Terrible cell service at the game last night. I wish I would have predicted an Astros win, I would have taken that over the Bregs HR. Dallas' velocity is the issue these days. That 90-91 MPH 2-seam that painted corners the last two years is now sitting at a fat 88. He needs to sit down with Fister and pick his brain about what he needs to do to be successful, maybe develop a pitch with sinking action. Back at it again today. Astros win and Bregs with #2!
Charlie also says there's an element of luck in winning 1-run games. Rangers' ERA as a whole is 12th in AL. There's definitely some luck occurring.
Keuchel has sinking action. His GB% is still fantastic, though down from what it was. He is just getting hit hard. Losing 1-1.5mph has certainly been part of the problem.
I would agree that he has been predominantly known for his GB% which is based off that slight sink to the ball. However, his 2-seamer at 91 used to have that sink and left-to-right movement as well. It seems that the velocity change has rendered less of a sink and more side movement, which leaves it sitting in the zone. The reason I brought up Fister is that back in his Detroit days he was similar to Dallas, but once he lost significant velocity he actually started using more of a sinker grip on that pitch so it would still die, and Keuchel would benefit greatly from getting that great sinking action back, because his command is still there, it him must doesn't seem to move late as it used to.
Look..even if that's true, I'm getting so tired of hearing about it. Astros bloggers love that line. There was an article in Crawfish Boxes not longer after the trade deadline about how vastly superior the Astros are to the Rangers...while we were about 6 games behind them. It cited our "vastly superior" lineup and our "vastly superior" pitch framing. My eyes nearly rolled right out of my head. The Rangers have managed to kick ass for about a season and a half now. At some point, the sample size is big enough and you are who you are. A team that continually kicks our ass and is going to win its second straight division crown. I just think it's a bad look for the team that can't beat them to have a fanbase continually screaming about luck over the course of 2 seasons where they've outplayed us. It doesn't make the winter any warmer pretending that the numbers show we really should be winning more than they already have. At some point it's about what actually happens on the field and not projections, formulas and what-if math.
The statements 1) Rangers are good 2) Rangers are better than us and 3) Rangers have been lucky can all be true. I don't recall much luck accusations last season.
I'd agree. It looks pretty petty of some of you Astros fans to scream luck. It looks almost as bad as some Cubs fans citing luck as the reasoning for why the Cardinals always find ways to beat the Cubs.
