I was actually impressed with how patient the Astros were; not as patient as KC, obviously - but Springer, Correa, Rasmus, Gomez... they all worked counts. Heck, Carter was doing it, too. I know this won't be a popular opinion, and maybe I'm just too old school - I'd really love to see them move Altuve down in the line-up. I still wonder if his MO is sustainable (I know, two years and counting...) - but I really dislike having a guy at the top of the line-up who hacks as much as he does. But maybe they love it... I don't know. My recollection of the series is Altuve hitting the first pitch and then Springer working the count like a lead-off hitter.
Yea a lot of the year Springer lead off I'd be ok with Altuve hitting 2nd or 5th, but only if we had a great on base guy to lead off.
Altuve hitting fifth is intriguing... all the guy does is make contact. He doesn't walk, he doesn't strike out... In fact, he has fewer K+BB (100) than six Astros have just strikeouts. Put a few people on base ahead of him and he'd see more pitches to hit. I'd be a little concerned that he grounds into too many DPs - but the Astros seem to believe in forcing the other team to make plays, defensively, so... Another option might be Springer 1, Correa 2, Altuve 3.
Love that power right at the top Beltran hitting second was dynamic If we had a great leadoff man then George and Carlos, Altuve could drive in 100 hitting 4th. Isn't conventional but not much that we do is
Altuve hitting where he does is merely to ensure he gets as many AB's as possible. On a more balanced team/lineup that just needs his drive-in-runs potential, he could hit lower.... but this team featured a collective 6-9 (in the playoffs no-less) that would be challenged by many NL pitchers in terms of their "hitting" ability.
So, how many players on the Royals were doing the "axe to the neck" gesture toward the end of game 5? Is there still debate over whether McCullers actually did that or not...because their players seemed to make a big deal about it? I saw Cuento do it in the dugout and Morales did it after the 3 run HR. Apparently, that fired them up a bit over there. Edit: McCullers tweeted that is not what he was doing. I guess KC misread what they were seeing. I dunno what he thought he was doing. He did something. Gang sign?
Shouldn't be surprising. His OPS has been ~100 points higher than his BA every season in Houston and is annually in the league leaders in pitches/AB.
He has good plate discipline just whiffs on a lot of pitches in the zone. A lot like Springer but George has improved in that regard whereas Carter hasn't.
McCullers game 4 performance was stunning. Top of the rotation performance for a 22 years old, in his rookie season. 6.1 IPs 2 Hs 2 Rs 7 Ks I saw McCullers pitch in the last preseason game at MMP versus KC. I know it was SSS but KC rocked him. I left thinking that McCullers needed quite a bit of work before he would be MLB ready. Well he and the Astros got it figure out quick. Good for him.
When he was drafted I thought for sure this guy will be our future lockdown closer. He's definitely starter material...but I still prefer him in a closer role.
Yep I'd rather KC lose, but truth be told... if they win, especially convincingly, it makes the Stros look better. People will be like, "Astros gave them the biggest challenge". I'm confident management will make upgrades this offseason and we'll come back strong for '16. Go Stros Go Coogs Go Rockets
The better team won this series. The Royals are just better than the Astros. More experience, better plate discipline, more balanced lineup 1-9, much better bullpen, better manager, and equal starting pitching. I hope in a year the Astros are as good as the Royals.
I just saw this and no, the manager of the year is not voted on by the same panel that votes on gold glove awards, but that won't stop you. Keuchel is not an 'easy' choice for Cy Young, just like Correa is not an 'easy' choice for rookie of the year. If you could take postseason starts into consideration, then Keuchel would be a slam dunk winner, but alas, you have to only take in regular season starts. While Keuchel is the favorite, Price garners consideration (as does Lindor for ROTY).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It was 6-2 Astros with six outs to go in Game 4. Amazing.</p>— Reid Laymance (@ReidLaymance) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReidLaymance/status/657774091483545601">October 24, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Maybe it's just me, but people need to let that go. They lost to a better team that's known to put runs on the board in one inning the past two postseasons. I don't see them beating the Mets even if they make it out.
They are laying it on pretty thick in both their support for the Royals... along with the back-handed insults towards the Astros. Last night, several times it was mentioned how the Royals do so much in terms of manufacturing runs, making contact, moving the runners over, not just waiting for the HR's. Then, in the post-game trophy presentation, Erin Andrews introduces the Royals GM as somebody who does a lot more than simply just using advanced computer databases to determine which players make a good fit (whatever that means). I guess there's only one thing for the Astros to do to shut everybody up... (then again, the playoffs almost universally expose free swinging teams, so perhaps Billy Beane was right...)
Yeah, it's a little irritating. We had them beat with our free swinging mentality, we were undone by a bad bullpen, not a bad system. But people love their agendas.
