Flick Nickem is back on the Hot Links, because James is on some trip to the Northeast and he needs me to fill in. I haven't done Hot Links in a while, and that's because he let me enjoy my summer and gave me the rest of it off, so I will be writing the Hot Links all week this week and then you most likely won't catch me again until the start of my fall semester sometime in August.
But anyways, lets kick Day 1 of Flick Week with the recap of the trouncing that the Astros just did of the Rangers yesterday afternoon:
Altuve: 3-5, Grand Slam, 3 R
Gurriel: 3-5, HR, 3 RBI
Verlander: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
Smith: Season Debut - 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Full Box:
Recap:
Up Next? More West Coast games. Houston is travelling to L.A. to play the Angels starting tomorrow. You can find the series preview here.
Brad Peacock is not getting better after all, which means we have more rotation spots to fill.
Yes, the Astros are using an opener or two this week. Hunter Atkins explains exactly what this means for the upcoming series moving forward.
Luhnow told Jake Kaplan on The Athletic that they're looking at both starting and relief pitching for the upcoming trade deadline.
What's going on with Roberto Osuna?
Correa and Diaz are reporting to Round Rock for their rehab assignments today. It won't be too much longer now!
The case for and against a Matthew Boyd trade.
On This Day in Baseball History
In 1960, Brooks Robinson became the first Oriole to hit for the cycle.
In 1973, Nolan Ryan threw his 2nd career no-hitter, which also included a Detroit Tiger going up to bat with a leg of a piece of furniture.
In 2005, Rafael Palmeiro collected his 3000th career hit.
In 2017, Cody Bellinger became the first Dodger to hit for the cycle in his rookie year.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
