- Author
Posted May 17, 2019
Astros News and Notes on an off day for the team.
So, Jose Altuve better get his quad or hamstring, whichever got hurt, better soon because Aledmys Diaz has been playing pretty well. He’s also, with extra playing time been a much better hitter than he was prior to Altuve going on IL.
Houston as they sit right now on May 16, 2019 own the best record in baseball. They are tied in wins (29) with the LA Dodgers but they have one less loss. Interestingly enough, in 2017 at the same point in the season they were 29-14 compared to the Astros 2019 record of 29-15. (Cue the eerie music here!) Houston is also on pace to set a new MLB record for home runs in a season if they continue on their current pace.
Houston is currently two wins away from their 2nd 10 game winning streak of the season. Houston is 9-1 in their last 10 games and they have won 8 in a row so far. That streak will be put to the test when they begin a 3-game series against the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox in Bahst’n.
There is an article on the Astros website talking about how George Springer is the ‘heart and soul’ of the Astros. I can believe that and if you read the article I’m sure you will too. Even Jose Altuve says so and that is plenty good enough for me. In the article it talks about how Joey Cora, former Astros bench coach and since 2017 the Bosox manager took his best player, Mookie Betts, aside and told him he was moving him to the leadoff spot in the batting order at the start of the 2017 season. Betts asked Cora what he wanted him to do and Cora responded by saying, “Just do what George Springer does.” Just shows to go ya what kind of respect Springer has in the league.
The Astros veteran reliever, Joe Smith who has been on IL since before the season began because he had Achilles surgery in the offseason has been doing some light running and he has actually thrown off a mound a couple of times. Smith is expected back late in the summer which will give the Astros a quality arm, a fresh quality arm, in the bullpen for the stretch run of the season.
Houston has the largest lead of any division leader in either league, 7.5 games and they are 13 games over .500 heading into the Bahst’n series.
I don’t know if its due to the Astros new hitting coach, or coaches as Houston now has two, Alex Cintron and Try Snitker or the influence of hitting machine Michael Brantley or some combination of those and other factors but I suspect the new hitting coaches have a lot to do with this lineup. None are a better example of the change than Jake Marisnick and Josh Reddick. Who would ever have thought that Big Jake would be hitting .313 past the ¼ mark of the season? Jake barely hit above the Mendoza Line in 2018 and his career BA is .230 for goodness sake. Jake is in a contract year and if he keeps this up all year he will be in for a huge payday come 2020 because there is nobody, and I mean nobody better as a defensive outfielder than the Jakester and now he’s got a legit stick to go with it???? Ged oudda heah, as they say in Brooklyn. Josh Reddick is a career .264 hitter. Last year he slumped to a .242 BA. In 2019 do date Reddick is hitting a team and AL leading .333. I’ll bet you look like that cartoon character whose jaw drops to the floor and his eyes bugged way out their eye sockets when you read that that stat. It’s due in large part to Reddick changing his whole hitting style. Prior to this year Reddick was a dead pull hitter and opposing teams employed the dreaded “shift” where 3 infielders play on the pull side of the infield and the outfield shifts to cover roughly 1/3 of the outfield because that’s where the ball will be going. So-called baseball experts say “The Shift” should be banned because it’s unfair to the hitters. Poppyco*ck! The way to beat “The Shift” is to learn to go opposite field where there are only 2 defenders covering roughly 2/3 of the field. Old time Hall of Fame baseball player “Wee Willy” Keeler had good advice for hitters in his day, ‘Keep your eye clear and hit ‘em where they ain’t.’ Josh Reddick has taken that advice and he learned to go opposite field. He learned it so well teams don’t even employ “The Shift” on him any more. I also credit the Astros hitting coaches for encouraging Reddick’s change in philosophy. In last night’s game the worst BA in the lineup was Aledmys Diaz’ .256. It’s taking Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel a bit of time getting up to speed, but those guys will get it and when they do, watch out because even if the starting pitching is bad it won’t matter because of how many runs this team will score. Without the offense clicking on all cylinders the Astros just destroyed the Detroit Tigers in their recent 3 game series. Houston score a total of 23 runs. We’ll see how Houston does against a resurgent Red Sox team who has clawed out of the AL East cellar to 3rd place just four games behind division leading Tampa Bay. Unlike the Rockets, the Astros are not chokers and I will be happy to see them push the Bosox back toward the cellar this weekend.
- Quote
