If both teams play up to their capabilities, the Astros should still win. That aspect relaxes me. The Rangers have some guys who've played in these sort of games before. The Astros don't. But each high pressure game gets these guys some much needed experience. Yes, everybody brings up the Cubs, and some inexplicably bring up the Orlando Magic (with different league circumstances at play), but this team is going to not only be a contender NOW, but as well in the future. The Cubs did have two younger pitchers, but had a ton of veterans and not much else in the minors... The Astros have young talent on both sides of the ball. I'm having fun. It's good to have stressful games again that mean something. There's no point in getting into sports ir a team if it doesn't make you a little nervous, but ultimately you have to enjoy the ride (and take solace in knowing that this should not be a one and done team... This GM is doing everything in his power to ensure that... Sometimes at the expense of the team right now).
Tough to swallow that a team that has given up 123 more runs than us (with runs scored being about equal) is tied with us (in the loss column). Are the Rangers more clutch? More lucky? More what exactly?
This reminds me of the 2006 season.... where a pretty inferior/mediocre Astros team happened to have a late season surge to almost win the division from the superior Cardinals (who ended up going on to win the WS). That Astros team featured a lot of veterans with post-season experience (like the Rangers), but really wasn't a great overall team. The Rangers do have a veteran presence... they're not going to crack under the pressure... same remains to be seen with the Astros.
It's because we stink on the road. Our #s are so skewed at home vs road. Rangers may be more balanced....
Home/road splits wouldn't affect total runs scored and allowed. The Astros are well under their expected W/L pace, and the Rangers are well above. By expected estimates, the Astros should be 14 games ahead of the Rangers (82-57 vs 66-71). Basically, when the Rangers lose, they get blown out. When the Astros lose, they are losing close games.
don't think anybody is sweeping that under the rug. i can live with everything that's happened/will happen besides the half-assed attempt to "go all in". they willingly left an enormous hole at 1b. they treated this season like the cherry on top of a sundae that hasn't been made yet. sucks that we may have to look back on it and play the "what if" game. a team with a bottom 5 payroll worrying about saving money on one unknown commodity several years down the line, at the expense of putting the best possible lineup on the field while in the dead heat of their first pennant race in a decade, is appalling. we can debate whether reed (or white) would have made a difference all we want, but i think 100% of the world's population would agree that there's no possible way that they could have been worse than carter. not giving either a shot was a mistake. while i certainly expect us to be in the mix for a long time in the near future, nothing is guaranteed. we can be good while still having a razor thin margin for error and miss out on the playoffs in any given year down the road.
They Astros are not winning the division this year. Their bullpen is running on fumes and their hitting approach is too inconsistent. It's been a great year and I am thrilled by their future, but we can see the writing on the wall.
Please tell us the internal discussions the Astros front office had about first base (or other positions) since they 'willingly' left an enormous hole.
They left Chris Carter to suck when he played and rot on the bench, never gave white or Reed a shot. Not sure there is any inside information or guesswork required there, buddy boy.
I'm a big fan of bringing in the minor league prospects. But, I've learned that big numbers in the minors won't automatically correlate in the majors if there are gaping holes in the techniques. Just look at a few of the can't miss guys we were so excited to come up to the big's in the Astros organization, Brett Wallace, Villar, Singleton, Krause, Preston Tucker, etc. etc.... and the .900+ OPS from the AAA fizzle to .600 - .750's. Granted some of these guys could still become .800 + OPS guys, but they aren't going to cremate the ML pitching like they did the upper levels in the minors. The MLB competition is no joke. If the Astros have not brought up White, Duffy, or Reed it probably is because there are holes they are trying to address. One thing I see is that the Astros are very diligent in whom they bring up.
And I think that the Astros organization knew that Carter can identify the pitches fairly well. But he is just not able catch up to the breaking pitches off the fast ball. The hope he'd find the right rhythm is starting to dwindle. Much props and criticism to Lunhow for sticking with him. On one hand he showed patience and loyalty to the talent, but on the other hand with his stubbornness, he probably cost the Astros 5 or 7 games in the win column.
"Starting" to dwindle? That's like saying that Cangrejero51 is "starting" to get annoying. Cardpire is right... when they couldn't/didn't acquire a 1B upgrade via trade, they should have promoted one of White or Reed to see what they could do. As forward thinking as this front office is, they're sometimes stubborn as hell.
Carter has only 90 ABs since the the end of June. I think their "upgrade" was benching him for Valbuena, Marwin and/or Lowrie.
Nope. I suspect there was a lot of internal discussions as to what to do about first base. For all we know they had trade discussions with other teams. Carter has had limited at bats since the all star break. Gonzalez is slashing .295/.348/.410/.758 as a first baseman. Valbuena is slugging .436 with a .784 OPS as a first baseman. Could untried minor leaguers have done better than that? Maybe, maybe no.
His decreased playing time and negative WAR overall just make it pretty useless to have him on the roster. They could literally replace him with anybody... and that player would have a good chance to add more of an impact (and possibly turn into a contributor). As precious as the 40-man spots are for rule 5 purposes, its hilarious and ironic that they just "waste" a 25 man big league roster spot for a player who they don't want to play.
Expected win for the Astros Rangers playing with M's and losing to Nuno was not a good sign, as they face King Felix tomorrow vs Holland. Hopefully Nelson Cruz will play. Astros 1 game up in loss column. Twins win a big one in 12 innings against KC, a pinch hit homer by Sano.
Diligence is fine when you're the worst team in baseball. Things are different when you're in contention and have a gaping hole in the lineup, and you have an in-house option to potentially plug the whole in an enormous way. Never did I complain much or at all about Correa and Springer. Future years were more important than present. That's no longer the case. They sacrificed potential future production from Phillips, Nottingham, and the lot to better their chances this season. Is sacrificing potential future production (wayyyy down the line, if it ever becomes an actual issue) from AJ Reed by starting his clock early really all that much different? Better to be left to wonder and guess than actually find out I guess?
