Houston Astros: Week 13 Round Up: Four for the 4th
The Houston Astros are coming off of one of their best home stands of the season in Week 13. And the All Star Break is still another 6 games away!
The Houston Astros have not had the greatest of luck at home this season. While they are still above the .500 mark, most of their series’ taking place at Minute Maid Park have proved to be trivial. Especially, when it comes to the offense and their late inning magic.
But in Week 13, all of that changed!
Winning 4 out of 6, the spacemen have now won 13 total series on the season to go 56-27. These wins came at the expense of divisional rivals, the Oakland Athletics, and the boys in pinstripe, the New York Yankees.
The Astros will now finish the last 6 games before the All Star Break on the road. They begin a short two game stint with the Atlanta Braves for the 4th of July holiday, and then four up in the Great White North against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Here are some of the other highlights from Week 13:
Hey now, you’re an All-Star!
As my colleague, Joe Fernandez reported earlier yesterday, 5 Astros players have been selected to participate in the All Star Game in Miami on July 11th. Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer, Lance McCullers, and Dallas Keuchel will all be apart of the festivities associated with the midsummer classic.
Keuchel was pretty vocal in expressing how there should be more players. In this interview with KHOU’s Daniel Gotera, he explains how players like Will Harris and Chris Devenski should pitch in his place, since he is dealing with injury.
Additionally, he also gave big props to Marwin Gonzalez and expressed deep concern for him not being voted in. Here’s hoping some last minute decisions are made on behalf of these men!
More from House of Houston
- Are you the 2021 FanSided Sports Fan of the Year?
- Houston Texans: 4 reasons Romeo Crennel is right coach right now
- Astros-Twins Wild Card Series: 5 things to know as MLB postseason begins
- Houston Texans: The Most Underrated Sports Drought Ever
- Houston Texans: J.J. Watt’s early case for NFL Hall of Fame
Killer G’s!
Evan Gattis and Yuli Gurriel continue proving their value to this ball club in Week 13. Both have made some offensive magic happen with their hot bats.
First, Yuli Gurriel added 2 more homers and 7 RBI over the past week, averaging .450 (9-for-20) and slugging at .900 over 7 games. His OPS in that time frame? A whopping 1.350! Pretty impressive stuff right there!
Meanwhile, El Oso Blanco, Evan Gattis has been making some great strides of his own. He has averaged .417 (5-for-12) over the same span, slugging at .917 with a 1.334 OPS in the past week. He also tacked on another RBI via THIS monster shot over the train tracks at Minute Maid Park. Ironically, it came off of Dellin Betances, who hadn’t given up a long ball since last September.
While Gurriel is in pretty regularly, Gattis is STILL having to fight for playing time. Perhaps, Hinch should look at his .277/.332/.458/.790 slash line to go with his 6 homers and 32 RBI and consider putting the bear in more often!
Next: Astros send five All-Stars to Miami
It Takes Two!
As the Astros make their way into Atlanta, and the new Sun Trust Park for the first time, veteran catcher, Brian McCann recalls his time there. He, along with Evan Gattis, both came up in the Braves’ farm system, and were teammates in Atlanta in 2013. Both bears are very familiar with this upcoming foe.
With any luck, that should work to the advantage of the Astros. It will also be interesting to see how the ATL welcomes both of these catchers back into the jewel of the south tonight. My guess is warm at first, and then cold later on when these two dominate with their respective bats.
Braves fans know of those bats all too well!
GO HOUSTON ASTROS!!!!