HOUSTON – Hey guys, it’s Ari Alexander with the Astros, who finally got a day off Monday after 17 straight days with games. The Astros came home for a fun 9, with the Nationals, Reds and Mets coming to town.
THE NATIONALS SERIES
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The pitching was again excellent, with two exciting games toward the back end of the series. Despite some bullpen struggles, the pen has largely been good and other than Rafael Montero, probably not a point of significant concern.
Hitting is though. Jose Abreu, oddly enough, has been the hottest hitter for the Astros, hitting over .300 with an OPS over .900 in June entering Thursday night’s game. Abreu struggled Thursday night, but has largely been better, which is needed considering Yordan Alvarez is out for 4-6 weeks.
THE REDS SERIES
Ok, this is going to be fun. The Reds have two of the most exciting players in baseball in Elly De La Cruz and Hunter Greene. Greene pitches on Saturday, and throws 102 MPH fastballs as a starter. De La Cruz just recently got called up and already has the hardest hit ball in all of baseball this year (118.8 MPH in Triple-A) and is the fastest player in all of baseball (31.0 f/s sprint speed, 0.6 more than any other player). So we have a 21-year old, 6-5 kid hitting the ball harder and running faster than anyone in the league. There’s a reason he’s the #1 prospect in baseball.
THE METS SERIES
Whatever disappointment Astros fans may feel about not being in first place, at least you’re not the Mets. The most expensive team in the history of baseball is 32-36 with one of the worst pitching staffs in the league. By the way, the top two pitchers in that staff, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, make double per year ($86.7 million) than the whole Astros top 6 starting pitchers (around $40 million per year). The Astros are #1 in team ERA with a 3.25 mark, the Mets are #26 at 4.69. Yeah. They have some fun young players like Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez, but it has been a disaster so far this year. I would be surprised if the Astros do worse than 6-3 on this homestand.
