Three takeaways from the Diamondbacks series

Two games in Arizona and two games in Houston, it may not exactly be a "series" but it should be considered one. So after snagging three wins against the Diamondbacks the Astros have won three series in a row after the poor home sweep against the Rangers a couple weeks back.

The Astros are playing much better, and while they aren't getting near the top of the A.L. West it's certainly good to see, small steps baby!

Here are a few takeaways from the four games with the Diamondbacks.

George Springer really likes batting first 

After the Astros win over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, I told George Springer the stats say he likes batting leadoff, then I asked him if there is there a reason for it? Without having the exact quote he pretty much said, now it's his job to get on base for Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa.

This season Springer is batting .409 leading off and .260 batting second. It may just be a hot streak but for whatever reason he's proven over the past two years leading off batting .297 that it suits him.

Springer batting lead off is a big reason the Astros are doing so well of late. His offense is finally starting to catch up to his amazing defensive game.

Time for a new closer

During the four-game series, Luke Gregerson only blew one game and the Astros still ended up winning the game. The series isn't alone a reason to call it quits on the Gregerson project, but it's time to seriously start thinking of a plan B.

The Astros have a couple of good relievers in the bullpen. Will Harris has been the Astros most solid relief pitcher since last season and it's unlikely they would move him away from his seventh/eighth inning role. But there are still four other guys you can give the ball too and it not be completely crazy.  
1) Scott Feldman has done pretty well coming out of the bullpen, even found some extra speed on his fastball. If you must require a veteran to close games Feldman would fill that role.

2) Ken Giles was brought to Houston to be the closer, he's not perfect but is now the time to give him a shot?

3) Chris Devenski seems to profile more as a starter but they keep using him in the bullpen, he's very effective, why not give him a shot?

4) Michael Feliz has got the nastiest stuff on the team and while they are using him in bigger roles little by little he's still not in the prime seventh/eighth/ninth inning roles.

Finally two catchers

Evan Gattis since getting a shot at catching has done a great job behind the backstop. You know what you are getting in offense from Gattis, a .240-.250 batting average with 15-20 homers.

Jason Castros has also done a bang-up job on the offensive end in the month of May with an on-base percentage over .400 and a batting average .268 (148 points higher than April).

For so long, the Astros have had Castro and insert random name of a backup catcher. None have really been very exciting offensive options. Now with Castro seemingly retapping back into his 2013 form and Gattis showing he can catch, the Astros could have a really interesting one-two punch.

Would you rather have Max Stassi or Erik Kratz over Gattis? Ok, so that's not much of choice but feel free to tell me what backup catcher is better than Gattis, not sure you are going to find many.

Evan Gattis is balling behind the dish

Well if you worried about Evan Gattis's knee's from catching don't. The Astros might end up using him in three straight games, and in three straight days. Quite a long journey for a guy who took a year off from catching - not exactly his idea - and DH'd all of last season.

"He's done a tremendous at preparing, he really cares back there, he tries to get the absolute most out of every pitcher he catches," A.J. Hinch said of Gattis behind the plate, "it means a lot to the pitching staff, he's back there blocking, he's back there sweating like crazy trying to squeeze every ounce out of his pitcher, and everybody can feel that, so I love the fact that he's bouncing back."

In the five games, he's been able to catch this year his catcher's ERA is 3.06 and his career catcher's ERA of 3.20 (MLB average is 3.87).

Wednesday night, Gattis was able to nail two runners who tried to steal a bag off of him, Jean Segura (a speedy guy) and Yasmany Tomas (who probably shouldn't be trying to steal bags). Mike Fiers did have two wild pitches and one looked like Gattis probably should have been able to get it. The only run Fiers allowed came off from a wild pitch.

"He's very smart behind there, he knows these hitters, he studies them, he does a lot of work of the field where he's in the video room looking at these guys, and it shows out there," Mike Fiers said of having Gattis behind the plate for him for the first time, "I didn't really have to shake him off too much, it was spots here and there but he's great at blocking the ball, throwing the ball, just doing everything a catcher suppose to do."

