THE PALLILOG
Charlie Pallilo: On the Rockets, Astros, college hoops and Olympic hockey
Feb 23, 2018, 6:08 am
A.J. Hinch does not have a lot of decisions to make. Jason Behnken / Getty Images
The final six weeks of the Rockets’ regular season will be anything but boring as they roll toward a new franchise record for regular season wins (all they need is a 15-10 finish) and battle the Golden State Warriors for the best record in the NBA (winning that battle will require more along the lines of a 20-5 finish).
Astros’ spring training should be delightfully boring. For the World Series Champions no news will be good news. Any significant news would probably be injury related. Manager A.J. Hinch has three fringe roster decisions to make; who gets Yuli Gurriel’s spot as he serves a five game season-starting suspension, whether to carry a third catcher or a more versatile last man on the bench, and whether to carry a marginal lefty reliever.
No Texas fight
So, who’s doing the less impressive job this season: Billy Kennedy or Shaka Smart? The Aggies climbed out of the hole of an 0-5 start in SEC play to get to 6-6 following wins on the road at then 8th ranked Auburn and at home over then No. 24 Kentucky. And since have dumped three straight games including getting destroyed at Arkansas and then losing at home by 12 to a middling Mississippi State team. That has the Ags 6-9 in SEC play with games remaining at Vanderbilt, at Georgia, and home vs. Alabama. They should win at least two of those three and be OK for an NCAA Tournament berth. But worse than that followed by a first round loss in the SEC Tournament…
Meanwhile, Smart makes over three million dollars per season at Texas and has a produced a record to this point of 47 wins 47 losses. I thought Smart was a tremendous Horns’ hire. I’ve been wrong before. The loss of Andrew Jones to a leukemia diagnosis was a big blow to an offense that too often is inept. But scoring all of 48 points in a loss at Kansas State this week was pitiful. UT is 6-9 in Big 12 play. Its remaining three games are against teams that have already hooked the Horns this season: Oklahoma St., Kansas, and West Virginia. I don’t care how good and deep the Big 12 is, a team that goes 7-11 in conference does not belong in the NCAA Tournament unless it wins two games minimum in its conference tournament.
USA! USA!
It’s only once every four years that there’s any realistic chance of me watching a women’s hockey game. The latest quadrennial occasion was Wednesday night and it sure was worth is as the U.S. women beat Canada for the gold medal. Four years ago in the gold medal game the American women had a 2-0 lead with five minutes left but blew it, and lost in sudden death overtime. 10 of the players who swallowed that bitter pill were back and tasted the sweetest victory. It was a great game and a great story, made even greater in that twin sisters scored the tying and game winning goals for the U.S. Can’t wait until Beijing in 2022!
Remembering the Miracle
Thursday marked the 38th anniversary of the greatest sporting event in U.S. history. It was Feb. 22, 1980 when the entirely amateur-comprised American hockey team stunned the Soviet Union machine at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
It is inconceivable that a future sporting event could resonate as strongly in this country as did that victory coupled with the subsequent gold medal win. The USSR was our sworn Cold War enemy, our economy was a mess, and we had 52 hostages held captive in Iran. It was not the best of times.
We did not win the gold by beating the Soviets. That victory got the U.S. a shot at gold playing against Finland two days later. It wasn’t a straight up gold medal game. Under the format of that time a loss to the Finns would have meant only bronze for the U.S. A tie would have resulted in the gold to the Soviets on a tiebreaker.
Against Finland we trailed 2-1 after the second period. In the third period we scored the tying goal, while unbelievably, ABC-TV was in commercials. Out of the commercials Al Michaels said “We’ve got the greatest news of all for you. As you can see the Americans, the mob scene there, Phil Verchota has just scored to tie the game!” Not quite as famous on the Al Michaels page in Bartlett’s Quotations as “Do you believe in miracles….yes!!!”
ABC managed to not be in commercials for the go ahead and insurance goals that capped the Miracle On Ice.
