THE PALLILOG

Let's discuss 6 Astros that could be headed to All-Star Game

Let's discuss 6 Astros that could be headed to All-Star Game
The Astros' lineup is stacked. Photo by Getty Images.
Altuve's late homer helps lift Astros over Yankees in finale

Good news: for the second time in just over a week the Astros had a chance to complete a series sweep of the Boston Red Sox. Bad news: for the second time in just over a week the Astros failed to sweep. Earlier this season they had chances in three consecutive series to polish off sweeps only to lose the finale. The good news outpaces the bad on this, meaning the Astros won all those series. The A's lost Thursday as well so the Astros enter the weekend one game behind Oakland in the American League West, two and a half back of Boston for the top wild card spot.

The Astros spend the weekend in Minneapolis for a three game set with the Twin, who have been the biggest flop in Major League Baseball to this point in the season. After an off Monday the Astros are scheduled to play 20 consecutive days. That would be four full turns through a five man starting rotation. With Lance McCullers expected to rejoin the big club after a successful four inning recovery start for the Sugar Land Skeeters Thursday, how will the Astros play it? Zack Greinke lacks the consistent excellence of an ace but obviously has a secure spot in the rotation. Framber Valdez has been tremendous in his first three starts. Luis Garcia has won his last five starts, demoting him to the pen now would be stupid. Jose Urquidy seems on safe ground. That leaves Jake Odorizzi.

The MLB All Star Game is a month from Sunday. Fortunately the outcome no longer dictates homefield advantage for the World Series, so who makes it and how it goes really aren't a big deal other than the fun of debate and for players with All Star bonus clauses in their contracts. It will be interesting to see how Astros fare in the balloting, both among fans and by their peers in the player vote. More than half the Astros' lineup has good All Star cases, but no one who clearly deserves to start. At first base Yuli Gurriel is having a sensational bounce back season, but right now Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is clearly the guy who should start. At second Jose Altuve isn't the player he was in 2016 and 2017 but has been plenty good, but Marcus Semien has been as good if not a little better and played in 10 more games. At shortstop Carlos Correa has come on very strong the last month to make it a good battle with Xander Bogaerts. At third Alex Bregman has been very good though not up to his 2018 or 2019 standard, with Rafael Devers, Jose Ramirez, Yoan Moncada, and Joey Wendle all ahead of him in Wins Above Replacement. At designated hitter while not matching his extraordinary Rookie of the Year level Yordan Alvarez is still a force, but J.D. Martinez has been better. Among pitchers Ryan Pressly has a shot pending how many relievers get taken.


So the Texans canceled their minicamp scheduled for this coming week. They must have looked awesome at OTAs! Um, yeah. If the Texans cling to any hope of mending fences with Deshaun Watson, no minicamp means Watson can't be a no-show, which means the Texans can't fine him 95-thousand dollars and hence more gasoline on the fire. Of course, the relationship already seems burnt to a crisp, irrespective of whether Watson will be eligible to play come September 12 and the season opener vs. the Jaguars.

The more the merrier?

There was never any chance that the College Football Playoff would remain at four teams. Just follow the money trail. The proposed jump to 12 teams is too much for my taste. I'd go eight with no byes. If the 12 plan with the top four seeds getting byes to the quarterfinals is going through, I do like that the first round games matching 5 vs. 12, 6 vs. 11, 7 vs. 10, 8 vs 9 would be home games for the higher seed. The idea that in December Florida could play at Penn State, Texas at Wisconsin, USC at Ohio St., among others, has appeal.

NBA playoffs

The NBA playoffs have been by and large lousy thus far, certainly relative to the NHL playoffs. Maybe Thursday night was a turning point, with Milwaukee rallying to get within two games to one of Brooklyn. Utah and Phoenix are on course for what would be an excellent Western Conference Finals matchup. The Suns have looked great, but Suns should be graded on a curve having dispatched the diminished Lakers and being up two-zip on the Jamal Murray-less Nuggets.

Buzzer Beaters:

1. If Hell is a thing, sounds like Bo Schembechler should be roommates with Joe Paterno.

2. Softball's Women's College World Series is a lot of fun to watch.

3. Desert island Mexican food items: Bronze-Tamales Silver-Fideo Gold-Fajitas

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The Coogs are back in action Friday night. Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images.

Sixteen may be sweet, but it isn’t the only relevant number as the NCAA Tournament heads into the regional semifinals.

Here are some other numbers worth knowing for each team. These statistics will help you learn more about each of the remaining teams and could explain how some of them got this far.

EAST REGION

UCONN: In UConn’s second-round victory over Northwestern, Donovan Clingan became just the third player in tournament history to get 14 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks in a game. The others to do it were Hakeem Olajuwon for Houston in 1983 and David Robinson for Navy in 1986. The blocks also were the most ever by a UConn player in a tournament game.

