Mostly. That didn't include yesterday, but now that BR has been updated: 82 games since the collision: .246/.282/.305 for an OPS of .587 over 82 games.
Interesting observation, the slump does seem to coincide with the collison, although he did go 3-5 in his first game back. I would put more creedence into this if I hadn't watched Altuve have a similar downturn last year. His job isn't in danger so he'll have all of next year to see what happens.
It is uncanny how far he fell after that collision. I think it may have triggered the slump, but it is just bizarre that he would stick in it this long.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Astros lineup vs. White Sox Grossman 7 Hoes 9 Altuve 4 Castro 2 Dominguez 5 Carter DH Wallace 3 Barnes 8 Villar 6 RHP Clemens 1</p>— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrtizKicks/statuses/372460370293567488">August 27, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Seriously. Dude has historically done his best hitting in the leadoff spot. There has never been anything about his performance that says, "best hitter on the team".
Castro could interchangeably hit either 3rd or cleanup and I'd be fine. I don't know who I'd want batting third otherwise, but definitely not Altuve. Maybe Dominguez could get a shot?
Hoes? High contact and a doubles guy? I know he is a perfect 2 spot guy, but Jose needs to get away from batting third.
Matty D got me feelin' some type of way right now. Saw a Pedro Feliz comp for him last night from Bryan "The Batguy" Trostel last night. He's a contributor for Astros County. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>For discussion: does Matt Dominguez = Pedro feliz?</p>— Bryan Trostel (@The_Batguy) <a href="https://twitter.com/The_Batguy/statuses/372163368519761920">August 27, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It's actually a pretty perfect comparison. If Dominguez can play great defense and maintain an OPS around .700 I'll take it. It's not stellar, but solid. That OPS goes a little further now than when Feliz did it.
Really this teams improvement has already started, but the bullpen is gonna result in us having basically the same record as we had the last 2 years. This pen has been a catastrophe. If it was even competent we would easily avoid 100 losses, and would possibly surpass 70 wins. If our bullpen just gave up one run every 2 innings, which would still make it the worst in baseball, opponents would have scored 66 less runs
We are playing too good, obviously. Not that I'm missing him, but anybody notice Harrell hasn't pitched since he started on 8-19? The whole bullpen usage has been very strange this month. Starters being shuffled to the pen, leaving guys out there way too long to using different pitchers every batter. There is no consistency.
