It is August, and any team will accept handouts, so the Houston Astros took what the San Francisco Giants were willing to give them.The Giants failed to turn a tailor-made double play, dropped a fly ball and handed Houston the tying run in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s West Coast road trip finale. Sacrifice flies from substitute second baseman Nick Allen and waiver claim Nelson Velázquez represented the extent of the Astros’ offense. Sometimes, nothing else is required. Not with a bullpen pitching as well as Houston’s and not against a team that has already surrendered its season.It’s an uncomfortable way to win, but there are no style points in professional sports. The Astros do not mind that their run differential is minus-27. Being in first place matters more. Such is life in the American League West, where the bottom two teams in the division mirror the Giants’ misery.The Angels and A’s come to Daikin Park this week. The scuffling Seattle Mariners precede them. It is the sort of soft schedule that leaves the Astros prime to create more cushion atop this awful division.Before they attempt to do so, a few thoughts:It can’t be overstated how top-heavy Houston’s offense isEntering Wednesday, the Astros had extracted 16.9 WAR from all of their position players, according to FanGraphs. Baseball-Reference measured the group as worth 17.9 WAR.Yordan Alvarez, Jeremy Peña and Isaac Paredes are responsible for 11.3 fWAR or 11.2 bWAR. (Bear in mind, 25 other Astros players have taken a plate appearance and tallied some WAR.)WAR is not everything, but the disparity crystallizes what is apparent to anyone watching this club: The Astros struggle to function if Alvarez, Peña and Paredes are neutralized. They are the club’s three best hitters. Alvarez is the presumptive favorite for AL MVP, while Peña and Paredes were All-Stars last season.Teams are supposed to be carried by their best players, but the extent to which these three are buoying the Astros seems unsustainable. Peña, Alvarez and Paredes are the first three hitters in Houston’s lineup. No offense in baseball has a higher OPS from the batting order’s top three spots than Houston’s .840 clip.Slots four through nine, however, have combined for a .674 OPS. Only six offenses in the sport have received less production from those batting order positions. The Astros have cycled through nine cleanup hitters and continue a carousel of outfielders.