Justin Verlander, Joe Espada give predictable excuses the Astros lineup doesn't deserve

A tough loss on May 8 against the New York Yankees dropped the Houston Astros to 12-24 on the season. 12 games under .500 was hopefully the low point for this Astros team that was seen by many as a clearcut World Series contender entering the season.

Houston played better after that loss, winning 12 of their next 17 games to get to within five games under .500 and just 3.5 games behind the first-place Seattle Mariners with a four-game series at T-Mobile Park on deck. Houston had a chance to take the lead in the division with a sweep or at the very least keep it at 3.5 games with a split, but their offense which had shown some signs of life in that 17-game stretch has taken a step back.

Houston scored a total of four runs in the first two games of the series, losing two heartbreakers as a result. They had hoped that with their ace, Justin Verlander, taking the ball for the third game of the series there'd be a different result, but that was not the case. The Astros lost, the offense was nowhere to be found, and Verlander and Joe Espada gave predictable excuses after the game.

Astros struggling lineup does not deserve the benefit of the doubt for crushing series loss

The Astros lost the third game of the series by a final score of 2-1. They were walked off in the bottom of the tenth inning. They are now 24-32 on the year, and are 6.5 games out of the AL West lead with one more game to go in Seattle.

Verlander was dominant against the Mariners as he typically is, allowing just one run on three hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out nine. The only mistake he made resulted in a Dominic Canzone home run which tied the game at one in the bottom of the fifth. The game remained deadlocked at one until the Mariners walked it off in the tenth.

The Astros had a tough task in front of them, having to find a way to score runs against Mariners right-hander George Kirby. They scored one against him in his six innings of work. The Astros then were shut down by the Mariners bullpen as all they could put up was a Jose Altuve single in the top of the eighth.

The Astros had a golden opportunity to at the very least put some pressure on with the ghost runner on second base in the tenth, but Chas McCormick, Victor Caratini, and Altuve could not even move the runner over. As is often the case when the road team doesn't score in an extra inning, the home team found a way to win.

The Astros have scored just five runs in the first three games of the series, yet Verlander and Espada are seemingly excusing the offense for their lackluster performance. Here's what Verlander had to say.

"I don't think you come into the series expecting to hit a lot," Verlander said. "They have an outstanding rotation, good bullpen. You know these are going to be close games. If you think you're going to come in here and bang out five, six, seven runs a game, I don't think that's realistic."

Sure, scoring five, six, or seven runs in a game against a really good Mariners pitching staff might not be realistic, but what about four? The Astros would've won two of the first three games of this series if their offense, which looks like it should be among the league's best on paper, could've managed four runs. Instead, they've scored a total of five in three games and no more than two in one game. It's so hard to win when scoring two runs or fewer.

"We just faced pretty good pitching," Espada said. "I think our guys are competing, and we're grinding at-bats. It's one of those nights where we just faced a pretty good starter with pretty good stuff and we just had a tough time making adjustments."

This was a crucial series that might cost Houston in their attempt to make a run at another AL West title. Fewer division games mean that the Astros need to take advantage when they can, but they did not. Now is not the time for "good at-bat" nonsense. They have to score runs. We're over one-third of the way into the season and the Astros are eight games under .500. It's time to get going.

The season is far from over, but a series that would've gone a long way towards the Astros making a push for the postseason has turned into a disaster thanks to no support from their offense. Making excuses for an underperforming unit isn't something that Houston's position players deserve.