Hmm...I'm still checking with my spiritual guru to see if "The Curse of the Kazmir" officially ended in his last outing? I believe he left the game with a tie on the board and was bailed out thereafter...not personally getting the win but the Astros won that game. Turn the damn page, Kazmir. Concentrate man. Every pitch is important. But, be loose. Be routine. Be bold. Bring a chip on your shoulder. Have a plan. Attack.
Not always the case, but probably the case with the Astros. Yes, Kazmir could get rocked potentially, but I do not have a problem with him in game 2. Most likely we will need a good Kazmir if we are going to go far anyway. It also potentially shifts McCullers or Fiers to the pen.
I thought they should go with Kazmir. LHP fare better against the Royals, and he is the 2nd best pitcher we have. Having said that, it's been painfully obvious how poor his stuff (and therefore his results) has been down the stretch. Hopefully the extra rest, and the momentum we are carrying allows his to pitch back up to his earlier Cy Young level results. It's a risk though, because there are a multitude of signs that this could go very poorly.
I believe the Astros front office/coaches have a good idea on how to pitch to the Royals. You look at their head to head games, and the Royals were not only beaten... but were getting virtually shut-out. I also believe that in post-season baseball.. with the pressure way up and every pitch far more anticipated... a lot of batters end up getting themselves out in ways that they may not have during the regular season. Now, can Kazmir effectively go out there and pitch not only to his capabilities, but to the gameplan implemented by up top? That's simply up to him and the manager... I'm sure they took a general assessment of his well-being, watched a bullpen session, sat down in the film room and possibly ensured he wasn't tipping or having mechanical issues. And, lets face it... if this organization wasn't willing to cut bait with batters that struggled mightily for months on end, they're not going to totally give up on a pitcher who struggled for one month at the end of the season, but has an overall track record of success.
I agree with your assessment here. They'll definitely have a plan on how to attack each player, however the key will be if Kazmir can hit his spots (which he's had a problem doing as of late). On the pitch that Colby jacked out against Tanaka, they wanted to go low and outside, however he missed his spot (low and inside) and Rasmus made him pay. Just a few mistakes can kill you. If we can win GM 1 there won't be as much pressure on him in GM 2, however if we lose (and the possibility of being down 0-2) you can bet the pressure will be amped up. Will be interesting to see what kind of leash Hinch will give him.
Kazmir was brought here to be our number 2 starter, he is that good. He had 3 bad weeks, but he is a very talented pitcher, he will solve the problem and pitch a good game vs KC. Now, the game is in KC, big ball park, if Gomez is able to play, GREAT, if not, play with great defense behind Kazmir. We need Rasmus in LF, Marisnick in CF (if Gomez is injured) with Valbuena at 3b (please, no Lowrie) and Castro catching. The only weak spot defensively will be Carter at 1b and Kazmir pitching.
Wait....are you saying that the Astros management team might actually have a little bit better insight into the capabilities and psyche of their players for any particular given situation than the fans do? Balderdash.
I know... mind-blasting stuff here. Just my opinion, but it should be pretty easy to diagnose Kazmir's problems provided they are not totally mental... doesn't mean he's "cured" or that he's guaranteed to pitch well following lengthy rest, but he's far too valuable an asset (if things are going well), and not that far removed from pitching at an elite level to just toss away for good.
The way i see it is, for us to be in the WS we need Kazmir to pitch good, without him, our rotation is very good, but not great and we need a GREAT rotation to go to the WS.
Exactly...based on what I know, I wouldn't start him. But obviously they're thinking about it more critically than I am; and they're privy to more information. Based off what I've seen, I wouldn't start him...but my job isn't riding on it.
Except we don't. The Giants last year just won it basically on the back of one insanely good pitcher. Outside of the Dodgers this year, none of the teams still alive has a great rotation - the Astros are as good as anyone in that department. What you need is consistency from your non-ace's and to win series one at a time. Hoping for the best here, but benching either Fiers or McCullers for a struggling Kazmir doesn't give this team the best chance to win. The results seem fairly predictable - Kaz will go 3-5 innings and give up 3+ runs and Fiers/McCullers will have to come in regardless - hopefully it just won't be too late at that point. I'd argue that if they felt it was so easy to diagnose and fix, they'd have done it in September instead of running him out there to lose every outing. I agree you don't toss him away for good - but you can bring him in from the bullpen in a blowout win/loss and see how he does. Then maybe you get him straightened out in a low pressure situation for the ALCS or WS. But throwing him into a critical game after a month of struggling is silly when you have 4 other SPs that aren't struggling and have been pretty damn good all season long. If your alternative was crappy, it would make more sense - but Fiers and McCullers are really good options sitting out there.
Obviously they weren't counting on him losing every outing (which he didn't, btw... his start against the Rangers was actually the best of all the starters that series)... at the same time, he was either having early success and hitting a wall, or those games were slow struggles from the get-go (without an eventual kill-shot). They really also didn't have the luxury of "resting" him... no other viable replacements out there, and I believe there was only one chance they could have possibly skipped him in the rotation (and as it was, with the off-days, he was getting slightly extra rest... but clearly not enough). All I said was if his problems aren't mental... there's a chance that more rest with mechanic tinkering could help. Clearly, they believe he hasn't lost it completely or else they wouldn't be starting him. McCullers will pitch game 4 (at home, where he's significantly better, along with extra rest for his already over-taxed young arm)... so the choice is really between Fiers/Kazmir. Looking at Kazmir's numbers for the season against KC, if you believe the rest can get him back closer to where he was just 1 month ago, he's the clear-cut better option. I don't think having him throw an inning or two in a low pressure situation makes much of a difference... not when you're basing his issues on fatigue rather than mental issues... and when/where are these low-pressure situations you speak of? The only blowout situation the Astros have been in over the last month took place 2 games after he had just started a game.
