Monday Morning Hot Links

*The Blue Jays beat the Astros for the 8th time in the last ten matchups, mainly because the Blue Jays can hit the ball and the Astros can not hit the ball. Carlos Correa had three of the Astros' seven hits.

*With the Astros down 5-2 with two on and one out, Bregman popped up to foul territory on the first base side and then Russell Martin happened.

Hinch:
They never let up. Their offense is pretty potent when it gets going. 

Altuve didn't get on base for the first time in 44 road games. Hinch:
We often go the way he goes. I'm sure everybody in the ballpark is pretty surprised when he doesn't get on base. 

*More Hinch:
We're going through some growing pains a little bit with some of these young kids. They're learning that mistakes get hit up here. We'll continue to grind through it. We'll have our full bullpen back by Tuesday. That'll be a nice return.

*The Rangers lost, the Mariners won.

*Since July 24:
Seattle: 11-6
Euless: 12-7
Oakland: 7-11
Houston: 7-12
Anaheim: 6-12

In their last 19 games, Houston is a half-game better than the Angels, who have the worst record in the AL in this span.

*Farmer's Branch: -
*Seattle: -5.5
*Houston: -7.5

WC1: -5.5
WC2: -4

*It's Monday, so let's check in on the Playoff Odds!

*FanGraphs: 4.0% AL West; 13.7% playoffs
*FiveThirtyEight: 6% AL West; 18% playoffs
*BP: (Hasn't updated as of 6:10am on 8/15)

*The Meat Wagon came back around in Toronto as Marwin took a pitch off his left knee, left the game, and is day-to-day. Hinch:
He's fine. He's sore. He got hit on the back knee. He didn't feel like he could move around at full speed so I pulled him from the game.

*From Friday, a Baseball America report on what to expect with Teoscar Hernandez.

*The Astros seem to be backing off of the projected Tuesday date for the debut of Yulieski Gurriel. Luhnow:
It's one of those things during spring training that players have to get their timing right. I think defensively he's got his legs under him. He feels good fielding the position. But right now the timing isn't quite there....at this point it may be wisest to let him continue to get some more minor league at-bats before letting him face Garcia and Martinez on Tuesday and Wednesday.

*Yulieski Gurriel went 1x3 with 2RBI in a Corpus win yesterday.

*Pat and I answered a whole bunch of Twitter questions on Episode 22 of Lima Time Time.

*With Giancarlo Stanton out for the rest of the season, the Marlins are looking at bringing in Carlos Gomez. Because he's basically the same thing as Stanton. Oh, they're also looking at A-Rod, just because the Marlins want to piss off every white guy sportswriter in America.

*FiveThirtyEight: Steroids aren't responsible for MLB's power surge.

*Dan Shaughnessy writes about why he hates the 2016 Red Sox, and it matches the same reason why I hate the 2016 Astros.