Astros Weekend Links

Three games into the Tom Lawless era, the Astros have three straight wins against playoff-bound teams. Lawless knows a little bit about the postseason. Check out his bat flip from the 1987 World Series.

And in other Astros news from around the web:

Tag’s Lines

"Strommy’s done a tremendous job and I’m happy with that. Listach has done a nice job with the infield positioning and making sure our infielders are ready, and T-Brock has done a nice job with the outfielders, so I’m very happy with all of our staff."

CSN Bay Area

"You don’t want to put him on for free, you wanna make him earn it. You wish you could just go back and choose a different pitch. But that’s the way this game goes. You live and die with what your choices are out there. It’s definitely one I’d like to have back and maybe mix a slider in, or a sinker away. We threw some fastballs by him earlier in the game, and I thought it was a good choice."

Ultimate Astros

"They rely heavily on analytics. I know in Houston they rely heavily on what they call the model, and the computer. They have a lot of good ideas, but there is a definite separation, I would say, of church and state. They feel as if their way is the right way, and baseball people — I think what baseball people want is they want their opinion to be asked and their experience to be respected and appreciated and I think that’s really what was the disconnect in Houston."

MiLB.com

"This is a very exciting day for the Houston Astros to be able to extend our relationship with Quad Cities and with Dave Heller,” said Astros President of Business Operations Reid Ryan. “We want to have affiliates that are the gold standard of their league, and this facility, the way this community has made our players feel at home, and the extra mile that Dave and the River Bandits have gone – and will continue to go – are what makes this place so special."