Gattis over the past few games has done a great job behind the plate. He's blocked lots of pitches in the dirt, he's pulled a few for strikes and by all accounts he calls a pretty good game.

In five games behind the plate, Gattis has snagged four batters (small sample size I know), but it's more than Jason Castro has thrown out in 43 games. Maybe teams are trying to run on Gattis to check out his arm but for whatever the reason, he's showing teams that it's not very wise to try and run on him.

Gattis with a 1.95 pop time. 85.5 MPH arm strength on the throw. https://t.co/wlufKa0xRU

— Daren Willman (@darenw) May 29, 2016

Castro has done a good job late batting .268 to go with an on-base percentage of over .400 in the month of May. While that's so much better for him than how he started the season and how last year went. If Gattis catching game can stay trending upwards, we all know he can hit and hit for power, he might need to start playing more.

You might not want to overuse Gattis, but right now he's a pretty great dual threat behind the plate. Gattis career offensive WAR is

Cliff Johnson holds the title for the highest offensive WAR (55.7) for a catcher in Astros history - if you can guess when he played for the team, bonus points for you - but Gattis manning the backstop could eventually make him the best ever for the team.

Three Astros takeaways from the WhiteSox series

The Astros end the road trip with a loss, but who cares. They managed to pick up their first road series of the year getting two wins off the WhiteSox. They had a small chance to pick up the sweep in game three but Chris Sale was dealing as he pitched a complete game only allowing one run to the Astros.

All and the WhiteSox series was a sign of better baseball, will see what they can do against the Rangers on Thursday.

Below are three takeaways from the WhiteSox series

Heading back to Houston, better, but not great

The Astros aren't on fire, but they are at a slow simmer. They are pretty much in the same position they were in before they left on the road trip, still seven games back of the AL West leading Mariners.

The good news is they didn't lose any more ground, so there's that. Over the past few games, the team has put together much better games. The offense pulled their weight, the pitching is hanging in there, and if not for closer Luke Gregerson losing his mind over the last week you could be looking at the road trip in a whole new light.

"Were playing well, were playing good baseball, it's just a matter of putting everything together, we said it before, we just (need to) play complete games, pitch the ball, catch the ball, get timely hits and we did that really well the first couple of games," Collin McHugh said via Root Sports after the team's 2-1 loss to the WhiteSox, "just ran into a buzz saw today (Thursday), just got to tip your hat, and move on to the next series at home, we got a big couple of series coming up, got some game we want to go there and win, just a matter of continuing to be consistent and put together complete ball games."

So now there are two good catchers?

Jason Castro, and now Evan Gattis. It's the 1-2 punch the team has been waiting for. Gattis last season's DH spent a little over a week in double-A getting back into the swing of things at catcher.

He caught his very first game in over two years on Thursday, and he did not look to bad. He framed a few pitches, he blocked a hell of a lot of balls in the dirt and called a good game. He didn't have a chance to show off his arm but by all accounts, he had more than adequate night.

"The story today is Evan Gattis, he did a really good job behind the dish I know a lot of people haven't had a chance to see him it's been a couple years since he's been back there, but he's solid, he's a big league catcher, everybody needs to understand that and recognize that," McHugh said, "he did a really phenomenal job tonight both calling the game and blocking, I didn't really give him much of a chance on a couple of stolen bases, but he can do it, he's a big league backstop back there, obviously we know what he can do what the bat, but he had a great game today."

Now that Gattis can catch, the team has some good offensive options at catcher. Gattis is what he is, a DH who will hit 20 home runs and bat .240 and that's about a million times better than any other backup catcher you will find. Castro is starting to come around too, over the past 10 games he's batting .353.

Whoever the Astros have behind the dish going forward you feel pretty comfortable with them catching and hitting.