SAN DIEGO STATE: The Aztecs’ Sweet 16 matchup with defending national champion UConn will mark the fourth time that two teams have faced each other in the tournament a year after meeting in the final. The losing team from the championship won the rematch in one of the three previous instances, when Duke beat UNLV in a 1991 semifinal. Cincinnati won two straight championship games over Ohio State in 1961-62. Florida beat UCLA in the 2006 championship game and in a 2007 semifinal.

ILLINOIS: Illinois has won six in a row, and Terrence Shannon Jr. has scored at least 25 points in each of those games. The 6-foot-6 guard has averaged 30.5 points and has shot 52.8% (56 of 106) from the floor during that stretch. He also shown an uncanny knack for drawing fouls during the streak. Over his last five games, Shannon has gone 51 of 58 on free-throw attempts.

IOWA STATE: Iowa State is allowing just 61.2 points per game to rank fourth among all Division I teams in scoring defense. Since falling 73-65 to Houston on Feb. 19, the Cyclones haven’t allowed any of their last 10 opponents to exceed 65 points. The Cyclones next face Illinois, which ranks ninth in points per game (84.6) and has averaged 91.3 points over its last four contests.

WEST REGION

ALABAMA: Mark Sears and Aaron Estrada were the first set of Division I teammates since 1996-97 to both have at least 410 points, 125 assists, 120 rebounds, 50 3-point baskets and 40 steals during the regular season. Sears is averaging 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 steals. Estrada has 13.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

NORTH CAROLINA: Armando Bacot had seven straight tournament double-doubles and six consecutive tourney games with at least 15 rebounds before he ended up with 18 points and seven boards in a second-round victory over Michigan State. His seven straight NCAA double-doubles matched Tim Duncan and Olajuwon for the NCAA record.

ARIZONA: Arizona’s first-round triumph over Long Beach State marked the 19th time this season the Wildcats had five different players score in double figures. No other Division I team had that many games this season in which five different players had at least 10 points.

CLEMSON: Each of Clemson’s first two tournament opponents has shot below 40% against the Tigers. Clemson won its first-round game by limiting New Mexico to 29.7% shooting, the lowest percentage the Tigers had ever allowed in an NCAA tourney game. Clemson now faces Arizona, which shot 52.8% in its second-round victory over Dayton.

MIDWEST REGION

CREIGHTON: Baylor Scheierman is the first Division I men’s player in history to have at least 2,000 career points, 1,000 rebounds, 500 assists and 300 3-point baskets. Scheierman, who is in his second season at Creighton after playing three seasons at South Dakota State, has 2,208 points, 1,250 rebounds, 578 assists and 352 3-pointers.

TENNESSEE: Tennessee is making its 10th Sweet 16 appearance – including its seventh in the last 18 years – but the Volunteers have never reached the Final Four and earned their lone regional final berth in 2010.

GONZAGA: Gonzaga is in the Sweet 16 for the ninth straight time, the longest active streak of any Division I team. Going back to 1975 – the first year that all teams had to win at least one game to reach the Sweet 16 – the record for consecutive Sweet 16 appearances is owned by North Carolina with 13 straight from 1981-93.

PURDUE: Zach Edey is the first player since Kareen Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) in 1968 to have at least 50 points and 35 rebounds while shooting 65% from the field in his first two games of an NCAA Tournament. Edey has shot 67.9% (19 of 28) and has totaled 53 points and 35 rebounds in victories over Grambling State and Utah State.

SOUTH REGION

DUKE: Jared McCain has gone 10 of 17 from 3-point range through the first two rounds. In the Blue Devils’ second-round blowout of James Madison, McCain became the first freshman to score at least 30 points without committing a turnover in an NCAA Tournament game since the event expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

HOUSTON: The Cougars showcased their depth by surviving a second-round matchup with Texas A&M in overtime even after four of their five starters fouled out. They became the first team to win an NCAA game while having at least four players foul out since 1987, when UTEP overcame foul trouble to beat Arizona.

MARQUETTE: Marquette owns a 75-29 record under coach Shaka Smart despite posting a negative rebound margin in each of his three seasons. The Golden Eagles have been outrebounded in each of their last eight games but have gone 5-3. They’re getting outrebounded by 3 boards per game this season. The only other Sweet 16 team with a negative rebound margin is North Carolina State (minus-0.8), which faces Marquette on Friday.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE: Mohamed Diarra has 6.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game this season, but he’s averaged 11.7 points and 13.5 rebounds over his last six. Michael O’Connell scored in double digits three times and totaled 14 3-point baskets in 31 regular-season games. He’s reached double figures in six of seven postseason games and has gone 12 of 22 from 3-point range during that stretch.

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