Okay, so the week's still fairly young.
But let's review...
After a disastrous series against the Rangers last week, the Astros lost to the A's on Friday, then rebounded with three straight wins (the last over the Angels); Tuesday morning, the Astros were just one game behind the first-place Rangers.
Tuesday night, they were down 4-3 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when Carlos Correa hit the baseball 433 feet.
For a double. Maybe the longest double all year, anywhere. Correa died a-huggin' second base.
Wednesday afternoon in the bottom of the fifth, Correa alit for second base with Jose Altuve batting and got called out. But wait! Replay that one!
You know the call's probably getting overturned when the other team's broadcasters are sure it's getting overturned.
Except this one somehow wasn't. If you watch the play a few dozen times you might actually see the laces of the glove brushing a stray electron on Correa's trousers ... but then again you might not.
The Astros wound up losing by one run. Again.
No, there aren't any guarantees. Even if Correa's double had been a home run, the Astros still could have lost. Even if Correa had been safe at second base, the Astros probably would have lost anyway.
But these are the sorts of things upon which baseball games turn, and go a long way toward explaining why you can sorta throw out the numbers and the probabilities in late September, and October. I continue to believe that the Astros are the best team in the American League West. But now that doesn't seem to matter much.
