It doesn't get any easier. Red hot White Sox next then the Texas "Literally everyone beat us except Houston" Rangers.
Banister will take no ****! Not from A.J. Hinch, not from John Gibbons, not from anyone. Banister: Two hard nosed clubs. I take offense to anyone who thinks the game shouldn't be played hard or without emotion/intensity. Is this a rivalry? We have a rivalry every single night. We try to play hard. A.J. Hinch be like: That's not the way we play the game! You're demoted to the minors! Let me call Girardi and apologize! Think Banister is calling and apologizing to John Gibbons? :grin: Too bad Houston passed on the hometown guy. At least we got the Stanford guy.
With Fiers throwing today, McHugh will now pitch Thursday's finale in Chicago. McCullers on Friday vs. Rangers, Fiers on Saturday. — BM
He is hitting .260? He has the power to hit in the middle of the lineup and gives protection to Rasmus. Now Marwin hitting secon you can use him to hit and run with Altuve on base or take pitches to allow Altuve to run. Springer agould be hitting in a spot were he only needs to think about hitting the ball hard, that's the 5th spot
Gattis is the replacement. That's why he was sent to the minors...to work on his catching. The only open question is who replaces Tucker.
All this talk about the lineup construction and offensive replacements is fascinating... Especially when this offense is actually starting to produce consistently. No doubt, the lower half of the order players need to play better... Or be replaced... But this team is still in the position to score enough runs more often than not. Pitching remains the key culprit. The starting pitching (and eventually defense) was bad in every game this series. The bullpen was ok... But obviously Gregerson's blown save hurt. The offense was the main reason they were in position to win 3 out of 4. Also, moving Springer from 2 to 6... In THIS lineup, is laughable... Unless you really want 5 other hitters to average more AB's per game over the course of the season.
71-52 to match last year. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Astros will need to go 75-48 the rest of the way to hit 90 wins</p>— Thickie Don (@AstrosCounty) <a href="https://twitter.com/AstrosCounty/status/731964936331481088">May 15, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">2016 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a>: 15-24<br>2005 Astros started ... 15-24</p>— Brian T. Smith (@ChronBrianSmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChronBrianSmith/status/731962097043570688">May 15, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It will probably be a pitcher... But thankfully it can't be Fields since it's too soon. Devenski should probably be moved back to the pen.
They already have 13 pitchers up. Unless they move Devinski or someone else, they'll need to call a position player up.
Astros have many problems, AND Hinch is one of them. It's not just either-or. It's not just this season for all those statements being true. Pulling for him? No doubt, while he's an Astro. Believing he'll turn things around? Doubt, while he's an Astro.
