This may go down as one of the weirdest seasons in history for your Houston Astros. They are barely over .500, have a negative run differential, yet still lead what is the worst division in baseball.
They have days where they couldn’t hit a softball lobbed at them by a 12-year old and other days where they look like the Big Red Machine. Their starting pitching is shaky at best and they are as likely to implode in their bullpen as they are to have a closer who is now 21-21 in save opportunities with an ERA under 1.
Oh, and did we mention they are unworldly bad against teams under .500 and one of the best teams in baseball against winning ball clubs?
Weird, right?
After a weekend of winning baseball, they still remain on track to make the postseason and very few teams are as enigmatic. Here are some thoughts.
Yordan homers finally.
The presumptive AL MVP had not gone yard in 13 games until he yanked one over the right field fence against the Mets in a losing effort Saturday. Alvarez remains in the race for the Triple Crown as well, still leading by a wide margin in batting average, a closer number in home runs, and is tied in RBIs. If he can pick up his offense after his recent “slump” this is a team that will certainly complete the division crown, and Alvarez should stroll off with the MVP award easily.
What is it with bad teams?
Regardless of your choice math (wins against teams above/below .500 at the time they played or currently), the Astros are confounding in their splits against good and bad teams. They lost three straight series to the dregs of the American League last weekend only to come back and handle the Yankees on the road and take care of a bad, but relatively hot Mets team as well. If that holds up, the Astros should have some great success over the next week-plus. They face the White Sox, Diamondbacks, Phillies and Rays. All have winning records and two lead their divisions. They also have the Braves on the schedule in the near term, but watch out for those series against the Royals, A’s and Mariners. We can’t believe we are saying that.
Joe Espada hangs in limbo.
After the “parting ways” with Dana Brown, most assumed that Espada would likely see his job as manager disappear after the season ended. His contract is up and with the departure of Brown and a bunch of awful recent losses, the writing seemed to be on the wall. But Espada, like his very odd team, is resilient. This doesn’t mean he remains this team’s manager into next year. The smart money is on owner Jim Crane cleaning house. Even a deep run in the postseason doesn’t mean much (ask James Click!). Still, Espada is a solid manager and his players love him. Don’t be surprised if they rally and do better than we think making Crane’s decision more difficult.
