The Pecan Park Eagle

Red Sox manager John Farrell admires the 2013 World Series trophy that his Boston club won from the St. Louis Cardinals. – What kind of trophy is in store for the BoSox for finishing worse, tying, or barely doing better than the Houston Astros in 2014?

If this one happens, and even it doesn’t and just comes close, here’s a burgeoning new growing fact that deserves a date in the 2016 New England Sports History calendar. We will offer two quick reads here  on how the copy may read, depending upon the outcome of the still-in-progress item we have in mind. – And thank you again, Bill Gilbert, for calling this one to our conscious attention. The Eagle has been so caught up in the Jose Altuve batting championship and new club record hit total arena report that we almost allowed this blockbuster reversal of fortune for the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox race to pass us by.

Consider that sad neglect of the fact now corrected – as these three possible calendar entries pan out as the only possibilities on the loose, but all still shocking in their own rights, triangulated result possibilities that exist comparatively for the two of them here in the end of days shadows-time of 2014 ML baseball:

Sunday, 9/28/14: The defending 2013 World Seies Champion Boston Red Sox finished the season with a worse 2014 record than the Houston Astros, a club that had primed for this “David Passes Goliath” experience by losing 106 games in 2011, 107 games in 2012, and 111 games in 2013 – for the worst records in MLB on the season for three straight years.

The other two variations on this entry would simply change the outcome reference to the Astros “tying” or ” barely losing out” to the now descending 2013 former champs from Boston.

What a scream this ironic change in directions for both teams reveals itself to be in the same year. For the first time since 2010, the Astros will not loss 100 games in the 2014 season. And for the Red Sox, let’s hope for their modest and charitable fans’ sake that “2013” doesn’t become the new “1918” for their 21st century experience. Too many nice Red Sox fans like Father Gerald Beirne are counting on that so-not-happening as the club’s road map to the near future.

The Astros have two more games in Arlington as they continue against the Texas Rangers tonight and Wednesday. Following a Thursday day off, the Astros finish the season in New York with a three-game series against the Mets. The Red Sox  have six game to go at Fenway, beginning with a three-game series tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays, followed by another three-game set on the last weekend with their old pals, the New York Yankees.

Here’s how the two-club standings print out through all games played by this time in the morning of Tuesday, 9/23/14:

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2014:

TEXAS 4 – HOUSTON 3.

BOSTON (DID NOT PLAY).

SCHEDULE OF GAME FOR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014:

HOUSTON @ TEXAS

TAMPA BAY @ BOSTON

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THE PECAN PARK EAGLE DAILY MLB 2014 BATTING CROWN EYE:

NOTES, 9/23 AM: Tuesday morning. – Jose Altuve had a “1 for 4” game on the road as the Astros lost a 4-3 squeaker to the Texas Rangers in Arlington. Altuve’s one hit produced his 46th double of the season, but his batting average took a miniscule slip to .34477 that still rounded nicely to .345. At Comerica Park in Detroit, the Tigers hosted, but got toasted by the Chicago White Sox, 2-0, as Victor Martinez still had a perfect day with two singles and a walk for the losers. Martinez raised his batting average a couple of points to .336, pulling himself to within .009 of MLB leader Altuve. – As we head down the stretch (with yet another model analogy of things measured by results over time) anything is still possible in these final days.

The Eagle Eye on Jose Altuve’s pursuit of the 2014 American League and MLB batting average championships will continue daily through the balance of the season. For now, it’s a two-man race between Altuve and Victor Martinez of the Detroit Tigers. Should that change, so will our reporting format. – Bill McCurdy

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