Not content with a 6-4 home stand, but it's better than 5-5. Yeah, no doubt 4-3 would be good. 1) both series vs tough opponents 2) we suck on the road Good news is, Keuchel and McCullers should pitch twice each. Not that either has a good road track record, but still.
Just got home, watching the highlights of the hr winner. Yes! Had to stop watching again in the 15th...due to work . Gotta keep winning series.
Much like Devenski was the consolation prize due to having several members of the starting rotation and bullpen all sucking at the same time... Feliz seems to now be the prize of having Gregerson blow a save and forcing the game to go into extras. Also, Giles came out of a high pressure situation without allowing a run... Not surprised his thread wasn't bumped. He still has a ways to go in terms of fastball location/speed and slider command (compared to what he was doing as a closer last year), but the team will take any/all progress from here on out. Lastly, Springer's OPS up to .818... And climbing. He was an OBP machine over the homestand, and hit the two longest HR's of the year at MMP. He's now been on an extended tear since his awful start to the season, and his overall numbers are starting to fall in line to where they were last year. Couple him with Altuve's greatness, and Correa's turnaround, and you have one of the most dangerous 1-3 in baseball. If they can merely get replacement level production from the 6-9, let alone somebody of that group actually pretends to be a valuable player, this lineup is going to be fine.
Was going to say the same about Feliz. I think his performance may have just bought Fields a DFA when Lance comes back. Yes on Giles. String together 2 or 3 performances like that, and he'll be in a much better place. Starts with 1. And Springer--absolutely. He has always seemed to hit better when patient, and he has gotten back to that version of himself lately. The walks are great, the bombs are there. Soon we'll see more gappers and SBs. Love his constant head-first slides into home. (In fact, would like to see Jake running around the bases like a mad man soon. Though I guess he'd have to get on base for that to happen..damn.)
I wouldn't criticize Hinch for pitching Feldman for one inning, assuming the reason is because Hinch didn't like what he saw from Feldman in that one inning. Ultimately Hinch made the right moves pitching wise and deserves credit because it worked out. I am not a huge fan of Hinch's in game moves or line ups (although I have been told he is very well liked in the clubhouse). However he deserves credit when it is due.
Astros are tied for last place in their division with the As and the Angels. All are 7.5 games out of first.
Given how they've lost games thus far, really could have been much much worse. Get back to .500, then re-evaluate.
Feliz was the best part of yesterday's game. Like finding money under your couch cushions. Fister has been pitching well too. I'm assuming they'll have to send Feliz down today and pull up someone like Wojo - the bullpen is gassed and we don't have a longman for the next few days.
Was there a particular reason for this post. Did you think we were suddenly unaware that the team has played poorly this year? 7-4 over our last 11, 2 series wins, and a split. The team is playing better, just gotta keep winning series. The hole we are in isn't a deep one if we maintain good play. Particularly considering we have a ton of games left with the teams in front of us.
He has to, right? I've never seen such an offensive liability before. I would rather the pitcher hit and they dh the catcher if he has to be in the game. I went to the game yesterday and I wonder how much time Gomez has left. It's to the point where you already know what's going to happen when he comes up. It appears that Valbuena and Marwin are pulling out of their slumps. Castro has been much better of late, too. But Gomez is just completely out of sorts right now with no signs of pulling out of it. I think it's possible that when they do decide to bring up a Reed or Moran, the corresponding move will be to DFA Gomez.
Since coming back up from Fresno: 9 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 16 K. All the runs came on a grand slam by Cano in his first game back. This performance didn't come out of nowhere, but was great to see. Feldman has 2 IP in the last 7 days; Fields 2.3 in 10; Giles 2 in 6; Gregerson had 3 days off before yesterday; Harris had 4; Sipp had 2; Neshek's pitched 2 days in a row but only threw 15 pitches. Fields has got to be the odd man out when McCullers comes back.
Gomez has lost the fans. He gets booed every single time he makes an out, especially a strikeout. I don't think they'll DFA someone they made such an investment for, but it's really tough to come back from that.
Bullpen is not that gassed... nobody threw more than 1 inning yesterday besides Feliz. (I guess technically, Sipp went 1.1 and Neshek went 0.2). That includes Feldman, who's short usage was widely criticized... but now ends up being a huge bonus. Basically, that's as good as a bullpen can be after a 16 inning game. They need to make a corresponding move once LMJ is activated... but Feliz also doesn't need 10 days of rest/minors before he'd be ready to pitch again (which I believe would be required if they sent him down). Fields needs to go. Feldman/Giles can assume his duties in the mean time. Feliz just got upgraded to 6th/7th inning guy. His stuff is just as good (if they need a K) as Giles' is.
