You’re right. It gives me flashbacks to how he repeatedly pitched to Salvador Perez instead of Carlos Santana in that awful Kansas City series.
Going to bed, but I want to remind one and all we were down 3-2 leaving NY for Houston in 2017. The Astros must go all out to win tomorrow. Anything can happen if they get back home.
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For all of Altuve’s flailing and dick stomping he’s managed to contribute from time to time, even offering hope. Bregman has not. Alvarez has not. Correa has not. There’s your series. This series is in the shitter because of those three guys.
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Oh dear god thanks for reminding me
Yeah, I did not agree with the previous slam either.
There is a dark truth to why I have been calling him “Ensbreg”. Because it’s the same thing; a hitter has gone sub-zero but is left in to flounder like it’s a 162-game season. It’s not. Now it’s 27 outs and then the void.
Gotta be a leader and make the hard call. It’s too late (probably) but you can’t carry Bregman in a must-win game.
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Horse, meet barn door. Bregman is a mystery.
Last night was a hard loss, and I second-guessed Dusty plenty for switching the roles of Stanek and Javier and for using Stanek only one inning, but even if we lose tonight, I will not be close to how bad I felt in 2019. Atlanta has played better. Injuries and inconsistency, both on the mound and at the plate, have crippled this team all year and especially in Atlanta. I hope Strom or Machete or someone paid close attention to Javier after the game. Swanson’s homer was in the “shit happens” category, but Soler got a hanging inside spinner.
The silver lining if Atlanta closes us out tonight is our not having to watch them celebrate at Minute Maid.
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I’m going to avoid thinking about baseball today, until game time. I’m gonna listen to a lot of Ronald Shannon Jackson and forget about baseball. Alexa, play Barbeque Dog…
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I live in a neighborhood in which Halloween brings out about a million kids. I have to get out of here and go somewhere by 6 or so if I have any hope of watching the game.
Agree.
Worst part about this for me is the the offense deserted the team.
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This is not unique to this series. This team has gone through prolonged full line-up slumps numerous times. Too bad they picked the World Series to have another one.
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Swapping Stanek and Javier was just bizarre, but the bullpen has more than pulled their weight, both this entire Postseason and in this Series. The starters and the middle of the lineup have completely shit themselves like they were prepping for a colonoscopy while wearing a wetsuit.
I know Javier feels terrible about last night, and he will get far more blame than he deserves. And people will celebrate Correa and beg the Astros to bend over for him, and they will continue to buy Bregman jerseys and put him in television commercials.
Post game they said Stanek had already been up in the 4th. And since Javier takes an inning to get warm…
My guess is that they wanted one of their top relievers to put out any fires that may have erupted in the 4th. Where they were in the order matchup-wise may have played a role.
I also 100% believe this was mapped out as a contingency beforehand by Strom, Dusty, and whatever FO gurus that participate in those things.
All moot if Tucker connects on that middle middle FB in the 1st.
I understand wanting Stanek available in case of trouble. But you’re allowed to warm up more than one guy at a time. The plan from the start of the game should have been to have Javier ready to start the 4th or 5th inning. What he’s saying is there was no plan for middle inning relief. So that’s either poor planning or just dumb managing.
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I would have left Stanek in for the 6th if he was going to be used early, and that is not a slam on Raley. I do not think Stanek is bothered by LH (I did not look up stats), and he has strike out stuff. Maton could have pitched the 7th to bridge the gap to Graveman/Pressly. I do not think Javier should have been put in an unfamiliar role in a one-run game, and I thought so when I saw him warming up. Trouble is, Dusty already burned Stanek but only for one inning.
I had disturbing flashbacks to 2019 as the game progressed. Nursing a 2-0 lead which should have been more, eight outs from a win, an unlikely home run. Awful thoughts I had which came true.
Totally agree, HH, about using Javier in the 4th or 5th depending on how well Greinke did. If that was not the plan, I am astonished, and I am even more astonished Javier was used in the 7th with a one-run lead but not in the 5th in an equally tight game.
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I check gameday between innings to see who the new pitcher is.
Was definitely surprised to see Stanek.
Oh well.
I’m totally fine getting Stanek up in case there is trouble in the middle of the 4th. But Javier should have been ready to go in the 5th. No excuse for that. This is totally in the “she already bought the dress” category and it was managerial incompetence, just as it will be if Bregman isn’t hitting 7th or 8th tonight.
I think I would sit Bregman for Diaz. Bold move and unlikely, but Bregman will be an out wherever he hits. Bregman, Machete, Framber is a 7-8-9 lineup with a 1/3 black chasm.
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Oh I would too. But I think we all know that’s not gonna happen. The best we can hope for is moving Bregman down.
And yes, it’s a chasm at 7-8-9, but the Astros have got to string hits together to have any chance. Having an automatic out in the middle of any potential rally is recipe for failure. It’s the lesser of two evils, IMO.