Houston Astros: Club Astros finally gets the monkey off their back

Doodles the Rally Monkey

During my broadcasting through Periscope, my daughter kept on putting her new $12 six-inch money in front of my camera, so I introduced the viewers to Doodles, the rally monkey. Then suddenly, Colby Rasmus hits a double over the head of Billy Burns in centerfield. The leadoff hit got some of the fans back into the game. Yesterday I wrote an article about how the Astros don’t have a true cleanup hitter, you can read it here: The Astros Lineup Lacks a True Cleanup Hitter. Gattis tends to struggle when the Astros are trailing, so fans were trying to figure out what he would do with a runner in scoring position. Gattis then hits a pop up to second base; there was a big “ah man” shouted throughout the stadium.

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Then comes the power of Doodles after the Gattis pop-up as Luis Valbuena, who has been cold recently, sent a line drive to right field for a single scoring Rasmus from second base. The Astros had finally knocked out Gray; now they had to face the A’s bullpen.Then Hinch replaces Preston Tucker with Chris Carter; all Astros fans could do was cover their eyes. Carter then popped up weakly in foul ground for the second out.

Hinch rolled the dice and pinched hit Matt Duffy for Jason Castro, with the power of Doodles, Duffy hit a ball that almost left the ballpark. He settled with a run-scoring double that got the Astros within one run. The stadium was electric with everyone rooting for the underdog Duffy. With the homer in last night’s game, hopefully, it has earned Duffy a start in Sunday’s season finale against Oakland.

Next: Rally Gattis