Rangers got a bunch opposite-field broken-bat hits but ultimately outplayed the Astros last night. The Astros fell to 79-52. Boston and the Angels won, so the Astros lead on the AL is 4.5 games with a 12-game lead on the division. There are 31 games remaining.
*JJ Watt is Tim Riggins' beautiful son that he adopted with his life partner Brandon Walsh. Donate to his charity benefiting hurricane/flood relief. Or the Astros' charity. I don't care which one you donate to.
Ok, this might be the most Texan thing ever pic.twitter.com/55cFh4MbzB— Rott (@Political_Rott) August 29, 2017
*Mike Fiers, Evan Gattis and Shifts crapped the bed last night, but the Astros didn't get Zambrano'd so that's cool. With the win, the Rangers' Wild Card chances improved to 8.0%. Joey Gallo has exactly the right perspective on the entire situation with the big picture view here:
These are the games that are most fun. Everybody going up there and you don't think anybody is going to get out. You are wondering when this game is going to end. It's a lot of fun when the offense is swinging like that. I am glad I could be a part of it, honestly.
Jeff Banister:
First of all, for both of these teams, especially with Houston and their situation, all parties [with] heavy hearts for what's going on back home. For these guys, a little bit of the unknown with their families and reality is we wanted to go out and put together the best game we possibly could with a lot of energy. I felt both teams did that.
*A.J. Hinch thanked the fans who were at Tropicana Field last night.
Keuchel, dropping some wisdom:
[These games] might be really important to the Rangers here in the next month or so [Ed. note: *shakes head vigorously*] But at this point, I know that a lot of guys' minds are so far away from baseball that it might be more beneficial to have canceled the games and scheduled a couple of doubleheaders than to have actually played them.
*DURRRR swapping home series is unprecedented! says an idiot, while not understanding that what happened to Houston is also unprecedented.
*The Dallas Morning-News' Kevin Sherrington, a real G, says the Rangers should have taken a moral high ground in the proposed series switch. But at least the Rangers' season ticket holders aren't compromised. Thank God for that. Peep this close from Sherrington:
Both sides are guilty, but as the club representing the more fortunate area of the state, it was up to the Rangers to do right. Houston has already demonstrated it's the better team this season. The Rangers should have proven they were the bigger one.
*Les Alexander, the greatest owner Houston has ever known, has upped his donation to relief to $10m.
*The Rangers donated $1m to Harvey relief. That's cool. I hope they don't make the playoffs. Don't forget that their prospects sexually assaulted at least one other prospect.
*Here's a rundown of where/what/how you can donate to hurricane/flood relief.
*The Astros don't have any other uniforms with them, so they'll wear grays and Sunday alternate unis until Hobby/Intercontinental opens.
*Oh but wait here comes Bob Nightengale to try to break up the fight. God bless the vanilla moon-face, killing the Astros:
This is no more than an inconvenience. A tiny, minuscule nuisance involving millionaire ballplayers in a $10 billion business. Complain about your hardship staying in a five-star resort this week while one of the most destructive storms in the nation's history has ravaged the fourth-largest city in the country, with people still being rescued from rooftops, 30,000 taking refuge in emergency shelters, and hundreds of thousands still without power, and nearly a half-million people expected to apply or federal assistance?
Nightengale is standing at the edge of a fight yelling "Guys, no!" and clapping very hard. Like a drum major. This is the equivalent of saying, "Houston, you're already f***ed, so let Southwest Arkansas have their way and just shhhh it's about trust." Jump off a bridge. "It's only baseball, people." Nightengale screams, the guy who wrote a column about how baseball isn't actually about baseball.
*MLB.com scrubbed Richard Justice's Astros/Rangers column.
*Carlos Correa could return to the St. Pete Astros this weekend against the Mets.
*Fresno's Jack Mayfield was apparently hit in the face last night.
*Astros prospects will play for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League. Pitchers Dean Deetz, Riley Ferrell, Josh James, Framber Valdez will join catcher Jake Rogers, infielders Yordan Alvarez and Nick Tanielu, and outfielder Kyle Tucker. His brother, Preston, has played for the Astros. Maybe you've heard of him.
*The Cardinals' Matt Carpenter, who went to Elkins, is donating $10,000 for every home run he hits the rest of the season. The Cardinals will match it. He got one last night.
*Kelvin Sampson and UH are doing a bang-up job with their clothing drive.
*The Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center is holding an emergency blood drive at Alpha Omega Academy in Huntsville today.
These are the games that are most fun. Everybody going up there and you don't think anybody is going to get out. You are wondering when this game is going to end. It's a lot of fun when the offense is swinging like that. I am glad I could be a part of it, honestly.
