Hand in My Pocket
Released as the second single off of the iconic 1995 album, "Jagged Little Pill," Alanis Morrisette went a little more low key on this song than the previous release of "You Oughta Know." Like most songs off the landmark album, "Hand In My Pocket" is one about finding zen. No matter what spot you may find yourself at any given point in your life, Morrisette was attempting to remind folks to embrace both the good and the bad.
I think Mike Myers as Wayne Campbell in the classic comedy film,"Wayne's World 2," described the album best when he was recalling growing up around Peter Frampton's 1976 classic "Frampton Comes Alive:"
This song is symbolic to what the Houston Astros went through over this past weekend against the San Diego Padres. The series proved to be the first big test of pitching they had never seen before. The Padres are now considered inter league, so it was very possible that a lot of the hitters in the lineup had dealt with these hurlers for the first time. And man, did it show big time!
They lost the first game of the series 4-1, and on Saturday, they won in extra innings off of a pop up fielding gaffe from Eric Hosmer that allowed Alex Bregman to cross first base and Derek Fisher to score the lone run of the game to get the spacemen the victory. Sunday would be the game that would secure the series victory with a 4-1 final score. Charlie Morton threw for another quality start, and Max Stassi belted a 3 run bomb into the Crawford Boxes and proved himself to be a future All Star catcher.
The Astros are now in snowy Minneapolis to start a 3 game set with the Minnesota Twins. Unfortunately, there has been lots of snow in the area, and Target Field has no roof, so it's not really primed for an overstay of Old Man Winter. It remains to be determined, but it would not surprise me if the fellas have to take their first postponement of the 2018 season. Even if they did, they have all certainly earned their rest.
Among the good things for the team has also come the not-so-good things happening with your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis. Since his 3 hit, 3 RBI outing in the finale against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, El Oso Blanco has fallen on some hard times at the plate. He only had two hits on the home stand, and his strikeout rate is ballooning. (Though, many of the strikeouts have been questionable third strike calls, if we're gonna be honest!) I admit, even as his biggest fan and blogger, it's not really looking good for the bear right now.
Nevertheless, I get really irritated when I see things like THIS on social media:
All of this has come as skipper A.J. Hinch revealed to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com just the other day that he is not in any rush to put Gattis behind the plate. The early success of Stassi has certainly factored into that. Believe me, the kid deserves every good thing that is coming to him, and I am just as much in his corner as anyone else on this team. But since his DH and catching OPS numbers are practically night and day, maybe Gattis should be given some reps at first base. Especially, given that Marwin Gonzalez is struggling even worse than he is right now.
Giving him the chance to be on the field can actually help take his mind off of a previous at-bat. I trust what the skip is doing, and that's not an issue. But what is a minor one is him mentioning that he doesn't want Gattis to be "just a DH," but yet not making the necessary decisions to bring this to fruition. So long as he is consistently in the lineup, I'm not picky as to where, and Hinch has been making good at getting the bear consistent AB's. But perhaps, we need to change things up ever so slightly, even if only just for a game or two.
Whatever happens, this team will continue it's great run, and Evan Gattis will be a big part of that. Just like a handful of others in the lineup, he is in the unfortunate slump phase right now. He'll get out of it. Additionally, those that have been on the hot steaks will certainly have their stumbles as well. That's what makes the game of baseball an edge of your seat roller coaster. And yes, I did just go all movie critic on that last phrase, but you knew what you were getting into when you opted to read this post.
I'm lost, but I'm hopeful baby!
I think Mike Myers as Wayne Campbell in the classic comedy film,"Wayne's World 2," described the album best when he was recalling growing up around Peter Frampton's 1976 classic "Frampton Comes Alive:"
I think if you lived in the suburbs, you were issued it. Came in the mail with one of those sample packages of Tide.In all honesty, everyone had that record. Even if not for themselves, they lived with, or was close, to someone that had Jagged Little Pill in their record collection. It was actually one of the first CD's that my sister bought with her own money. Back then, she was 15 and I was 10. But I digress. It's time to shift the focus back to baseball, which is what y'all came here for!
