Houston Is Heating Up And Will Continue Beatdown Of Athletics

Athletics vs. Astros, 8:10 ET

Sitting on the couch, my daughter can rewatch the same episode of some shows 100 times. She loves a good sitcom or animated show. There is a time and place for those shows, and they provide comfort. What she doesn’t really get, despite playing sports, is why I can watch pretty much any game at any time. I love sports. The idea of not knowing what will happen and each individual game’s outcome being in question is intriguing. Even when teams like the Athletics take on the Astros, you still can find some excitement or reason to watch.

The Athletics were supposed to be the worst team in baseball. I mean there was an expectation that there would be more people in the dugouts than in the stands. Not to get too far into the battle between Oakland and Las Vegas and the Athletics, but that was the expected storyline this season, not that the team was going to have a legitimate shot at being a .500 team this season. We are quite a way away from them actually accomplishing that goal, but it is still intriguing to think that they could sweep a couple of series and end up with a winning record. The team is struggling to hit, but is finding ways to win games despite averaging less than four runs per game. I wouldn’t say their pitching staff is setting the tone, because they have a 4.30 ERA. It isn’t the worst, but is better than expected. Joey Estes is taking the ball for the Athletics today. He made his only start of the season only a few days ago and went five strong innings, allowing two hits. One of those was a solo home run and that was the only run scored off of him. He did pitch last season and allowed eight earned runs over 10 innings. He has never faced an Astros hitter so maybe he can get through the first few innings without allowing many runs.

May 11, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Oakland Athletics starter Joey Estes (68) delivers a pitch during the second inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports

The Astros have a worse record than the Athletics. Think about that again, we are in mid-May and they are behind the Oakland Athletics in the standings. You can’t blame the Astros offense as the reason for the issues. They have the highest batting average in baseball at over .260. They aren’t leading the league in homers or runs so they aren’t stringing together the hits they need to in order to produce consistent success or runs, but the team is hitting, which is obviously half of the battle. They are averaging about 4.5 games, and that is about league average. The problem is easy to identify. The team has an ERA of over 4.75. Their WHIP is 1.45 which means they are allowing three baserunners every two innings. That comes out to 12 or more on the basepaths every game. That’s not ideal and hard to keep opponents off the board. To their credit, they have allowed three or fewer earned runs in four of their past five games. Tonight, Cristian Javier looks to keep the improvement going. He was good to start the season with two quality starts in four outings and then two other nice five inning starts. He then went on the injured list. In his return, he was awful. He went 1.1 innings and allowed seven earned runs on five hits including a home run. Athletics hitters have been terrible against him with a .103 batting average in 29 at-bats. 

If you looked at this game before the season started, you’d have to guess the Astros would’ve been a -220 or higher favorite in the game. The Athletics have shown that this is why we play (and watch) the games. The Astros may have finally turned the corner. I’m taking the Astros to cover the run line in this game. I expect Javier to return to his normal form, and I think Estes is probably not quite polished enough against this tough Houston offense. 

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