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Houston Astros: May Recap

By Blake Permenter

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As we say goodbye to May and begin the dog days of summer, something feels different around Houston. Usually, we Astros fans are already excited for the draft and our upcoming #1 pick. By this time, we are already looking towards the future as ESPN keeps reminding us that we have a great farm system. Honestly, that was as far as our optimism could reasonably go.

This year is completely different. As Astros fans this season, we have all heard the “Just wait until May is over” from people who can’t wrap their mind around the fact that the Astros are good. Well, May is over, and the Astros led the division all 31 days. Sitting at 31-20, the Astros look poised for their first year of relevancy since virtually 2005.

Now let’s dig a little deeper into the stats and see how the they were able to maintain.

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How did they do it?

Entering May, the Astros were sitting at 16-7 riding an eight-game win streak that had everyone around baseball buzzing. Even with a five-game division lead, many doubted Houston because of the slow start of the rest of the division and the fact it was the Astros. No one doubts now.

The Astros were not spectacular in May, but they were good. Despite losing four of the last six games, they were able to finish May winning 15 of their  28 games. This record helped to hold off recent surges from the Angels and Rangers.

With Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh coming down to earth a bit, the staff ERA was up to 3.90, which isn’t bad. Who honestly expected the MLB leading 3.04 (posted in April) to continue? Unfortunately not me.

What has continued is the long ball, hitting 39 in 28 games is only trailing the scorching-hot Texas Rangers. With 93 fewer at bats than the Rangers, the Astros lead baseball with a HR per every 23.3 at bats. To put that into perspective, that is exactly the same as Adrian Beltre and Matt Kemp‘s career at-bats/home run.

I’m not saying we have a team full of Beltre and Kemp’s (would be nice), but the long ball is still there, and should be there until the very end.

Heading into June

As mentioned earlier, the Astros entered May with a five-game lead over the Angels and have kept their ground. Heading into June (depending on the Angels’ game tonight) the worst the Astros could have is a four game lead. Did I mention that would still be the biggest division lead in the American League?

June could be the most exciting month yet for the Astros. As there are many things we hope to see:

With the division heating up, this is the month we see if the Astros have staying power. So far so good, but with Los Angeles, Seattle, and even Texas heating up, the Astros are in for a test!

All we know for sure is it is a great time to be an Astros fan, and we don’t expect those fun times to end anytime soon.

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