Altuve and Astros are resurging, despite injuries: Yordan gone
Updated Friday, August 21, 2020
Trashcans, asterisks, firings, coronavirus, Tommy John surgeries, knee surgeries, beanballs and brawls. For the Houston Astros more than any other team in American sports, this is the surreal season.
It’s hardly surprising that in this pandemic sprint they were slow out of the blocks. Two years removed from a World Series championship, they fell 5 ½ games behind Oakland in the American League West.
Jose Altuve, former MVP who’s borne the brunt of the sign-stealing scandal, become a head case, clearly nervous at the plate, as if expecting a fastball in his face. It was a reasonable expectation considering how the baseball world feels about him. There always will be suspicions that he wore a wire in the ALCS to signal to him what pitch was coming.
He was so lacking in confidence that he asked manager Dusty Baker to drop him in the batting order. Normally one of the top three in the lineup, he became bottom four.
But perhaps the Astros struck bottom and are now on the way back up. They’ve won seven games in a row, pulled to within two of Oakland. And Altuve is looking like the hitter he was: back-to-back two-hit games.
“I feel better lately,” he said after Thursday’s 10-8 win in Colorado. “I’ve been working to get my swing back and I’ve felt really good the last two games.”
Still, his batting average is .190, and as Baker pointed out, “He has a ways to go to get off that interstate and back to the 200s and march toward the 300s.”
One reason Baker is one of baseball’s most beloved managers is that he excels at guiding players through slumps, restoring their confidence. Example of that is he gave Altuve the green light on a 3-0 pitch in Thursday’s game. The player responded by lining a single.
Also encouraging is the recent play of George Springer, who was hampered by a wrist injury and, like Altuve, struggling to hurdle the Mendoza line. Springer is hitting .289 for the month, with three home runs and 12 RBI in 45 at bats.
Unfortunately, the Astros continue their procession of injuries.
The latest casualty is Yordan Alvarez, last year’s American League Rookie of the Year, who’s out for the season with knee surgery.
Ace pitcher Justin Verlander is on the Injured List with a strained forearm that’s trying not to be a Tommy John issue. Ditto for closer Roberto Osuna. Meanwhile, Lance McCullers Jr., who’s supposed to be the No. 2 starter, is having an up-and-down recovery from the elbow reconstruction. A third of the way into this seasonette his ERA is 5.40.
That’s how it is with Tommy John surgery; it takes two years to get consistent break. McCullers once had the best curve in baseball. He threw 24 of them in a row in an ALCS game against the Yankees in 2017. It’s not quite back to what it was.
All things considered, the staff has held up well, a tribute to the resourcefulness and teaching skills of 71-year-old pitching coach Brent Strom.
Mysteriously sidelined – but now throwing from a mound — is one of last year’s postseason heroes, Jose Urquidy, who’s 25. Since no reason has been given for his absence, the assumption is coronavirus.
Given that contact tracing is considered crucial to combat the pandemic, it’s unfortunate the Players Association insists on keeping its victims anonymous.
Even without Urquidy and last year’s Cy Young winner Verlander, who’s resumed throwing, Houston has a more than serviceable rotation. Zack Greinke at 36 is as masterful as ever – 1.84 ERA. Framber Valdez, Christian Javier and Brandon Bielak are all under 3.60, and they’re all under 27 years old, as is McCullers.
Ryan Pressley, who advanced to the closer’s role when Osuna left, blew his first two save chances but has allowed just one run in his past six appearances. Enoli Paredes, 24-year-old rookie who was the winner Thursday, throws fire even though he’s just 171 pounds. He has a 2.45 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 11 innings.
Another rookie, Andre Scrubb, has pitched in 9 games and hasn’t yielded a run. And rookie Blake Taylor has a 1.42 ERA for 11 games. He’s that rarest of Astros, a lefty reliever.
This team has plenty of talent, and Dusty Baker always knows how to use talent. The latest revelation is speedy 23-year-old Kyle Tucker, who’s become a triple threat: four of them so far this year.
But it could be a situation of now or almost never. James Click, who replaced the scandalous Jeff Luhnow as general manager, reportedly wants to escape the lingering stench of sign-stealing by parting with Springer, Yuli Gurriel, Michael Brantley and Josh Reddick, who all become free agents this winter.
Click is on the hook with the 5-foot-6 Altuve for four more years and $116 million. The most exciting, energetic and lovable player in baseball was looking like an albatross. But even in this truncated season, there’s time for him to re-establish himself.
