I'm not against Luhnow getting a stud reliever if one's available at the right price, but once Keuchel, McHugh and Morton return, Peacock will likely go to the bullpen and give us the bandwidth we need there. Luhnow will also have the luxury of moving Paulino or Martes to the bullpen or sending them down to Fresno. They'll both be back up in September no matter what.
I'd be good with an average reliever at this point just to give us some innings. Maybe a long guy. Of course, a stud would be welcome also
Its funny you mention that... because other posters were criticizing the move Hinch made to pull Martes early, because of some of the long-term ramifications it could have on the bullpen. Ultimately, I feel they want to wrap this thing up as soon as possible... which will allow them the luxury to start resting guys who need rest. As it is, they've been able to "rest" half the starters and not lose any ground in their lead.
I don't think they are doing it every day - they went all out in the Oakland series, but had 2 SPs go 2 or 3 innings, so they used the bullpen a whole bunch, so now maybe they pump the brakes for a day or two and give people some time off. Devo, for example, has pitched in 6 of the last 9 games, with the last of those being a 3 inning outing. Harris has pitched a decent amount recently as well. I don't think they'll rest people to the extent that they have any extended losing streaks or anything like that - but as long as they are maintaining their lead (or growing it, thanks to the Yankees mess), it gives them the luxury to pull back on the throttle a bit here and there.
Maybe it was the flag poles.. I would be curious to see the difference in BA from say Correa, Altuve, Gattis and such vs. McCann, Beltran and Reddick who did not play their home games here last year. I wonder if their is a bigger drop off for the first three from the second three or if there is any correlation at all.
Opposing teams have to bat with the same backdrop, no? Are opposing teams hitting better/worse/same at MMP now? Sure, some of that has to do with the quality of the pitching too. I don't think the batters eye is as big of an issue as some would like to believe... but even if it is an adjustment, things should get better with more time/exposure the Astros hitters have towards it.
It was over 200 points prior to the last homestand. Methinks his numbers will be pretty close by years end.
I totally agree. Hinch has press the right button for the most of the season, but he has press the wrong ones recently. Now Fiers has doubts if Hinch trust him. Hinch has a thing going with Hoyt.
Fiers had given up hard contact to the 1st 3 batters and walked the 5th. He was already at a high pitch count. You should probably bring in a more reliable reliever in that situation, but Fiers absolutely needed to be out of that game.
So I decided to leave this forum to the Rockets forum just to see if anything interesting is happening. It appears Chris Paul is now a Rocket. Man, the Astros game tonight can't get here fast enough.
Rockets are essentially doing what the Astros did, abandoning the all or nothing strategy for a more diversified attack on both fronts. Now they want the mid range domination too.
The pitch before the grand slam was foul tipped but McCann did not hold on and even the batter thought he was out, so that was very close to being a good call Hinch instead of Hinch ****ed up. I have more of a prob with team discipline and more specifically the Gattis AB. Gattis should not DH, if he's not relieving McCann then he's riding the pine.
Springer's last two ABs.... HRs Three consecutive games with a homer. He also ties Berkman's franchise record for most dingers pre-All-Star
