The Week in Review: July 5-July 11.

Season Record: 62-33. First in AL West, 3 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners. Second in AL behind Boston, 3 games behind the first place and red hot Red Sox.

Pythagorean won/loss record: 67-28, best in MLB. Run differential: +182 (481 runs 2nd most, 299 runs allowed, least)

Baseball Reference SRS: 1.9, best in MLB but down .1 of a point and losing ground to Boston at 1.6

The Big Trends: The Astros came back to Minute Maid Park this week and feasted on some home cooking, sweeping the Chicago White Sox but only taking one of three from the hot and suddenly formidable Oakland A’s. One more game remains in this series as of this writing.

The Astros bats lit up again against weak Chicago pitching, but slowed down against Oakland, finishing the week tied for second in team wRC+ for the year and second in runs scored. They were again in the middle of MLB in team ERA for the week, while retaining top spot for the year.

Starting pitching was good this week, ranking eighth, while it was the bullpen, so excellent of late, that had numerous meltdowns, ranking 22nd this week. I should stop writing articles with titles like “ The Astros have the Best Bullpen in Baseball.” It’s a curse.

Week Record: 5-2. The week began with a sweep of the Chicago White Sox. The Sox made the first game close, spoiling an excellent 7 inning, 2 run performance by Justin Verlander by getting the go-ahead score against Chris Devenski in the eighth inning. The Astros would win with an RBI single by George Springer to tie, and a walk-off hit by Yuli Gurriel in the bottom of the ninth to go ahead, handing the win to Joe Smith, just back from DL. Video here.

The Astros ran away with the next two games, 11-4 and 12-6. The first featured a one run, career high 12 strikeout performance by Lance McCullers, and a 4 RBI, one home run batting performance from Evan Gattis. Brad Peacock made the game a little interesting in the eighth and ninth innings, giving up 3 runs on two home runs. Video here.

In the third game Charlie Morton was excellent until a meltdown in the sixth inning, when he left the game with the score tied 5-5. Astros bats took over from there, getting a home run and four RBI for the game from Yuli Gurriel, and a home run and 3 RBI for the game from Alex Bregman. This game was Kyle Tucker’s MLB debut. Video here.

Game four was all about pitching, as Dallas Keuchel outdueled Lucas Giolito, winning 2-1. Jose Altuve’s home run, his second of the series, and a Marwin Gonzalez suicide squeeze provided the offense. Video here.

Monday July 9th the Astros bats went silent, getting only three hits, and wasting a 6 inning, 11 strikeout shut out by Gerrit Cole, handing the A’s a 2-0 victory. Video here.

Tuesday night the Astros had one of the most bizarre and memorable walk-off wins ever, when, in the 11th inning, Alex Bregman hit a six foot grounder in front of himself in fair territory, but the catcher dropped the ball on the tag, and then threw the ball away into right field, allowing Kyle Tucker to score for the 6-5 victory.

Justin Verlander, with help from Chris Devenski, brought a shutout into the ninth inning, but Ken Giles and Hector Rondon allowed the A’s to tie the score in the top of the ninth, necessitating the luck and heroics of the walk-off. Kyle Tucker had his first two hit game and scored 3 runs, including the game winner. Ken Giles was sent to AAA Fresno after the game. Video here.

Last night July 11th, the Astros lost 8-3 to the A’s. Starter Lance McCullers could not must his command, allowing six runs in only four innings pitched.

Hitting: Below is a chart with key team statistics for the last seven days, last 30 days, and for the month. Following will be a discussion of trends and key events.

In the week prior to this the Astros were one of the weakest hitting teams in baseball but this week the Astros hit at about league average. Last week they relinquished the league lead in OPS and wRC+ for the year and this week remain in second or third place in those categories behind the Yankees and Red Sox.

Last Week’s Individual Hitting: Below is a chart of the individual statistics compiled by the Astro’s hitters last week.

Only three players were plus contributors with the bat this week, Alex Bregman, with three home runs, Yuli Gurriel, who continues to be an RBI machine, with 9 this week, and Jose Altuve.

George Springer remains mired in a deep slump but has shown some signs of life and improved significantly from previous weeks.

Below is a chart of individual season performances with batting leaders.

Alex Bregman is currently the team leader in OPS and wRC+. For a more comprehensive look here are individual Astros hitting and pitching statistics for the season. (Baseball Reference) and here for Fangraphs.

Pitching: Below is a very detailed chart with year to date, 30 day and 7 day statistics. I will begin with analysis, and if you want to dig deeper, go for it.

At the start of the year the Astros’ starters were compiling eye popping statistics while the relievers, while good, were less startlingly so. In the last six weeks it has been the bullpen leading the starters in most statistical categories. This week was characterized by a number of bullpen meltdowns, while starting pitching was excellent in five of the seven games this week. Overall the staff was rated around league average for the week.

The staff as a whole retains the league lead in ERA. Starter ERA crept up to the 3.00 level for the year for the first time but still retains top rank in most categories for the year. Relievers relinquished their league lead to the Yankees in team ERA for the year due to their near bottom dwelling performance this week.

Below is a chart of Astros pitchers over the last seven days.

Justin Verlander is clearly pitcher of the week, allowing only 2 runs in 13 innings pitched, although he was not the pitcher of record in either of the two games he pitched.

Ken Giles was sent to the minors after his meltdown Tuesday night. Another major concern is the regression of Brad Peacock, who gave up 3 home runs in just 4 innings, as well as two doubles off the center field wall in Minute Maid Park. His ERA was 10.38 for the week.

All the relief pitchers performed poorly this week except Joe Smith, Tony Sipp and Collin McHugh, although the one run allowed by McHugh in four innings was below his season average of about one run per nine.

Below is a chart of the year to date pitching stats with team leaders.

League Comparisons: The following will be a look at how the Astros compare to their main rivals in various hitting and pitching categories.

Pitching

ERA season: Relief- Yankees 2.72, Astros 2.80, Red Sox, 3.23, Mariners 3.75, Indians 5.39

Starters- Astros 3.00, Indians 3.40, Red Sox 3.69, Yankees 3.88, Mariners 3.99

ERA 30 Day: Relief- Yankees 2.02, Astros 2.41, Red Sox 3.90, Mariners 4.15, Indians 4.69

Starters- Astros 3.23, Indians 3.42, Red Sox 3.62, Yankees 3.81, Mariners 4.04

Hitting

wRC+ season: Yankees 116, Red Sox 115, Astros 115, Indians 107, Mariners 106.

wRC+ 30 Day: Red Sox 127, Astros 123, Yankees 116, Indians 110, Mariners 105.

Defense

The Astros relinquished their league lead in fielding percentage dropping to second with a .989. Defense Efficiency ratio remains unchanged at .714, also ranked second in the league.

Errors at the shortstop position have been a problem since the injury to Carlos Correa.