Double Your Header, Double Your Fun!
It may seem a bit cliche to paraphrase an old tag line from the ever popular Double Mint Gum. But in all honesty, nothing else seems to fit for the latest run of the Houston Astros. They still sit atop of, not only the AL West division, but the entire league! To say they have been playing well is way too much of an understatement.
Yesterday was especially enjoyable for the spacemen and the fan base. Yankee legend, Derek Jeter, was having his number retired up in the Bronx. A nice ceremony and presentation came in between both of the games of Sunday's doubleheader due to a Saturday rain out. Good times were had by all, even by those on the Astros' bench. Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman both idolized the superstar shortstop over his career and in their own respective paths to the big leagues.
Bregman even picked the number 2 for his jersey to give credence to his childhood hero. Originally, he wanted to pick another number for Sunday night's game out of respect to the festivities of Jeter, but time ran out. In spite of this, keeping his usual number proved to be very beneficial, as Bregman launched his first homer of 2017, a towering left center field shot off of RHP Masahiro Tanaka. It was one of 4 home runs the longtime starter gave up to give the Astros a 9-0 early lead and eventual 10-7 victory.
Between a 2 game sweep at home of the Atlanta Braves and taking 3 out of 4 from the Yankees up in the Bronx, this team is riding an incredible high that does not appear to be diminishing anytime soon. Quite frankly, why should it?! A stacked lineup with a very formidable pitching staff have provided just the winning formula that this organization and ball club have been searching for for so many years now. And even though they hiccuped the first game, the team quickly came back to make the night time Mother's Day game a slug fest!
From top to bottom, everyone on this team has contributed greatly. This includes your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis. He caught game 1 of the double header yesterday that the team eventually lost. However, El Oso Blanco had a sweet showing, going 2-for-5 with both hits being RBI singles. He and #BearSquared brother, Brian McCann have been working this pitching staff well, and hitting well over their weight in average and putting up some serious numbers with the bat, even with some recent struggles with the lumber.
The team is now heading to Miami to face the Marlins for a 3 game set before heading back home for 10 games. Good news is, Miami is not doing too well right now in the standings, sitting at 4th place in the National League. Bad news, the Astros will be playing in a National League park without the DH, forcing the pitching staff to bat. This also means that Gattis, and possibly even Carlos Beltran, may have limited appearances in this next series.
Unless Hinch can get them out on defense in the outfield, and in Evan's case at catcher, these two may not be seeing the batter's box very much. I trust that the skip will somehow make this work. Especially, when you consider the scare McCann had yesterday, when he got hit near the neck off of a foul ball from Aaron Judge in the 4th inning last night. Perhaps, they may use caution and allow Gattis to catch Joe Musgrove tonight. But we'll see what happens.
In the meantime, this entire team is showing that they have both faces and talent more than just their mothers could love. And speaking of Mother's Day, another shout out to my mom if she is reading this. I love you more than you can possibly know. Additionally, the Big White Bear gave some props to his own mom yesterday in this video from MLB.com, retweeted courtesy of his wonderful wife, Kimberly!:
Yesterday was especially enjoyable for the spacemen and the fan base. Yankee legend, Derek Jeter, was having his number retired up in the Bronx. A nice ceremony and presentation came in between both of the games of Sunday's doubleheader due to a Saturday rain out. Good times were had by all, even by those on the Astros' bench. Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman both idolized the superstar shortstop over his career and in their own respective paths to the big leagues.
Bregman even picked the number 2 for his jersey to give credence to his childhood hero. Originally, he wanted to pick another number for Sunday night's game out of respect to the festivities of Jeter, but time ran out. In spite of this, keeping his usual number proved to be very beneficial, as Bregman launched his first homer of 2017, a towering left center field shot off of RHP Masahiro Tanaka. It was one of 4 home runs the longtime starter gave up to give the Astros a 9-0 early lead and eventual 10-7 victory.
Between a 2 game sweep at home of the Atlanta Braves and taking 3 out of 4 from the Yankees up in the Bronx, this team is riding an incredible high that does not appear to be diminishing anytime soon. Quite frankly, why should it?! A stacked lineup with a very formidable pitching staff have provided just the winning formula that this organization and ball club have been searching for for so many years now. And even though they hiccuped the first game, the team quickly came back to make the night time Mother's Day game a slug fest!
From top to bottom, everyone on this team has contributed greatly. This includes your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis. He caught game 1 of the double header yesterday that the team eventually lost. However, El Oso Blanco had a sweet showing, going 2-for-5 with both hits being RBI singles. He and #BearSquared brother, Brian McCann have been working this pitching staff well, and hitting well over their weight in average and putting up some serious numbers with the bat, even with some recent struggles with the lumber.
The team is now heading to Miami to face the Marlins for a 3 game set before heading back home for 10 games. Good news is, Miami is not doing too well right now in the standings, sitting at 4th place in the National League. Bad news, the Astros will be playing in a National League park without the DH, forcing the pitching staff to bat. This also means that Gattis, and possibly even Carlos Beltran, may have limited appearances in this next series.
Unless Hinch can get them out on defense in the outfield, and in Evan's case at catcher, these two may not be seeing the batter's box very much. I trust that the skip will somehow make this work. Especially, when you consider the scare McCann had yesterday, when he got hit near the neck off of a foul ball from Aaron Judge in the 4th inning last night. Perhaps, they may use caution and allow Gattis to catch Joe Musgrove tonight. But we'll see what happens.
In the meantime, this entire team is showing that they have both faces and talent more than just their mothers could love. And speaking of Mother's Day, another shout out to my mom if she is reading this. I love you more than you can possibly know. Additionally, the Big White Bear gave some props to his own mom yesterday in this video from MLB.com, retweeted courtesy of his wonderful wife, Kimberly!:
The future is always hard to predict. But if the present is any indication, this entire team is destined to have a long run in the playoffs. And dare I say it, even bring home that world title to H-Town! The chemistry of these fellas is like none that I have ever seen before. Pictures like the ones below make me especially excited about what destiny holds for the spacemen going forward!HOU@NYY: Gattis talks about his mom's influence https://t.co/cHcskHbTCh via @mlb— Kimberly Gattis (@kimberly11ann) May 14, 2017
Original Photo Credits: Rich Schultz of Getty Images (Gattis, Left) and Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (Gattis and Beltran, Right)
The bear knows how to spread the love and talent around! Both to mothers everywhere, and to his teammates, including future hall of famer and fellow DH, Carlos Beltran.
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