*The Cubs beat the A's; the Mariners beat the Angels.
*The Astros are 5.5 GB of the Ramgers. Baltimore, Boston, Toronto, and Detroit all won, so the Astros remain 3.5 GB of the WC2 spot.
*FanGraphs gives the Astros a 14% chance of winning the division (Ramgers at 78.7%) and a 25.2% chance of making the playoffs.
*Last night was the first time the Astros had shutout the Rangers since July 19, 2015 when...Dallas Keuchel threw 7IP, 2H/0ER, 13K:0BB.
*Having lost the first eight games of the season series, the Astros have now won two of the last three games against the Rangers.
*Hinch, on the 4-run 3rd inning:
The third inning was pretty incredible for us. There were seven or eight quality at-bats right in a row. We hadn't done that in a while, and I think it was good for our guys to feel the energy of handing the at-bat to the next guy in a better situation than what he inherited.
Keuchel:
I feel like the young guys have been kind of outshining everybody else and I just kind of want to get in the mix. So that was real nice to see.
Keuchel knew after his disaster start in Detroit that this was going to go well:
I hadn't really felt well and this is the first start I knew going in that it was going to be good just because of the way my body felt, the way it was recovering in between workouts. You kind of get that feeling that the body's turning around right in the nick of time for August and September.
*Despite a lull in the offense, Luhnow isn't going to rush Gurriel to the majors. Luhnow:
With the offense struggling, I know there's some anticipation maybe he could come sooner. We're going to let him dictate the time frame, because...it would be the equivalent of putting a guy on March 4 in Spring Training into a big league game in a pennant race. That may be a little unfair to do to him and us.
*Brad Peacock was optioned back to Fresno as Doug Fister comes back from the paternity list.
*Altuve could be the shortest MVP since Phil Rizzuto.
*Lancaster's Drew Ferguson (19th Round - 2015) hit two homers and drove in six runs last night.
*Lance McCullers joined the post-game media session:
*Jon Heyman gives the Astros a C for their Trade Deadline.Media member @LMcCullers43 always asks the hard-hitting questions. pic.twitter.com/TgLvSW5Don— Houston Astros (@astros) August 6, 2016
*The A's fired their strength & conditioning coach for putting a hidden camera in the weight room.
*The Padres are under investigation for misrepresenting medical information to other teams.
*Ken Caminiti will be inducted into the Padres Hall of Fame.
*Jack Moore in The Hardball Times: A Brief History of Juiced Ball Conspiracies
*Can Art Briles save his career?
