THE PALLILOG
Charlie Pallilo: Easy street for the Texans, Rockets heading for the next round, big early baseball series
Apr 20, 2018, 6:50 am
The Texans and Bill O'Brien have a tough start but the schedule is manageable. Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images
I mean, seriously, who in the heck would sit and watch two hours of the NFL schedule release show Thursday night? Better alternatives: NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, baseball, The Big Bang Theory (still on, yes?) or most anything else. Post it online and let’s go. And so we learned that the Texans open their 2018 season at New England. Should be good to get “can they go 16-0?” talk out of the way and focus on 15-1. I mean for the Patriots. Of course the Texans can go 16-0. Wait, make that they can go 10-6. A silver lining of last season’s total collapse was getting a last place team’s schedule. The advantage of that was greater back in the days when there were four strength of schedule games on the slate as opposed to the current two, but it’s still an edge pointing to 2018. The Texans play the last place Browns and Broncos while the defending AFC South champion Jaguars draw the Steelers and Chiefs. The Texans will do well to avoid an 0-2 start with at Tennessee following at New England. After that, on paper the Texans have the easiest schedule in the NFL.
Inevitable conclusion
As expected, so far so good for the Rockets’ postseason. They were shaky in game one against Minnesota but won on the back of James Harden’s awesome 44 point performance. They needed all of it to win by three with all other Rockets combining to shoot a frigid 12 percent from behind the 3-point line. Any false hope the Timberwolves may have drawn by losing close was snuffed in the Rockets’ Game 2 20 point rout. If the players got bonuses for every point above 20 in their margin of victory the Rockets could have won game two by 35 or 40, and done so on a night where Harden made two of 18 shots from the floor.
Maybe the Timberwolves manage one win in Minneapolis, but the Rockets should be very well rested for their second round matchup vs. the Thunder-Jazz winner. Additionally, if Luc Mbah a Moute’s dislocated shoulder heals well they could be the healthiest they’ve been in months. Provided the Pelicans close out the Trailblazers, perhaps Anthony Davis can help New Orleans give Golden State a series if Stephen Curry isn’t back, or effective. But it sure looks like the anticipated Rockets-Warriors Western Conference Final is coming.
Big early series?
There is no such thing as a huge baseball series in April. But that doesn’t mean Astros-Angels Monday through Wednesday at Minute Maid Park can’t be hugely fun. A.J. Hinch didn’t specifically plan it this way but his starting pitchers line up as Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton, and Justin Verlander. After four starts apiece Verlander’s 1.35 ERA made him the slacker of the three, which is absolutely nuts. Morton is at 0.72, Cole at 0.96.
Heading into the season the Angels looked to be the most improved team in the American League West, and they played the part in roaring out of the chute to a 13-3 start. Will the Halos have the staying power to hang with the Astros through the summer? I doubt it, but they will hit town with serious star power. Mike Trout is the best baseball player on the planet, as he routinely has been since his rookie season in 2012. Trout’s career path to date rates very well vs. Willie Mays’. Shortstop Andrelton Simmons may be the best defensive player in the game. Evaluating defensive performance has come a long way but still lags well behind evaluating offense. Nevertheless, Simmons’s advanced defensive stats suggest that he plays shortstop better than did the generally acknowledged best ever, Ozzie Smith. Albert Pujols is a shell of the player who was the best first baseman in National League history, but is within single digits of becoming the 32nd big leaguer to reach 3000 hits. If he happens to reach 3K here I hope and expect the MMP crowd to be smarter than to boo him.
And then there’s Shohei Ohtani, the 23 year old Japanese sensation pitcher/designated hitter. After he stunk in both roles at spring training some wondered whether Ohtani might be best served by starting the season in the minors. Um, no. Already this season Ohtani has homered in three consecutive games, and on the mound carried a perfect game into the seventh inning. He had a blister problem in his last start, but is expected to pitch one of the games against the Astros. Houston’s population of Japanese descent is small, so Ohtani fans won’t be taking over the ballpark.
Buzzer beaters
1. By NHL standards the 1st round of the playoffs has been a dud. 2. The reigning MLS champ is in town this weekend. Any clue which team is the reigning MLS champ? 3. Best diet sodas: Bronze-Dr. Pepper Silver-Coke Zero Gold-Fresca
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.