The 2023 Astros vs bad teams at home? What could possibly go wrong?
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Please no.
Iâm just going back and catching up on this banquet of whoopass. Did anyone mention that it was Eovaldiâs turn to get his ass handed to him by the Astros? According to my unscientific study, our alternating dominations with that guy is reaching a weird level of consistency.
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The stars really lined up right for the Astros in that series. Neither Eovaldi nor Scherzer were at the top of their game.
Eovaldi, since 2016, has thrown more than 110 innings in a season 3 times. 2016, 2021, 2023. Heâs at 123 innings this year, and they rushed him back to the bigs without any minor league rehab from his latest injury. I would say itâs a shit ton more likely his arm is tired AND he wasnât ready for the bigs. Thatâs not stars lining up, thatâs a desperate team doing desperate things with an absolutely wrecked bullpen and starters that are all over their typical workload.
Scherzer just surpassed his workload from last year, and is probably due a little regression to the mean considering his numbers have been pretty great in the AL so far after being pretty league-averagey before that.
I read in more t4han one place that there was a good chance the Rangers starting pitching was going to run out of gas by September due previous usage vs. what they were trying to get from them this year, and it looks like itâs coming true.
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The Rangers lineup also features a ton of guys that were having career years and a little regression was expected there too.
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Amazing what a little rest can do for a bullpen.
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I thought that too during the game, Devin. It is feast or famine against him. They threw him to the wolves without rehab too.
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Excellent post.
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I think the Rangers, as a pitching staff, are right about where the Astros were at 2-3 weeks ago. Bullpen completely gassed and looking for any and all options to somehow piece together a 9 inning game every night. Remember when we used France out of the pen? Did the same with Urquidy as well a few times. Iâm sure the Astros would have preferred to just let JP get a rest given his rookie status but they couldnât because they were desperate. Knock on wood, the Astros have seemingly righted that ship. Hopefully they can find a way to keep the bullpen fresh the rest of the way.
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The Rangers are much worse off overall than the Astros were a few weeks. Their bullpen is gassed, yes, but as I pointed out above, most of their staff is well beyond their pitch limit from the previous few years, which is a recipe for disaster in a tight playoff fight.
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Their shitty all year bullpen is now shitty and gassed.
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Yeah, what the Astros were doing was a bit different. Theyâd just acquired JV and Urquidy was coming back into the rotation, so they needed to get everyone some work. Using France and Urquidy out of the pen allowed them to both keep France sharp and ease Urquidy back into live action. They werenât forced to throw starters out there out of desperation.
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Understand concern over J. P.'s rest.
Given that with his 67th pitch in his next start he will surpass his highest NP (1990 in 2021), what is his projected pitch limit for the year?
Theyâre not going to shut down one of their rotation starters in a tight pennant race in September because of some arbitrary pitch limit.
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Thats without even mentioning that the Astros pitching staff is just much deeper and better than the Rangers. Yeah the Astros were gassed but you could expect a bounce back. I donât think anyone expects the Rangers bullpen to get any better
Especially since that starter is 28, not 22.
Understand that, but isnât there some point at which injury is possible and precautions are made (limit per start, etc.), similar to a player coming off the IL?
Yeah, the first day of Spring Training. Theyâre not going to shut down starters in a pennant race because of season-long pitch count. Thatâs just stupid.
And that mustachioed MFer is gonna want that ball as much as possible.