Statement Made? Astros Take Philly, Rays Await

The Astros walked into Philadelphia for one of their toughest series of the stretch run and walked out with two wins, a three-game lead in the AL West, and maybe a little more reason to believe this team can make some noise in October. We break down Houston's series win over the Phillies, including Cam Smith's huge three-game home run streak and ninth-inning heroics, Cristian Javier's outstanding start, another strong showing from the back end of the bullpen, Christian Walker showing some power, and Jose Altuve reaching the 2,500-hit milestone. But it wasn't all pretty. The Astros stranded 20 runners during the series, went just 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position in the two games they actually won, and watched a 4-0 lead disappear during an ugly pitching collapse Wednesday night. Are the Astros finally finding enough offense—or are pitching, defense and timely home runs still covering up the same old problems? Then we look ahead to an even bigger test: a three-game trip to Tampa Bay against the best team in the American League. Junior Caminero and Yordan Alvarez headline an MVP-caliber matchup, while Houston gets Drew Rasmussen and a Rays team that just took two of three from Atlanta. Philadelphia was a statement series. Now we find out whether the Astros can back it up. Dirt Diamond Sports Talk is a proud part of the Spark Podcast Network. Ryan Bokros and Walter Penberthy co-hosts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.