Houston Astros: Week 17 Round Up: Roller Coaster Riding
This past home stand for the Houston Astros saw so many ups and downs. Can the ups outweigh the downs on this next road trip?
Week 17 in the MLB regular season was like an ocean wave. It starts out incredibly high before crashing on the shore. But in the end, you feel better for having ridden it in the first place. The same was true for the Houston Astros.
The Houston Astros won their first game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday before dropping the final 3 of that set. Additionally, the spacemen ended up losing the season series to the boys from the Trop, 4-3.
The Toronto Blue Jays came in over the weekend. The Astros won the first game, lost the second, and then came back to win the final game in walk off fashion.
These games were not the only waves being made by the team this past week. Here are some of the other news and highlights:
Spring in his step!
Skipper A.J. Hinch revealed yesterday that outfielder George Springer could return to the lineup as soon as Tuesday. Per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, this will be when the team opens up a three game set on the south side of Chicago against the White Sox.
Concurrently, Will Harris is beginning a throwing rehab program with the team during this next road trip as well. The next step after that will be some rehab games in the minor leagues.
There are still no developments on Lance McCullers, who is also still on the 10 day DL. This may be just the thing the team needs to get another impact arm off of waivers. Justin Verlander and Ervin Santana are among some names being mentioned, as House of Houston reported yesterday.
More on this as developments happen, of course!
Bad news for the Bear
One player that will not be joining the team in Chicago this week is catcher and DH, Evan Gattis. After taking a back swing to the right side of the head from Rays DH, Corey Dickerson, El Oso Blanco has landed on the 7 day concussion DL. He is now the 9th active roster player on the DL.
Oddly enough, he finished out that game Thursday with no problems. Friday morning, however, he started to feel concussion symptoms and revealed the ailment to the press. He was put on the concussion DL the very next day.
Gattis will be monitored closely by doctors and training staff over the course of this next week. Since his concussion has been diagnosed as mild, he may be able to return to activities sooner rather than later.
After all, he is one of four players to have gone on the concussion DL, and the other three returned to the roster within the seven days. Those three were Brian McCann, Josh Reddick and Jake Marisnick.
If that is the case, he is eligible to be activated on Saturday, when the team is in Arlington to face the Texas Rangers. That’s convenient, since he can just drive or ride up I-45 and wouldn’t have to get on a plane so soon removed from sustaining the concussion.
We here at House of Houston all collectively wish the bear a painless and speedy recovery!
You’re the Juan that I want!
With Gattis on the concussion DL, 3rd string emergency/depth catcher, Juan Centeno, was called up from AAA to spot catching duties with Brian McCann. He was able to get a start in yesterday’s series finale against the Blue Jays.
And boy, did he deliver! Centeno hit the game winning RBI single to give the team the walk off win in the bottom of the 9th inning. The team tweeted out a video footage recap of the hit.
Next: Astros remain interested in Justin Verlander
Having Centeno around for depth in the event of injuries that have already happened to both McCann and Gattis ensure that this team will never be short of catchers that know how to rake. Most other teams would kill to have that around, so let’s hope the Astros keep these three catchers around for a while!
GO HOUSTON ASTROS!!!!