This song is symbolic to what the Houston Astros went through over this past weekend against the San Diego Padres. The series proved to be the first big test of pitching they had never seen before. The Padres are now considered inter league, so it was very possible that a lot of the hitters in the lineup had dealt with these hurlers for the first time. And man, did it show big time!
They lost the first game of the series 4-1, and on Saturday, they won in extra innings off of a pop up fielding gaffe from Eric Hosmer that allowed Alex Bregman to cross first base and Derek Fisher to score the lone run of the game to get the spacemen the victory. Sunday would be the game that would secure the series victory with a 4-1 final score. Charlie Morton threw for another quality start, and Max Stassi belted a 3 run bomb into the Crawford Boxes and proved himself to be a future All Star catcher.
The Astros are now in snowy Minneapolis to start a 3 game set with the Minnesota Twins. Unfortunately, there has been lots of snow in the area, and Target Field has no roof, so it's not really primed for an overstay of Old Man Winter. It remains to be determined, but it would not surprise me if the fellas have to take their first postponement of the 2018 season. Even if they did, they have all certainly earned their rest.
Among the good things for the team has also come the not-so-good things happening with your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis. Since his 3 hit, 3 RBI outing in the finale against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, El Oso Blanco has fallen on some hard times at the plate. He only had two hits on the home stand, and his strikeout rate is ballooning. (Though, many of the strikeouts have been questionable third strike calls, if we're gonna be honest!) I admit, even as his biggest fan and blogger, it's not really looking good for the bear right now.
Nevertheless, I get really irritated when I see things like THIS on social media:
The moto for this team this season is Never Settle. Well, I'm holding true to it by not settling for people saying ignorant and stubborn gibberish such as this. And yes, I will call it out at every single turn. Consider that your warning, CDH (critics, doubters, haters) crowd! Could Evan Gattis have been the one to hit that three run homer yesterday? Yes. Would it have been nice of him to at least get an RBI base hit? Of course. However, unlike Mr. Miffin over here, I'm not going to sit here and make armchair proclamations, or allow for such absurdities to continue.Max stassi is playing really fucking good. Evan gattis will slowly be phased out of the game plan.— Bobby Miffin (@DrPuffenstein) April 8, 2018
All of this has come as skipper A.J. Hinch revealed to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com just the other day that he is not in any rush to put Gattis behind the plate. The early success of Stassi has certainly factored into that. Believe me, the kid deserves every good thing that is coming to him, and I am just as much in his corner as anyone else on this team. But since his DH and catching OPS numbers are practically night and day, maybe Gattis should be given some reps at first base. Especially, given that Marwin Gonzalez is struggling even worse than he is right now.
Giving him the chance to be on the field can actually help take his mind off of a previous at-bat. I trust what the skip is doing, and that's not an issue. But what is a minor one is him mentioning that he doesn't want Gattis to be "just a DH," but yet not making the necessary decisions to bring this to fruition. So long as he is consistently in the lineup, I'm not picky as to where, and Hinch has been making good at getting the bear consistent AB's. But perhaps, we need to change things up ever so slightly, even if only just for a game or two.
Whatever happens, this team will continue it's great run, and Evan Gattis will be a big part of that. Just like a handful of others in the lineup, he is in the unfortunate slump phase right now. He'll get out of it. Additionally, those that have been on the hot steaks will certainly have their stumbles as well. That's what makes the game of baseball an edge of your seat roller coaster. And yes, I did just go all movie critic on that last phrase, but you knew what you were getting into when you opted to read this post.
I'm lost, but I'm hopeful baby!
Original Photo Credit: Kevin Jairaj of USA Today Sports
What it all comes down to, is that everything is going to be quite alright!
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