Porkchop's Astro Shanks Report 5/4/24
Score: 5-3 over the Mariners
I knew it was over when: Julio Rodriguez had his powers stolen by a witch, possibly Mother Talzin of the Night Sisters on May the Fourth
Record: 12-20 (.375)
Projected Record Pace: 61-101. This pace has improved by 17 games in the past 7 days.
Run Differential?: -14, 10th in the AL
The White Sox Run Differential? -87, on pace for 440, 91 runs worse than the MLB record is -349 by the 1932 Boston Braves.
To get to 90 wins: 78-52 (.600)
To get to 81 wins: 69-61(.531)
Putting the cart slightly ahead of the horse here: After Seattle, it's 3 on the road at the Yankees. They started the year 10-2 including sweeping us at home. They are 11-11 since.
Last night's win was an excellent lesson in baseball for two reasons:1) You can get dominated for 6 innings by a great pitcher and still win.
2) Next time you think we never get any luck, realize we got about 2 weeks of luck in the 7th/8th innings.
Someone told Bregman to just stand there until the pitcher has thrown at least 3 pitches: And it produced a 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk night. That's perfect.
Did you go insane when they pinch hit Meyers for Yuey Guperfido? Fortunately I was doing my Friday night ritual of watching Survivor with my daughter it worked out or I would have lost it And of course it worked out.
Bully for the bullpen: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 K. That's how you do it.
The AL West is: The tightest division in baseball. First to last is a 5-game swing. Meanwhile the White Sox are 14 games out and Miami is 13.5 on May 4.
Not so much pow pow? Arlington averaging 3.3 runs per game over the last 13, going 6-7.
I'm going to keep banging the A's drum: They are looking like the '15 Astros. Up to 16-17 with a win yesterday. Last year it took them 66 games to get to 16 wins.
Altuve Watch: He recorded hit #2,093 last night to take sole possession of #241. He's 2 behind Alfonso Soriano, who needed almost 900 more plate appearances to reach that total. If he stays healthy, he'll pass Bagwell (2,314) for 2nd on the Astro career list next year. He's the 170th player to get to 300 career steals. He's tied with Frank Taveras, who led league with 70 for the Pirates in 1977, and BJ Upton, who I totally forgot about until I saw his name. BJ had 40+ 3 years in a row for Tampa at one point. There are a lot of impressive players to pass in the next 20 steals, including Beltran, Rafael Furcal, Jose Cuz, Andre Dawson, and Tony Gwynn. He also played in his 1,700th career game yesterday. His next game (today) will get him into the top 500 all time. Pete Rose is #1 with a staggering 3,562.
Feels so good, feelin' good again.
