Monday Morning Hot Links

Not ideal, Doug Fister! The impending free agent allowed 8H/7ER in 3.2IP Sunday at Seattle on the Astros' way to a 7-3 loss. Carlos Correa hit a 450-foot homer, though, for his 20th homer of the season, so that was cool.

*Fister has allowed 40 hits in his last 21IP, with opponents batting .404 against him in those five starts. Fister:
You try and compartmentalize a little bit and kind of break things down, game by game, pitch by pitch. Obviously, it's a frustrating thing to not get your job done and not help the team put up the victory. 

*Not a great time for a bad start at Seattle, as the Tigers, Orioles, and (obviously) the Mariners all won.

WC1: Baltimore +1
WC2: Toronto -
Detroit/Seattle -2
Houston -3

There are 13 games left. FanGraphs gives the Astros an 11.1% chance of making the postseason. The Astros open a series at Oakland tonight. Boston is at Baltimore, Toronto is at Seattle, and Detroit is off today but begins a series at Minnesota (womp womp) tomorrow.

If the Astros go 10-3, then it would take the following to happen to make Wild Card 2:
Toronto: 6-7
Detroit/Seattle: 8-5

*Chris Devenski's 1.71 ERA is the lowest for a reliever in team history. Hinch:
It's very much a dilemma we're going to have to think about moving forward [starter vs. reliever]. I want to use him as much as possible. When he's in the rotation, it's once every five days. The value of those innings are immense over the season. The value of Chris Devenski down the stretch in these types of games has been ridiculously high. 

Youngest SS in baseball history with 20+ HR

1. 2015 Carlos Correa
2. 1996 A-Rod
3. 2016 Carlos Correa
4. 1982 Cal Ripken Jr.
5. 1997 A-Rod

— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) September 18, 2016

*Correa and A-Rod are the only two shortstops in MLB history with two 20+ homer seasons by the end of their Age 21 seasons.

*Astros pitchers set a team record for strikeouts in a season yesterday.

*Now this would be something: Jose Fernandez, Scott Boras and the Marlins are not expected to pick up extension talks this offseason. Fernandez will be a free agent at the end of the 2018 season and the Marlins could listen to trade offers. Of course the Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers will all be in.

*Police in Forney - just outside of Dallas - reported that an intoxicated man bit off his friend's ear after the man began arguing with employees about free chicken enchiladas. Dallas, man.