And 2 of those 3 runs are pretty much directly attributable to defense: the Tucker misplay against Boston (preceeded by a steal of 2nd by Hanley off of Conger) and Conger's cluster**** last night, followed by a bloop that fell in only due to the shift.
True, besides injuries, the Astros offense makes too many outs on the base paths. Being doubled up on LDs is one thing, but the amount of rally killing brain cramps is unbelievable and inexcusable. Lookout for the Youtube blooper video by season's end. Lowrie is currently playing minor league games, so he should return within a week. Springer is in Week 4 of his 6 week hiatus. Team wasted a stellar performance by Feldman, but the Angels lost. With Keuchel pitching today, we'll likely win the series and hopefully repeat the result against the Angels. Lowrie could return some time vs LA.
I wish Springer was about 2 weeks away, but I think that clearly is not the case. Most reports would lead us to believe we are looking at another 5 weeks, likely. Lowrie should be back by Tuesday I would guess, I would think they use the off day tomorrow to make whatever roster moves to get him here. With the trade deadline next week though, I suppose they could delay that a couple of days to see if any trades they make clear a spot for him. Lowrie will come back and be solid, he will give us good at bats. I hope no one is expecting him to come back and be the guy he was the first month though, he was spectacular and he has years of experience that say that isn't who he really is. The guy gives quality at bats though, and that is something this team needs badly right now
Yeah, the bone will heal by mid-August (week 6), then rehab. Hopefully he can quickly return to form.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Digital delivery, in every sense, of today's lineups. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Royals?src=hash">#Royals</a> <a href="http://t.co/Gl1YKP8MLb">pic.twitter.com/Gl1YKP8MLb</a></p>— David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/status/625327598986375169">July 26, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Astros make a lot of errors on basepaths, but also make a lot of plays with aggressive running. Besides some of the very questionable sends to home plate and maybe Altuve toning it down slightly, I like the aggressiveness especially considering Astros BA is low. On Tucker, he sucks defensively. Considering he's been about half the offense the past 5 games, last night is easy to forget.
1B gonna be interesting moving forward Carter is obviously done playing against RHP. If you go back and look at him vs LHP 2015 .186/.306 with a .669 OPS 2014 .244/.350 with a .869 OPS 2013 .232/.331 with a .781 OPS 2012 .241/.404 with a .898 OPS (although less than 100 at bats) Problem there, is while he has always been good vs LHP, he hasn't even done that well this year. And in a platoon without regular at bats, it would seem to be less likely he gets on a streak. I've been a supporter, one of the biggest around here, of Carter. It's over though....I would try to move him as a piece in a deal. As bad as he has been this year, he has power which is a wanted skill, and while he certainly wouldn't be the main piece to bring back help, I would guess there are several teams that would value him as a secondary piece in a deal to bring us something to help us now
if we don't get a bat, that line up with a flip between gattis and tucker would be very nice temporary solution.
Kind of how I felt too. We won't see them again until possibly the playoffs and cueto doesn't make them any scarier to me.
Or you could look at it as the best team in the AL just got the best free agent to be pitcher on the market. I do want to see what they gave up, and whether or not Jocketty did try to actively screw with Luhnow (which I'm sure we will never hear about). I do think the Astros should actively try and top any offer the Angels may have in going after more talent. (They should be able to).
Not sure how KC getting Cueto isn't scary…they're the best team in the AL and they just got a stud. They will be very difficult to beat in a 5 or 7 game series. I think the Astros need to trade for a bat. If we make the playoffs, our offense can't be feast or famine, because that doesn't work against top tier pitching. Lind is the guy I want. Springer Altuve Correa Lind Lowrie Gattis Rasmus Marisnick Castro/Conger That's a lineup that can make things happen.
The catcher position is killing the team. Errors/passed balls/.200 hitting, it cant get much worse. While I believe in chemistry between P/C, I think when the catching situation is this bad chemistry is being overrated.
Agree that Cueto makes KC a lot tougher I know this subject has been hammered over and over, but good solid OBP guys don't necessarily give you a better chance against top tier pitching, those guys are often tougher to string a bunch of great at bats against than they are to hit a bomb off of. Not saying I don't want us to add a quality bat because I do, just don't think it necessarily makes us better against top tier pitching. It would make us better as we fight to get to the playoffs though Honestly, I'd prefer Price or Hamels. Don't think it's likely, but that is my preference. If we get Springer and Lowrie back, it would be the same offense that has been upper tier in scoring runs (whether we like how they score them or not)....a rotation of Keuchel, Kazmir, Price/Hamels, McHugh would be one that could win playoffs series without a lot of run support. We would go to the playoffs with easily the best rotation in the AL (not to mention adding McCullers and VV to the pen)
Our 1B is killing us more…not many teams get great production from their C spot, but 1B is a different story. 13th highest OPS coming from the Catcher spot… 27th highest OPS coming from 1B. 1B needs to be addressed more than any other position on the field.
