Ha ha well you know. The Astros sweep the Far East Odessa Rangers, send them to their first losing season since 2014 and their second losing season since 2008. It'll be their 3rd season without an October since 2010. The Astros are 98-60.
*The 98th win of the season for the Astros breaks a tie for the 2nd-most in a single-season with the 1999 Astros. If the Astros sweep the Red Sox starting tonight, they'll tie the 1998 team for the most wins in a single season in franchise history. The 12 runs the Astros scored yesterday ties them for the 2nd-highest number of runs (874) in franchise history, with the 1998 Astros.
*The Astros outscored the Rangers 37-7 in the three-game series, and scored 11+ runs in three consecutive games for the first time in franchise history. They notched their 50th road win of the season, which is also a franchise record.
*Hinch:
Pretty impressive the way we swung the bats, the way we played defense, and we pitched well. It looked like we had a ton of energy. We were out to win these games, and we did. Just really proud of our effort and proud of our execution...it was an incredible series.
*The Indians beat the Twins 4-2 and are 99-59. If Cleveland win 3 of their last 4, the Astros won't be able to catch them. Two of four, and the Astros need a sweep of the Red Sox. One of four and the Astros need to win three of the four games.
*The biggest news of the day, besides the trash-ass Rangers losing another game, is Jose Altuve's 200th hit of the season, for the 4th straight year. So here are your Astros' single-season hit leaders in franchise history:
1. Altuve - 225 ('14)
2. Altuve - 216 ('15)
3. Biggio - 210 ('98)
4. Altuve - 200 ('16)
5. Altuve - 200 ('17)
To recap: Altuve has four of the five 200-hit seasons in Astros' history, and did them all in a row. Cat gonna get expensive. Hinch:
We've said over and over again how special he is and how important he is on our team. It's fun to be a part of. He wants it badly, more so for others than himself. It's cool to be a part of.
We don't deserve Jose Altuve. Maybe we do. Since 1947, only Wade Boggs, Kirby Puckett, Michael Young, and Ichiro Suzuki have had 4+ 200-hit seasons. Springer:
He's a joke. He's a create-a-player. He deserves it. I'm extremely happy for him. To be a part of somebody getting four straight 200-hits is impressive. Anybody that watches this game or has played it knows how hard it is to get one, and the guy's got 200 again.
*Carlos Correa was 4x5 with 4RBI. It's his 4th 4-hit game (two of those hits were home runs, another was a double), and his 3rd 4+-RBI game of the season. This series against a not-playoff team Correa was 7x15 with three doubles, 2HR, 7RBI. I like this version of Carlos Correa.
*George Springer hit a grand slam in the 6th inning. It was the 4th grand slam of his career - all three of the previous ones were in 2016. Springer has hit five home runs in September, after hitting four in July and August combined.
*Brian T. Smith: Operation BTSOOTR is complete.
*Justin Verlander is now 5-0 with the Astros after throwing 6IP, 6H/2ER, 11K:0BB. Both runs he allowed were solo home runs.
After five starts:
Verlander: 34IP, 17H/4ER, 43K:5BB
R. Johnson: 37IP, 24H/6ER, 45K:11BB.
*Verlander:
It wasn't my best, but these guys made it pretty easy on me scoring that many runs...The one thing I would have like to have done is gone deeper into the game, at least seven. That's just kind of nitpicking a little bit.
Verlander's next start will likely be G1 of the ALDS.
*Check out this mini-documentary about Hurricane Harvey.
*101-year old Astros fan has high hopes for October
*Minor League Ball says the Astros built an empire through backwards trade logic.
*The inside story of how the FBI rocked college basketball.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
