The Astros have gone without a home run for 3 consecutive games. In 2017, this occurred only once, and that came during a 5-game drought from Sept 12 to 16 vs the Angels and Mariners.
Gerrit Cole looks like a man on a mission right now. Only 2 starts so you don't want to overreact but holy hell he looks great. As good as we are you almost feel guilty with a win like this.......almost.
technically, isn't that hosmer's ball tho? correct me if i'm wrong because that's what i was always taught and watched. ellis could've gotten it (maybe a tad difficult tho despite the shortened distance) but to catch a towering pop fly like that, he would've had to remove his mask, turn and look for the spin of the ball, and catch it with padded mitts. you really only see them make plays like that if it's in foul territory. it was difficult for hosmer since he had to sprint 80 feet but he had enough time. he simply just overran it. the pitcher could've fielded it as well but that's not their job nor are they taught to do so. pitchers/catchers, in general, are supposed to concede to the corner infielders on infield pop flies. plus the catcher has to kind of stay at home in case of a misplay since we had a guy on 2nd (and rounding 3rd). i'm aware that the pitcher can cover home there though but you don't wait them involved in a bang-bang play at home if it came to it (they are always supposed to get out of the way). good on hosmer for owning it though, regardless.
Appears the Astros went Patriots-Spurs by acquiring Cole. Everything this franchise does will be the MLB Standard for the foreseeable future.
This discussion raises the important point that if the runner had been a slow-poke, Hosmer may well have had time to throw home for an out at the plate after the ball dropped. Fisher has cost the team offensively with his high K% but at least he made it up for that in part today with his speed.
Of course he will take responsibility, but the catcher for some reason stayed planted at home plate. At the very least he should have run towards it and been called off by Hosmer. Hosmer had to run 75+ feet. The catcher, perhaps 15. Fron Ellis: It was in that no-man’s land,” he said. “… In hindsight, I should have more aggressively went for it and gave us another option out there. I put Hos in a bad position having to run full speed. Definitely something I should have went for, been out there in the mix. No excuse. You catch the ball. You’ve got to go want to catch the ball right there.”
I was going to make this point if someone hadn't already. Add to it, if not for the steal earlier, no run would have scored either. It was a heads up play to run full out towards home on a ball that was almost certainly going to be caught.
I mainly lurk during the regular season. Baseball seasons have so many swings that I'm sure anything I posted about how the team is doing now will change half a dozen times by the all-star game. So I won't spend too much time talking about how awesome Cole has been. I will say that was one of the strangest walk-offs I've ever seen. I am very happy we won the game. But that was just nuts.
Astros players getting worked up over playing in temps in the 50s. No heater in MMP, it would be cold with a closed roof. Don't show them the forecast for Minnesota.
Much like Bregman's "hit" looks like a line drive in the box score, that game sure looks like a win in the standings.
Not sure what they're b!tching about today, but they HATE playing in cold weather. It gets in their heads: it kills your hands if you don't square up a ball, the ball feels like an ice cube and you can't grip it, they all worry about pulling a muscle. I can attest that it freaking sucks.
The roof is open? If I were attending the game I wouldn't be too happy about that. I know a lot of folks will scoff at the wimpy Texan, but f**k that jazz, I hate being cold.
