Positive stats/comments only please. Our division is shaping up to be the worst division in the AL. Even with our worst start in 55 years, we're still only 6.5 out of first place with 134 games to go. A hot streak this summer puts us right back in the mix. Altuve is leading the AL in OPS. Tucker is 5th. Our rotation isn't pitching as bad as it seems. Valdez, Verlander, Javier and Blanco have a combined 7-0 record and 1.83 ERA in 14 starts. The 5th spot is our only issue with Brown, France, Arrighetti and Henley combining for a 9.49 ERA.
We've seen the expected formula work...you get a solid start for 5 to 6 innings, then you shorten the game with a beast back end of the bullpen, which is even better now that Montero is looking like the 2022 Montero. As more starters return from injury (Javier, Urquidy), and if just ONE of Brown, Arrighetti, or France can just be serviceable, and the offense can perform the way they were expected to, we can rattle off long win streaks several times over. We just weren't getting the quality starts we needed due to injury, the back end of the BP was uncharacteristically bad, and 3B and 1B production has been so bad merely turning the lights on will improve things there.
Beating CLE in this series will be huge. Yanier, Pena, and Montero are also off to pretty good starts. Hopefully Altuve, Yordan, and Tucker steal MVP votes from each other when it's all said and done. MAY will be a good month.
Altuve and Tucker playing like MVPs. Alvarez, Pena, Diaz, Framber, Javier, Blanco, Verlander playing like All-Stars. Caratini exceeding expectations. Pressly, Hader, Dubin all with dominant underlying numbers. Rotation getting healthy which will have a trickle down across the entire pitching staff. Loperfido could be the answer to the only real issue on offense (1B). Team still projects for 83 wins despite the 2nd worst start in franchise history.
I’m 2 weeks away from hitting the panic button. Need to play at least 500 ball with the tough stretch coming up to stabilize. If we do that then all the stuff we’ve been saying looks like reasons and not rationalizations.
I’m sure the Astro haters of the world would hope the team fell on its face. But there is simply too much talent on the team to be this bad for too much longer. The ball has most definitely not bounced in the Astros favor, because what could go wrong was going wrong; Bad bounces, injuries, bum luck… With 4 healthy of their better starters in the rotation, the Astros should be able to save the bullpen for strategic matches and hopefully have a better outcome. I would venture to say May should be a near back to .500 record wise. They are down 9 game from .500 so obviously they won’t make up all the ground unless they go on a sustained win streak. But agree that no need to hit the panic button.
We are an extra inning loss (to the best team in the AL) away from having a 5-game win streak. Besides "JV Jr." our starting rotation is really rounding into shape. And that's without Javier who is coming back soon. Singleton seems to be embracing his new starting role. Jose Altuve is still really good at baseball. Our division still sucks. Relatively speaking.
It's insane how much damage was done the first month of the season, despite winning 4 out of 5 we are still tied for second worst record in the AL. I really feel like the turnaround had to happen during the Nats/Cubs road series to prevent this from being insurmountable. Astros can't afford to just play above .500 ball the rest of the way, they have to have two months somewhere (one to nullify the bad April, and another to get to playoff contention) where their record is just as good as their April was bad, I'm talking two months of 18-10 baseball. There is literally zero margin for error already and it's only May 3rd. It's a tall order....but I guess I'm not panicked about it, yet.
