The Astros try to get back in the series against the Nationals in game 2 tonight, having dropped the first game 12-11, in a contest where they came up just short in their comeback.
Coming up a dollar short isn’t necessarily anything to be ashamed about, but sometimes it is if the reason you couldn’t pay the bill was because of poor money management, and poor management was large part of last night’s loss. When your offense gives you a 6-1 lead, you need to find a way to make sure that game goes in the win bank.
Well, you can’t get that one back. Forget it. Switch gears, and focus on today’s game.
You Can Call Me “Al-“
The Astros face a lefty today in Andrew Alvarez. With Pena still out, shortstop duties have fallen to Nick Allen and Braden Shewmake, who was recently activated off of the IL. Shewmake got the start last night against righty Miles Mikolas. I’m guessing Allen gets the start today against a southpaw.
That got me to thinking: with Jose Altuve standing at 5’6″ (at least that’s what he’s billed at), and Allen listed at 5’7″, is this the shortest double play combination in MLB history? It’s gotta be, at least in the modern era.
I couldn’t really find any good way to look that up. My suspicion is that the record holder would have been the 1970’s Kansas City duo of Freddie Patek (5’5″ shortstop) and Cookie Rojas (5’10” second baseman). That’s a combined height of 11’3″.
Then along came David Eckstein of the 2000’s Cardinals, another famously vertically challenged middle infielder at 5’6″. His double play partner for a few years was second baseman Aaron Miles, at 5’8″. That’s a combined height of 11’2″, an inch shorter than the Kansas City pairing.
Altuve and Allen? 11’1″ combined. That’s gotta be the shortest.
Here’s the “You can call me Al-” double play team turning two against the Dodgers:
If you want more, here are the short order cooks taking care of Big Dumper and the Mariners. And one against the Rays. And another against the Rays.
But where was I? Oh yeah, focus on today’s game.
Tatsuya Imai vs. Andrew Alvarez
Andrew Alvarez, although in his second year in the bigs, is still in his rookie-year eligibility. After spending the early part of the season as a long reliever, he moved into the Nationals starting rotation in June, and has done fairly well. In 5 June starts, he didn’t allow any more than 2 earned runs in any start. He also didn’t pitch deep into any of them either, always completing 4 innings but never 5. The Nationals rarely allow him to see batters a third time through the order.
Alvarez’ last outing was a relief appearance, but in name only, as he pitched his usual 4 inning and change, but only after an opener. He allowed no runs, only 2 hits struck out 6, walked 1 and came out with the win.
Alavrez is primarily a 4 pitch pitcher. Against right-handed hitters he relies heavily on his curveball and a 4-seam fastball that averages on the lower side, 92.5 mph. He’ll mix in his slider and occasionally a sinker with those 2 pitches.
Against lefties, he reverses that usage. The sinker and slider are his pitches of choice, and he works in the 4-seam and curve as secondary pitches.
Despite the lack of velocity, he gets hitters to chase and generates a lot of swings and misses, because the movement on his pitches is so great. Hitters either miss the ball entirely, or the ball ends up lower than they think, and they swing over it into groundball outs. Alvarez is in the 93rd percentile for inducing groundballs.
Alvarez is 2-1 with a 3.05 ERA over 41.1 IP this season, with a 1.28 WHIP, 10.5 k/9 and 3.5 BB/9.
Taking the hill for the Astros is Tatsuya Imai, and I’m not sure what more else there is to say about him. He’s either an ace who strikes out everyone who steps into the box or a disaster who can’t make it through 2 innings, and you never know which one you’re going to get. I thought Dr. Jekyll had moved past Mr. Hyde, but the latter reared its ugly head again in the last start.
Who do we get today? Astros fans might as well be Forrest Gump with a box of chocolates.
Imai is 5-4 on the season in 12 starts, with a 6.14 ERA. Mike Burrows finished last night’s game with a 5.99 ERA. It’s July and two of the Astros’ starters who have been in the rotation since the start of the season have 6 ERAs. Not great, Bob.
Imai’s WHIP sits at 1.47 and while he’s striking out 11.2 per 9 innings, he also walking 5.6 per 9.
Astros @ Nationals Game Information and Gamethread Details
The game will be broadcast at 5:45 p.m. CT on SCHN with radio coverage on KBME 790 AM.
This post will be updated with starting lineup as they are made available.
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