Astros still maintaining their 6.0 runs per game average with Pena in the 2 hole after 10 games. Now we just need Julks to take over the 6th spot in the lineup and we'll start averaging 6.5 runs per game.
Man we got some salty ****ing elitist fans. Jesus Christ. Get over yourselves. If they were 34-25 and a game and a half behind us, yeah maybe I'm singing that tune. You don't luck into a 39-20 record and a run differential that's projected to be the best we have seen since 1939. Y'all act like their run differential is +55 instead of +155. They've got some burning questions to answer for sure. Like does Eovaldi and Smith hold up? Is Simien gonna hit like this all season? What about the rookie Jung? Or Heim seemingly coming out of nowhere? This is a team without DeGrom, and Seager has barely been on the field. They've got multiple bench players who would be starting for many other teams. And they won't sit idle at the trade deadline. Buckle up this is gonna be a helluva summer.
Julks got his OPS+ up to 14% below league average tonight !! That's marginally acceptable for a defense first position. But terrible for a corner OF. That's 3% worse than Josh Reddick's last season here in 2020! I can't believe any knowledgeable fan would think he should play more, and certainly not replace Chas or Jake for an everyday spot. Please please please send him to Sugar Land so we can stop having these conversations.
The Astros are 19-6 in their last 25, and very close to being 21-4. The Astros are a +51 during that stretch. The Astros are fine… even missing Altuve, Brantley, McCullers, Garcia and Urquidy and having Jose Abreu in the worst slump of his career - the Astros are on pace to win 97 games and will likely have the 3rd best record in the next couple of weeks. The Astros also have the resources and players/prospects to make the trades necessary to be even better. I don’t care if the Rangers win the division, it’s all about being good enough to compete for a championship and the Astros are that good.
Thank you. Fans are so protective that they can't handle another team being outright better than our team. Saying the rangers are good has nothing to do with the Astros. Other than being realistic. Unless people were predicting Houston winning 100+ games this year they ain't catching Texas.
This Except the part about hitting 7th. When you have Altuve, Alvarez, Bregman, and Tucker they will always be in the top 5 or 6. Add in a wunderkind who is Barry Larkin in the #2 spot but Dave Concepcion everywhere else And A slugging 1B who won an MVP 2 years ago and was brought here to be a run producing force Then everyone else hits 7th-9th regardless of position. Everything else you said is gospel
lol, so much consternation over a guy who's clearly playing with house money. can't even enjoy the good baseball thing he did tonight. we all know julks is just a guy, and this might be the only extended mlb action he'll ever see. it's been nice seeing him enjoy himself at this level, however.
A competitive division opponent will only help the Astros. Funny how everyone thought it would be Seattle to challenge the Astros for the division title and then it's the Rangers. They are legit so far. Hopefully it means the Astros will make a big move at the deadline like the Verlander trade.
I think they are real but no way they hold this pace. Still over 100 games to play a bunch will happen. Don't discuss wildcard until late August. Check yourself.
They are 3.5 games back in early June. They could actually catch them by making up 1 game a month. You are way too sold in the first week off June. Do you know how many teams have come back from being down double digit games after the All-Star break? This is freaking baseball. The Arlington Rangers haven't ran away with anything yet.
The Astros are on pace for 97 wins, despite starting out the season 17-17. They are 1 game behind last year's record after 60 games. Through 60 games last year, the Yankees were 44-16, on pace for 119 wins, and 7 games ahead of the Astros. The Astros made up 14 games on the Yankees over the last 102 and finished the season 7 games ahead of the Yankees. The Yankees had the same historical run differential blah blah blah. People need to stop freaking out. What teams look like in June has very little correlation to what they look like by October.
I have to say I'm (somewhat) surprised at the fans overall lack of patience for Julks. He's probably not a star in the making, but he doesn't NEED to be in order to be a valuable contributor for this team. Give the kid some time... that "pop" and speed may turn a few games in or favor throughout the long season. It's not like he's being relied upon in the 4 spot. Tonight, he was in the bottom 3rd of the lineup. That's where he belongs and if he can run into one 15-18 times this season, and maybe learn the K zone better and draw some walks, I'd call that valuable and acceptable from that spot. His minor league #s say he can hit. He just needs to learn to swing at pitches he can drive and ignore the others. Looks like Dusty believes he might learn how to and, frankly, I don't think this experiment will cost the team too many games. If I'm wrong and he falls off completely, or doesn't develop, fine. He gets cut and Loperfido, Wagner, or whichever MiLB developing guy will take his place and take their lumps. It just isn't that big of a deal, imo, but COULD pay off handsomely if he just learns the zone and doesn't botch his job defensively. Just my .02
