The Houston Astros say they’re not happy with their recent winning streak

The Houston Astros turned the season around dramatically by reaching a .500 record for the first time following Tuesday’s win over the Colorado Rockies.

After losing 10 games in mid-May, things are looking good for this team and morale is high. Chandler Rome of The Athletevs spoke with several people in the Astros clubhouse. Emotions ranged from relief to dissatisfaction.

One person who surely breathed a sigh of relief is first-year manager Joe Espada.

When the season was at its lowest, there were already people demanding his job. Today, those negotiations have slowed down as the victories have piled up.

“The guys have worked really hard to get to this point. It wasn’t easy the first two weeks of the season, but I think we managed to turn things around. We must continue. There’s still a lot of baseball left, but we’re playing our best right now,” Espada said.

It wasn’t all joy, though, as veteran reliever Ryan Pressly was one of the players who spoke out to say there was no relief to get back to even.

“There’s no sense of relief. This team expects to win. It’s nice to win series and get a few sweeps and have a good home series, but it’s all for nothing if you go back to your old ways,” the star reliever said.

Pressly’s improvement is a big reason why Houston has had better results.

With his ERA north of 6:00 in late April, serious doubts remained about his ability to play his new setup role. After his sixth straight scoreless outing, his ERA is now down to 4.40.

Pressly is one of several players who have had to step up their game after a poor start to the season or take on bigger roles due to injuries.

“This is a team that fights to overcome adversity. Injuries, ups and downs, difficulties, they stick together,” Espada said. “They fight. We never stop believing in each other. That’s what champions do. We have to stay united and let things unfold.”

The Astros are now just 4.5 games behind the Seattle Mariners in the AL West race and are just three games behind in the battle for a Wild Card spot.

If they can continue to do what they have been doing in recent weeks, earning a playoff spot is very realistic.