Welp....that is a bummer. It's basically been a trail of Astros tears since Altuve's homer against the Yankees.
We’re kind of patching this together right now so it is what it is. Things are more urgent because it’s a tiny season but doesn’t escape the fact that 8 games is still a meaningless sample size.
as the road team , im not how enticing it is to bunt sure you set yourself up to get 1 .. but with the best part of your lineup up maybe youd rather gamble for a big inning. home team has the choice to respond to also bunt and get an easy 1 overall , i feel rule favors the home team . good effort tonight , tough loss. We need someone in the top 3 to get hot
Yep, exactly this. They need a better roster, so for now staying around .500 or a little better is probably all you can realistically hope for until they get everyone back and healthy.
Astros closer Roberto Osuna has some "discomfort in his arm," manager Dusty Baker said. Osuna is headed back to Houston for an MRI. Baker called it a "real downer." On a really tough night for the Astros, Dusty said "When the sun goes down, sometimes there's sadness and the sun comes back and the heart can find some joy. ... It's not easy to sleep tonight, but the sun will come up tomorrow."
They still got the core, they just need to start getting hot. Batting average is at its lowest in like 50 years for the first week so it's too early to say "we need a better roster", our main guys just need to start getting in mid-season form sooner rather than later in addition to the guys that need to come back.
This season is just absurd. From the random COVID breakouts and postponements to the ridiculous number of injured pitchers (which will likely be a huge controversy moving forward into 2021), to the awful fielding and hitting. It's spring training but worse.
I'm enjoying the games while I can. Couldn't care less what happens, really, because there's no way this season finishes. BBQing today so I'll miss the game, which means they'll score 15 runs and throw a 3-hitter.
I can't replicate the data using FanGraphs 100%, but from the wording of the article and stats I can find on FanGraphs that appears to be a 76% success rate against the shift for bunts placed fair on the 3rd base side of the diamond. That doesn't appear to count missed bunt attempts to get batter to 0-1 and 0-2 counts before he gives up. That doesn't appear to count bunt attempts that went to first basemen by accident. A more robust study...https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-truth-about-bunting/ The breakdown: Overall: 49.7% fair bunts Pitchers: 49.9% Non-Pitchers: 49.6% There is no way that 76% is legit when they can't even get it into play 50% of the time. Fair in this study includes fair and foul pop ups that were caught. Multiplying that 76% by 50% would lead to a success rate of 38% a bunter can actually get the ball to successfully go where he wants it to go. Without shift, batter is still out most likely even if successful. Needing one run as the home team, sure a bunt likely makes sense for batters that have experience bunting. Away team, not a chance those odds are good.
