Houston Astros: Astroball is a must read for every baseball fan
Committing the Cardinal Sin
I don’t blame Ben Reiter for the entry coming out in June although it was coincidental that it led to one of baseball’s biggest scandals in recent history. When Chris Correa (no relation to Carlos Correa) got caught hacking into the Astros’ account with the old password that Luhnow and Sig had used with the Cardinals. Perhaps it was out of sheer jealousy when the Astros strategy was revealed that made Correa decide to cause chaos.
But it did lead to the Houston Astros getting two of St. Louis’ draft picks for future drafts. I would assume this was when the Cardinals started to turn from respectable and well-liked to despised, especially with the recent controversy leading to manager Mike Matheny’s firing.
The Mother of All Mistakes
If one player continues to remind us of how dumb we were in 2014, it’s J.D Martinez. He was our top hitter during the terrible seasons. But he wasn’t being a big contributor and was advised to change his swing, which he didn’t at first. But thanks to an injury and Ryan Braun’s suspension from PED’s, Martinez decided to change his approach. Of course, by the time he has it figured out, we cut him.
As we know, Martinez is now one of the game’s top hitters and Luhnow and the Astros are partly to blame for this. If only we had kept him around and see what he learned, he might not be a $250 million guy, but he certainly would drive in more RBI and be in MVP conversations.
Carlos Beltran is the Real MVP
Carlos Beltran was the reason the Houston Astros won the World Series. Sure, he wasn’t like the prime Beltran we knew in 2004. But he was responsible for helping us get to the title in other ways.
From helping Keuchel overcome his “tipping” pitches problem to giving Astros advice on how to know what’s coming from another. He even started the giving out wrestling belt routine after every win while inspiring the Astros to rally back after falling 3-2 to the Yankees. Then the best one was how he handled a controversial issue in the World Series.
Must Read: Alex Bregman: The Home Run Derby contestant
I love Altuve and I love Springer. But this is the only time I’m saying Carlos Beltran is the MVP. Somebody give him a managerial job.
Justin Verlander’s Trade is Equivalent to the Two-Minute Drill
The biggest scene in the movie Moneyball, other than Scott Hatteberg’s walk-off homer was when the A’s traded for a pitcher that isn’t a household name, but was a big acquisition. But if there was a movie about the Astros, the scene with Verlander would be twice (no five times (no ten times or a thousand times better)) enjoyable. The play-by-play of how the trade went down is perhaps the best moment of the book.
What Reiter does here is taking a script and putting us in the moment where we just create a visualization of the scene in motion. The tension of the clock ticking while a big decision is being made will certainly have readers on the edge. We know what happens eventually, but even reading this makes me wonder will he accept the deal or not.