Hell yeah. Hes back baby. Hopefully back to the most trusted guy out of that pen. Go ahead and pop that collar Tony.
What I just was about to post, public enemies number one back in July (I was in that wagon) now have given us huge momentum
You know? Mad props to Chris Carter; sincerely. I can't imagine it's been an easy year for the guy - not only has he struggled but he's been the subject of a lot of fan ire and the team parked him - in the middle of a pennant race - on the far end of the bench. Would have been easy to check out on the team and its season. To shake that all off and contribute says a lot about the guy, as well as the team. I really admire what he's done. Yes, I still want them to jettison him as soon as humanly possible after the season ends - but he'll be leaving with much admiration for me... so, you know, he's got that going for him. Seriously, we've been witness to plenty of athletes packing it up. Carter has stay engaged; his teammates have kept his head in the game... it's a really nice story. (But, seriously, bring on JR Reed)
I am glad to see Chris Carter doing so well now. I had a feeling that he was going to be big for us at some point due to his streaky nature, didn't think it was going to be like this though. Mad props to him for persevering.
I'd say it'll be about the same. A lot of streaks of bad hitting... bad defense... above average HR numbers... overall low average. I know you feel we can't get that elsewhere... and that his upcoming $5 million salary is insignificant (even though you're not getting even that value from him)... but I also feel that on a team that's supposed to be good, its hard to absorb those bad stretches and give him carte blanche to be an everyday player. It wasn't so bad in years past where there was still a lot of experimenting... this year was very hard to tolerate and he needs to become a drastically better overall player (i.e. - more consistent) to warrant a place on a good team.
Fiers hasn't been very good since his no hitter. I hope he brings it tonight because we really need him to come through tonight. And, Kazmir...you need to perform now more than ever.
He has had 5 starts since the no-hitter. 4 of them were quality starts. With the exception of the game where he went 5 innings and gave up 4 runs, his other 4 starts yield an ERA under 3. He hasn't been stellar, but he has been better than average in most of the starts since the no-hitter.
Kazmir is hopefully on a very short leash tomorrow. If he doesn't look good coming out of the gate, Velasquez better be ready to go 4 or 5 strong innings. I'm feeling like Fiers gives us a good performance tonight on the hill.
Yes, he stunk this year, and the (lack of) impact was exacerbated by the several other players around him sucking at the plate in similar fashion. Did you want last year's version of him in this year's lineup before the season started? They aren't going to be able to field a lineup of 9 silver sluggers next season. They also aren't going to do a complete 180 within one season, and go from their "Crush City" roster construction, to a bunch of guys who hit for average but low power. There has to be some compromise somewhere in the order. Having his streaky but 40 hr potential bat buried deep in the order seems like a good one to me. Also, I will confidently give the FO credit for being prudent and not fickle, but I still have to imagine that seeing him hit this streak just in the nick of time will cause them to re-evaluate whatever their offseason plans for him may have been pre-streak. With the premium they put on HR's, I just see no way that they risk putting 40 HR's on an opponent's roster just to save a few million bucks.
I don't have much confidence in Velasquez going 4-5 strong innings based on his performance this month.
Too many things that can still happen. It's making my head spin. Just win, baby. The rest will sort itself out.
