The Launch Angle

On the bright side, the Astros finally had a starter reach six innings. But the bad news is that Mike Burrows is giving off some Jason Jennings-in-2007 vibes and allowed six earned runs in the process. The end result is another loss, extending the eight-game losing streak and finalizing a disastrous 1-9 road trip.

And what the *insert your favorite expletive here* was Burrows doing on this play?

Or throwing Josh Naylor two four-seam fastballs middle-middle in the zone? Those two mistakes led to five of the Mariners’ six runs.

But all of those mistakes track for this season so far. The Astros have now allowed 107 runs (earned and unearned) on the season, by far the worst mark in baseball. Before that sixth run was scored, I ran a Stathead query to see what had happened in the past when a team had allowed at least 106 runs (again, earned and unearned) in its first 17 games of the season. The results? The Astros will be the 142nd team dating back to 1898 to allow at least 106 runs (earned and unearned) to start a season through 17 games. Only 24 of those preceding 141 teams (17%) achieved a winning record, with only six qualifying for the postseason (4.3%).

In other words, I am not holding out much hope that Houston can turn this situation around, considering the severity and sheer number of pitchers out of commission. A staff performing this poorly has a chance to truly torpedo the season, and that seems like a strong possibility at the moment.

But, sooner or later, the pitching staff will regress back to the mean. I mean, they can’t keep pitching this poorly all season long. The damage has been done, though. And, frankly, I don’t see how this situation improves dramatically anytime soon, especially as long as pitchers like Hunter Brown and Josh Hader remain on the IL. Not to mention that Cristian Javier and Tatsuya Imai are also on the IL, although their brief contributions were lackluster for the most part.

This game felt over from the moment that Naylor’s first home run left his bat. Yes, a 3-0 deficit after the first inning, even with George Kirby on the mound, isn’t an automatic loss. But for as much as I am about the stats, the vibes around this team aren’t good at the moment. The lineup has finally cooled off a fair bit, scoring two or fewer runs in four of the last six games, including today’s loss. Honestly, the bats coming back to earth somewhat weren’t a surprise when taking into account the hot start they had. But the timing sucks, as it also coincides with a pitching staff that has allowed at least 5 runs in each of the last 8 games. And both runs were from the bottom of the order, with Yainer Diaz (single) and Nick Allen (groundout double play) driving in two in the fifth inning.

Plain and simple, the Astros have an active eight-game losing streak. The last time that occurred? Back in 2013, when they finished that season by losing 15 consecutive games. I would like to think this year’s team can avoid matching that dreadful streak, but then I have had the displeasure of watching this season’s staff pitch. We may not have seen rock bottom just yet.

Feature photo from @astros on X, Source Link