Kyle Busch won again. Kylebusch.com
NASCAR turns right and left this week as they head for Watkins Glen International raceway for their second of three road course races in 2018. Located in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, this track is easily one of the most difficult on the schedule. It is 2.45 miles in length and has eleven corners making it the longest road course in NASCAR. The toughest corner on the track is the chicane in turn five. In 1992, this was added to the track due to the major crashes including the late J.D. McDuffie who died a year earlier in this corner. This Corner is also difficult due to the high rate of speed the drivers are carrying from the straightaways exiting corners two,three and four. Due to how fast they are going, it is easy to miss the corner and possibly crash.
This track arguably has provided one of the greatest finishes in NASCAR history back in 2012, when former driver Marcos Ambrose fought off future champion Brad Keselowski in possibly the greatest last lap battle of all time. Ever since then this track has been one of the most anticipated races of the whole season so look for a great race come Sunday.
Last week it was much of the same as we have seen all season as Kyle Busch was able to take his sixth checkered flag of the year. His Joe Gibbs racing teammates Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones gave him a big challenge in the closing laps but the M&M’s Camry was too quick for them to really do anything.
In spite of the fact that they were not able to win, this was an excellent result for NASCAR’s next generation, as sophomore driver Suarez got his career best finish of second, Alex Bowman finished third, Jones fifth and William Byron was able to claim his second top 10 of his career as he finished sixth. Sure at the end of the day, the experienced veteran in Kyle Busch won the race but this race could very well be a shifting of the tide for the sport. Look for any one of the drivers mentioned above to be a force to be reckoned with in the not to distant future.
As I covered last week, Ryan Newman seems to be getting back on the right track. Last week he was able to back up his sixth place finish at New Hampshire with an impressive eighth place finish at Pocono. All throughout the day, Newman laid in the weeds and wasn’t really in contention but in the closing stages, he and his crew used pit road strategy by only taking two tires and gaining more track position. His tires were able to hold up and he scored his sixth top 10 of the season. Currently, the rocketman is 34 points out of the playoffs but if there is anyone who can get in by points it’s Ryan Newman. This was a guy who nearly won the championship in 2014 without winning a race due to the sheer number of top 10 finishes he had all season. Look for Newman to be exciting going into the final weeks of the regular season
The favorite to win this week is who else? But defending champion himself Martin Truex Jr. He comes to this track as the defender after he held off Matt Kenseth for his then fourth win of the 2017 season. This week, he looks to settle the score amongst his rivals in “the big three” after Kevin Harvick won two weeks ago at New Hampshire and Kyle Busch won last week at Pocono. He goes to a track where he has run extremely well at over his last three starts in fact, he has the third highest average finish amongst all active drivers here since 2016. It truly would surprise no one if Truex is able to repeat come sunday, he surely will be the car to beat come sunday.
My prediction to win this weekend is sort of a wild card but, I am going with Suarez. This season has been an uphill battle for the 2015 Xfinity series champion but I think he is in the best position to get his first career win here. Last year, Suarez won the second stage of the race and then brought home his Stanley Tools Camry in third, his career best finish at that point. Suarez at that time was on the same strategy as his former teammate Matt Kenseth and was catching race leader Martin Truex Jr., who didn’t look to have enough fuel. Unfortunately for him, he was much too far back to really do anything with the front two cars. This year, Suarez has a whole year of experience under his belt and is improving each and every week and I think Sunday he breaks through. Look for Suarez to drive the No. 19 Stanley Tools Toyota all the way to winners circle and clinch a spot in the playoffs.
(All stats and information used in this article is brought to you by the good folks at driveraverages.com and Racing-Refrence.com the best website for all NASCAR stats).
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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.