Astros at Blue Jays, June 4-6

Friday, June 04 2021 @ 01:37 PM EDT

Contributed by: Magpie

I'm going to sing that song again, folks. Be ready.

In the meantime, is it time to start arguing about the All-Star Game and who gets to go? The initial ballot was released yesterday and one would certainly think that Guerrero and Semien have a very decent chance at being voted in to the lineup, and Ryu could find himself making the trip to Denver as well.

The Astros have been playing .600 ball for about a month now (16-10) and they're now a game behind that streaky Oakland outfit in the AL West. They score more runs than any team in the AL (5.21 per game) and they do a decent job of keeping the other team from scoring. The rotation has been much more impressive than the bullpen, even if Jake Odorizzi has been a pile of hot garbage so far (and probably bound for the bullpen once Lance McCullers is back.) Left fielder Michael Brantley has been out with hamstring tightness but he was expected to return to the lineup tonight.

Now Dusty Baker is the one who manages this crew
He's older than the game itself, he's seen a thing or two
But that toothpick in his mouth
What the hell is that about?
It makes a fellow proud to be an Astro


I warned you.

The Jays and Astros hooked up for three games down in Houston in early May, with the home team taking two of them. Yuli Gurriel had 4 hits and 4 RBIs and Jose Urquidy pitched seven strong innings to beat Stripling in the opener; homers by Biggio, Jansen, and Semien helped Matz win the middle game; and in the finale, the Astros opened up a 7-0 lead against Nate Pearson, which apparently bored Zack Greinke sufficiently that he couldn't retire a man in the fifth inning. The Astros won anyway.

Zack Greinke is our pitching ace, he's not like you and me
Sometimes he sits down on the grass and ponders destiny
Then he tells you what's the pitch
And he makes you swing and miss
It makes a fellow proud to be an Astro


There was a time when Jose Altuve looked like the active player most likely to make it to 3,000 hits. He was 27 years old, he'd had four consecutive seasons with more than 200 hits. Then he started missing games - 25 of them in 2018, 38 of them in 2019. Then he stopped hitting (.219 last year.) He's hitting again, if not quite at the level he reached from 2014 through 2017. He missed 11 games back in April, but he's played all but one of them since. He's just turned 31 and he's more than halfway to 3,000. He's still got a shot, and if he wasn't a second baseman I'd like his chances a lot better.

Bregman and Correa, they were drafted number one
They helped us win a lot of games, we all had lots of fun
But when you bang on garbage cans
Something nasty hits the fans
Sometimes I'm not so proud to be an Astro


Matchups!

Fri June 4 - Greinke (5-2, 3.67) vs Ryu (5-2, 2.62)
Sat June 5 - Urquidy (4-2, 3.02) vs Stripling (1-3, 5.11)
Sun June 6 - Garcia (4-3, 2.89) vs Matz (6-2, 4.22)



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