It’s not often that a last-place team makes the cover of Sports Illustrated, a longtime honor in the sports world. This week’s issue, which hits newsstands Wednesday, features the Astros and George Springer, with headlines including “Baseball’s Great Experiment” and a weighty prediction: “Your 2017 World Series Champs.”

George Springer crushes a home run to the catwalk in left field off David Price.



George Springer has hit 15 home runs with 40 RBIs as a rookie. 63 games played so far. He'll continue to improve.

Astros won two out of three against the Tigers. Should have swept them but they gave up three runs in the top of the 9th yesterday to lose it 4-3.

George Springer: Teams are not pitching to him as much lately. The Tigers walked him three times today. He went 1-for-2 with an RBI double. Only had those two official at-bats today in the 6-4 win.

If the Astros can sign a couple good free agents this off-season, including a reliable closer, I think they can become a .500 team in 2015.

Even more impressive they faced Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer in that series. They went up against the Tigers best pitchers, were in position to win all three games, and we had the bottom of our rotation like Brad Peacock pitching in that series.

It was nice to see Brad Ausmus back in town. He'll always be remembered by Houston fans for that game-tying home run against the Braves in the 2005 NLDS. The game the Astros won in 18 innings. One of the longest postseason games in MLB history. Roger Clemens had to come out of the bullpen.

6/29/14: Jose Altuve steals his second base of the ballgame and sets a record for stolen bases with one in six straight games for the Astros



Not even the all-star break yet. Jose Altuve is hitting .347 and leads the league in total hits (116), stolen bases (36) and of course batting average. He's on pace to break Craig Biggio's franchise record of most hits in a season (210) as well as Biggio's 50 stolen bases, that he set both of those marks back in 1998.

I'll be shocked if the Astros don't call up this 21-year-old kid after the all-star break. He's been on fire all year long at Triple-A.

6/27/14: Oklahoma City's Domingo Santana slugs a walk-off three-run homer as the RedHawks beat Omaha, 8-5



He was named to the futures all star game as well. The Astros have him on their 40-man roster so he can be called up at anytime. With Domingo Santana in left field and George Springer in right field we'll have two of the most exciting outfielders in the game for a long time.

George Springer absolutely demolished this pitch today..

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/11493214/v34186755/must-c-crushed-springer-launches-a-tworun-homer

He's definitely one of my favorite players to watch in all of baseball, hopefully he becomes an Astro' legend.

It's a shame we lost though. George Springer hit his 16th home run in his 65th game played as a rookie.

Jose Altuve stole another base. Seven straight games with at least one stolen base. 11 stolen bases in 7 games.

At 36-48, the Astros only have a better record than the Rays (36-49) and Diamondbacks (35-49) at the moment.

But the Astros can leap frog another nine teams (better than 11 teams total) with a little winning streak. There are a lot of bad teams this year. It's still possible that the Astros will have the first overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft for the fourth year in a row (more young talent).

But I think we're going to end up outside of the top ten. I don't think the Astros are bad enough to lose 100 plus games this year. If the Astros keep delaying a Domingo Santana call up then everything still feels bittersweet to me. We still are getting absolutely zero production out of left field this year. Our combined batting average in left field for 2014 is a dismal .160

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Jul 1 2014 04:07am

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/07/01/astros-make-sweeping-roster-changes-including-calling-up-prospect-domingo-santana/

At least the Astros finally called up Domingo Santana before last night's game after they placed Dexter Fowler on the DL. The kid started in left field and hit 8th in the lineup, Over time he'll hit much higher. He struggled in his first MLB game. 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts. They changed his infield hit to a fielding error in the bottom of the 7th. Looked like he was pressing and way too pumped up for his MLB debut at 21 years old.

We're having an awful series against the Mariners but at least our three rookies are finally in the big leagues and starting. George Springer in right field, Domingo Santana in left field and Jon Singleton at first base. The rest of 2014 will be used for their experience. Now we can finally grow with this young team until the next batch of young prospecrs are called up. It's going to be a while for Brady Aiken, Mark Appel and Carlos Correa. Our three first overall picks.

I'm looking forward to today's game this afternoon. 2:10 PM Eastern start time. The Astros need to start winning again. They are 36-49 overall and 5-12 over their last 17 games after they were so close to passing the Texas Rangers in the AL West standings.

This is the position I wanted to see the Astros in two or three years ago. Having a very young team. Now every game is fun to follow and there is something to learn about. I actually enjoy watching the games because of the young talent. Now I have to be patient and watch them develop and make their adjustments at the MLB level.

7/2/14: Enrique 'Kike' Hernandez hits his first career homer to deep left, as his family cheers him on



Seems like this 22-year-old kid is the guy we should have called up. Utility player too. I hope Domingo Santana settles down. 0-for-7 with six strikeouts in his two games in the big leagues so far. He's pressing big time.

During his second at-bat yesterday, a 3-2 slider that Chris Young threw in the dirt. Come on, Domingo. Lay off those... Or else it's going to be a demotion right back to Triple-A and you deserved that call up. Between Springer, Singleton, Santana and now Hernandez, we'll need these guys to get the bats rolling at the same time. That would be fun to wtch.

/2/14: George Springer runs all the way to the wall and leaps to catch Brad Miller's potential extra-base hit to end the 2nd