The pab Houston Astros collectively tripped on their dicks and lost 4-1 to the gd Detroit Tigers last night, despite the Tigers making four mf errors. Houston is 72-58. The Rangers lost their 8th straight game while the Mariners won their 49th game in a row. Houston is in 3rd place, one game behind the co-leading Mariners/Rambers.
FanGraphs' Playoff Odds, August 26:
Houston: 37.2% to win the division, 80.3% to make postseason
Seattle: 36.8% to win the division, 79.2% to make postseason
Aledo: 26.0% to win the division, 68.2% to make postseason
Seattle: 43.3% to win AL West, 84.4% to make postseason
Aledo: 36.6% to win AL West, 84.2% to make postseason
Houston: 20.1% to win AL West, 64.3% to make postseason
*Record Since All-Star Break:
Seattle: 27-12
Baltimore: 26-13
Minnesota: 22-16
Houston: 22-17
Aledo: 20-17
*The Mariners are in first place after the All-Star Break for the first time since August 26, 2003. I will never respect the Mariners.
The last time AL West teams were in 1st Place after the All-Star Break:
Seattle: August 26, 2023
Aledo: August 26, 2023
Houston: October 5, 2022
Las Vegas: September 27, 2020
Anaheim: July 28, 2015
*Houston has lost six of their last eight games. They've hit two home runs in the last four games, and are homer-less in back-to-back games for the first time since July 6-7, against Seattle.
*Last night was the first time Houston was held to a single, solitary, stupid hit since April 20, 2022.
*Kyle Tucker's 25th stolen base of the season ties a career-high.
*Yordan hit a 417-foot flyout caught by future Tigers hero Parker Meadows.
*Framber was back...? 7IP, 0H/0ER. 6K:5BB. The Astros' "offense" owes him an apology. He threw a season-high 114 pitches. It was his fifth start of allowing 0ER in 2023, and the Astros are 3-2 in those games. He issued five walks in a start for the first time since April 10.
*Framber is the fifth pitcher since 1961 to throw a no-hitter, and then at least seven no-hit innings in the same calendar month, and the first since Derek Lowe did it in April 2002.
*It was the 31st time this season that Astros pitchers have held their opponent to five or fewer hits. Somehow they're 22-9 in those games.
*In the worst timing possible, Ryan Pressly allowed his first earned runs since July 28, and he started the 9th Inning with two strikeouts. Then: single, single, single, homer, ballgame.
It's part of the game. I can control when I have the ball in my hand, but things like that can happen to any of us.
Dusty:
[Pressly] looked so sharp the first two hitters. Then he had a tough hitter up there in Miggy, who fouled off a bunch of pitches and bounced one up the middle like we've seen him do many, many times...I guess that was [Meadows'] first home run. I guess he'll remember that forever. But that was a tough one. Our guys had pitched so well.
*The Angels, who are a criminal enterprise fronted by a Major League Baseball logo, didn't even send Shohei Ohtani for an MRI even as they pushed back his starts. This
*Richard Justice: Needville's Boys of Summer
*Runners World: The Struggle Is Awesome
*Why Cuban Migrants Are Moving To Kentucky
*I had a bout with insomnia this week, and read this at 3:30am and laughed until I cried. Vulture: Unraveling The Greatest Writers' Room Story Ever.
*On tap today:
Brighton @ West Ham, 11:30am Central
Navy @ Notre Dame @ Ireland, 1:30pm Central
Kansas City @ Seattle, 3:10pm Central
Houston @ Detroit, 5:10pm Central
Aledo @ Minnesota, 6:15pm Central (Fox)
*I wrote about this a month ago, but my wife almost died on vacation in Colorado. When they moved her out of ICU, it was into a room down the hall. Somehow, she left the AirPods I got her as part of her anniversary present in the bed, and when they cleaned the room, off the AirPods went to laundry. She's the first person to ever lose a pair of AirPods while laying in the same room for four days. I gave her mine. All that's to say, if you have an extra pair of AirPods you're trying to off-load, let me know.
*A Musical Selection: