That's because the Astros don't have to play the Astros. EDIT - Spacemoth must be less busy at work than me.
Since we were critical of the rangers win streak being a cake walk, is our 11 game win streak a little discredited since we had 3 games over the rangers? HiiiOhhhh
It's still hard to believe that this team got swept at home recently...that seems like a distant memory.
Yes, we have an 11 game winning streak but none of those wins were against the best team in MLB. Wait a minute.....
Haha it's not fair we don't have to play the Stros.. But I do like that 6 of the games were the top of their league twins and 1st or 2nd Orioles.. Not to mention we basically run-ruled the Twins. Embarassed the Yankees on Jeter night.. Send anyone at us right now.
Tonight's starting pitcher for KC, Jake Junis, tends to favor the high side of the strike zone and threw lots of pitches up around the letters in his last start vs the Twins. Good to see tonight's home plate ump is Laz Diaz - he doesn't seem to call as strikes many pitches above the strike zone, though he is known to call strikes on low/inside stuff even when it's outside the zone. The Stros have four of of their best high-strike hitters in the lineup tonight (Altuve, Gattis, Reddick, Yuli). Gonzalez hits the high strikes well too, but perhaps the sore hand is keeping him on the bench. Let the hitting begin!
The AL Central leading Twins have a -19 run differential, because we outscored them by 24 runs last week. The Rangers had a + run differential that is now in the red, because we played them. The Orioles went from a 0 to a -9 run differential, because we played them. The Marlins have a -19 run differential, because we outscored them by 18 in one series.
Derek Bell apparently criticized Dierker the day he returned from his seizure... http://www.pecos.net/news/arch99a/071699s.htm Dierker wins in return as Bell sounds off HOUSTON, July 22, 1999 (AP) — Larry Dierker found controversy in his first game back in the Houston Astros dugout since brain surgery. Derek Bell, unhappy at being dropped from second to sixth in the batting order, hit a two-run, go-ahead single in the seventh inning Thursday night, capping a comeback from a six-run deficit for an 8-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Bell was pleased to see Dierker back, but he didn't like his decision. "It's a slap in the face to be dropped to the sixth spot," Bell said. "I'm to the point now that I feel like I'm not wanted. There's a lot of pressure on me to do things so the fans won't boo me. I feel like I'm hitting .200." Bell, who has batted second in recent years, hit just .244 in the first half of the season. Fans responded by booing, but he went 2-for-4 against the Tigers. "I hoped he would do well," Dierker said. "I tried to point out to him that there was a lot of opportunity in that spot for a guy who gets a lot of RBIs. We're hoping the other guys will get on base and give him more RBI opportunities." Dierker collapsed in the dugout on June 13, and two days later had brain surgery to repair malformed blood vessels. Houston went 13-14 under interim manager Matt Galante, the team's bench coach. "It was a wonderful comeback to come back with a comeback win," Dierker said. "That's kind of the way we did it last year." Dierker received two standing ovations, one before the game and again when Dierker and his wife Judy had their pictures shown on an outfield screen. "I thought I'd be more emotional when I went out with the lineups," Dierker said. "But the umpires were very gracious and we started talking about things, and then it was business as usual." The Astros didn't get started until they were behind 6-0. Then they wound up with their biggest comeback since rallying from a four-run deficit to beat Minnesota 6-4 in June 4. With the Astros trailing 6-0, Jeff Bagwell hit a three-run homer off Dave Mlicki in the fifth. Houston pulled within a run in the sixth after Bell reached on first baseman Tony Clark's error leading off. Tim Bogar tripled to make it 6-4 and scored on pinch-hitter Matt Mieske's groundout.
