Houston Astros Manager Predicted Struggle Against Athletics

Everything was rolling for the Houston Astros after they were swept at the beginning of September by the New York Yankees. The team went on the road and crushed their division rival Texas Rangers, vaulting them to the AL West lead.

The Astros then came home and won two out of three games against the San Diego Padres, scoring seven and 12 runs in those two victories.

Sitting with the division lead, it looked like Houston would be in cruise control as they were set to face the two worst teams in the MLB for their next six games.

But manager Dusty Baker warned everyone that they had to be careful about that mentality going into their series against the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals.

He said those teams could play like they have nothing to lose.

Baker was right.

Houston has dropped the first two games against the 99-loss Athletics, scoring only two runs and recording nine hits.

These losses are even more shocking considering that their aces Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander got the start in both matchups.

"I’ve seen that many, many times, especially this time of the year. They're swinging the bats. They were all over J.V. (Tuesday). Even some of the outs were hard. They jumped us, really, in the first inning," Baker told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com following the loss.

It's a wake up call for the Astros, who were expected to dominate their home series against Oakland.

Outfielder Chas McCormick said, "We can’t just come out to these games and think it’s going to be a cakewalk because it’s not. We’re getting our butts whipped."

As much as the pitching has been in the spotlight after giving up 10 runs to the lowest scoring team in the MLB, it's been the hitting that has underperformed in this series.

Facing a staff that has the highest ERA in the American League, Houston's big four hitters of Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker have combined to go 3-28 against the Athletics.

Baker warned the team coming into this series it wouldn't be easy. It's up to the players to turn things around and look like contenders once again.