Astros Launch: Struggles continue and Lourdes Gurriel officially a free agent.

Aug 6, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve (27) argues a call with home plate umpire Alan Porter during the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 6, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve (27) argues a call with home plate umpire Alan Porter during the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Astros struggles continue as they are 3-11 in their last 14 games and Lourdes Gurriel is officially available.

Aug 8, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Houston Astros center fielder Carlos Gomez (30) looks on after losing the ball in the lights during the fifth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 8, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Houston Astros center fielder Carlos Gomez (30) looks on after losing the ball in the lights during the fifth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

At CTH, we have considered an Astros daily morning article summarizing the events of yesterday including the news we didn’t get to yesterday. This will not be an in-depth article, but instead, it will focus on summarizing the previous day. We would like this to be part of your morning routine as you drink your coffee or orange juice. We love our Astros even when they don’t play so good. Rise and shine and realize that today is a new day for the Astros.

More from Climbing Tal's Hill

The Astros have lost 11 of the last 14 games and have seen their AL West deficit fall back to 8.5 games behind the Texas Rangers. To make matters worse, Seattle has roared passed the Astros into second place in the AL West on a three-game winning streak. While you could be having your sights on the Wild Card, so do the Mariners and Red Sox who trail the current WC teams Tigers and Blue Jays.

Today marks a major step for the Astros as Yulieski Gurriel will play for the Corpus Christi Hooks. Game time will be 7:05 PM at Whataburger Field in Corpus, so keep an eye on the box score. The Astros signed Gurriel to be a veteran type hitter that the Astros could have acquired at the trade deadline. Speaking of the trade deadline, the Astros are 2-6 since the trade deadline.

On Talking Stros this week we talked about how the Rangers improved their team for 2016 while the Astros continue to look for the future. Was it wrong for the Astros to stand pat? Too soon to tell, but things are not looking so hot at the moment for the third place Astros. I will not focus on Carlos Gomez here. He deserves a separate post.

Let’s look at the three big news items from August 8th, 2016.

Next: Notes from yesterday