Houston Astros: Don’t Worry About The Losing Streak
By Yoni Pollak
I’m asking y’all to kindly relax a bit.
Yes, you’re favorite baseball team is currently in the midst of a seven-game losing streak. Yes, you thought the new and improved Astros would never lose seven in a row again. Yes, Tal’s Hill will be gone next year and the curse has begun. Ok, I don’t actually believe in the curse but that’s some spooky timing on that announcement!
Relax, Houston. The season is 162 games long. The Astros already ripped off a 10-game winning streak earlier this year. They were bound to go on a bit of a slump and it’s happening now. There’s a good chance they’ll go on another nice winning streak and likely another losing streak as well. It happens when you play 162 games in a season.
Which streak more resembles these Astros? It’s somewhere in the middle. This team is good, not great. They have plenty of holes and issues but they also have talent.
Houston relies on its power and pitching. When one is not there then they’ll start losing. Power and hitting can sometimes overcome rough pitching, but even good pitching can’t overcome a lack of power and hitting.
The Astros bats have silenced. Jose Altuve has been slumping for almost a month now, Chris Carter and Evan Gattis have been silent during the streak, and Jake Marisnick regressed to the mean. It’s not that shocking.
When the Astros do hit the ball hard, it finds another glove. I don’t have the numbers in front of me but I’ll assume their BABIP is extremely low over their last seven games.
What’s even lower is their batting average with RISP. This team can’t buy a clutch hit. They’ve repeatedly been unable to score with a runner on third and either zero outs or one out. That can’t happen throughout the whole season and frankly it won’t. Things even out over the course of a 162 game season.
Call it bad luck, call it slumping from most of the lineup, call it whatever you want. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
When the Astros bats get hot they’ll be a lot more fun to watch. There are cold streaks and hot streaks throughout the season. Unfortunately, it seems like almost all of Houston’s bats are on a cold streak. They’ll heat up soon.
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The pitching has been dominant and the addition of both Lance McCullers Jr. and Vincent Velasquez has the town buzzing again. Couple those two with Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh and the Astros have a pretty good staff. The youngsters will likely struggle at some point. Don’t panic then. Expect it.
For now, Houston, just relax. Show up to support your home team on Friday night. Enjoy Carlos Correa‘s home debut. Go out to the ballpark, by some franks, and enjoy an Astros win.
It’s going to happen….soon.
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