THE PALLILOG
How the Astros can make franchise history this weekend
Jun 25, 2021, 10:54 am
3 times before the Astros have won 12 in a row. Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.
These days the Astros are a scalding hot knife, their opponents one stick of butter after another. Their 11 game winning streak has the Astros on pace to win 101 games this season, and with a shot Friday night to tie the franchise record for longest winning streak. Their chances are good. The Astros are good, the Tigers are bad. Framber Valdez pitches for the good team. Valdez has been fabulous (Frambulous?) over five starts since belatedly starting his season. The bad team pitches Wily Peralta whose career is running on fumes. If on Saturday the Astros are going for a record 13 straight, Lance McCullers has the ball working opposite Tigers' top pitching hope Casey Mize.
Three times before the Astros have won 12 in a row. The first time came in 1999, their final year where home was the Astrodome. The streak came in September when the Astros were in a tight National League Central race with Cincinnati. After the 12th win the Astros had a four game lead with 15 games to play. But then over their next 11 games the Astros went 2-9. The Reds caught them with five to play and then took a one game lead by beating the Astros before more than 54-thousand at the Dome (on a Tuesday night!). The next night the Astros responded behind Mike Hampton to beat the Reds and make it a tie with three games left. The Reds then lost the first two games of their season ending series at Milwaukee, while the Astros split two with the Dodgers. So up one game with one to play, in the last regular season game ever at the Dome, Hampton pitched on three days rest, the Astros scored four in the bottom of the first and cruised to a division clinching 9-4 victory. Hampton finished the season 22-4, still the franchise record for wins in a season.
The second 12 game run occurred in 2004. That was Roger Clemens's and Andy Pettitte's first season with the Astros. At the All Star break with the club plodding along at .500 (44-44) the Astros fired Manager Jimy Williams. Phil Garner was hired, and out of the break the Astros promptly went 12-16 to sit 56-60, 19 and a half games behind the division leading Cardinals. They were within seven games of the Wild Card spot, however. Going into play August 27th they were still seven games out (behind the Cubs) when the Astros ripped off the 12 straight wins, as part of an amazing 36-10 finishing kick to snare the Wild Card.
The most recent 12 gamer was in 2018. Nine different pitchers had at least one win during the streak. How many can you name? Answer below in Buzzer Beaters.
Going streaking!
The subject of winning streaks gives me this year's reason to bring up something that has always been amazing to me. The longest NFL winning streak is 23 games, the Colts did it spanning two seasons. Led by Peyton Manning they were outstanding. The longest NBA winning streak is 33. The 1971-72 Lakers rolled to the championship. The longest NHL winning streak is 17 by the then two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins. The longest MLB winning streak is 26. The New York Giants did it. Within that same season the Giants had a separate 17 game winning streak. Two winning streaks that totaled 43-0. The Giants finished fourth in the National League! 43-0 over the two winning streaks, in all their other games the Giants won 43 and lost 66.
Rockets secure the No. 2 pick
After a season that produced zero meaningful wins the Rockets got a pretty good W in Tuesday's NBA Draft Lottery. They didn't hit the jackpot by nabbing the first pick, but getting number two beats the heck out of losing the pick and getting number 18 in return which would have happened if the Rocket pick had fallen at number five (which had a 47.9 percent chance of happening). With the Detroit Pistons likely selecting Cade Cunningham number one, the Rockets' choice seemingly is a three horse race among lead guard Jalen Suggs, wing Jalen Green, and mobile seven footer Evan Mobley. The Draft is July 29.
Buzzer Beaters:
1. Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Tony Sipp two each, one per for Chris Devenski, Charlie Morton, Will Harris, Lance McCullers, Dallas Keuchel, and Collin McHugh.
2. Game seven Friday night. The New York Islanders at the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning. Winner to the Stanley Cup Final. It needs to be a close game of course, but if it is there is nothing in sports with more relentless second to second intensity than an NHL game seven. The winner plays the Montreal Canadiens for the Cup.
3. Greatest "Did you know they're Canadian?" actors: Bronze-Ryan Gosling Silver-William Shatner Gold-Christopher PlummerMost Popular
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How latest Astros comments point to mixed signals, communication breakdown
Feb 17, 2025, 4:38 pm
Alex Bregman couldn’t hold back the smile when he was asked who might have had the biggest impact on his decision to sign with the Boston Red Sox.
“My favorite player Dustin Pedroia,” Bregman said of the club's former second baseman and two-time World Series champion.
“He reached out a few times this offseason and talked about how special it was to be a part of the Boston Red Sox,” Bregman said Sunday. “It was really cool to be able to talk to him as well as so many other former players here in Boston and current players on the team as well.”
A day after Bregman's $120 million, three-year contract was announced, he sat at a 25-minute news conference between his agent, Scott Boras, and Boston Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow. Manager Alex Cora, who gave Bregman a hug after he handed the infielder his No. 2 jersey, also was at the table along with team president Sam Kennedy.
Breslow and Cora wouldn't say whether Bregman would move to play second base, Pedroia's position, or remain at third — a position manned by Rafael Devers since July 2017.
A few players, Jarren Duran and Rob Refsnyder among them, and coaches stood behind the seated reporters to listen.
Bregman gets a $5 million signing bonus, a $35 million salary this season and $40 million in each of the following two years, with some of the money deferred, and he can opt out after the 2025 and 2026 seasons to become a free agent again.
Asked why he agreed to the shorter contract with opt outs, he leaned forward to the microphone in front of him and replied: “I just think I believe in my abilities.”
Originally selected by Boston in the 29th round of the 2012 amateur draft, Bregman attended LSU before the Houston Astros picked him second overall in 2015. His family history with the Red Sox goes back further.
“My dad grew up sitting on Ted Williams’ lap,” he said.
MLB.com said Stan Bregman, the player's grandfather, was a lawyer who represented the Washington Senators and negotiated Williams' deal to become manager.
Boston has missed the playoffs in five of the last six seasons and had avoided signing the highest-profile free agents. Boras said a conversation with Red Sox controlling owner John Henry showed ownership’s desire to get back to winning.
“I think it was after Soto signed,’’ Boras said, citing the record contract he negotiated for Juan Soto with the Mets. “We had a discussion. I could tell knowing John back with the Marlins and such, he had a real onus about ‘we need to do things differently than what we’ve done before.’
“This is a point and time where I believe Red Sox ownership was hungry for championship play and exhausted with what had happened the last five, six years.”
Called the “perfect fit” by Breslow, the 30-year-old Bregman joined the Red Sox after winning two World Series titles and reaching the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons with Houston.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the playoffs the first eight years of my career, and I plan on continuing to do that here,” he said in his opening remarks. “I’m a winning player and this is a winning organization.”
Coming off an 81-81 season, the Red Sox acquired left-hander Garrett Crochet from the White Sox and signed fellow pitchers Walker Buehler, Patrick Sandoval, Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson during the offseason.
After the pitching moves, they found a right-handed bat, too.
“As the offseason progressed it just became clearer and clearer that Alex was the perfect fit for what we were trying to accomplish,” Breslow said.
Bregman ranks first among players with at least 75 career plate appearances in Fenway Park with an OPS of 1.240.
“He fits like a glove for our organization,” Kennedy said.