Breathin' Orange Fire

With the return of Jose Altuve from the COVID IL on Monday, the Astros were able to run out their first choice lineup for the first time since April 12. And as I looked at the lineup, it looked strong--7-deep with above average major league hitters.  And that the lineup seems 7 deep is important, because before the season, I would have said it was 6 deep.  Altuve and Brantley are high batting average guys at the top, followed by the on base ability of Bregman, Yordan's huge power, Correa's all-around ability and Tucker's lefty slugging ability.  Yuli Gurriel.  His 2021 walk rates are as high as his hairstyle. But the lineup is now 7 deep. And that has been due to the marked improvement we have seen so far by Yuli Gurriel.  After  95 plate apparances in 22 games, Yuli is slashing .352/.463/.570 for a wOBA of .447 and a wRC+ of 201.   What is driving this improvement in Gurriel's performance at the plate? The most notable change in Yuli's numbers is...

 The Astros return home tonight and the starting pitcher will be Cristian Javier. Javier was optioned to the alternate site on April 10th to allow him to focus on s tretching out as a starter .  The Astros could have placed Javier in the bullpen, where he would have been quite welcome over the last 11 days. The choice to have Javier focus on working longer in games, combined with the front office's choice this off-season not to bring in potential 5th starter candidates on either major league or non-roster invitee Spring Training contracts, reflects a view by the Astros front office that Javier's long term role on this team is as a starting pitcher. This stands in contrast with some of the scouting reports on Javier as a prospect. In early 2020, Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel identified Javier as the Astros 6th best prospect and wrote that " It may be in a 90 or 100 inning bullpen role, but Javier projects to be a core piece of Houston’s staff." That matched thei...

Seattle is one of my favorite cities, and that fact, combined with the mediocrity of the Mariners franchise over the last decade, makes it hard to imagine having a bad weekend in America's Emerald City .  And yet, here we are. In the crosshairs of the team's beat reporters and Twitter followers is the bullpen. On Friday night, five relievers combined to give up 4 runs and to blow a 3 run lead. On Sunday, a disastrous 5th inning, highlighted by a 2 run homer given up by Brooks Raley to the first batter he faced turned the ballgame to the Mariners advantage. The Astros managed to avoid a bullpen blowup on Saturday night primarily by not using it--starter Zack Greinke went 8 strong innings before Ryan Pressly earned his first save of the season. I add here to the #Discourse around the Astros bullpen.  But I hope not to add to the "sky if falling; I'm gonna call sports talk radio about it" sense that is percolating throughout the fanbase. My take is is more subtle, if...

 After the opening series of the season, I wrote a post titled " That Was Fun ."  Welp, this series against the Tigers was the opposite--it was very much not fun. And yesterday, the misery was exacerbated with the news that five Astros--Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman, Robel Garcia, and Martin Maldonado--had been placed on the IL due to MLB's "health and safety protocols" created to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.   Alexanders' Last Name?  Apparently Bregman Lance McCullers then went out and pitched a stinker. The bats couldn't get a big hit with the bases loaded in the 8th and 9th innings. Dusty decided that since we didn't have COVID in the '90s, he'd fight the virus by sending out a lineup crafted in the '90s. As a result, Carlos Correa watched the game's final out from the on deck circle. And after the game, Dusty noted that McCullers was sick and was trying to gut out a performance.   What a terrible, horrible, no ...

Today marks the return of AJ Hinch to Houston, one season, 15 months, and seeming lifetime from when he was fired as a result of the Astros efforts to steal opponents’ signs in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Yeah, this will take some getting used to. Hinch’s return to Houston at the helm of the Detroit Tigers leaves me with a feeling of longing.  Hinch is the man who I want to be our manager.  The attitude of Astros fans towards Hinch’s return has been extremely positive. This twitter poll by talk radio host Sean Pendergast may not be scientific, but shows massive support for Hinch among his followers. Dusty Baker said in his post-game press conference Saturday that Hinch “oughta be embraced like he deserves to be embraced” by Astros fans. Hinch was complimentary of Houston fans, saying “The Houston fans have been incredible to me. Both before the sign-stealing, after the sign-stealing when I was the manager there..It’s home for me. That city matters to me..Obviously, it’ll b...

Carlos Correa is a really good baseball player. If you needed more proof of this fact, Correa provided it in the top of the 9th inning on Tuesday in Anaheim. Correa drilled a pitch from Angels closer Raisel Iglesias at 108.6 MPH for a game winning two-run homer.   After the game, Correa said “I like hitting...when the game is on the line. That’s when I feel sexy.”  I also feel sexy when Correa hits late in the game.  Correa celebrates his game winning homer. Correa’s late game heroics brings up an important question--how much is a star shortstop worth? In New York, a star shortstop is worth $34.1 million a year for 10 years. In San Diego, a star shortstop is worth $31.6 million over the 10 years their shortstop is eligible for free agency. In Houston, it’s different. Correa is eligible for free agency after this season. The front office did approach Correa with contract extension offers during Spring Training, first offering him $20 million a year for six years....

It's good to win the first game of the season because it's always fun to make the 162-0 joke.  It's even better to win the first four games of the season because it's even better to get to make the joke four times.   The Astros curb stomped the A's this weekend in Oakland, winning all 4 games by a combined score of 35-9. How did it go for the A's?  Their most effective pitcher this weekend was position player Ka'ai Tom, who threw a scoreless inning in the top of the 9th inning on Sunday, after being sent to the hill by manager Bob Melvin as a human white flag.  The Astros took an early lead in all f our games , and added on late in three of them to drain this early season showdown of the top two contenders in the AL West of any late drama.  As an Astros fan, this series was a ton of fun to watch.  This was only four games in a season that will feature 162 of them. There will be many more games to play, including another four game set against th...