This best offensive team can't do **** against good pitchers. They're actually frauds and would get bounced in the playoff unless we play the Yankees.
Forget the aces they've been slumping against some pretty horrible pens as well. I mean Rodney is probably the worst closer in the league and almost always gives up at least one run if not four lol. Hopefully they turn it around today, but that AZ lineup can put up some crooked numbers out of nowhere.
astros bats will go into a cave for a 10 game stretch every season it seasons. They'll wake up. I hope julia finally watches ferris and fast times.
TL;DR alert (too much coffee): Astros offense will improve in the second half of August to April levels... but not ridiculous July ones. So far this month, only 4 Astros hitters are really pulling their weight offensively (Bregman, Gurriel, Gonzalez, Altuve). Morning ruminations on those Astros who have *not* been pulling their weight offensively -- Beltran is borderline acceptable at .275 in August but hitting with little power. Then again, he's been borderline all year. The stale argument that he's worth keeping as a kind of Wise Old Grandfather figure who mentors the younger players even if he's hitting below the league average has lost its merit, as by this point in the season Beltran has already shared whatever wisdom he was going to share, taught whatever he was going to teach. Right now what the team needs is strong bats, not campfire stories from Grandfather Beltran. Replacing him with White or Kemp would likely give the Astros a boost of at least .100 individual OPS points and add ~.08 to .010 to the team's OPS. Sending McCann to the DL should help the offense a bit, as he hit well under the Mendoza line over nearly a 7-week stretch going back to to early July. Stassi replacing him is probably going to mean replacing McCann's .375 OPS bat (for August) with Stassi's ~.700 OPS (I'm guessing here, based on Stassi's previous ML stints and his Fresno stats this year) bat. I'm confident we will go into the postseason with a sharp, well-rested McCann. Second only to McCann, Marisnick has dragged down the August offense a lot, going 4-for-29 this month. Jake is known for having the odd 3-hit game so he may give us a burst of offense soon but he sure is taking his time. Some have suggested a Fresno stint for Jake for him to work on his K% and his defense too, but I'm not sure who would replace him in the OF. There's Preston Tucker, already on the 40-man, who's got an .830 OPS and comparatively excellent 21% K rate at Fresno, if the Astros go this route. A PTuck hitting .700 OPS for us would certainly be better than a Marisnick hitting for .495 OPS (as he is currently this month) but we have to weigh that against PTuck's lackluster defense as well as the possibility of Jake suddenly getting hot The decision to keep Davis over White now looks like a costly one. He's gone 2-for-13 and the eye test didn't help gain him any sympathy. Hinch has used him in only four August games so apparently he sees Davis as a weak link too. Fortunately he'll be going to Fresno soon, but the Astros have to wait until ~Aug 19 before White can be recalled. This should replace Davis's (currently) .543 OPS bat (SSS, I know...) with White's ~.800 one (just a projection based on his work at AAA + ML level this year). Fisher's batted ball data for August show that he's tending to hit more soft ground balls and fewer line drives than previously in the season. He's also tending to hit to the opposite field more, so perhaps he is a little tentative at the plate and that is causing him to swing weakly and late. Whatever it is, I'm hoping the coaching staff can work with him on timing and on elevating the ball. He is walking more than before, which I presume is due to good plate discipline and hopefully not just being reluctant to swing. In any case, Fisher's is a bat that has put up only .588 OPS this month but which should soon get up to at least the league average ~.760. Centeno has been hitting line drives at an encouraging rate and I expect a lot more of those LD's will start falling for hits soon. Doesn't look like Juan will be part of the playoff picture but he can help the Stros finish the regular season strong while McCann/Gattis are out and I think we can expect him to hit for at least his Zips projected OPS of .657, which would be quite an improvement over the .544 he's posted so far this month. Reddick has been slumping hard for his last 6 games and maybe that has something to do with the clubhouse trade/media drama. Then again maybe not. Anyway, I expect him to snap out of it soon. Ditto with Springer, who just needs to knock off the rust after his DL stint. Summary: Offense looks set to broadly improve in the second half of the month. In the first half, the Stros averaged just 8.6 hits per game and in 7 of this month's 13 games, had 7 hits or fewer - i.e., really dismal offensive showings that usually earn a loss regardless of what the pitching staff does. In the second half of August, I can see hits per game rising to around 10 and team OPS should be at least .765, which is where it was in the first month of the season.
Frustrating day when the opposition nearly hits nothing but doubles... While your offensive hits into double plays all game.
When you're missing two of your best three hitters for the majority of that time that will tend to happen.
Sure but that's not the only reason. Prolonged slumps by a number of guys as well. The Astros clearly have a fantastic offense that I think will bounce back, but there is no denying they have been **** for a few weeks now.
I am still watching. Especially last night with only a 2 run deficit. This is team is hibernating until Verlander and Correa go all Altuve on the league.
The Astros' bats are primed to catch fire in the very near future. Let's see if Arizona putting the rookie from San Jacinto State on the mound is the spark we need to ignite those bats.
There's our team!! 2 outs and let's keep the pedal to the metal!! Hopefully this starts a winning streak of about 17 games!
Forgot today was a day game. Based on the posts, I should probably continue not watching. Don't want to kill the juju.
Peacock's run support is out of this world. We should start him for his effect on our offense. I have to admit, the alert of Max Stassi driving in JD Davis was amusing.
