Astros earn third straight win and are at the top of the AL West!

It is early to say if the Astros are going to be for long at the top of the division but definitely it has been a surprise. Before the season started there were a lot of question marks with the starting pitcher rotation. People questioned if Keuchel and McHugh were the aces expected to be and needed to prove that last season was not a fluke. Feldman has always been steady over his career and you know what you get with him, but the other 2 spots were and unproven rookie and a veteran that has not showed a lot of consistency. Mix this with a high strikeout offense and there will be a lot of questions if the starting pitcher can hold long enough for some production.

The Astros struggled to get on base and produce runs early this season. But even with the bats silenced the starting rotation has surprised us all, providing a high number of quality starts and keeping the Astros in the game to earn some wins even with the bats struggling. The Astros entered yesterday contest with a 2.81 ERA that was the third best in the American League. And in combination with the advertised bullpen that has lived to expectations the Astros have kept games close and maintain leads giving them good chances to win. If only the bats started to get going! And it certainly has for some of them.

Jake Marisnick has been outstanding at the bottom of the order with a .324 AVG combining great with Altuve in a transition of the order punch that has put some scores opportunities on the board. The power early this season has been quiet from the expected Springer, Gattis, Carter combo but  Luis Valbuena (5) and Jed Lowrie (3) combine for eight homeruns this season giving the Astros a lot to hope when the trio start to hit some.

Today the Astros (7-6) can take another series by the hand of Collin McHugh (2-0) who takes the mound. Mchugh has posted a 1.54 ERA to begin the season allowing only 2 runs in his two starts. He will face Mariners righ-hander Taijuan Walker who has only been able to throw for 7 1/3 innings in his two starts carrying a 17.18 ERA. The game is schedule to start at 9:10 PM CT.

George Springer sensational catch, propels Astros to win Rangers Series

George Springer certainly made an impact yesterday to help the Astros win the series over the Rangers. He would have wanted it to be with his offense who has been quiet so far to begin the season, batting only .174 on 23 at bats and just 1 RBI. Instead it was his defense that helped the Astros chances to take the series from the Rangers. He made a spectacular catch robbing what it could have been a walk-off grand slam for Leonys Martin on the 10th inning .(Springer Robs Grand Slam).

The Astros then won pulling ahead 6-4 thanks to a homerun of Hank Conger in the 14th inning. Dallas Keuchel pitched another quality start but a rally of the Rangers late in the game did not let him earn his second win of the season. The bottom of the order keeps again the hot bats and Jake Marisnick has been terrific this season, he has been more than just a great link between the 9th spot and the top of the order,  he is providing the Astros a spark at the bottom of the order and bringing some runs in. The Astros just need for their power hitters to wake up as Carter, Springer, and Gattis are still looking for their first homerun of the season.

Up next RHP Scott Feldman starts the opener of a home series against Oakland. He would try to continue his great performances that now stack to eight quality starts in a row. For Oakland LHP Ross Detwiler will take the mound on a game set to start at 7:10 PM CT.

Collin McHugh ready for his season debut, can the Astros bats respond?

Last night game was a disaster for the Houston Astros batters, what it almost went to be a no hitter for the Indians, Jed Lowrie responded with a homerun in the 9th inning. The Astros have shown why this is a high strikeout rate offense. The number 3-4-5 batters of the order went 0 for 32 with 16 strikeouts in the Cleveland series. In general the whole lineup is having problems to contact the ball, they have taken some walks but no one has made contact to drive in runs.

Today is the star of a new series against the Texas Rangers. At the mound for the Astros will be right-hander Collin McHugh who was excellent last season. He finished with a 11-9 record and a 2.73 ERA on 154.2 innings. Even more impressive was his streak since August. In 10 starts he went 7-0 with a 1.77 ERA and 55 strikeouts. He was outstanding ending the season and the Astros hope he continues that trend today. Hopefully Houston’s bats come to life and McHugh gets some run support.

The Astros had some success against the Rangers going 11-8 in the series last season. Today is the home opener for the Rangers schedule at 3:05 PM CT and it is definitely going to be a tough matchup. The Rangers will have in the mound left-hander Derek Holland who is 3-1 in his career against the Astros.

