Who wouldn't rather win the series? Did you see Cain practically standing on the plate? Sometimes you gotta come inside and other times way inside or you can just dust off your skirt and continue letting teams bean our guys with no repercussion.
You're talking about two different things. I have no problem with commanding the inside of the plate when a batter is too close. But intentionally throwing at people just because our players (who also attempt to stand on top of the plate, mind you) get brushed back will serve absolutely no purpose except to stir further bad blood and eventually get one of our guys intentionally hurt as well. They're also not "beaning" our guys... they're throwing inside. Big difference.
That's an overrated sentiment overblown more by fans... pretty sure both teams put the events of the last series well behind them going into this series. The fact that nothing even close to a skirmish has happened between either team is even more evidence that nobody bares any ill-will. The Royals were not "trying" to hit anybody both this series and last... trying to pitch inside effectively, yes... trying to take batters out of their comfort zone, yes. I believe "that" is part of the game moreso than "retribution" or "sending a message".
I agree. I will be there Thursday. Nick Tropeano vs. Kazmir. Didn't Astros have Tropeano at one point?
No, you're right. They should have gotten into a bean ball war over unintentional actions that likely results in suspensions and possible further injury. And Hinch is a pu$$y! "Eye for an eye!" "Unwritten rules!"
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">McHugh on Keuchel: "In my opinion, he's the best pitcher in baseball right now." <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a></p>— Howard Chen (@TheHoChen) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheHoChen/status/625340314073432064">July 26, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="in" dir="ltr">Dallas Keuchel & Scott Kazmir now rank 1-2 in the American League in ERA. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a></p>— Howard Chen (@TheHoChen) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheHoChen/status/624874226747469826">July 25, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Tropeano was traded along with Carlos Perez for Hank Conger. Tropeano has spent most of this season at AAA.
Astros organization has been pu$$y for years regarding throwing inside and protecting its players. The only time recall aggressiveness in any regard was when Braun showboated after hitting a HR. This during the Cooper Era. Clemens and/or Oswalt may've shown some nuts at some point, but I don't recall a specific instance.
Sure they have (they were probably at their "worst" from 97-2005... when they were winning a bunch of games... their slogan was "root for the good guys!"... don't think it really mattered)... and again, there's a difference between throwing inside effectively (in order to get hitters out of their comfort zones), and throwing inside recklessly/intentionally to "protect your players". One is part of the game... the other has no business being part of the game.
Aren't you the one who goes on and on stating that "traditional baseball fans aren't going to 'understand' this team and how its built.... its a new analytical way of exploiting deficiencies in the game that have them ultimately being successful." And then you advocate for archaic "retaliation"/"redemption"/"stand up for yourselves" mafioso-type aggression that really has no statistical/anlaytical or even practical role in this game... the only things its proven is that it leads to suspensions and/or injuries. If you believe that this sort of stuff works, or that the Astros spent the entire weekend holding a "grudge" against KC for pitching inside the previous series... you must also believe in the "due" factor, that an announcer or BBS poster can ruin a no-hitter by mentioning it, game-to-game "momentum", or the concept of "saving runs for the next game!" fallacies as well.
Wouldn't say I go on and on about it since I don't remember typing that in quite a while, but yes I do think the way this team was built this year is tough for traditional baseball guys because the offense is not traditional in any way...I would guess it will get quite a bit more traditional over the next couple of years though Right now teams know that they can come in really tight on us, and their hitters don't have to worry about the same happening to them. The team we have been discussing in this thread, KC, is the one that put Springer out. They have hit the most batters in the AL and only Tampa is really close to them. They come in, and they do it intentionally. You obviously posted some very extreme stuff about just hitting guys and hurting them and getting suspended and yada yada yada...and I know that it was only because you think those of us who don't like our approach on this are just wrong I do strongly believe in opponents knowing that we are not afraid to protect our hitters though. That doesn't mean you throw at people's heads and you just wrecklessly injure people and get suspended and act like fools. But you can let the other team know they won't treat us like that, without going extreme. I know you don't believe in that, and obviously the Astros front office doesn't either. Two guys who just went into the HOF were known for being "protectors" with the Unit 5th all time in hit batters and Pedro 26th all time. And obviously guys like Roger and Nolan were not afraid to go in at hitters, ranking 14th and 15th in hit batters. Heck, Mr. Control himself Greg Maddox is 32nd all time in hit batters. I don't think he got there because he didn't know where he was throwing it? I also don't remember those guys careers being derailed for hitting guys either I have no idea how you are tying this to a fan ruining a no hitter, or due factors, or any of that. Please don't try to explain that part to me though, cause I really don't care lol
