*Welp. The Astros gave David Paulino a 6-3 lead in the 4th and then David Paulino and Michael Feliz decided that life was easy enough, and the Angels scored the final nine runs of the game.
David Paulino: 4IP, 6H/5ER, 4K:2BB
Michael Feliz: 1IP, 3H/4ER, 2K:1BB
James Hoyt (1.2IP, 2ER, 4K) and Dayan Diaz (1.1IP, 1ER) also saw some action.
Michael Feliz's last two outings: 15 batters faced, seven outs, 5H/6ER, 5K:3BB.
The back-breaker was Eric Young Jr's 10th career home run (in 526 games played), a three-run shot that gave the Angels a 9-6 lead. It was the first series loss of the season to an AL West opponent. Hinch:
They had a bigger inning than we did. Their baseball beat our baseball...They outplayed us this series; we had a tough series. But we'll move on to the next one.
*The next one starts tonight against the Rangers, who are coming off a road sweep of the NL East-leading Nationals. Yu Darvish plans on making some adjustments this time around.
*The Astros got home runs from George Springer and Yulieski Gurriel, setting a franchise record with 19 straight games with a home run.
*Nori Aoki got three hits and, in the process, collected his 2000th career hit between Japan and the US, joining the Meikyukai. Hinch:
We had a nice time celebrating him. We pay our respects for what it takes to go from zero hits to 2,000 and then plus one. I know it's been grinding on him a little bit, but I think he's handled everything very professionally. Very proud of him, and glad he did it as an Astro.
Aoki:
Yes, I feel relieved and a little relaxed. We're still trying to win the championship as a team, so I'm going to keep trying to contribute to the Astros winning a championship.
Here's the writeup in today's Japan News. Aoki:
Nobody thought I would ever become a player like this. I think I was the only one who believed in myself.
*Altuve's RBI single in the 4th moved him into 10th place on the franchise hit list. Fifteen more hits will tie him with Bill Doran for 9th.
*ESPN's David Schoenfield has This Week In Astros Awesomeness.
*Rosenthal: Carlos Correa is driven to become the game's best player. If you click one link to read the whole article, make it this one.
*George Springer hosted a bowling event for charity.
*Today is the 47th anniversary of Dock Ellis throwing a no-hitter while tripping balls on LSD. Craig Calcaterra wrote about it. And if you haven't seen "No-No: A Dock-umentary" on Netflix, fix that.
*Hardball Times: Wade Boggs, Rickey Henderson, and the Fly Ball that Disappeared
*Get off this dumb web site and read a book. Here's your Monday Morning Book Recommendation (this is a thing, now. I just started it.)
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