Asher Wojciechowski ready to make debut

The Astros certainly did not see coming for starter Asher Wojciechowski to earn a spot in the rotation and take the mound today. From the beginning of spring training he was a deep flyer to compete for the final spot of the rotation, but as the spring training went on and in 21 innings he posted a 1.29 ERA with three earned runs and sixteen strikeouts, he made a strong case to make it. Asher definitely earned it and today he makes his MLB debut throwing from the #3 spot of the Houston Astros rotation.

Asher expects to have family members and friends at the stadium today. Also many fans will be cheering what it could be a great start of a career for a young and exciting player. He showed flashes of what he can do during this spring, now is time to show it in the big stage. Sadly I wont be able to go and support him at the stadium but I will be seeing every pitch from TV. Game time today is at 1:10 PM CT

Go ‘Stros!

Feldman strong in loss to Indians

Scott Feldman had some fans worried because of his performance during spring training. Yesterday he showed he continued his strong appearances of quality starts from last season. He pitched 6 2/3 innings, struck out five and no walks, while allowing one earned run. Feldman made one bad pitch the whole night and it was a hanging breaking ball to Carlos Santana who hammer it to right field for his first homerun of the season.

Houston bats were silent. They combined for only four hits while the power off the lineup the  3-4-5 hitter’s have gone 0 for 21 over the past two games. Carlos Carrasco had a lot to do with silencing those bats, he had an outstanding game throwing 6 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts. He continues to show great dominance over the mound. In his final 10 starts of the 2014 season he pitched 69 innings with an 1.30 ERA and 78 strikeouts. He was even better than Cy Young winner and teammate Corey Kluber during this span. Certainly he got the message during the beginning of the 2014 season where he was a starter but got moved to the bullpen because of bad outings. Now he has been pitching consistently enough to be considered a strong candidate for the Cy Young race.

Up next the Astros (1-1) will face Thursday at 1:10 PM CT the Indians (1-1) for the last game of the series. Asher Wojciechowski is set to make his MLB debut versus Cleveland’s right hander Trevor Bauer.

Keuchel perfect, As Astros blank Indians

What a perfect night for the Houston Astros yesterday. We saw why Dallas Keuchel is considered one of the faces of the organization and the ace of the rotation. He battle side to side with last year AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber who also had a really nice outing.

Kluber had a no-hitter until the sixth inning and Jose Altuve’s bat broke that with a single to center field with 2 outs on the board (Altuve breaks up no-hitter). He then showed off his speed stealing second and putting himself in position to score with George Springer at bat. Springer hit a line drive single to left field bringing Altuve home for the first run of the game (Springer’s RBI single). This gave Keuchel all the run support he needed to win.

Keuchel was shutting down every batter he faced and late in the game he also showed why he won the AL Gold Glove Pitcher award. He got in some trouble in the seventh inning with a single from Carlos Santana and an infield hit from Yan Gomes. Luis Valbuena made an outstanding catch stopping what it could have been an extra base hit from Yan Gomes (Valbuena’s diving play). After the coach made a visit to the mound he had total confidence that Keuchel could get himself out of this situation, and he did just that. Dallas came back and strike out the next batter and produce two successive soft ground balls to end the inning.

The Astros got one more run on board and the bullpen took over to end the game. Tony Sipp threw a perfect eight striking out two batters and Luke Gregerson threw a perfect ninth to earn his first save as an Astros player.

Lets hope the Astros keep the momentum going for next game where the right-hander Scott Feldman is set to start versus Cleveland Indians Carlos Carrasco on April 8th.

Food Court Disaster!

So The Caz stand does look nice and fast when empty but of course this picture did not reflect the case for a crowded opening day as expected. I guess these guys did not get the memo on how Astros opening day always is and it did not take long for things to turn into a disaster in their kitchen. The Caz is famous for their big 1/2 pound gourmet burgers and some specialty dogs, but the only thing anyone saw coming out of the kitchen for a while yesterday was chicken tender baskets. It’s not that yesterday’s crowd preferred the chicken tenders, it was more because of the chaotic kitchen trying to deal with an extremely high demand of burgers at the same time, so they were just not completing any orders. When I arrived to get a burger, some people had been waiting since the first inning for their burgers! So I waited as well. It was the 4th inning in action and still no burgers for anybody! The lady working there told us wisely that the reason for the delay is because burgers take time to cook! It really was an eye opener! And after that things just got better and better.

