The Launch Angle

Last night was ugly. An infield fly 10 feet in front of the left handed batter’s box that should have been out 3 dropped with 5 Astros watching Yainer Diaz misjudge the ball.

Tough but reasonable play for a catcher to make. I don’t know, maybe Walker should have taken charge of that ball. Maybe just let your pitcher, who’s been catching fly balls since he was 6 years old, catch it (“Never!” say the unwritten rules of MLB).

I do know that, in no way, was that a single to shallow right center. Really, Yahoo Sports?

What should have ended the inning with a manageable 3 run deficit in the 3rd, turned into a 9 run deficit after Cristian Javier’s relief, Roddery Munoz, let 5 more runs go before finding that last out.

So what now? Forget about it. If April games are worth the same as September games, then a blowout loss is worth the same as a competitive one. Just one.

We can examine what can be done to get Javier’s invisiball back. We can bring Rule 5 pick Roddery Muñoz back to Cincinnati, ring the doorbell and run away, but the season goes on.

Hit the reset button, and keep going.

Speaking of which, I wanted to bring your attention to a piece Justin Mason wrote yesterday, titled “Getting Through The Fog”.

It’s not about the Astros; it’s not about the Athletics. It’s only peripherally about baseball (and fantasy baseball, at that), but it is a good read.

This would normally be something I would include in a daily links post, but we don’t have those (yet), so I’m putting it here.

Life can be hard, life can be cruel, and sitting down to watch some baseball helps more than we probably realize. Even when it’s 5 infielders watching the 6th drop an infield fly.

Reset.

Tatsuya Imai and Luis Morales look to shake off shaky season debuts in their second starts of the season. Imai went 2.2 IP against the Angels with 3 hits, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts and 4 earned runs. The stuff was there, but by his own honest admission, the environment and nervousness affected him.

Luis Morales allowed 5 runs in 4.1 IP against the Blue Jays. A right hander who averages 97.3 mph on his fastball, he throws gas, and even ended up with a downvote in 2025 AL Rookie of the Year voting. (Because having the winner and runner-up for AL ROTY wasn’t enough for the A’s.)

Here are today’s starting lineups:

The game will be broadcast at 3:05 p.m. CT on SCHN with radio coverage on KBME 790 AM.

We hope you will join us and the rest of the Launch Angle community for the game! The turnout has been fantastic on the TLA Discord Server for the game threads.

Remember, watching your team struggle by yourself is frustrating. Watching them struggle with others is group therapy.

Join us again for today’s game. Just join the Discord server using this link: https://launch-angle.com/discord .

If you’ve participated in gamethreads on other Astros sites in the past, you will probably see a lot of familiar names. Chat, lurk, do whatever! (But please say “hi”, so we know you’re not a bot.)

Feature photo from @astros on X, Source Link.