*George Springer - who has dealt with a lifelong stutter - was mic'ed up for last night's All-Star Game, and it was really cool.
Springer was interviewed on the field tonight and it was fantastic. #Astros pic.twitter.com/qPWR4tHZ28— Houston Astros (@astros) July 12, 2017
*Jose Altuve is proud of his Astros teammates. Altuve:
You always want to be a part of the All-Star Game. To be with five more guys from your team is really special. I love those guys.
*Astros, last night:
Altuve: 0x2, K
Springer: 0x3, 2K
Correa: 0x2, K
Devenski: 1IP, 0H/0ER, 1K:0BB
*Jake Kaplan: Why Max Scherzer is Lance McCullers' baseball crush. McCullers:
Even with all of the exposure that he has now and whatnot, I think he's the most underrated pitcher in the last 10 years in baseball. I think what he's done and the consistency that he's shown, he's not a "me" guy. He's such a grinder, man. He's such a bulldog.
*Pat Neshek didn't have a good time as an Astro in 2016, but understands, apparently:
It was just I felt like I could've done more. But, there was no anger. Will Harris was an All-Star. (Gregerson) had a great year. (Giles) was closing. And you've got (Devenski), who was on fire last year. So I mean, I'm not mad. For me, it was like I'm just the odd man out. I could do more. We didn't make the playoffs last year. I kind of wanted more...They don't need me. It was the right move. I talked to Luhnow...I thanked him and he wished me well.
Click the Hot Links from June 9 (scroll down a bit) and you'll see some context about Neshek and his self-described 2016 with the Astros. There are some, uh, inaccuracies in how he tells the story.
*Okay, so Bregman deleted his Twitter account after an "interaction" with a "fan." I didn't post anything about this in the last 48 hours, because it just felt icky and it felt more like - as The Batguy put it - Astros Twitter news instead of Astros news. Patrick and I (mostly Patrick) talked about it for 45 minutes on the latest Lima Time Time, but here are my takeaways:
1. Nobody involved in this exchange looked good.
2. Let's remember that Alex Bregman is 23 years old.
3. We want baseball players to play like Willie Mays and act like Morgan Freeman. At 23 years old.
*Brian T. Smith: Moving to the AL was actually good
*The Astros are listed at +425 (bet $100 to win $425) to win the World Series, behind the Dodgers.
*The Dallas Morning News says all those Astros and none of the Rangers is a painful reminder of the AL West power shift. And Yu Darvish sounds like he's going to enjoy free agency. Darvish:
Liking Texas and signing a deal are two different things. It's all business.
*George Springer: All-Star, team leader, HEB spokesman.
*FiveThirtyEight: The AL is still beating the NL - but not for long.
*How the Expos convinced Tom Brady to go to Michigan.
