Houston Astros: Three thoughts on the team’s unique situation
The Houston Astros are currently in a unique territory with their 10-game homestand complete. How so? Here are three thoughts on the whole situation.
While the Houston Astros look to maintain their stance as one of baseball’s best team in spite of the injuries, let’s look into some things that are standing out for the team at this rate.
The Houston Astros went through a stretch where they had to take on two elite playoff contenders who also won World Series titles while encountering some major obstacles in their season. It wasn’t an easy stretch, but Houston seemed to pass it with flying colors.
For us as fans, we can’t be too amazed and blessed to have a team play the way they have been. Let’s take a quick recap of the things that happened in this stretch and some added words of encouragement and advice for the future.
Making statements
When the schedule was first released, we were intrigued by seeing that we would be taking on the 2018 World Series champions and 2016 World Series champions within a two-week stretch. This was going to be three big series for us (we played Boston in six games during that stretch.) and we were looking to put up a huge statement. While things didn’t go according to plan, it worked out very well for us.
So let’s recap the series in general. Houston starts off with a 3-1 win at Fenway Park two Friday’s ago that featured great pitching by Gerrit Cole and a big clutch home run by George Springer. As he later put it, the win felt like a playoff game, which it sure seemed like it. Game two saw us jump out to a five-run first inning and cruise to a 7-3 win. Corbin Martin got his second start and though he struggled, allowing two runs on four hits, he was able to hold his own and preserve the victory. Game three was a sloppy contest that saw Houston blow a 3-1 lead and fell 4-3. But it was a series win for the Astros overall.
After splitting with the Chicago White Sox for four games, Houston hosted Boston again. Amazingly, the Astros won two straight 4-3 games. One of those was a walk-off victory thanks to Carlos Correa. Houston had a chance to secure the third game, but another sloppy effort preserves a Boston win. But, it was a series win for us.