Friday Morning Hot Links

Last Friday I had to turn all my textbooks and technology in. Saturday it was graduation, then Sunday I left for a work trip, returning last night. Today is my first official day of summer, so please pardon me for sleeping until 8am - something I haven't done in a loooooong time.

*The Astros took care of the Ramgers in Arlington last night, 5-2, enjoying a 3-run 4th inning and basically more dominance from Evan Gattis. The Astros are 39-25, 12-8 in their last 20 games,  and are 4-1 at Farmer's Branch this season. Houston is 19-10 against AL West opponents. It's the 37th time (in 64 games) that the Astros have allowed two or fewer runs.

*Gerrit Cole: 6IP, 3H/1ER, 8K:3BB. He has thrown a Quality Start in 11 of his 13 starts. Cole has 124 strikeouts in 87.2IP.

*Evan Gattis was 2x4 with 3RBI and hit his 10th home run of the season. Against Cole Hamels (34 ABs), Gattis is .354/.371/.735, with four home runs. Among active players, only David Wright has hit more home runs off Hamels, with five, if you want to consider David Wright an "active" player.

Gattis:
I know I've had some success against him. I don't know why. It's been different pitches and different stuff, but maybe some guys you just kind of see better.

The Astros hit their 18th and 19th home runs off of Hamels in his career - the most by an AL team. Gattis has hit nine home runs since in his last 23 games.

*Altuve's stolen base was his 9th of 2018. Since getting caught stealing on April 20, Altuve is 8x8 on stolen bases. In the 22 games since May 13, in which he finished an 0x13 in the home series against the Rangers, Altuve is hitting .400/.432/.556. Hinch, on Altuve:
It's incredible to watch him put up at-bat after at-bat...He's truly one of the best, most gifted hitters in baseball by how he goes about his at-bats, by how he puts every pitch in play. There's no pitch he can't hit, which can be a blessing and a curse, but most of the time, it's a blessing.

*Marisnick put up a Marisnick: 0x4, 2Ks. Brian McCann gets activated today, and I know Tim Federowicz is getting shipped back to Fresno but damn. Of 304 MLB players with at least 100 PAs, Marisnick ranks 303rd with a 46.7% K-rate (only Alex Avila's 47.1% is worse). His 22 wRC+ - which means that Marisnick's "bat" is 78% worse than League-Average - is 300th.

*Ken Giles allowed 2H/1ER. It's the 6th time in 23 appearances that he's allowed a run, the 7th time that he's allowed 2+ hits. Giles has appeared in 13 games that qualify as a non-save situation. Hitters are tagging him for a .365/.365/.596 slash line.

*Carlos Correa, held out of the lineup last night with a sore right side, says his injury is "nothing major." Hinch:
I'm happy with what I'm hearing so far, but until he swings a bat, we won't know more...I'll be conservative with him based on the recommendations. We're happy that the first diagnosis was that there's nothing serious, and we'll hopefully get him back soon.

*The Mariners beat Tampa Bay 5-4 to improve to 19-9 in 1-run games. 13 of their last 17 games have been decided by one run, and Seattle is 10-3. They're 17-6 since losing Robinson Cano.

*Forrest Whitley will make his 2018 debut tonight against Frisco.

*Danny Knobler says that Cole Hamels could be the Justin Verlander of the 2018 Trade Deadline and I laughed and laughed.

*Mr. Koo's Wild Ride.

*The Mets drafted Biff Tannen's son.