The rangers were really good at one run games a couple of years ago and well...we k know what happened
Astros probably aren't hitting as well early-game, mid-game, or late-game. Why? Because their offense isn't as good. A few guys had career-years and some are probably just slumping. Long season, and hopefully Tucker is the truth.
The mood is sour both here and at the garm (haven't been there but can only imagine). Where are my Pollyanna sunglasses when I need them?
I'm personally not concerned at all with the Astros. The team likely has some holes to address, but I have every confidence we will win this division and have just as good a chance to win the WS as anybody. Te Rockets unfortunately feel like like they are up against an opponent so overpowered it requires a miracle just to have a chance. It's immensely aggravating.
Last years Astros, like this years GS Warriors, may very well be those once in a decade type teams that just wont be denied. Not sure yet if this years Astros are that type of team or not. It is aggravating when your team is the best its been in two decades and still finds itself outmatched. While its a great feeling for your team to be an historic one, its cr@p for everyone else.
The mood is sour because it is predictable..... about 1/3 of the time the Astros are going to score one run or less. So off the bat the Astros are not even competitive 1/3 of the time. Having said that, a lot of the Astros offensive issues will be solved by stretching the line up and the Astros are likely to be able to do that by the trade deadline.
We are 6-9 against teams at or above .500. The Yankees are 17-7 and the Red Sox are 10-5. Yankees have played a way tougher schedule and are still crushing us. Also concerning is the Angels are 9-12 against teams above .500. So they have played 6 more games against teams at or above .500 and yet we are basically tied for first.
The Yankees and the Red Sox have clearly played better than us to this point. There are a number of things about our own club to be concerned about. If by concerned we mean "worse than expected". But by far, both my greatest hope and greatest fear is our starting pitching. It has been fantastic! What to fear then you might say. Well, imagine if our SP was merely good, or even very good, how much would we be winning then? My guess is just above .500 And it is not a matter of if, but when the SP comes back to earth a bit. On the optimistic side, I dont think the SP will sink below "very good". And the offense is fixable. There will be opportunities over time to make positive change, either in the form of FA's, Call ups, trades or all of the above.
I may be way off base here but when I'm actually able to watch a game it seems like they spend way too many at bats in pitcher's counts. 0-1. 0-2. 1-2. They used to get into hitter's counts and absolutely punish the ball. It doesnt feel like they are doing that so far.
The Astros have the biggest trump card in the postseason with its starting pitching. I am also not worried.
Part of it may be that we are being pitched to differently. The way this team punished fast balls last year couldn't have gone unnoticed, especially by AL teams.
I'm going with career years- last year. This is our bottom half of the order after Yuli, and this doesn't include Jake Marisnick's .141 average. Dude is straight up garbage and the bottom half of our lineup is just ****ing horrible besides Stassi who for some reason only plays a handful of games every two weeks. Last year was a fluke, a wonderful fluke though. I miss the good times of scoring at least 4 runs in a series...meh. GAR-bage.
Jake must have Naked pictures of the GM and Manager. He needs to be gone. Fisher needs to be sent down. Bring up Davis/Tucker or Kemp.
Yes, we're at six weeks into the season, 25% of the games have been played. Guys with options need to be sent down (Fisher and Marisnick) to give others guys a chance. Gattis has had to clear waivers by now - no team would want to take on his pay. He's set to earn $6.7M this year, he's still owed roughly $5M for the rest of the year. So I'm assuming they could outright him to the minors. They should send him to down to give guys like Reed or White a chance. Heck, I'd rather see Tony Kemp DH, at least he might get some infield singles and be a base threat.