By the time they were finally taking out some burgers to complete orders, none of the orders they were calling were for the people who were waiting. The burgers looked really badly cooked and looking nothing close to what was advertised. It was now the 5th inning and Keuchel was having a great battle against Kluber and people were missing out because they were still stuck in line for their burgers! At this point, things got even more chaotic and all people switched to a “grab anything you can for yourself” strategy and just started grabbing whichever burger was coming out. People were grabbing old burgers with just onions as toppings that were just sitting on the pantry even though most of them had been waiting on a daisy cutter (beef patty topped with pepper jack cheese, roasted poblano peppers, house fried onions and sriracha mayo served on a challah bun) or the double meat version. I even saw a burger come out with just bacon or onions and no meat patty. It was truly a mess in that kitchen!

Finally, more help was called into the kitchen and some better looking burgers started to come out. The order numbers were still messed up and people were just grabbing burgers by what was out first since it was the beginning of the 6th inning and no one cared if it was their order, they just wanted to get back to the game. I finally got what looked somewhat similar to the burger I ordered and headed to my seat after 3 innings of waiting. I was lucky to get a burger in a shorter time than most but there were people waiting for theirs since the 1st inning and got them in the late 4th or 5th innings.

It was definitely a disaster last night for The Caz kitchen. They were not prepared for the high demand of an opening day, the establishment looked short staffed and confused until the 4th inning where thanks to the help of more managers that intervened in the kitchen they were able to deliver some food! I definitely felt like I was in a real life Hell’s Kitchen episode meltdown!

At the end I got my burger and watched the end of an amazing game last night. I hope for future events they have a better estimate of the volume of people and find ways to deliver those patties faster. 

Keuchel set to star as Opening Day is finally here

The long wait has ended! Baseball has arrived and with it a new season for the Houston Astros. Today we will see at the mound a great competition between two players that had a terrific 2014 season. Corey Kluber will take the mound for the Cleveland Indians and will look to carry on from an 18-9 season with a 2.44 ERA and 269K in 235.2 innings pitched. For the Houston Astros Dallas Keuchel will take the mound and see if he can spark the start of an exciting season for the organization. Keuchel was the ace last season for the Astros posting a 2.93 ERA on 200 IP finishing the season with a 12-9 record. He continued to carry the hot hand over this spring throwing 15 IP and finishing with a 1.80 ERA.

There is more to be excited about for Astros fans on opening day. The new looking lineup gives hopes of a high power offense that definitely will be exciting to watch. The additions of Luis Valbuena, Evan Gattis, Jed Lowrie, and Colby Rasmus gives the Astros a much needed power. The return of George Springer and the improvement of outfielder Jake Marisnick this spring, gives the Astros Fans a lot to be happy for. This duo is going to be and explosive combination to watch in the outfield. Do not forget also about Chris Carter that finished second in the majors with 37 homers the past season, AL batting champion Jose Altuve, and Jason Castro that suffered a big slump in 2014 but improved defensively, if he can have a season offensively as close as his 2013 production then you will be seeing what it could be one of the top catchers in the league. This lineup will definitely be very fun to watch and will give a lot to talk about this season.

I will be sharing my experience of Opening Day tonight from the stadium! And of course will try that new Chicken & Waffle Cone w/mashed potatoes & honey mustard drizzle. Here is the pic!

Enjoy this new season and Go ‘Stros!

Welcome!

Hello fellow Astros fans! If you are here it’s because you are as excited as I am for this new season to start. I know you are all interested in start sharing but first let me tell you a little about myself. I come from Venezuela and I have watched/played baseball for as long as I can remember. I moved to Houston back in 2005 and since then I got hooked with the Astros. Going to the stadium and watching most of the Astros games started as a fun experience but then developed to be an addiction, I just could not stop watching their every move. I followed their games on TV, watched their prospects develop, and dreamed of what it could be next for the organization. And I know that last sentence is what you all are excited about. What started as dreams are know becoming realities seeing all those prospects that we followed for years take over and put the Astros again in contention!

I will be in a lot of games this season and will post regularly thoughts about the game, players news, and pictures as well! I hope you find this blog helpful and fun by sharing and commenting on all the excitement the Astros are bringing this season and for many more years to come.

GO ‘STROS!