THE PALLILOG
A tough act for Framber Valdez to follow, but he's up for the challenge
Oct 8, 2021, 10:12 am
The Astros are up 1-0 in the ALDS. Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.
Unorthodox or not, Astros keep finding ways to produce on their own terms
Well that was easy. In game one of their American League Division Series the Astros made the White Sox look as though all five AL Central teams are no good this year. We already know that to be true of the other four. Of course anything can happen in one game or in a short series, but except for a poor eighth inning on the mound from Kendall Graveman the Astros absolutely cruised to a 6-1 series opening win.
The Lots of Lance starting pitching matchup played out as a major mismatch in the Astros' favor. Lance McCullers was tremendous until fading a little in the seventh. Six and two thirds scoreless innings from your starter? Yes, please. McCullers made 28 starts during the regular season. In zero of them did he not walk a batter. Thursday against the White Sox, zero walks (he did hit one guy). Tough act for Framber Valdez to follow in game two. Chicago starter Lucas Giolito has an easy act to follow after the Astros chased Lance Lynn in the fourth. The Astros have owned Lynn over their last several matchups. Giolito has been a different story.
Jose Altuve is occasionally the guilty party of some of the Astros' occasionally silly baserunning. Thursday, he made a spectacular baserunning play with as a good a slide as you can make to beat the tag on the throw home from Chisox third baseman Yoan Moncada on an Alex Bregman grounder. Altuve slid past the catcher and tapped home plate as he went by. Just tremendous.
Part of the beauty of sports is sometimes good decisions can blow up in your face, other times bad decisions can work out fine. This season Kyle Tucker was definitely the Astros' best offensive player. If you throw out April it wasn't particularly close. The Astros' lineup is loaded so it's not as if there are lightweights ahead of Tucker in the batting order. Still, slotting your best offensive player seventh in the order as Dusty Baker had Tucker in game one is silly. The simplest move would be to move Tucker up to second in the lineup and drop Michael Brantley to the seven spot. So of course Thursday Brantley had two hits while Tucker went 0-4. Baseball!
Couple the Astros comfortable win over the White Sox with the Rays dusting the Red Sox in their opener Thursday night, an Astros-Rays American League Championship Series rematch isn't inevitable, but the needle sure is pointing in the direction of the Astros being in St. Petersburg next Friday night.
Belichick returns to Houston
The Texans play the Patriots Sunday. Not exactly compelling. Much more the exact opposite of compelling. The Texans are off of one of the most pathetic showings in franchise history in taking a 40-0 beating at Buffalo, the Pats off losing Tom Brady's return to Foxboro. One reckons there will be a few no-shows who opt for almost anything besides entering NRG Stadium. Though the Texans are only one game back of the pacesetting Tennessee Titans in the thus far punchline awful AFC South.
Countdown to liftoff
Inside two weeks to the start of the Rockets' regular season. The Rockets won't be compelling but the presence of rookie Jalen Green and several other young talents sure makes them more interesting than the Texans. That's not meant as damning with faint praise, though watching glue dry would be more compelling than the Texans.
The NBA is celebrating it's 75th anniversary season. As the regular season opens in a couple of weeks, the NBA will unveil its 75 at 75, a panel selected list of the top 75 players in the league history. A quarter century ago the NBA unveiled its 50 at 50. Such rankings will always cause arguments, which is part of the fun. Shaquille O'Neal being on the 50 at 50 was laughably premature, now of course he's a no-brainer for the top 75, and would be an easy selection if the list was the top 25 at 75. Interesting that in unveiling the 75 at 75, the NBA has decided not to protect the 50 players who made the 50 at 50. Kind of awkward to inform Bill Walton, or Nate Archibald, or the family of Pete Maravich (as the case may be) "We're sorry to inform you that you are/he is OUT."
Buzzer Beaters:
1. CBS opted for Alabama-Texas A&M in primetime Saturday night. Uh oh. Blowouts aren't ratings magnets.
2. The Big 12 is clearly football inferior to the SEC but Texas-Oklahoma is about 100 times more interesting than Tide-Ags figures to be. More ultimately successful in Austin: Tesla or Steve Sarkisian?
3. Sports greatest Lances: Bronze-Parrish Silver-Berkman Gold-Alworth (until proven a blatant cheater Armstrong would have been a lock)
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It’s May 1, and the Astros are turning heads—but not for the reasons anyone expected. Their resurgence, driven not by stars like Yordan Alvarez or Christian Walker, but by a cast of less-heralded names, is writing a strange and telling early-season story.
Christian Walker, brought in to add middle-of-the-order thump, has yet to resemble the feared hitter he was in Arizona. Forget the narrative of a slow starter—he’s never looked like this in April. Through March and April of 2025, he’s slashing a worrying .196/.277/.355 with a .632 OPS. Compare that to the same stretch in 2024, when he posted a .283 average, .496 slug, and a robust .890 OPS, and it becomes clear: this is something more than rust. Even in 2023, his April numbers (.248/.714 OPS) looked steadier.
What’s more troubling than the overall dip is when it’s happening. Walker is faltering in the biggest moments. With runners in scoring position, he’s hitting just .143 over 33 plate appearances, including 15 strikeouts. The struggles get even more glaring with two outs—.125 average, .188 slugging, and a .451 OPS in 19 such plate appearances. In “late and close” situations, when the pressure’s highest, he’s practically disappeared: 1-for-18 with a .056 average and a .167 OPS.
His patience has waned (only 9 walks so far, compared to 20 by this time last year), and for now, his presence in the lineup feels more like a placeholder than a pillar.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer when you look at José Altuve—long the engine of this franchise—who, in 2024, delivered in the moments Walker is now missing. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Altuve hit .275 with an .888 OPS. In late and close situations, he thrived with a .314 average and .854 OPS. That kind of situational excellence is missing from this 2025 squad—but someone else may yet step into that role.
And yet—the Astros are winning. Not because of Walker, but in spite of him.
Houston’s offense, in general, hasn’t lit up the leaderboard. Their team OPS ranks 23rd (.667), their slugging 25th (.357), and they sit just 22nd in runs scored (117). They’re 26th in doubles, a rare place for a team built on gap-to-gap damage.
But where there’s been light, it hasn’t come from the usual spots. Jeremy Peña, often overshadowed in a lineup full of stars, now boasts the team’s highest OPS at .791 (Isaac Paredes is second in OPS) and is flourishing in his new role as the leadoff hitter. Peña’s balance of speed, contact, aggression, and timely power has given Houston a surprising tone-setter at the top.
Even more surprising: four Astros currently have more home runs than Yordan Alvarez.
And then there’s the pitching—Houston’s anchor. The rotation and bullpen have been elite, ranking 5th in ERA (3.23), 1st in WHIP (1.08), and 4th in batting average against (.212). In a season where offense is lagging and clutch hits are rare, the arms have made all the difference.
For now, it’s the unexpected contributors keeping Houston afloat. Peña’s emergence. A rock-solid pitching staff. Role players stepping up in quiet but crucial ways. They’re not dominating, but they’re grinding—and in a sluggish AL West, that may be enough.
Walker still has time to find his swing. He showed some signs of life against Toronto and Detroit. If he does, the Astros could become dangerous. If he doesn’t, the turnaround we’re witnessing will be credited to a new cast of unlikely faces. And maybe, that’s the story that needed to be written.
We have so much more to discuss. Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday!
*ChatGPT assisted.
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