No stretching the streak
Magical run has nice ring to it for the fans
Ring night was supposed to be the big night.
More than 40,000 fans expected to unite inside Minute Maid Park, just to receive a slightly less expensive version of the Astros’ 2017 World Series reward.
Then the team that won the whole darn thing last year started winning everything again this June.
Homestand finale with the then-American League Westleading Mariners in town? Victory. Four games versus the Bad News Rangers in Arlington? Sweep. Three in Oakland, Calif. Sweep. Three against the rebuilding Royals, who knocked off the Astros in 2015 on the way to wining their own rings?
Another sweep, and a perfectly dreamy 10-0 road trip.
Then there was the magical
ninth inning Monday night in downtown Houston. A 4-0 Tampa Bay lead had become 4-3 Rays entering the final frame. A.J. Hinch’s Astros dug in and played real baseball.
Marwin Gonzalez walked on four pitches, Max Stassi ripped a single to left field, Tony Kemp dropped down a perfect bunt and George Springer loaded the bases via a rarely seen catcher’s interference. When Alex Bregman cracked a double to left field — memories of Game 5 of the World Series immediately returning to life — the scorching Astros were leaping, dancing and shouting like the peak points of 2015 and ’17 were on repeat. Fun. Fun. Fun. “You win one, you want to win two. Then you get the second one, you want to get the third one,” said Jose Altuve, who once again walked into the box leading MLB in batting average. “Especially on this team. This team has really good chemistry, really good relationships between players.”
One shy of franchise record
Twelve consecutive Ws, with a franchise-record 13 in sight and Cy Young contender/Houston hero Justin Verlander on the mound.
A team you absolutely had to come to the ballpark for Tuesday night, bumping the triumph of sparkling fan rings Wednesday evening down a notch.
Thirteen fell a little short. Verlander fired off 122 pitches (87 strikes, 10 strikeouts) and it was 1-1 heading into the eighth. But on a night when the long 162 took precedence — Altuve wasn’t in the starting lineup; normal first baseman Yuli Gurriel was at third base; reserve Tyler White was at first — the Astros (49-26) were held down by Tampa Bay (34-39) lefthander Blake Snell, while near-miss longballs and several missed outs at the corners ultimately ended up as 2-1 Rays.
Still, the ballpark buzzed, orange Carlos Correa and Altuve shirts were everywhere, the top sections eventually filled up, and mid-June felt a little like early October for the reigning ring wearers.
Before the nearly two-week streak ended, the Astros’ calm and cool leader remained devoted to the daily truth.
“I don’t think it matters while you’re doing it. I think history is for looking back and we’re not ready to look back, even to (Monday),” Hinch said. “When you put things together or put things in perspective over time, we’ll recognize what a championship was like last year or what some of these streaks are like this year or what a rotation that we have.
“I don’t want to rush to judge history until I’m old and I can look back and realize what exactly it means. And it’s fun to do what we’re doing. I’d like to stay present, in the moment, and not obsess over what we’re doing, but just continue the good ways.”
The zen wisdom of Professor Hinch.
The even approach of the rebuilt Astros, who win the modern game the right way — except when they’re running into earlyinning outs on the bases — all while balancing the constant glow of the future with the direct focus of the day.
Only two teams in team history had previously reached 12 consecutive wins. The year after your baseball club finally won it all, Gerrit Cole was added, Altuve received the largest contract in franchise history, and Jeff “Architect” Luhnow received a promotion, another job title and an extension through 2023.
Exciting times for Cole
Winning is contagious. So are your Astros. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s challenging,” said Cole, who’s 8-1 with a 2.59 ERA since he was surrounded by winning baseball again. “Oftentimes, this game puts you in situations where there’s a lot of failure, whether you can control that or not. So when you get favorable outcomes — when you put in the hard work, when you put in a lot of focus — it’s something to be excited about. This is probably the longest winning streak I’ve had in the major leagues and second-longest winning streak I’ve been a part of.”
Evan Gattis received a standing ovation for the second consecutive game.
Altuve leads everyone else in MLB — Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge — in All-Star votes.
A golden championship banner hangs above the left-field wall for a team that entered Tuesday just a single game off its recordsetting 2017 pace.
The pregame clubhouse doors open and you hear music pumping, witness an in-progress card game, watch a pitcher playing a video game inside an open locker, and listen to a veteran outfielder try to figure out if George Strait or Tim McGraw is crooning through the speakers.
“The grind that my career has been so far, it’s a blessing to be in a major league clubhouse,” Kemp said. “To come to a clubhouse like this is something special.”
The Astros were one run away Tuesday.
They can start another streak when the fans get their rings.
brian.smith@chron.com twitter.com/chronbriansmith