob Manfred says the increase in home runs in 2016 is not related to PEDs or juiced balls.
*The oral history of Bryce Harper's record-setting JuCo season.
*A Jonathan Lucroy foul ball destroyed Chronicle beat writer Jake Kaplan's laptop:
RIP @jakemkaplan’s laptop. Jon Lucroy killed it. pic.twitter.com/eSm3vEKX6L— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) July 13, 2016