A.J. Hinch = J.B. Bickerstaff

There is something to be said about playing to the matchups, at the same time there is something to be said about playing who's hot. Tyler White goes banana's in the first game of the series, sits out in game two and gets the start again in game three and is cold as ice (facing Chris Sale). The Astros call up Colin Moran who they consider to future and he plays one game.

The Rockets had the same problems this season, J.B. Bickerstaff would get a nice game from blank and then blank was buried on the bench in the next game. Sometimes Bickerstaff would also ride people too long because they are veterans. The Astros are starting to share in this same trend.

Is there a reason why Jake Marisnick started in two of these games? I can understand Marisnick the defensive replacement but as a starter... That dog just won't hunt.

If Carlos Correa is struggling it's not like you you are going to take him out, and that's understandable. The Astros only have a few guys like that. So if White/Marwin Gonzalez/Luis Valbuena is going bananas ride them till the wheels fall off, just stop interchanging them in and out of the lineup.

Let a player carry his momentum into the following game if he has a good game.

Bottom of the order big reason for 5-3 win over WhiteSox

The Astros winning ways continue with a 5-3 win over the WhiteSox. The Astros had a big night offensively getting 13 hits, and four hits from the back end of the lineup.

The 8-9 spots for the Astros came up big time and they were a big reason they were able to pull out their very first road series win.

Eight hitter Jason Castro in the second inning reached base with a one-out single. Nine hitter Tony Kemp would follow with his first major league hit, a double, moving Castro to third. Jose Altuve would drive in Castro with a ground out, and George Springer would end the inning with a hot liner to right field but not before the Astros took a 2-1 lead over the WhiteSox.

In the fourth inning, the bottom of the lineup came through big for the Astros again. Castro would draw a four-pitch walk, and Kemp would follow with his second hit of the night a one-out single. Altuve would drive in Castro again with a single to left giving the Astros a 3-1 lead. WhiteSox starter Matt Latos would regroup and get out of the inning putting away the next two guys in order.

The last run for the Astros would come in the sixth inning. Clearly feeling it Castro took the first pitch he saw from Latos and took it to deep right field for a solo shot putting them up 5-1.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Kemp drew a leadoff walk and Altuve followed with another walk. It started to look like they would come through again and score a few more runs. Springer would turn on the first pitch we saw and rocket a ball to Todd Frazier at third base and the WhiteSox would end up turning a triple-play.

"We can hit, we have a dangerous team, people underestimate a little bit of the quality at-bats we can put up there when we're right," Manager A.J. Hinch said via Root Sports, "we certainly have our struggles at times, but consistency is hard to find in this league."

The 8-9 hole (Castro and Kemp) for the Astros did its job with four hits, two walks, and three runs scored.

"Kemp had a good night at the bottom of the order sparking the top of he order," Hinch said, "Altuve had another good night which is commonplace, for the most part when we string together good at-bats and tonight we did it without the benefit of a crooked number in an inning, I like our offense."

Aside from the near miss at more runs in the eighth, the Astros would end up scoring one run in five different innings Wednesday night.

The pitching would do just enough to make the runs the offense gave them hold up. Starter Doug Fister gave the team six and a third innings only allowing three earned runs. He allowed nine hits, but when he was in a jam he was either able to get the strikeout he needed or the defense would make a nice play and pick him up.

"He throws quality strikes it moves in different directions there's not a lot of complaints when it comes to his time in the rotation," Hinch said of Fister's night, "you feel like your going to get 5-6-7 innings of good healthy hard work that gives you a good chance to win."

The Bullpen would come in and close the door on the WhiteSox. Luke Gregerson who has been a little shaky of late, blowing three of his last four save chances. On Wednesday Gregerson was back to his normal self sitting down the WhiteSox in order.

All and all a nice game by the Astros, one of the few nights this year they have been able to put it all together getting good pitching and good offense. When they are able to do that, they'll win more games than naught.