Houston Astros Memorial Day Check-In (A Week Later)

BIGGEST WEAKNESS: LINEUP HAS YET TO FIRE ON ALL CYLINDERS

The fact that Altuve, Carlos Correa, and George Springer have yet to stay red-hot at the same time is as tantalizing as a tall glass of water after mowing the lawn in 90+ degree heat. During the beginning phases of the Astros’ excellent April, Nori Aoki and George Springer were the primary sources of offense.

Remember Altuve’s seemingly apocalyptic slump to begin the season? Neither do we. Reddick and Aoki can fend off lefties as lefties, McCann is still ripping home runs like it is 2006 all over again, and Yuli has impressed everyone in his first full season. Mix this in with the suddenly hot bat of Jake Marisnick (more on that soon)? To quote Carl Weathers in Arrested Development, “Baby – you got a stew going.”

While it feels like this team could palpably and routinely put up double-digit runs if every player gets hot, well, that’s not exactly the nature of baseball. Everyone staying hot all at once will be very rare this season, but the important thing to remember is that the amount of talent in the lineup creates the opportunity for anyone to become a hero at any time.

Carlos Beltran and Nori Aoki have recently hit some rough patches. However, it is truly saying something when the biggest question marks in your lineup are dry spells for two excellent veterans. One of whom is a lock for the Hall of Fame. We have come a long way from 2012, people.