Astros Crawfish Boil: September 7, 2023

It’s Thursday again, and that means the Astros get a day off.

It hasn’t been consistent through the season, but it will be through the final few weeks of this campaign. It’s always nice when the starters and the bullpen get an extra day of rest.

I noticed another troubling trend with these Astros, aside from their inexplicable home/road splits. Over their last 25 games, they’ve gone 14-11, but they’ve never recorded non-consecutive wins and losses. To wit, here’s their last 25 game results: WWLLWWLLLWWLLLWWWWWLLLWWW.

Maybe it’s not all bad, though. I’d imagine if they lose the first two games of a playoff series, we should count on a heater right on its heels. After all, nowhere in that sample size did Houston lose more than three-in-a-row. Now to your morning links:

Houston Astros News

Astros slug their way to the top of the AL West with 16 homers in 3 games to sweep Rangers (Houston Chronicle)

Astros complete historically dominant sweep against plummeting Rangers (Yahoo Sports)

Three takeaways from Astros’ drubbing of Rangers (Dallas Morning News)

Houston Astros: Six-man rotation appears gone for Padres series (Houston Chronicle)

Houston Astros: Team’s stark home-road splits in 2023 are puzzling (Houston Chronicle)

Jose Altuve makes Astros history with homer binge at a pivotal point (The Athletic)

AL West News

Adolis García exits with right knee injury in Rangers’ loss to Astros (MLB)

Rangers’ ugly series vs. Astros doesn’t have to be the end of season (Dallas Morning News)

Angels hope Shohei Ohtani can return for opener vs. Guardians (Deadspin)

Orioles bash Angels, 10-3, for series sweep behind Austin Hays’ 4-for-4 night, Kyle Gibson’s bounce-back start (Baltimore Sun)

Oakland A’s Las Vegas Strip ballpark faces huge funding threat (The Street)

Carlos Pérez and Kevin Smith homers power Athletics to a 5-2 win over Blue Jays (AP News)

Logan Gilbert stays hot as Mariners double up Reds (Reuters)

Go behind the scenes of a Seattle Mariners fireworks show (King 5 News)

MLB News (MLB)

These guys have the most left to prove

Domínguez (3 hits, HR) makes himself at home in Bronx

Slumping Harper ditches beard, comes through ‘for the boys’

Fresh faces charging up Starting Pitcher Power Rankings

Postseason Watch: Bracket, tiebreakers and more

Former MLBers feel like kids again playing Bananas

‘23 draftees off to hot starts — one for each team

No ‘pity party’ for Marlins as 9-run inning leads to 6th straight win

This Date in Astros History

On this date in 1966, the 63-79 Astros were visiting the 71-69 St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Houston teed off on Cards starter Larry Jaster for two in the fourth and three in the sixth for a 5-0 lead, but St. Louis scored in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to take a late 6-5 lead and the ballgame. John Bateman (17) went deep in the losing cause, while he, Rusty Staub and Bob Aspromonte finished with two-hit games. Dave Giusti just missed a Quality Start (six IP, five H, four ER, 1 BB, 1K), and Mike Cuellar (10-8, 2.27) was charged with the loss.

Houston Astros Birthdays

2B/LF David Newhan (50) ended his eight-season MLB career with the Astros in 2008. In 64 games, he hit .260 and slugged .404 with a dozen RBI.

LF Willie Crawford (1946-2004) played 14 MLB seasons, mostly with the Los Angeles Dodgers. His final two seasons would be split between the St. Louis Cardinals, the Oakland Athletics, and the Houston Astros. The first half of 1977 (Crawford’s final season, at the age of 30) would see him hit .254 in 42 games for Houston, with 16 RBI and nearly as many walks (18) as strikeouts (20).