The Pecan Park Eagle

“HEY, HOUSTON! – IT AIN’T OVER TIL IT’S OVER!”

Just as the Red Sox were about to be wheeled to the baseball coroner for a complete season autopsy, the KG machine suddenly detected the steady beeps of a living heart. As the Astros fell again to the Rangers on Wednesday night, the BoSox woke up some echoes of their own fighting Irish background and took the old shillelagh to the Tampa Bay Rays by 11-3. As a total result of yesterday’s games, the Red Sox have moved into a half game head over the Astros and a chance to stay there by winning out over their final four games at home against the Rays (1) and Yankees (3). “4” is now the magic number for Boston. Any combination of four Red Sox wins or Astros losses – and Boston escapes the minor ignominy of becoming the former World Champion that finished 2014 with a worse record than the Astros club that lost 111 games in 2013.

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014:

TEXAS 5 – HOUSTON 1.

BOSTON 11 – TAMPA BAY 3.

SCHEDULE OF GAME FOR THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014:

TAMPA BAY @ BOSTON

HOUSTON, NO GAME SCHEDULED

 ________________________________________________________

THE PECAN PARK EAGLE DAILY MLB 2014 BATTING CROWN EYE:

NOTES, 9/25 AM: Wednesday morning. – Jose Altuve bagged a single in the first inning on the first he saw Wednesday night at Arlington on the way to a “1 for 3” evening that kept his MLB batting average at .343 in the Astros final 5-1 losing game to the Texas Rangers. Meanwhile, Victor Martinez of the Tigers went “0 for 2” at home in Detroit’s 6-1 victory over the White Sox that dropped season batting average to .334. Martinez now trails Altuve by .009 points in the batting race. Martinez and the Tiger have four more home games left against the Twins, starting tonight. Altuve and the Astros have a three game series left in New York against the Mets, beginning tomorrow, Friday, 9/26, but they have today off for travel.

Altuve’s slight percentage gain over Martinez going into the final series weekend for all clubs has prospects and hopes soaring for a first MLB bating championships by an Astro, but let’s take nothing for granted. A sudden hit explosion by Martinez over his last four games and a total shutdown of Altuve in his last three games in New York could still upset the apple cart.

In other words, you Astro fans with presumptuous voodoo powers need to keep your mojos working through this coming Sunday.

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

_________________________________________________________

A SILVER BOOT LONE STAR SALUTE, PART 11:

While we’re watching a real battle title contest and the imaginary race between Houston and Boston, we need to call to mind one fantasy fight for Astros fans looking for something to cheer about. This one came to be as a result of the Texas Ranger sweep of the Houston Astros in the just concluded last night, three-game series in Arlington. The Astros went into that last 214 meeting between our two Texas MLB teams with a fairly safe 6.5 game lead over the recently high-flying Rangers and an already claimed recapture of the “Silver Boot Trophy” for having already clinched a winning record in their head-to head meetings this season, but they must have forgotten about the unofficial “Silver Boot Lone Star Salute, Part II” that goes to the Texas team finishing with the best overall record for the season.

The Ranger sweep of the Astros leaves the latter with only a 3.5 game lead and three more games to play on the road this coming weekend against the New York Mets. The Rangers, on the other hand, begin a four-game series at home tonight against the Oakland A’s to wrap up their 2014 schedule.

One win by the Astros, or one loss by the Rangers, and Houston clinches the better overall season record and the “Silver Boot Lone Star Salute, Part II” that shall be awarded by The Pecan Park Eagle in this column whenever it happens as a purely digital tip of the old cap. On the other hand, should the Astros lose all three of their games in New York while the Rangers win all four of their home games, the two clubs will finish in a dead heat tie with no possibility of a playoff for an award that fails to exist in any official capacity in the first place.

Here are the standings in a two-club fever pitch (not really) race that could be over with a loss today by Texas at home to the visiting Oakland club:

SCORES OF GAMES PLAYED WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014:

TEXAS 5 – HOUSTON 1.

SCHEDULE OF GAME FOR THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014:

OAKLAND @ TEXAS

HOUSTON, NO GAME SCHEDULED

 ________________________________________________________