McKenzie got out of that inning by throwing 8 straight pitches a bat length off the plate.
Not only did the Astros start a weak lineup, but they decided not to be patient on top of it. A terrible combination.
I believe McKenzie had both a five-pitch inning and a six-pitch inning today. Just now, Altuve would have walked if he left the bat on his shoulder.
This offense is a full blown crisis. Mancini and Vazquez werenāt enough.
Theyāre getting blown out 1 - 0.
Just two runs and three outs.
Sounds so simpleā¦
Sure wish it were.
Penaās OBP is below .300?
Yes. And higher than Yuli Gurrielās.
Fucked up lineup and not the one MLB sent me this morning.
Back for the top 9 (sorry, initially put it in wrong thread)
Clase in for McKenzie
Vasquez in for Maldonado - slider strikeā¦FB insideā¦swing and misses at sliderā¦Ks missing on slider in dirt.
Pena - 100FB inā¦hits it hard , but 4-3.
Diaz - swings and misses a sliderā¦fouls off 99 FB up and inā¦swings and misses slider down and out. K.
Final Astros 0 - Guardians 1.
First 1-0 shut out of Astros this year, according to the announcers.
Not sure this NBA style mandatory rest scheme will work in MLB. They may think the division race is over, but itās not over. A couple of key injuries and theyāll find out just how not over it is. Offensively they have zero margin for error.
1 Like
A family of modest means takes in a special trip to an NBA, and now an MLB game, and your team rests the players because the playoff season admits nearly half of the league. Whatās the incentive to attend? Going to an Astrosā game from 400 miles away as a child was the highlight of the summer, and I depend on seeing my players and especially, players of note on the opposing team.
As an adult, my perspective has changed. I see a business decision to āmail it in,ā and this costs me time better spent on any number of other activities which I tabled in favor of fandom
I think about this a lot. The regular presentation of suboptimal lineups in order to optimize long-term chances of playoff success is a perfectly defensible position that results in an inferior daily experience of the game, like so many other tweaks and evolutions and adjustments that have followed the Sabremetric revolution.
2 Likes
I heard this posited by someone the other day - the very things that benefit the players, management, and ownership in baseball are a big part of things decreasing overall fan support of the support; and the exact same is now happening in college football.
1 Like
This is exactly it. Resting guys may be ok, but you cannot have a lineup with weak hitters 6-9.
2 Likes
The NBA once discouraged tanking; now itās accepted practice. Even so, success is not guaranteed; for many teams tank, but only one team succeeds each year.
Had the Astrosā strategy from 2011-2015 not borne fruit over the past seven years, we would not be having this conversation because none of us would be here. Weād do other things . MLB teams in history had championship droughts measured in decades, and teams today hold the whip hand in this business climate. Take it or leave it
Thanks where you are wrong, Mr. Boomer. Many of us have been fans during the long time the team was woeful. A true fan does not require winning to stay with a team. Your sense of entitlement the Astros do not recognize is a good reason for you to pick another team or to ādo something else.ā
Iāve been a fan since 1967 and held no other franchise allegiances for as long nor as stridently as I do for this team. Were I a member of genZ or a millennial, my life calculus might be different, and I would view events in a more transactional manner. How much of that reflects a bottom-line mentality and the lack of permanence in societal discourse today is my point.
I looked at the lineup and my first thought was, āIs Dusty even trying to win?ā
1 Like
Maybe they were just trying to make sure that the scroungers at Peacock Premium got a lousy game.
I thought Dusty had tested positive for COVID-19 a couple of days ago? Is he back on the bench or is he sending out his dreamed up lineups from home? Or maybe he didnāt have much to do with todayās lineup.