The Pecan Park Eagle

JOSE’ ALTUVE, 2B
HOUSTON ASTROS
2014 AMERICAN LEAGUE
BATTING CHAMPION

JOSE’ ALTUVE PICKS UP BATTING CROWN THE RIGHT WAY! BESTS VICTOR MARTINEZ, A DH,  BY PLAYING 2ND BASE! IN FINAL GAME AGAINST NL FOE!  ALTUVE’S .341 BATTING AVERAGE IS TOPS IN THE AMERICAN LEAGUE – AND ALSO THE BEST  IN BOTH MAJOR LEAGUES!

Since his Detroit Tiger club was playing another American League team, the Minnesota Twins, Victor Martinez got to play his normal DH position on this last day of the season and just play for the sake of helping his teammates wrap up the ALC  title by hitting his way also to an average that might help him catch Jose Altuve of Houston for the AL and MLB batting average crowns. The Tigers did win, 3-0, to clinch their division crown, but Martinez went “0 for 3” to drop his final 2014 season batting average to .335.

Back East in New York, whee his Houston Astros were playing the local Mets in their last games, the team stakes meant nothing to either team – and interim Astro manager Tom Lawless wanted to rest Altuve against an NL club that plays by NL rules that scorn the use of a DH. If Altuve played, he would have to also play in the field too and we must only suppose that his manager figured that he would better off sitting on his .340 BA and leave the rest up to the hope that a resting Altuve could still prevail over a charging Martinez who, at .337, needed to have a virtually perfect big day to catch a brass ring on this merry-hitters-go-round.

Altuve protested. And Lawless relented. Altuve wanted to win things the right way and his manager gave in to that desire. Altuve was written back into the Sunday game lineup at 2nd base in the number two hole, a spot that seems to have fit Jose’s productivity more often than not this season.

Jose Altuve responded by grounding into a double play in the top of the first that helped Mets starter Bartolo Colon recover from a lead-off single by Robbie Grossman and then get the next man for a 1,2,3 first inning.

Then, with a one-bounce ground rule double that bounced over the left center field wall in the top of the third, his 47th tw0-bagger of the year, Altuve found his gear. The Astros already were leading, 1-0,  by this time, but Altuve’s hit could not help further after he was subsequently nailed on an attempted steal of third base.

In the top of the 5th, with Colon still pitching, and with runners on 1st and 3rd, Altuve beat out a  single to deep short that advanced one runner to 2nd and knocked in the runner from 3rd to pull the Astros back into a 2-2 tie at the time.

Jose Altuves 4th and final time at bat in the season came in the top of the 8th against Mets reliever Carlos Torres, with 2 outs and nobody on. A quiet 4-3 ground out on his time at bat in 2014 was OK. By this time, Altuve had nailed down the the AL batting championship (.341), highest hit total (221) and most stolen bases on the season (56).

Altuve’s “2 for 4” proved unnecessary in the light of Martinez’s “0 for 3” meltdown, but it was the affirmative of the fact that the newest Astro icon prefers the way of an active risk-taking effort to the passive safe path of backing into a personal championship by not playing. It is the same attitude that needs to take hold of the whole team as an organizational state of mind about reaching the playoffs and succeeding in the World Series.

Congratulations and thank you, Jose Altuve, for showing everyone else how winning needs to be happen!

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“2014 SUCKED! OH WELL! AT LEAST WE WON’T HAVE JETER TO KICK US AROUND NEXT YEAR!”

BOSTON BACKS INTO ESCAPE FROM HISTORY AS SOX AND ASTROS BOTH TANK IN LAST GAMES!

The Boston Red Sox lost their final game of the 2014 American League baseball season with a befitting thud. Like an ancient pigeon dying of old age in mid-flight across the Boston Commons, the Sox fell to earth at Fenway on the last Sunday like the unceremonious “coo-and-squat” now-dead-bird they almost always were this whole season. Fortunately for the Boston fans who care about the club’s history and esteem, the Sox’ last 9-5 loss to the Yankees did not hurt them in their desire to finish with a better record than the Houston Astros, who also lost their last season test in New York to the Mets by 8-3.

The double loss by both contending teams allowed the Boston Red Sox to finish 2014 a full game better than the Houston Astros. That minor fact permitted the Red Sox the luxury of escaping this recently trumpeted ignominy of becoming the first fallen World Series winner from the previous year to finish worse in the following season than a club that had lost 111 games during their most recent championship run.

Still, when all is said and done, and avoiding the precisely stated  negative record notwithstanding, a previous season World Series champion that only beats out a 111-game losing foe by one game the following season, is not saying anything that could be mistaken for inspiration by its fans.

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2014:

NEW YORK (AL) 9 – BOSTON 5.

 NEW YORK (NL) 8 – HOUSTON 3.

SCHEDULE OF GAMES FOR MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2014:

NONE. REGULAR SEASON HAS ENDED.