George Springer hit his 19th home run (two-run shot). Robbie Grossman is 4-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. Being sent down to the minor leagues and called up again has paid off for him. It's nice to finally be getting some production out of left field.

Anytime you can tag Yu Darvish for 6 earned runs in 6 innings (10 hits off him) that's pretty impressive. The Astros lead 8-4 going into the top of the 8th. Looks like they're about to sweep the Rangers and move out of the AL West cellar. Not the best start for Dallas Keuchel giving up 4 earned runs in 6.2 innings but he settled down nicely after a shaky start and is in line to get the win.

Well actually Kike Hernandez started in left field tonight. I forgot George Springer is in center field and Robbie Grossman started in right field. We're still without Dexter Fowler. He's on the 15-day DL. The funny thing is even with a 4-for-4 night Robbie Grossman's batting average is barely up to .180 because he struggled beyond words before he was sent down. But he seemed to have Darvish's number tonight.

Springer leading the majors in strikeouts.
Dayum.

7/9/14: George Springer races back to the center-field wall and makes an incredible catch while slamming into the wall to steal a hit

The Astros start a three-game series against the Red Sox at Minute Maid Park tonight.
I think we can sweep this series and enter the all-star break on a six-game winning streak.
We have Scott Feldman, Collin McHugh and Jarred Cosart lined up to pitch. Get 'er done!

Disappointing 8-3 loss last night. Chris Carter hit two solo home runs. He's hitting .203 with 19 home runs. LOL

Chris Carter is such a bad hitter but he may end up hitting 30-plus home runs this year just like George Springer. I'd rather have a DH who can hit over .300 and get on base better than a .280 clip even if he hits 10 or 15 less home runs less during the season.

As a team the Astros are hitting .239 which is fourth worst in baseball. Only the Phillies, Cubs and Padres hit worse.

The Astros are the fourth best team in home runs hit (102), which is only behind the Blues Jays, Orioles and Rockies. But hitting a lot of solo home runs with nobody on base doesn't really help. The Astros are 21st out of 30 teams in on-base percentage (.311) and 22nd out of 30 teams in total runs scored (365).

We just need more guys who can get on base. Having more opportunities to score more runs and making all of those home runs stand up would be huge. Guys who are disciplined at the plate and can draw walks instead of striking out at an alarming rate. We need some moneyball strategy,

The worst part about our lack of runs is the fact our starting pitching and bullpen has regressed. We're not seeing the solid pitching we were getting when we were playing some good baseball back in June. Anytime you have good pitching you can compete and win games. But the Astros team ERA is third worst in baseball (4.42). Only the Rangers (4.89) and Rockies (4.96) are worse.

The Astros are at Chicago to start a three-game series with the White Sox tomorrow night.

Dallas Keuchel is pitching the Saturday Night game. I was hoping Chris Sale was pitching that game as well so I can watch two of the better lefties in the game this season but Sale isn't even pitching in the series.

It's Feldman, Keuchel, Cosart versus Quintana, Noesi and Danks. I'm excited to see Jose Abreu and his 29 home runs.

@JeffPassan: Scary Astros possibility: If Nix wins grievance to pay agreed-upon $1.5M, Houston 17% over bonus pool, would forfeit next two 1st-rd picks.

This post was edited by jbell886 on Jul 18 2014 04:40pm

does this count towards the #2 pick next year for not signing aiken?

passan was asked and said he wasnt sure