Sunday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros took care of the Angels, yet again, this time with two swings of the bat. Houston won 5-2. They're 84-47, 48-16 at home. Here are the "relevant" standings, with 31 regular season games left:

AL West

Houston: -
Oakland: -8.5

AL Overall

Houston: -
New York: -
(Houston holds the tie-breaker over NY due to the 4-3 season series win)

MLB Overall

Los Angeles: -
Houston: -2

The Astros have won six of their last seven games.

*Alex Bregman hit his career-high 32nd home run of the season. Bregman, on adjustments he's made:
I've been chasing a little higher rate lately because I think I was trying to chase hits, I guess, instead of chase good pitches to hit. I kind of made that adjustment today and started swinging at pitches I could hit.

Hall of Famer Mike Trout, on Bregman:
I'm definitely a fan. He comes out ready to play every day. He hits the ball out of the ballpark, drives in runs. He's a good player, he can play anywhere, any field. He's fun to watch, hopefully not against us. But he's been getting us lately.

*Michael Brantley extended his hitting streak to 17 games with his 19th home run of the season. He is one shy of his career-high of 20, set in 2014.

*Chirinos-Toro-Reddick combined to go 0x12, with 2K:0BB.

*Wade Miley was back to being Wade F. Miley after holding Anaheim (whose lineup is legitimately Not Terrible) to 5H/1ER, 4K:1BB in 5IP.

*The Bullpen threw 4IP, 2H/1ER, 4K:6BB. Yeah I don't like the six walks, but the one run is alright.

*Mike Trout was 1x5 with an RBI, and flew out to center with the bases loaded in the 5th. Hinch:
It's very uncomfortable when Mike Trout comes up to bat. It's really hard when he comes up to bat with a chance to tie the game or just in general. He's a dangerous guy. I'm never comfortable, even though we've had a good last couple days against him.

Trout, 2019 vs errbody: .293/.435/.649.
Trout, 2019 vs Astros: .194/.257/.516.

*Yordan hit a BP Home Run (it deserves to be capitalized) that broke the big-ass jumbotron in center field. Yordan:
Definitely was not thinking about that, but from the time I've been here, the players have been asking me, 'When are you going to hit one off the scoreboard?' I was just trying to hit the ball hard, man, and it got up into the scoreboard.

It was estimated at 455 feet. There's no way that was only 455 feet.

He went 1x4 with a double. It was Yordan's 58th game with the Astros. He has a hit in 42 of them, and an extra-base hit in 29 of those.

*Ryan Pressly is "determined" to make it back from knee surgery before the playoffs. Pressly:
It's always frustrating when you miss time...Spring Training or offseason, or even now. Stuff like this happens. It's a baseball injury and you just have to figure out a way to get back as fast as you can.

*The Astros have a series with Tampa Bay coming up next Tuesday. It'll be the first time all season that Houston will roll out a series rotation of Verlander-Cole-Greinke.

*Framber is getting two more auditions: today, and Aug 31. Related: The Astros probably aren't going to include someone on the Call-Up List for September who hasn't played in Houston before. Yes, that means Kyle Tucker is probably on his way up...in a week or so.

*The Detroit Free-Press' Chris Thomas has a "here's what happened" between Verlander and Anthony Fenech that led to the post-game blow-up. Ultimately, according to Fenech, this whole things started when Verlander didn't like that Fenech reported on Verlander's interest in astronomy and eclipse-viewing. For real. It goes into greater depth on how the Verlander/Fenech relationship soured, and is worth your time. And while it serves Fenech and the Detroit paper well to make Verlander look like a foot-stompin child, Thomas (the Free-Press' Sports Editor) admits that in one instance Fenech crossed an ethical journalistic line with Verlander.

*Kyle Tucker stole his 30th base of the season in Game 1 of the Round Rock double-header with New Orleans (both of which Round Rock won), making Tucker the 5th member of the 30-30 club in 116 years of the Pacific Coast League. Aledmys Diaz was 0x4 with 2K.

*There's just over a week left in the minor-league regular season. Here's the playoff hunt for the affiliates:

Round Rock (79-52): Up 2.0 games on San Antonio.
Corpus (64-66): They're 31-30 in the 2nd Half, 3.0 games behind Amarillo for the 2nd Half division title.
Fayetteville (64-65): They're 33-27 in the 2nd Half, 1.5 games behind Down East for the 2nd Half division title.
Quad Cities (77-50): The River Bandits won the 1st Half division title, so they're in.
Tri-City (26-39): Already eliminated from playoff contention.

*An Act of Hope: The fairy-tale rise of the Real Kashmir football (soccer) team.

*I (not "I") became a cyborg to manage my chronic pain.

*It's Elvis Costello's 65th birthday. One of my favorite musicians, Joe Pernice, wrote about Elvis Costello a while back, and it's worth another read.

*A Musical Selection: