While the Tampa series produced some decent vibes, the Houston series was a nightmare.

Bowden Francis will probably be a decent pitcher some day in the near future. He threw a lot of strikes, which is a good sign, but when he missed his spot, the pitch tended to hang in unfortunate places and the Astros just feasted on them.

By contrast, Blanco’s pitches were strikes no matter what. Swing at them, you’d miss. Look at them, they are in the zone. It was clear to me he was no-hit the Jays (and really, shouldn't shock anyone with the state of the offence) in about the third inning. Some pitchers just have it going on a particular night.

And Berríos had it going on in the middle game, but other than the timely and thrilling Davis Schneider homer, the offence did nothing.

And the way Houston hits (particularly the delightfully gigantic Yordan Alvarez) you have to be perfect. Bassit battled, didn't get any support from his offense, and Alvarez did Alvarez things.

Which includes “f*cking killing” Chris Bassit.

This was really funny, and I don’t know exactly what it says about baseball in 2024 that it is refreshing that someone hitting homers off you doesn’t put your manhood into question.

The post-game manager comments were a perfect example of the art of saying a lot while also saying nothing. Words were spoken, but what did any of it mean?

On the subject of offence that might've been:

Not even jokes about whether bets were made over how many seeds Teoscar was going to throw at Ohtani will ease the sting of this one.