Houston Astros: How Is This Team In First Place?
By Evan Dunbar
Sometimes I have to pinch myself.
Doesn’t it seem too good to be true? You know, seeing the Houston Astros in first place in the AL West?
Seeing the Astros in first place in the AL West is not something I thought I would see until at least 2017. It seems Christmas has come early for Astros fans in 2015, but not so fast. This is the worst division-leading team I have ever seen – and some of those NL West leaders in the past were pretty atrocious.
The Astros can’t hit, it’s that plain and simple. It’s painful to watch this team have bad at-bat after bad at-bat with strikeout after strikeout, wasting great pitching from a staff that is second in the AL with an ERA of 3.44. Houston has lost four of its last five home games and six of nine overall since winning 10 straight games to race to a seven game division lead.
Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh can’t start every game. Houston is 12-2 in games they have started and just 9-11 in all others. Although the Astros lead the league in home runs with 49, they had scored just 16 runs in their last eight games to the tune of .143/.207/.245 prior to Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the Giants. Those aren’t Major League offensive numbers. Those are numbers you would see from a law firm’s company softball team.
Just look at these current slumps from Astros hitters: Jose Altuve 1-for-14, Evan Gattis 1-for-21, Marwin Gonzalez 0-for-16, Luis Valbuena 1-for-11, Colby Rasmus 1-for-13, Chris Carter 1-for-11. And you’re telling me this team is in first place? This says more about the atrociousness of the AL West than anything else. No other team in the division is even above .500. If Seattle, Texas, Oakland and L.A. can’t make up more ground on these pathetic hitters, no one deserves to win the division.
But even in these dark times at the plate, there is hope. When they can get on base, the Astros lead the league in stolen bases with 36. George Springer is back from the concussion DL and he provides another speedy runner on the bases and more power in the lineup (as he demonstrated last night). Plus, this atrocious hitting can’t possibly continue, can it? What goes down must come up – or something like that, right?
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No one in their wildest dreams – Houston fans included – believed the Astros would have the start they have had to the season. But being a surprise contender after the first month and a half of the season doesn’t mean the Astros can be seen as one big moral victory.
When you contend for this long, people get used to winning – even if there hasn’t been much of that over the past few seasons. Winning means higher expectations and high expectations means more criticism from people like me. If this poor play at the plate doesn’t improve, Houston’s hitting coach Dave Hudgens could be looking for a new job.
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