Tipsheet: Reeling Astros remind Cardinals that things could always be worse (2024)

The Cardinals finally gained some relief from their suffering by rallying for Monday’s 5-3 victory over the depleted Arizona Diamondbacks.

They snapped a four-game losing streak. They improved to 10-13 and reduced their deficit in the National League Central to five games.

It could be worse. Just ask the long-mighty Houston Astros, who have staggered to a 7-16 start. Fortunately for the ‘Stros, none of their American League Central rivals started fast this April.

So. like the Cardinals, they are just five games off the division lead despite sitting in last place.

“It obviously sucks,” outfielder Chas McCormick said. “Things aren’t going our way, but we need to be mentally strong and get through this. It’s going to show us who we really are.”

The Astros have been beset by injuries under first-year manager Joe Espada, who previously served as their bench coach.

“Having that experience creates that no-panic zone for our club,” Espada said. “We’ve been in this position before, with our backs against the corner before, and we know how to fight back.

“I expect the guys to continue to fight back.”

Writing for USA Today, Gabe Lacques summed up the plight of the Astros:

Their track record is unassailable, the byproduct of seven consecutive trips to the American League Championship Series. Yet this April has proven so grim for theHouston Astrosthat it’s fair to wonder if their sheen of invincibility may finally vanish once the weather turns warm.

Oh, it’s early, early, early. Early enough that Alex Bregman has yet to hit a home run, something he’ll likely do two or three dozen times this year. Early enough that future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander has pitched just six innings, that the loss of six starting pitchers to the injured list has made an outsize impact on this season.

There’s just no sugarcoating losing 16 of your first 23 games, though, particularly in an American League West that looks more unforgiving this season. At the moment, the Astros are an amalgam of misfiring parts, with the calendar sure to determine if those components are ill-fitting.

But help is on the way. After losing starting pitcher Cristian Javier to a neck injury, the Astros hope to get potential staff ace Framber Valdez off the injured list this week.

Also, Verlander should rebuild strength after coming off the injured list last week. So all is not lost – yet.

TALKIN’ BASEBALL

Here is what folks have been writing about Our National Pastime:

Dan Szymborski, FanGraphs: “If the Houston Astros were to sing a jovial song consisting of a list of their favorite things, April 2024 would definitely not make the cut. At 7-16, the Astros are looking up at everyone in the AL West, even the Oakland Athletics, a franchise that barely exists as a going concern in 2024. Cristian Javier’s injury adds another name to the injured list, and though he isn’t expected to miss a lot of time, his absence further depletes a struggling team that needs all the help it can get to climb its way out of a hole that keeps getting deeper. How bad is a 7-16 start? Well, only two teams haveeverovercome such a rough season-opening stretch to later make the postseason . . . Excluding the Astros, 103 teams have started a season with precisely seven wins in 23 games; the average finish for these teams was, pro-rated to 162 games, a 67-95 record. But all is not doom and gloom. Almost 20% of these teams played at least .500 ball the rest of the way (18 of 103), and this looks a bit worse because of the simple fact that a lot more lousy teams start off 7-16 than good ones do. It doesn’t necessarily follow, then, that a team we believed to be a quality one will have a fate as bleak as what happened with the clubs we thought would be much worse.”

Bradford Doolittle, ESPN.com: “After a few winters since (Mets owner Steve) Cohen took over in which an aggressive player acquisition strategy has made New York baseball's most expensive team, this past winter marked only the first steps in a complicated overhaul that is going to take multiple years to fully take root. Much of what happens will not be visible except in how it translates to the eventual bottom line in terms of wins, postseason appearances and, especially, championships. Stearns, who was born Feb. 18, 1985, has never witnessed a Mets championship that he can remember. It has been a very long time since Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry and the '86 World Series champs. That's why Stearns, the splashiest acquisition the Mets have made since last season's 75-87 debacle, was brought in. His job is to do something the Mets have rarely been able to do during their 62 years of existence -- win big and win consistently. When the Mets have been successful, they have featured a stable front office leader who has built a foundation based on homegrown talent, usually starting pitchers. From George Weiss to Bing Devine to Frank Cashen to Sandy Alderson, when the Mets were good, there was a respected executive setting the tone. And there were ace pitchers -- Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gooden, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard,Jacob deGrom-- leading the way. And yet all of those various versions of the Mets fizzled too soon, with injuries, off-the-field problems and, well, trading Seaver, before lapsing into excess with bloated rosters. Too often, the Mets featured veterans with recognizable names and big contracts who were being paid for exploits that came for other teams during earlier parts of their careers. This season, rather than repeat those mistakes (Max ScherzerandJustin Verlander, the previous offseasons' big gets, are now pitching for other teams), the Mets detached from their all-in push. Though they're quick to declare they don't take any season for granted, this is a transitional year, one in which the Mets set themselves up for a more targeted -- and sustainable -- approach in the future.”

Will Leitch, MLB.com: “The Brewers asserted some authority over the previously crowded NL Central with a road sweep over the reeling Cardinals, and what was most impressive is that they did it rather easily despite not bludgeoning St. Louis with runs the way they have everyone else so far this year. They scored just two runs on both Friday and Sunday, but their pitching -- and, specifically, their bullpen -- made those two runs hold up each time. They have a chance to make a similar statement with four games in Pittsburgh this week before an intriguing weekend series at home against the Yankees.”

Matt Sussman, Baseball Reference: “It’s been several years since the Pirates turned a good April start into anything other than a tummy ache. They went from first place to fourth in less than a week. Meanwhile, the Brewers have once again become the Pirates your mother warned you about. Ross has had two Tommy John surgeries, and so far he’s pitching like the third ligament isn’t free (Narrator: it is covered by his employer’s insurance) and like he’s been absent from the majors for two seasons (Narrator: this one’s more accurate).”

Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com: “(The Cubs are)in perfectly fine shape, as they are playing at a 96-win pace. That's including closer Adbert Alzolay turning four wins into losses. You can't assume perfection, but even if he was 5 for 7 in saves instead of 3 for 7, the Cubs would be 15-7. The entire bullpen is thin, too. Jed Hoyer must address this. The rest of the team is too good to see their wins wiped away.”

MEGAPHONE

“I know what Aaron was saying, that it was a fan above the dugout. That’s fine and dandy. There were plenty of fans that were yelling at me before I called a pitch until the end of the game. What happened was, it wasn’t him, it wasn’t over where it was [bench coach Brad] Ausmus. It wasn’t where the coaching staff and Aaron [were], but Aaron Boone is the manager of the New York Yankees and is responsible for everything that happens in that dugout. In my opinion, the cheap shot came towards the far end. So instead of me being aggressive and walking down to the far end and trying to figure out who might have said it, I don’t want to eject a ballplayer. We need to keep them in the game. That’s what the fans pay to see. Aaron Boone runs the Yankees. He got ejected.”

Umpire Hunter Wendelstedt, offering a feeble explanation of why he ejected Yankees manager Aaron Boone for something a fan near the dugout yelled.