No, it wouldn't be. You guys are being way too dramatic about this. The Royals are a damn good team. It's taken 2 late comebacks for them to still be alive in this series. The Astros have been the overall better team. If we lose this series, it will hurt but it wouldn't be above any of the other playoff losses from the Astros alone.
This. The Royals have one of the best lineups in MLB, and we have a bullpen that has been below average the last 6 weeks. Hell, Neshek was our 8th inning guy for 5 months, and he's nowhere to be seen. Velasquez and Qualls didn't even make the roster for this series. Bullpen help is probably at the top of the list of offseason needs.
The Royals were a better team than us, but the Astros beat them in the regular season series and frankly have outplayed them in the ALDS thus far. Game 1 was an Astros domination aside from 2 solo shots by the same Royals player. Game 2 had the Astros in control til the 6th when the relievers gave up the lead. Game 3 was a struggle for the offense for about half the game, but Keuchel kept the Royals in check with only one mistake(and it was only a solo HR) until the Astros hitters finally showed up. And Game 4 was neck-and-neck like Game 3 until the bottom of the 7th when Correa and Rasmus homered. KC has had basically 2 dominant innings in the entire series. Otherwise, it's been the Astros either matching the Royals' output or in command most of the time. So I disagree with the notion that KC should win this series. Maybe coming into it, you could make that argument. But based on what we've seen so far, not only should the Astros win this series, but it should be over already. And BTW, one terrible relief appearance can and in this case did equate to a huge failure. It cost us a Game 4 win and unless they bounce back tomorrow night, it'll cost us a trip to the ALCS.
Thank God Houston has had so many epic fails, sweeping this one under the rug. Spoiler Series isn't over yet
The good news is, bullpen guys are typically available and are one of the "easiest" to upgrade with $$$. Its also possible that they try out internal options for late inning roles... especially guys who may not have a spot in the starting rotation (Appel, Feliz, VV). If that's the "biggest" thing separating the Astros from being the favorites in the AL, it can and will be fixed.
First time logging in...was at the game yesterday. It really does still sting, sure there's one more left but man, this one hurts.
That's probably the only thing keeping some of us from going Scanners after that choke job. They still have a Game 5 in which to make that collapse a mere footnote in this series. If the Clippers had recovered and won Game 7 back in May, that blown 19-point lead wouldn't haunt that franchise and its fans. It's why Choke City wound up being a positive moment for the 1994 Rockets in the long run. There really is a lot riding on this game tomorrow night. If the Stros pull off the win, it'll make them mentally tougher going forward and they can build on that either in this playoff run or in the seasons to come should they get eliminated in the ALCS. If they lose, they may still recover mentally(and hopefully replace most of their bullpen), but that Game 4 choke will eat away at them for a long time.
Is there a game 5 or something? =) really proud of our kids, errors are going to happen. now the pitching veterans, get your heads right.
Is it me or is Gattis pretty terrible at the plate? He will swing at the low balls every time. He has zero plate discipline. I'm amazed he had so many HRs this season. I think it may be because pitchers just weren't pitching him correctly. Throw him low curves and sliders...and he will swing every time and whiff it seems. He looks like he has no clue up there and is guessing all the way. Regardless of what happens, I'm proud of the team. I'm not expecting to win game 5 but it would be extra gravy to an already gravy season.
Nah, I'm not going to razz anyone for giving up on the team. I was going to but I'm not. Let's go Astros. We need to win one more in KC which we've already done this series.
Sept and Octuber Harris 4.15 ERA, 0 and 3 record (not including playoffs) 3 homers allowed Sipp 1.13 ERA, 1 and 0 record Who do you want in the 8th to close a series? Hinch must know he does not have many good relievers right now, Harris has great numbers for the year, but has struggled for a long time now. I don't trust Harris vs a right handed batter. Sipp can pitch to both, righties and lefties. If Hosmer is hitting in the 8th, we have Oliver for that, if not take him out of the 25 men roster. We did not do it yesterday, and cost us. For tomorrows game we need to use McHugh, Fiers, Perez, Sipp and Gregerson. We could use Kazmir for 1 or 2 batters. Harris only with match ups, example Moustakas. Neshek, for matchups, vs righties like Rios and Escobar. Only 2 relievers i trust to pitch to righties and lefties are Gregerson and Sipp, others only on matchups
Gattis, like many of the Astros, has a low walk rate and high strikeout rate. He is fairly bad after getting behind in the count. I noticed Perez talking to the pitchers many times before Gattis bats. Think he tells them to throw a strike on the lower outside corner. Then Gattis chases everything after that pitch. I'd like to see Marwin DH this next game. Even though he doesn't have the power of Gattis, it would be nice to have an on-base threat batting after Rasmus, so they don't continue to pitch around him.
Marwin is still having problems batting left-handed. He gave it a go yesterday and missed badly on 3 straight pitches.
Yeah.... except Hosmer had an OPS of 822 this season Gattis... well his OPS was nearly 80 points lower at 748 this season. There was reason to believe that Hosmer would turn it around, not so much with Gattis.
All I can say is I don't want to see the bullpen tomorrow. After McHugh goes a deep as he can... Put in Mike Fiers....shoulda yesterday, anyways. Put in Kazmir...he could do better than the trainwreck of Neshek and Harris in a relief role. Put in Lance...errr maybe not because that's be on 1 day rest (but a GREAT start yesterday for him) Put in Keuchel...let's Bumgarner the Royals. The ultimate ballsy move. And Luke Greg can close it all out. Go Stros, I still believe!
