José Abreu Finally Hits His First Home Run With The Astros

Some moments remind you that baseball is still at it's core a kid's game. Sure, big leaguers may throw 100 mph and hit 440 foot home runs, but it has always been and will always be the game we fell in love with as kids.

Yesterday, José Abreu and the Houston Astros reminded us of just that. Abreu has flat out gone through it as an Astro. Their big money signing has racked up a -1.2 bWAR and entered yesterday hitting .214 with 18 RBI and a miniscule .519 OPS.

Earlier this week I penned that Abreu may be due for a seat on the bench. Let him work through whatever mechanical issues he's been having behind the scenes and find some additional motivation. He's been lambasted constantly on Twitter by the Astros fanbase.

But one swing yesterday afternoon took us all back to the days of little league.

Already up 6-1, the Astros picked up a much needed insurance run. The run wasn't needed in the sense that Oakland was threatening a comeback, but Abreu's bat needed signs of life. He pulled a slider into the left field seats in Oakland and pandemonium ensued.

After his big fly cleared the wall for the first time in 283 plate appearances, Abreu sprinted around the base paths, completing his home run trot in 17.58 seconds home-to-home. This was Abreu's fastest home run trot of his career and the second fastest of a home run this season. But Abreu didn't stop there.

He sprinted right through home plate and slid into the Astros dugout where he was mobbed by teammates.

You can tell how badly his teammates wanted this for him. On a day where the Astros hit seven home runs against the worst team in baseball, most of them after Jake Meyers' go-ahead three-run blast were meaningless in the scope of the game, just padding stats for the season. Abreu's was as meaningful as it gets.

Was this the weight he needed so desperately lifted off his shoulders? Will one swing change the trajectory of his season? Does a resurgent Abreu give the Astros offense the punch it has so badly needed?

With a home stand coming back up in Houston and the Crawford Boxes beckoning, we just may be about to find out.