‘Murderers’ Mile’: Astros humiliate opponents
HOUSTON – What the Astros are doing is almost obscene, becoming more ridiculous by the day, and now reaching absurdity.
One day, they score 21 runs with a franchise-record 11 doubles.
The next, it’s 15 runs and a franchisetying seven home runs.
“That’s what’s scary about this lineup,” Astros starter Wade Miley told USA TODAY Sports. “This (bleep) can happen every. It’s crazy. It is crazy.
“My buddy text me a while ago and said: Murderers’ Row. Bull …It’s Murderers’ Mile.
“It’s unbelievable every single night.” If the Astros’ pitching staff isn’t terrifying enough with co-Cy Young favorites Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole and future Hall of Famer Zack Greinke, try to somehow beat them when they’re bludgeoning you to death offensively.
The Astros became the first team in 66 years, and only the fourth in history, to win consecutive games by at least 15 runs entering the week with their 21-1 blowout Sunday over the Mariners and 15-0 clobbering Monday night over the Athletics.
It’s a freak show night after night. “It’s really hard to say that this team is already better than the one that won the World Series in ’17,” Astros All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve said, “but it seems like it the way we’re playing. It’s just crazy good. Out of the mind.”
The Astros (95-51 going into Wednesday) have silly talent. They produced the finest record after 145 games in franchise history and outscored the opposition by a staggering 241 runs this season, the most in Major League Baseball. They have hit a franchise-record 252 homers, with four players setting career highs and a franchise-record six players hitting at least 20 homers.
They will soon become only the sixth team in history to win 100 or more games in three consecutive seasons, last accomplished by the Yankees from 2002 to 2004.
And just think about when they all get healthy, with shortstop Carlos Correa and first baseman Yuli Gurriel expected to return to the lineup next week. Correa has missed 71 games, and Altuve and George Springer missed a combined 62 games earlier in the year with injuries.
It’s a monstrous lineup with Springer hitting a franchise-record 11 homers from the leadoff spot, infielder Alex Bregman having an MVP-caliber season and rookie Yordan Alvarez hitting an Astros’ rookie record 24 homers. Alvarez, who wasn’t even called up to the big leagues until June 9, already has 72 RBI and 46 extra-base hits, the most RBI this quickly since Ted Williams and the most extra-base hits in his first 72 games since Joe DiMaggio.
“He is above and beyond what anybody could have expected,” said Astros manager A.J. Hinch, who lobbied to have him open the season in the big leagues. “He’s doing historic things in the middle of the lineup.
“We thought this guy was going to be very impactful. But this is beyond belief to anything that people could have expected.”
Really, it’s hard for even Alvarez, who defected from Cuba in 2016 and signed with the Dodgers before being traded two months later to the Astros for reliever Josh Fields.
“I expected to do well,” Alvarez said, “but to do this well with so many home runs, it has surprised me a little bit.”
Well, the Astros can say the same. They knew they were going to be good, but perhaps not historically good. They have a 9½-game lead in the AL West and a magic number of eight to win the division. They already have won their most home games in club history (56), going 28-3 alone against the AL West at Minute Maid Park this season.
“This is so much fun, we believe every night that we have a chance to put together a great offensive performance like we have been,” said Bregman, who is having the finest season by any American League player not named Mike Trout.
Bregman has 35 homers, 103 RBI, 111 runs, 101 walks and a 1.002 OPS for the year. Why, since Aug. 1, he is hitting .414 with a .497 on-base percentage, .781 slugging percentage, nine homers, 18 doubles and 40 RBI. He and the Angels’ Trout are the only players to have at least 100 runs, 100 RBI and 100 walks this season.
The Astros, to a man, believe this is the best team they’ve ever been part of. They are almost flawless. The real testament to the Astros’ prowess, of course, will be whether they are the last team standing in October.
“We don’t want to be that team that was built well, had all the right names, had all of the right opportunities,” Hinch said, “and fell short. That’s part of the charm that we have in that clubhouse.”
See you at the parade.