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Well, it finally happened. The Houston Astros are no longer sitting alone atop the AL West. After being shut out by the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday afternoon, the Astros fell to 79-68 on the season. The Seattle Mariners, thanks to a sacrifice fly off the bat of rookie catcher Harry Ford, walked off the Los Angeles Angels and are now tied with Houston for the AL West lead.
This has been brewing for a while, but heading into the All-Star break, and especially after the MLB trade deadline, Houston's division lead felt rather comfortable. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth, and now the Astros are in jeopardy of falling out of the playoffs altogether.
Much of the team's shortcomings of late have been due to an ineffective lineup. While it may seem unfair to point the finger at just one player, there's little doubt that Jose Altuve's bat has been one of the biggest problems with the Astros lineup of late.
Jose Altuve's ice cold stretch has some Astros fans blaming the franchise icon
Since August 24, Altuve has been a shell of his former self. The face of the franchise has hit a paltry .129/.194/.258 with a 24 wRC+ during his last 67 plate appearances. Prior to that stretch, Altuve posted a .278/.341/.460 slash line with a more than reasonable 120 wRC+.
If you think Astros fans haven't noticed the decline, you haven't been paying attention to social media. Some of the Houston faithful have used words like "awful" and "unwatchable", while others are advocating to see him benched.
While much of the fan anger has been directed Altuve, Astros manager Joe Espada continues to send out his struggling star night in and night out while batting him third in the lineup, and on some occasions even batting clean-up. At some point, fans would like to assume that Espada would wake up and at least bump Altuve further down in the batting order.
Altuve's had a special relationship with the Astros fans over the years, but even he is not above criticism. That's even more true when the most reliable bat in the Astros lineup is letting them down at the wrong time. The Houston fanbase is hopeful that Altuve gets back on track before the season runs out, but the Astros now have real competition atop the standings.