*Houston is 17-5 since Jose Altuve went on the IL. 6-1 since Carlos Correa went on the IL. 10-4 since George Springer went on the IL (he was back for one game before injuring his hamstring). The Astros have a 9.0-game lead on Aren'tlington.
*The Astros' lineup from May 4 (first name) compared to the lineup last night (second name) (one month, try to keep up):
Springer / Fisher
Altuve / Bregman
Bregman / Reddick
Brantley / Gurriel
Correa / Chirinos
Reddick / White
Gurriel / Marisnick
White / Mayfield
Stassi / Straw
Both games were Astros wins.
*Houston is 4-0 at
*Houston has played 61 games, tied for the 2nd-most in the Majors. Regard, number of games played:
63: Seattle
61: Houston, Los Angeles, Arizona
60: Philadelphia, Atlanta, Milwaukee, San Diego, Anaheim
59: Boston, Baltimore, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland, Kansas City, Oakland, New York Mets, Washington, Cincinnati
58: New York Yankees, Minnesota, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Colorado, San Francisco
57: Tampa, Arlington, Miami
56: Detroit
*The County Mountie was kind enough to take the reins for last night's interminable MLB draft, which was far too long and featured far too much Harold Reynolds. His write-ups:
1-32 Korey Lee and Korey Lee Hot Links
Luhnow, on Korey Lee:
I really feel like this is the right combination, the right package for us, and feel like he's a player that can move relatively quickly and impact our big league club in short order. Not this year, but in the next few years.
Lee:
It was a dream come true. I've been thinking about (getting drafted) my entire life, growing up around baseball and watching the game and learning the game. I couldn't be happier to be with the Houston Astros.
2-68 Grae Kessinger
Some stats from 2019:
Korey Lee: .338/.419/.626, team-high 15HR, team-high 57RBI, 42K:26BB in 198 ABs.
Grae Kessinger: .332/.427/.458, 32K:40BB.
Rounds 3-10 begin today at 12pm. We have your draft financials/updates here. Because who doesn't want to keep track of how much of Jim Crane's money teenagers get?
*The Mariners would have won that game 2-1 if it wasn't for their excellent strategy of using an opener. The Astros scored three runs in the 1st inning, something they've only done five times in 2019.
2019 Seattle Mariners baseball.— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) June 4, 2019
A double play ends the inning. Instead... pic.twitter.com/NWWP4Aigrq
*Houston got five hits, three of them for extra bases (Bregman double, Reddick triple, Chirinos home run). It's the second time this season the Astros have won a game with five or fewer hits and at least three XBH.
*Josh Reddick got his first triple of 2019 and his first since August 7, 2018 (against San Francisco). The Astros are 7-0 when Reddick triples. Just call the Triple play, Hinch, jeez, this isn't Chinese math.
*After going through a 16-game stretch hitting .174/.350/.348 from May 9-29, Robinson Chirinos has a three-game hit streak with homers in back-to-back games, going 4x12.
*Tyler White was 0x3 with a walk. He's "hitting" .211/.303/.289. He is worth -0.6 bWAR and -0.4 fWAR. Only Yonder Alonso and Kendrys Morales have a lower fWAR among DHs with 130+ PAs. White hit more home runs in his first 18PAs of his MLB career (3) than he has in 132 PAs this season (1). And the balls are juiced! And the Astros are still 21-10 when he starts!
*Seattle's Wade LeBlanc vs Houston, 2019: 12.2IP, 11H/3ER, 7K:2BB.
Wade LeBlanc vs Literally Anyone Else, 2019: 23.2IP, 31H/20ER, 18K:7BB
*Astros pitchers walked five batters for the 6th time this season. Corbin Martin started in three of those games. Martin walked one batter in his MLB debut against the Rangers. In his last 14IP, he has walked 11 batters. He has not recorded 12 outs in three straight starts. Martin:
I was falling behind in the count. I wasn't as aggressive as I needed to be and throwing 30 pitches in the first inning, that kind of slows down the rest of my outing.
Martin BB/9, minors: 2.8
Martin BB/9, Majors: 5.6
Hinch:
When a guy throws that many pitches in that short of time, a lot of things are going wrong. It's a little bit of everything. It's not an easy league. It's not an easy league to adjust to. We've just got to keep working to try to find the solution and not get him overloaded.
Daniel Kramer notes in that last link that Martin has thrown 37.8% of his pitches while behind in the count, 2nd-highest in MLB with a minimum of 250 pitches thrown.
*Framber Valdez took over and rightly got the win, throwing 4IP, 2H/0ER, 3K:2BB. Framber's last six appearances: 11.1IP, 8H/2R (1ER), 8K:7BB.
*Tonight and tomorrow night's games start at 9:10pm Central. The next 9pm start after Wednesday is July 15.
*The Astros are seeing progress from Springer, Diaz, and Altuve, but especially Springer.
*Jack Mayfield will get some reps at 1B.
*Buster Olney: The Astros offered Dallas Keuchel a 1yr/$15m deal in Spring Training which I don't think he accepted. Could be wrong, tho.
*From The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik: How the Houston Astros Disrupted Player Development to Become MLB's Model Franchise.
*Qatari businessman Nasser el-Khelaifi - chairman of Paris St. Germain - is in advanced talks to buy a huge stake in Leeds United. While an influx of cash would be welcome as Leeds tries to join the Premier League next season, it's problematic from a human rights standpoint and what happens if Leeds and PSG meet in the Champions League !!!2!!
*Be sure to check out this Texas Monthly interview with Okkervil River's Will Sheff.
*We are nowhere close to the limits of athletic performance.
*A Musical Selection:
