April 11, 1986: Astros 2, Braves 1

Attendance: 9,357, Game Duration: 2:14.
Record: 2-2, 1 game behind SF in the NL West

Astros Starting Lineup

Doran 2B
Bullock LF
Walling 3B
Davis 1B
Bass CF
Bailey C
Thon SS
Hatcher RF
Deshaies P

The Atlanta Braves sucked in the mid-to-late 1980s. In fact, they kind sucked for a while there, making the playoffs once between 1970 and 1990. Even crazier than that, until their worst-to-first charge to win the NL Pennant in 1991, the Braves hadn't won a single game in the playoffs since the 1958 World Series. 1958!

Rookie Jim Deshaies got his first start as an Astro and wow, what a sign of things to come. Jimmy D went 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, 1 earned run, and 1 walk while striking out 5. He was matched inning by inning by Atlanta's David Palmer, who allowed 4 hits and 2 runs in 7 innings, striking out 10.
The Astros scratched out the game's first run in the bottom of the second on a groundout RBI by Dickie Thon that scored Glenn Davis. That was the ballgame until the top of the sixth when future Astro legend Rafael Ramirez hit a two-out home run off the rookie to tie things at 1.
The Astros lifted Deshaies to start the seventh and Charlie Kerfeld pitched two shutout innings in reilef. Kerfeld lined up for the win when Glenn Davis blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh, his second of the year. Dave Smith put the Braves down in order in the ninth to notch his first save of 1986. Davis went 2-for-3 and took over the team RBI lead at 4. Kerfeld would start the season with six straight scoreless outings comprising 15 innings during which time he struck out 15 batters before allowing a run.

agproducer said:

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It's going to be a long Sunday without the Astros.

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Got bracket play for my son's baseball team today. Plenty of baseball!

agproducer said:

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It's going to be a long Sunday without the Astros.

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You could watch the Aggies try to salvage a series against the baseball powerhouse of Alabama

Going Tuesday night. Excited to see his Astros debut

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Ouch...that looks bad. Was carted off.

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Sucks for Fowler

No Miggy this week

Ag_07 said:

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Or this little rinky dink golf tournament called The Masters

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We'll always have Tiger 05.

Looks like I get to watch McCullers again at MMP. Should just team him with Abreu and ask for 4 innings each. Close as needed.

Yep. I guess it helps us a little but you still hate to see it, especially for a former Astro who seems like a good dude.

Yeah, just isn't right and seems silly. A team would trade a Thursday night game for a Sunday game all day. No reason to take one away.

Was there any reason given for this? I'm sure this has happened to our schedule before, but I can't remember it.

Harry Dunne said:

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Was there any reason given for this? I'm sure this has happened to our schedule before, but I can't remember it.

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I don't recall a Sunday with no game.

Its been awhile

https://climbingtalshill.com/2021/04/08/astros-sunday-interesting-day-team-history/

Quote:

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As the occasional off days in major league history have been a dreaded Monday or Thursday, over time the schedules started to change. For the Houston Astros, they will be off this Sunday, April 11, for the first time in over 20 years.

While it is a tough task to go deep into the files of previous season's schedules, I have done the work for you. Since 2003, the Astros have never missed playing on Sunday in the regular season,

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I feel like the Astros took off the first 16 Sundays in a row last season! Lazy asses.

I haven't seen one but two theories:

1) I know early on there are some weird dates / times as MLB tries to get as much tv content as they can while everyone is excited. Given almost everyone plays Sunday, maybe they wanted more content on Monday and Thursday the first full week (traditional off days, we played both days against division rivals that should be decent).

2) We had an early 2 gamer against the Angels after A's. Might have been a travel benefit to knock that out all in a row. Unfortunately that meant the rare Wednesday off. Rather than 2 days in a row they started the next series Thursday. The A's haven't had a day off yet so prolly didn't want to turn it into a 4 game series.

spadilly said:

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Off days....(on a Sunday?!?!?!)

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Came here for this. Knew this thread would deliver.

Brooks Raley should watch his back

Oh my... I thought Straw was fast but this is next level

The Phillies SS was a little lazy on the throw over to 1st but still takes serious speed

That was more than a little lazy when you know a speedster is at the plate. That was REALLY lazy.

That also wasn't a particularly strong throw across the diamond. If you're going to lollygag, it better look like a cannon shot it to first

I am actually watching this game and thought the SS blew that play. Credit to Acuna for busting it down the line. I was surprised the announcers didn't say anything about how long the SS took.

Am I missing something here?

That SS didn't lolligag that and he made a strong throw.

Ag_07 said:

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Am I missing something here?

That SS didn't lolligag that and he made a strong throw.

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I agree that the throw looked like your normal throw from short to 1st. He takes a few extra gather steps before the throw that probably weren't necessary and could have been cut out

bearkatag15 said:

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Ag_07 said:

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Am I missing something here?

That SS didn't lolligag that and he made a strong throw.

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I agree that the throw looked like your normal throw from short to 1st. He takes a few extra gather steps before the throw that probably weren't necessary and could have been cut out

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This. Count how many steps he takes before throwing. Can't do that with a speedster.

Lollygag may be a little too harsh.

Kashchei said:

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It will be good to see Hinch return to MMP tomorrow. He would/should still be our skipper if Crane wasn't a little *****...

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To be honest I like Baker's approach better

agdaddy04 said:

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AggiEE said:

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Kashchei said:

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It will be good to see Hinch return to MMP tomorrow. He would/should still be our skipper if Crane wasn't a little *****...

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To be honest I like Baker's approach better

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You're not serious??

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Totally serious. And I realize that won't be a popular opinion. I think Hinch began to way over analyze certain aspects of the game. He got us a ring and I'll always credit him for that, but he didn't stick to his guns in 2019 which should have been our second title.

Despite not making it to the WS last year, nothing stood out much about Baker's decisions that made me scratch my head much.