All series talk goes in here. Non series talk goes somewhere else. No PBP, that can be found from other sources if you need it. All games are broadcast on AT&T Sports SW unless otherwise noted. 4-24 Jose Urquidy (R) vs. Taj Bradley (R) 5:40 MLBN 4-25 Luis Garcia (R) vs. Drew Rasmussen (R) 5:40 4-26 Hunter Brown (R) TBD 5:40 One thing I have noticed is the Rangers have only played 3 teams with a winning record with their next series against the 7-15 Reds. They are 4-5 in those games and 10-2 against the A's, Royals and Phillies ( who were trash the first 2 weeks of the season). While the Astros have been playing arguably better teams including 3 division leaders which will be 4 after this series.
https://theathletic.com/4440986/202...thout-jose-altuve/?source=user_shared_article ATLANTA — Yordan Alvarez leads the American League with 25 RBIs yet insisted on Friday he feels “uncomfortable” at the plate. Alvarez is striking out at an alarming rate, chasing outside the strike zone more than at any point in his career and still carrying the Astros through April. Alvarez continued his Herculean task on Saturday night, hammering a hanging curveball from Kyle Wright into the second deck to awaken the Astros from their five-inning slumber at Truist Park. Two batters later, Kyle Tucker followed Alvarez’s two-run home run with one of his own. The two men drove in four of Houston’s six runs in a 6-4, series-clinching victory. The sixth-inning sequence epitomized a somewhat enigmatic Astros offense, one thriving without two injured linchpins and while a prized free-agent acquisition authors one of the worst months of his career. Manager Dusty Baker has written 17 different batting orders in the team’s first 21 games, searching for any semblance of continuity from so many moving parts. The team is slugging just .389 with a .719 OPS, but averaging 5.14 runs per game. Only six offenses are scoring more. Baker has tried three different leadoff hitters to replace Jose Altuve and enters every game with one of the least experienced benches of his 26-year managerial career. On Saturday, for example, the Astros’ four reserve position players combined for 140 career major-league plate appearances. Alvarez and Tucker have teamed to drive in 42 of the Astros’ first 104 runs, representing two of the only constants in a lineup searching for others. Career utilityman Mauricio Dubón has cemented himself as the Astros’ temporary second baseman and will carry the sport’s longest hitting streak into Sunday’s series finale at Truist Park. The concerns he’s calmed and lift he’s provided can’t be overstated. Veteran outfielder Michael Brantley will begin a minor-league rehab assignment at Triple-A Sugar Land on Sunday with a goal of returning during the first week in May. Altuve is not expected back until late May or early June, though, meaning the Astros won’t be whole for the foreseeable future. The Astros now have a blueprint on how to proceed in the interim, but some trends feel less sustainable than others. The José Abreu dilemma Abreu is a notorious slow starter. His career OPS in March/April is .778. He boasts an .835 clip or higher in every other month. That — and perhaps that alone — affords at least some optimism Abreu will morph into the hitter Houston paid $58.5 million this winter. Not much else in Abreu’s underlying metrics suggests a turnaround is near. He averaged an 87 mph exit velocity on the first 63 batted balls of his season — more than four miles per hour softer than his career average. His 22.7 percent strikeout rate and 27.3 percent whiff rate are all above his career averages. Entering Saturday, only 15 qualified hitters had a lower OPS than Abreu’s .574 mark. Abreu entered Saturday’s game slashing .253/.295/.289. His expected slugging percentage, according to Statcast, is .393. The Astros accepted that age may have sapped some of Abreu’s power, but still hailed the 36-year-old as an elite run producer. Baker keeps treating him as such, but it’s worth wondering how much longer he can afford it. Abreu has hit cleanup in all 21 games this season and, as a result, has taken more plate appearances with runners on base than any Astros hitter. Abreu has as many strikeouts (10) as RBIs (10) during those situations. Baker is very wary of batting two lefthanded hitters — Alvarez and Tucker — back-to-back in his batting order, but if Abreu continues to crater, he may have no choice. Jeremy Peña’s fastball problem Expecting Jeremy Peña to repeat his playoff performance throughout his sophomore season is silly. Peña had an out-of-body experience last October while guiding the Astros to a World Series championship, slashing .345/.367/.638 in 61 postseason plate appearances — numbers that don’t at all match the offensive tendencies Peña showed during the regular season. Peña’s numbers this April are more akin to the type of hitter he is over a larger sample size: a power threat with a problem making contact and a propensity to chase breaking pitches down and away. He entered Saturday’s game slashing .226/.293/.405. Nine of his 19 hits have been for extra bases. A 29 percent whiff rate and a team-high 23 strikeouts are problematic, but not unexpected. What is? Peña’s perplexing struggles against fastballs. He slugged .560 with a .293 batting average against four-seam fastballs last season, but went into Saturday’s game just 3-for-22 with nine strikeouts against them. Peña is seeing slightly more four-seamers (27.5 percent) than sliders (26.1 percent). Peña had a run value of 6 against four-seamers last season. Entering Saturday, it was negative-3. “That tells me he’s so conscious of the breaking ball,” Baker said. “And when you’re conscious of the breaking ball, and they’re throwing you a lot of breaking balls, then they can slip that fastball by him. I saw it happen to Matt Williams when I was the batting coach (with the San Francisco Giants). You get so breaking ball conscious that you can’t hit fastballs.”
I remember when posters here were questioning and up in arms when Corey Julks got rostered over Justin Dirden at the beginning of the season. So far Julks has a .824 OPS in the big leagues while Dirden has a .585 OPS down in AAA. They knew what they were doing.
I was reading something on The Athletic yesterday and remember Lewis Brinson? Baker said it was Brinson who told Baker to keep an eye on him because he felt that he was ready for the MLB.
Were they up in arms or were they just surprised? Julks making the opening day roster was shocking because he never seemed to be in competition so it was very much out of left field, but I don't recall people being particularly mad at the choice. Most people didn't know who either of them was until a few weeks into camp.
I’d love to make a statement this series. Does it mean much this early? Probably not, but would be fun to beat up on them.
Is this meant to be funny? If so, I don't get it. I don't think people knew enough about him to know he was black*. *edit: I should have said African- American. My apologies.
Julks is a great story. He was so pumped when he delivered that clutch pinch hit. You can see the dude is hungry and determined.
Yeah, they're already planning the parade route up here in the Metroplex and acting like they haven't been completely ignoring Arlington's li'l ballclub for the last 7 seasons. Oddly, utter nobody Dave Raymond hasn't felt the need to publicly admonish their douchebag fans about it.
Most random group of teams I've ever seen The 4 major sports are covered though. Good by you Go Stros!!
If Yordan has to have a day off, given the current roster, I like this. Pena has a chance to show he needs/deserves the 2 hole. Tucker gets a shot to produce higher in order Abreu gets some pressure taken off ( watch him hit #1 tonight !) By moving back to #5 Which opens up the possibility of keeping him there and Tuck moving up. Julks gets to play while he's hot. Diaz gets another start.
Pena batting second, thank God. Probably a one-off so I shouldn't get excited. The lineup should be come June 1: Altuve Pena Alvarez Bregman Tucker Abreu Brantley McCormick Diaz (I'm done with Maldy) Julks and Dubon off the Bench. That would be the best offensive team in baseball.
