In the midst of our Houston Astros' modest four-game winning streak, I hope Jose Altuve's great accomplishment in last night's game was not overlooked.
↵Prior to Saturday evening's contest with the Giants, Altuve was batting .314 with no homers and only five RBIs. You could make the argument that Altuve was hitting for a solid average, but it was mostly just singles and doubles.
↵Well, it only took two pitches from Madison Bumgarner for Altuve to prove that he could indeed hit a homer, albeit of the inside-the-park variety.
↵That's right folks, Jose Altuve's first career home run didn't leave the ballpark, and it was a joy to watch the little guy fly around the basepaths. He's the first Astro to lead off the game with an inside-the-park homer since Bill Doran in 1987. Dave Clark even threw up the stop sign at third, but Altuve just kept on churning towards home:
↵↵↵"As soon as I hit the ball, I knew the ball was in the gap. I kept running hard and I saw the center fielder kind of lose the ball and he didn't know where it is, and I just kept running. When I was midway to third base I tried to see Clark, but [Giants third baseman Pablo] Sandoval was blocking my view. When I realized where he was, it was too late. I just kept running and scored and that was good for the team."
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The Astros have now won four in a row, and Saturday's performance was very encouraging for the future of this ballclub. With J.D. Martinez and Altuve driving in runs of support for youngster Jordan Lyles, I couldn't help but dream happy thoughts of this youth movement leading the Astros to great things down the road.
↵I hope I wasn't the only one.