Ah... well in that case, how can you fault them for wanting to manufacture a run there? They need to win one of these!
When you have high strike out guys batting behind Altuve, that's a very risky move. I agree the team needs to be able to manufacture runs when they have to…but you're giving the Yankees a free out and letting one of your best hitters not have a chance to actually get a hit.
i love me some valgoodness but what was he seeing on those last 2 pitches, really needed carter to come through there. =(
Win or lose today, the Astros are showing they can play with the best of the AL in the Yankees, Angels and Mariners. We are playing some really good baseball.
And you're also putting a runner in position to score from 3rd with less than 2 outs, where a runner coming home can happen in a variety of ways... again, we can't just automatically assume that every batter after Altuve is going to be a strikeout/non-producing out. Being able to win both ways will be important to get this team to play better than .500 ball (which they have been for awhile now) for the rest of the season. Early season lineup versatility/run manufacturing provided by Lowrie/Altuve (especially when Carter/Springer/Gattis were struggling) went a long way towards those early season wins.
Also, I don't agree with Hinch taking out Gattis' bat for the pinch runner at 3rd with less than two outs. If this games goes extra innings, they no longer have the club's leading RBI man in there. He's a DH, it isn't like he needs to be replaced for defensive reasons. Hinch tends to over manage at times.
Obviously, we can't assume they're all going to be strikeouts, but one strikeout there and it kills the whole opportunity. As you saw, we had runner on 3rd with one out…Valbuena K'd and Carter popped up. And even if Altuve, one of the best hitters on the team, failed to move Springer over….Gattis's hit would have still brought Correa home. Im just not a fan of giving a free out to the other team when it's a guy like Altuve, and the rest of the roster K's more than anyone in baseball. We don't have the lineup to really manufacture the way we'd want to manufacture runs. I totally agree the team needs to do a better job of that, but the current make up of this team is not suitable for that style of play. That's why I like the idea of Kemp on the Astros…and why I look forward to getting Lowrie back into the lineup.
