Two blown saves tonight. At least the pen is spreading the wealth.
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I do wonder, if that should have been strike 3 to Langford was called correctly, Hader only throws 15 and he probably pitches the 10th and Smith might never even come to the plate
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At the same time, if I had a million dollars in the bank I might not go to work tomorrow
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August has been the Astros worst month throughout this run, a bad August this year buries you
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Thanks for the encouraging word …
The whole back half of the lineup is bench players or fringe/AAAA players pressed into service as starters. Their overachievement was a big part of the winning run in June and July. Now they’ve regressed to the mean and the league has built a good book on them. To add to the problem, all of the Astros’ surviving stars aside from Diaz are having poor seasons, full stop. This team may not put up another crooked number all year.
Props to the Astros’ coaches for rebuilding a pitching staff on the fly under terrible duress. A shame it will all be wasted…
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I do think Yordan is batting reasonably well. Maybe not the standard he had in 2022, but well enough to scare opposing coaches on a regular basis.
He’s hitting for average but his power is greatly diminished. Part of it may be that there’s just no reason to pitch to him anymore…
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The Rangers certainly did not want to pitch to Yordan tonight …
There’s no reason to pitch to anybody right now. The good hitters will take the walk and the rest will swing at any shit in the same zip code as the zone.
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We now have the longest losing streak of anyone in our division right now.
Just a blip if we can turn the bats back on, but if not …
The Astros take every August off. It’s totally inexplicable, yet completely predictable.
This one means they’ll take October off.
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Any manager who chooses to pitch to Yordan Alvarez in important late-inning situations with a base open when he’s protected by Yainer Diaz and Jeremy Peña gets what they deserve.
The Astros top five in their lineup without Tucker should be:
Altuve
Peña
Alvarez
Diaz/Bregman
Diaz/Bregman
This maximizes Peña’s abilities at the plate and gives Alvarez better protection. I’d be working Caratini at 1B/C/DH nearly everyday with Meyers in CF. The last two spots should be dictated by matchups, current form and career stats against that day’s starting pitcher.
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Pena is not a top of the order hitter.
He is a very streaky hitter who’s hot streaks really stand out, but his mediocrity the rest of the season brings his overall bat down to average.
He should be hitting 8th, or 9th if you want a big bat behind him to help get him better pitches.
The myth that 2nd is his best lineup spot is just that - myth. His career OPS is .780 at #2, but it is .874 in the #8 spot. Its when he is in the middle of the lineup when he is terrible.
The problem is this team has 5 starting position players who are all 8th or 9th hitters.
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In no way shape or form does hitting 8th on this team put a “big bat” behind him. Who is that big bat? Dubon? Cabbage? McCormick? Put him 9th…why? Because the other guys you have hitting 7th and 8th are on base machines? Pena’s spot in this lineup is 2nd, and it’s not even close. If this is 2019, he’s the 8 hitter. But it’s not 2019. You have to work with the guys you have and looking at his OPS in a particular 40-odd games over his career is a foolhardy exercise.
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Yordan
I don’t think Peña is a good enough hitter to hit second in a good lineup. Whatever skills he brings to that spot are marginal next to his lack of on-base skills. But this isn’t a particularly good lineup these days, so fuck it.
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Dropping Yordan to 9th so we can 1) get Pena out of his best spot and 2) get Yordan fewer at bats with runners on base…
Don’t give Espada any ideas.
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I believe the Astros won the WS with Pena hitting second. I do not know how you prepare your lineups, but he is batting second in mine.
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