Jeff Banister:
First of all, for both of these teams, especially with Houston and their situation, all parties [with] heavy hearts for what's going on back home. For these guys, a little bit of the unknown with their families and reality is we wanted to go out and put together the best game we possibly could with a lot of energy. I felt both teams did that.
Welcoming our guests to Tropicana Field with a smile. #ForHouston pic.twitter.com/VxRes6CYiR— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 29, 2017
*A.J. Hinch thanked the fans who were at Tropicana Field last night.
#Astros manager AJ Hinch: Where we play is the least of our concerns.— MLB Network Radio (@MLBNetworkRadio) August 29, 2017
🎙️ https://t.co/vxEJz1Qnwf pic.twitter.com/4Q47fnJyCw
*Mark Feinsand, who is now apparently working for MLB.com, writes that the Astros are trying to focus despite the fallout from Hurricane Harvey, that punk-ass bitch. Bregman:
We've been locked in on it non-stop since the moment it happened until now. We'll continue to be focused on it.
Springer:
I just hope that everybody stays safe and that everybody understands there's a lot more to life than this game. This game doesn't mean much, anymore. It's all about your families and helping a city that just got pounded. There's a lot of people that have been affected by the storm. It's sad to see. It's tough to sit here knowing that that's where I live; that's my city. It puts it into perspective.
Keuchel, dropping some wisdom:
[These games] might be really important to the Rangers here in the next month or so [Ed. note: *shakes head vigorously*] But at this point, I know that a lot of guys' minds are so far away from baseball that it might be more beneficial to have canceled the games and scheduled a couple of doubleheaders than to have actually played them.
*DURRRR swapping home series is unprecedented! says an idiot, while not understanding that what happened to Houston is also unprecedented.
*The Dallas Morning-News' Kevin Sherrington, a real G, says the Rangers should have taken a moral high ground in the proposed series switch. But at least the Rangers' season ticket holders aren't compromised. Thank God for that. Peep this close from Sherrington:
Both sides are guilty, but as the club representing the more fortunate area of the state, it was up to the Rangers to do right. Houston has already demonstrated it's the better team this season. The Rangers should have proven they were the bigger one.
*Les Alexander, the greatest owner Houston has ever known, has upped his donation to relief to $10m.
*The A's will donate $1 for every ticket sold to their series against the Astros from September 8-10 to Harvey relief efforts. The $99 received just might buy a case of water from a Houston-area Home Depot.
*The Rangers donated $1m to Harvey relief. That's cool. I hope they don't make the playoffs. Don't forget that their prospects sexually assaulted at least one other prospect.
*Here's a rundown of where/what/how you can donate to hurricane/flood relief.
*The Astros don't have any other uniforms with them, so they'll wear grays and Sunday alternate unis until Hobby/Intercontinental opens.
*Oh but wait here comes Bob Nightengale to try to break up the fight. God bless the vanilla moon-face, killing the Astros:
This is no more than an inconvenience. A tiny, minuscule nuisance involving millionaire ballplayers in a $10 billion business. Complain about your hardship staying in a five-star resort this week while one of the most destructive storms in the nation's history has ravaged the fourth-largest city in the country, with people still being rescued from rooftops, 30,000 taking refuge in emergency shelters, and hundreds of thousands still without power, and nearly a half-million people expected to apply or federal assistance?
Nightengale is standing at the edge of a fight yelling "Guys, no!" and clapping very hard. Like a drum major. This is the equivalent of saying, "Houston, you're already f***ed, so let Southwest Arkansas have their way and just shhhh it's about trust." Jump off a bridge. "It's only baseball, people." Nightengale screams, the guy who wrote a column about how baseball isn't actually about baseball.
*MLB.com scrubbed Richard Justice's Astros/Rangers column.
*Carlos Correa could return to the St. Pete Astros this weekend against the Mets.
*Fresno's Jack Mayfield was apparently hit in the face last night.
*Astros prospects will play for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League. Pitchers Dean Deetz, Riley Ferrell, Josh James, Framber Valdez will join catcher Jake Rogers, infielders Yordan Alvarez and Nick Tanielu, and outfielder Kyle Tucker. His brother, Preston, has played for the Astros. Maybe you've heard of him.
*The Cardinals' Matt Carpenter, who went to Elkins, is donating $10,000 for every home run he hits the rest of the season. The Cardinals will match it. He got one last night.
*Kelvin Sampson and UH are doing a bang-up job with their clothing drive.
*The Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center is holding an emergency blood drive at Alpha Omega Academy in Huntsville today.