Buzzer Beaters
1. Kansas wraps up an insane 14th straight Big 12 title if it wins at Texas Tech Saturday. 2. I wonder if Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock think Kevin Hart is very funny. 3. Match Game Super Match Edition, Ice ______ : Bronze-Ice, Baby! Silver- Breaker Gold-Cream.
What looked like a minor blip after an emotional series win in Los Angeles has turned into something more concerning for the Houston Astros.
Swept at home by a Guardians team that came in riding a 10-game losing streak, the Astros were left looking exposed. Not exhausted, as injuries, underperformance, and questionable decision-making converged to hand Houston one of its most frustrating series losses of the year.
Depth finally runs dry
It would be easy to point to a “Dodger hangover” as the culprit, the emotional peak of an 18-1 win at Chavez Ravine followed by a mental lull. But that’s not the story here.
Houston’s energy was still evident, especially in the first two games of the series, where the offense scored five or more runs each time. Including those, the Astros had reached that mark in eight of their last 10 games heading into Wednesday’s finale.
But scoring isn’t everything, not when a lineup held together by duct tape and desperation is missing Christian Walker and Jake Meyers and getting critical at-bats from Cooper Hummel, Zack Short, and other journeymen.
The lack of depth finally showed. The Astros, for three days, looked more like a Triple-A squad with Jose Altuve and a couple big-league regulars sprinkled in.
Cracks in the pitching core
And the thing that had been keeping this team afloat, elite pitching, finally buckled.
Hunter Brown and Josh Hader, both dominant all season, finally cracked. Brown gave up six runs in six innings, raising his pristine 1.82 ERA to 2.21. Hader wasn’t spared either, coughing up a game-losing grand slam in extra innings that inflated his ERA from 1.80 to 2.38 in one night.
But the struggles weren’t isolated. Bennett Sousa, Kaleb Ort, and Steven Okert each gave up runs at critical moments. The bullpen’s collective fade could not have come at a worse time for a team already walking a tightrope.
Injury handling under fire
Houston’s injury management is also drawing heat, and rightfully so. Jake Meyers, who had been nursing a calf strain, started Wednesday’s finale. He didn’t even make it through one pitch before aggravating the injury and needing to be helped off the field.
No imaging before playing him. No cautionary rest despite the All-Star break looming. Just a rushed return in a banged-up lineup, and it backfired immediately.
Second-guessing has turned to outright criticism of the Astros’ medical staff, as fans and analysts alike wonder whether these mounting injuries are being made worse by how the club is handling them.
Pressure mounts on Dana Brown
All eyes now turn to Astros GM Dana Brown. The Astros are limping into the break with no clear reinforcements on the immediate horizon. Only Chas McCormick is currently rehabbing in Sugar Land. Everyone else? Still sidelined.
Brown will need to act — and soon.
At a minimum, calling up top prospect Brice Matthews makes sense. He’s been mashing in Triple-A (.283/.400/.476, 10 HR, .876 OPS) and could play second base while Jose Altuve shifts to left field more regularly. With Mauricio Dubón stretched thin between shortstop and center, injecting Matthews’ upside into the infield is a logical step.
*Editor's note: The Astros must be listening, Matthews was called up Thursday afternoon!
The Astros are calling up Brice Matthews, their top prospect on @MLBPipeline
via @brianmctaggart pic.twitter.com/K91cGKkcx6
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 10, 2025
There’s also trade chatter, most notably about Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins, but excitement has been tepid. His numbers don’t jump off the page, but compared to who the Astros are fielding now, Mullins would be a clear upgrade and a much-needed big-league presence.
A final test before the break
Before the All-Star reset, Houston gets one last chance to stabilize the ship, and it comes in the form of a rivalry series against the Texas Rangers. The Astros will send their top trio — Lance McCullers Jr., Framber Valdez, and Hunter Brown — to the mound for a three-game set that will test their resolve, their health, and perhaps their postseason aspirations.
The Silver Boot is up for grabs. So is momentum. And maybe, clarity on just how far this version of the Astros can go.
There's 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.
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*ChatGPT assisted.
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