He dropped a throw home earlier in the season, both were in my mind when that ball passed him. He's a replacement-level catcher. I don't give a crap about his pitch-framing ability. That's going to have little to no impact when he's a backup catcher playing once every five days. Giving up a young pitcher coming off of success in his first big league stint was bizarre when it happened, and looking even worse now. (Good bunt though, Hank)
Worrying this much about your backup C reminds me of the Rockets fans going apoplectic over Dorsey vs. Cappella. If your starting catcher is doing his job well, its really a moot point (however Howard is much more of a sure thing than Castro). But as it is, Conger has likely performed above "replacement-level" catcher status in Hinch's eyes.... and I'd expect him to have intimate knowledge about a guy like Conger's value to any team.
Wonder if Hinch will consider letting Gregerson vulture his own blown save.... but looks like Neshek will be warming up. Hell, Qualls needs to get over this whole "Oakland" thing, and he was warming up earlier.
Hmm... is Fields ready? Sipp? Qualls? Time to go back to last year... Oakland just devours any Astro save opportunity.
Wonder how long it will take for the shift movement to have to counter to the adjustments... guys are now making conscious efforts to beat shifts (since nearly every team is using them in large quantities for almost every hitter)and it gets amplified in late game AB situations.
Hitting comes alive, relief pitching goes to pot. That's about right. Is there any doubt he's gonna give up a walkoff dong?
