Dallas Keuchel
A Photo from an Earlier Better Day
Yesterday’s Loss dropped Keuchel to 9-2 in 2017
Dallas Keuchel gave up 8 earned runs on 10 hits through the first 4 innings he started in Tuesday’s 8-5 Astros loss to the White Sox in Chicago yesterday, but my thoughts are not intended here as a criticism of the Houston ace. He seems to be doing everything his coaches, trainers, and doctors are telling him to do to get his best abilities topside again, but that’s often easier said than done with pitchers coming back from injury or surgery. A pitcher has to get his own timing on things back in gear before he can return to his own prescription of things he does to upset a hitters’ timing at the plate.
It remains to be seen if Keuchel will be back to anything resembling his early season sensational start, or his 2015 Cy Young year performance level, but the Astros are going to need the most of whatever he has in the tank to offer, plus a recovery by McCullers and some help from McHugh, Morton, Fiers, and/or Peacock to get through the starting needs of a winning playoff hand. And that says nothing about the leaning posture of needs that also now fall upon the club’s often tired and beleaguered bullpen to come in and stop the bleeding, more often than not.
We cannot count on the magic of what happened last Sunday night at MMP against the Jays saving us from our pitching holes most of the time. It just isn’t going to happen, even when our own magical thinking sets into similar circumstances and begins to prey upon our own neediness. When we went to the 9th in Chicago last night, trailing the Sox by 3, how many others of you instantly remembered, when the 9th started with a single by Altuve and a strike out by Reddick, that Sunday’s rally win had begun the same way?
The magic died quickly. That’s reality. Even if we were playing the worst club in the American League. We still lost.
And other, better clubs await us in the playoffs – or any World Series we might magically qualify to play.
It was loss that made me both regret and understand better why Jeff Luhnow wasn’t able to make a deal for pitching. You really cannot hope to win without good pitching, but for every Keuchel-level pitcher a club acquires, much money and talent must be given up in return – and at the risk that the guy you acquire may injure his back or ankle getting off the plane to join your club and never return to the form he showed in his most recent start for his previous team. And you still lose the players you traded away to get him. And one of those may turn out to be the next Derek Jeter – or better — the next Jose Altuve. And you cannot get him back. And you still have to pay the new dead-arm guy some kind of contractual salary you agreed to pay.
Good pitching beats good hitting. It’s more complicated and more fragile too. Good hitters are easier to find than good pitchers are to replace. And some good pitchers are irreplaceable.
Let’s hope the Astros survive the end of season test to come.
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AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST STANDINGS
THRU GAMES OF TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017
| RANK | AL WEST | W | L | PCT. | GB |
| 1 | ASTROS | 71 | 41 | .634 | |
| 2 | MARINERS | 58 | 56 | .509 | 14.0 |
| 3 | ANGELS | 56 | 58 | .491 | 16.0 |
| 4 | RANGERS | 53 | 59 | .473 | 18.0 |
| 5 | ATHLETICS | 50 | 63 | .443 | 21.5 |
AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST GAME SCORES
THRU GAMES OF TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017
WHITE SOX 8 – ASTROS 5.
MARINERS 7 – ATHLETICS 6.
ANGELS 3 – ORIOLES 2.
METS 5 – RANGERS 4.
AMERICAN LEAGUE BATTING AVERAGE LEADERS
THRU GAMES OF TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BA |
| 1 | JOSE ALTUVE | HOU | 427 | 156 | 33 | 3 | 17 | .365 |
| 2 | CARLOS CORREA | HOU | 325 | 104 | 18 | 1 | 20 | .320 |
| 3 | JOSE RAMERIZ | CLE | 421 | 132 | 34 | 5 | 18 | .314 |
| NR * | MARWIN GONZALEZ | HOU | 303 | 95 | 19 | 0 | 20 | .314 |
| 4 | ERIC HOSMER | KC | 431 | 135 | 22 | 1 | 18 | .313 |
| 5 | GEORGE SPRINGER | HOU | 368 | 114 | 22 | 0 | 27 | .310 |
| 6 | JEAN SEGURA | SEA | 349 | 108 | 20 | 1 | 6 | .309 |
| 7 | DIDI GREGORIUS | NYY | 345 | 106 | 16 | 0 | 17 | .307 |
| 8 | ANDRELTON SIMMONS | LAA | 418 | 128 | 27 | 2 | 11 | .306 |
| 9 | JOSH REDDICK | HOU | 343 | 105 | 25 | 3 | 11 | .306 |
| 10 | BEN GAMEL | SEA | 351 | 107 | 20 | 4 | 6 | .305 |
| 20 | YULI GURRIEL | HOU | 384 | 113 | 30 | 0 | 15 | .294 |
| 33 | ALEX BREGMAN | HOU | 366 | 100 | 28 | 4 | 13 | .273 |
NR * = NEEDS MORE “AB”S TO QUALIFY FOR RANKING.
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Bill McCurdy
Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher
The Pecan Park Eagle
The Pecan Park Eagle 
August 9, 2017 at 2:48 pm |
Bill, thanks for the summary. Loved your closing statement which referred to “the end of season test to come.” I think our test
has already begun. Hope we pass the action portions thereof with our colors flying. Enjoy!
August 9, 2017 at 3:41 pm |
Weak teams in MLB have some great players. Good clubs don’t have so many fragile and erratic pitchers. It’s not as simple as good or bad. A few, very few, teams have made it all the way by outhitting sub par defense. And despite everything, I think the Astros have enough good pitching that it could come together in October.
August 10, 2017 at 12:02 am |
Dierk, your points are well said. Of course, it’s never as simple as good and bad for every apple in each club box. Some pretty talented hitters took the stick to Keuchel last night too, even if they do play for a club that has earned its summary tag in 2017 as a “bad team” by posting the worst record in the AL.
Let’s hope that Keuchel can find all the right starter buttons again. Last night he too often found the middle part of the plate. And let’s also hope our beleaguered, but talented guys can get it together again for for a run in October.
August 9, 2017 at 8:43 pm |
The requirement for getting “listed” is plate appearances and not official at bats. Formula is 3.1 PA per games played and you are in.
August 10, 2017 at 2:54 am |
Springer’s back, McHugh started, and Astros are down 8-1 in the 8th inning tonight. I’m getting a little anxious now.