I know. It is out there. But Cole has been outworldly. It is not unreasonable to think he could pitch a shut out due to his last game flop and wanting redemption. While I agree that no manager would want to put their team in a 3-2 hole the only way they are beating cole is if cole beats himself. If cole was going to beat himself they would not need scherzer to capitalize. Strategically it makes sense to maximize Scherzer and strasbergs appearances. If Cole was Cole no one would beat him including Scherzer. If Cole was game 1 Cole then anything can happen regardless if Scherzer is pitching or not. I am not saying this is what happened. But I am not discounting the possibility.
Frankly, I’m tired of making excuses for Verlander. Stephen Strasburg a 3.2 ERA guy in the regular season has dropped his ERA in the postseason and out pitched Verlander albeit facing a better offense. Verlander goes from 2.58 to 5.8 Era in the biggest games of his life. He’s dropped the ball.
I know Hinch won't do it but I really think he should consider moving Altuve to leadoff and Springer to 3rd in the lineup. Altuve has been awful this WS with runners on base (he even grounded into a two DPs the other night) and his overall plate approach with runners on has been frustrating, to say the least. That said, I think it would benefit him and the team if he led off tonight - he hit .525 this season leading off in ~60 PAs when Springer was out. For his career he has always been great in the first AB leading off the game (~80 points higher in OPS) when he's hit leadoff and his swing at the first pitch approach is more acceptable there. IMO you then put Brantley and his high OBP in the 2 hole which sets Springer, who's been our best hitter, not only in this WS but in the playoffs, to do some real damage.
I always thought the same thing that Altuve should be leadoff and Springer who hits for power would get more runs hitting third.
It's ironic that on the same night Stros are playing the Nats, the Rockets are playing the Wizards. A double win tonight would be sweet! Go Stros!! Go Rockets!!
I understand why Springer leads off - he gets on base a lot and he's hit a ton of lead off HRs in the 1st, which I think is a huge advantage because mentally being up 1-0 right off the bat is huge IMO. If we didn't have Altuve I would be against moving him out of the spot...but man Altuve's approach is most suitable for a lead off hitter IMO. Swinging first pitch to lead off the game is a lot more acceptable than swinging first pitch right after their pitcher just walked Springer. Plus Altuve has enough power himself and pitchers are more likely to start the game with a first pitch fastball/strike than they are after Springer gets on base and they are trying to limit the damage so they throw him a breaking ball at his ankles which he swings at 85% of the time.
Verlander pitched 5 innings and allowed 3 runs. Not great but very very winnable. 1. Offense didn't show up 2. Bull pen gave up 4 more runs. Even if Verlander pitched 5 shutout innings....we still lose only scoring 2 runs.
Yep. I wish they'd leave him alone. They know how he's going to respond. I know he gets paid millions to participate in a job that's ultimately just entertainment, but there's nothing entertaining about FORCING a guy who has social anxiety and depression and other issues to answer the same vapid questions over and over. He entertains by playing baseball. No fan that ultimately pays his salary says, "Oh, I don't want Greinke because he's not a good interview." Just thinking about people as human beings, which I admit is hard to do in professional sports, it seems cruel to just keep shoving mics in his face when he's clearly uncomfortable about it, hates it, and gives you nothing to work with in response anyway.
Swapping Morton for Greinke could equal Reed for Quin when you consider the prospects you lost. The Astros really need to develop more pitchers from their system. Urquidy could be a new beginning. I think Greinke will do okay tonight. Would you take 4 IP / 2 R ?
Verlander is just not a seven inning shutdown pitcher. He should be third in the lineup and would have more runs support if he did.
What's crazy is the Nationals are 7-1 on the road this postseason. Their only road loss was Game 1 vs the Dodgers in the NLDS.
Any theory that contends the Nats held back Max is idiotic and not based in reality. In no world is that a sound strategy or one that a professional manager would employ. You don’t save one of your best pitchers on regular rest for a game that could potentially not occur. It’s too stupid to even discuss. I’m still going with Greinke as World Series MVP. Unless we get a game changing home run from someone.
But is Scherzer at 100%? Is their bullpen THAT reliable? I think they'll go to the pen early since I don't think he'll all of a sudden be 100%. If the Astros can hit Scherzer early and get him out of the game, we'll be in better position. I doubt Strasburg will pitch in relief since he pitched a near-complete game yesterday.
