Did you know I remember you posting since 99? Feel like u were a Najera fan back during the draft haha.
Lineup was just posted. Some very notable changes. Really irritated that McCann is not catching. 1. Bregman 3B 2. Springer RF 3. Altuve DH 4. Correa SS 5. Gurriel 1B 6. Margo 2B 7. Kemp LF 8. Maldonado C 9. Marisnick CF
HOW many chances do we give Maldonado? Dude not catching the ball last night was one of the reasons we lost last night. I get it that McCann is not going to pick off runners but what does that matter when Maldy randomly advances runners when he doesn't catch the ball? It's worse too because if there is someone on 3rd (and against the Red Sox, someone is always on third) it's a run given up. At least with McCann the Red Sox have to put the ball in play or take a walk to score. I agree with Marisnick though, we got the best possible game out of Reddick last night, probably won't do that again this series. Good that we moved Correa up.
I'm pulling out all my good luck gifs that I used during last year's playoff run. First, bloody Ric Flair - we're hurt but we're not dead, and we're not afraid. And second, the "I Still Believe" sax man from Lost Boys.
He's 0-11 vs. Price. I imagine that was a factor. Then again, Hinch completely ignored McCann's great numbers vs. Price in favor of Maldonado. Not the lineup I expected to see.
I'm no expert or anything but I'm not a fan of changing the lineup multiple times in the middle of a series. I don't remember; did the team make changes in the middle of a series last year?
Hmm, interesting that Reddick is out considering he was hitting pretty well last night and had that amazing catch in the 9th. I'm glad that Correa is finally batting cleanup. Yes, it weakens the bottom part of the order, but for chrissakes, we need to have a part of the lineup that can make the opposing pitching pay.
Hinch is all over the place- aside from the lineup tinkering, in the space of five days he went from leaving Joe Smith and Rondon off the first roster, to putting them in big game situations. Brutal.
They did; they'd move parts around in the bottom of the order. But the top 4 were locked. I did/do not like Bregman hitting first; I supported flipping him and Altuve and I suggested moving Correa back to clean-up ahead of yesterday's game. Unfortunately, tonight might be day late/dollar short. Gun to my head, I'd have rather had Springer up in the B9. Not that I didn;t *like* having Bregman - i just preferred Springer.
This is the same guy that once had a MLB record 18 pitch at bat at the time only to hit a homerun on the 18 pitch. It was just a matter of time before the inevitable happened. Didn't even get thrown a 3rd ball.
Within the series a lot of Lineup Changes, Bullpen guys not normally pitching their own innings. A lot of Injuries to players, down years in batting, pitching. A.J. Hinch is in Panic Mode. Just a Brutal Series. The Umpires are against the team also.
Makes you wonder if Cora was a stabilizing sounding board for him last season. I still have complete faith in Hinch but the Rondon and Smith decisions are a little baffling.
Short of JV demanding Maldanado is his catcher, there's very little logic behind starting him. He has the yips. It's a fairly important skill, one would think, for a catcher to be able to CATCH THE F***ING BALL. Makes even less sense since McCann has historically hit Price well. I'm glad Correa moved back to his rightful spot...but I agree with @Hey Now! that the move should've have been to put Breg #2 and Altuve 3, leaving Springer at leadoff.
