I'm not 100% sold on JV being tired in that game. Sure he hung a slider to Eaton, but for the most part, the Nationals spat at breaking and off-speed stuff out of the zone or timed it up perfectly when he threw one in the zone. Almost as if JV was tipping his pitches, the Nationals hitters are just that good, or ....
If you think JV was tipping his pitches then you obviously dont know a single thing about Verlander. The amount of film and preparation he does per game is ridiculous. Theres zero chance he was tipping his pitches. His slider simply was flat all game long and it looked bad all ALCS as well. He was lucky the Yanks didnt score 4+ on him on for Game 2. He was not sharp at all.
It was said he believed he was tipping his pitches verse the Nationals. Either way they were in his head and they are really good hitters.
Has there ever been a dynastic-type of team that was actually liked? The Patriots, '90s Yankees and the Warriors were the most loathed teams of their time. Hope we win it next year and shut everyone up. The Astros' name being dragged through the mud despite other teams like the Yankees and Red Sox having been fined for the same thing pisses me off to no end.
I don't think he was tipping his pitches, though there is a non-zero possibility of it happening. JV's slider was fine in the World Series, not his best slider, but not close to flat other than the Eaton one. It was flat in the short rest game, the subsequent ALCS game, but by Game 6 it was fine on average. Though shape of slider shouldn't significantly impact how well the Nationals hitters spat on breaking and off-speed pitches that started in the zone before breaking. The Nationals swung at nearly 80% of pitches in the zone, and 25% of pitches out of the zone in Game 6. No batter during the regular season had that great a differential in zone Swing%-out of zone swing %. The Nationals did an amazing job of identifying pitching.
I hope Astros players are foaming at the mouth at all this disrespect going on. I hope Bregman and co. reach out to Brady and channel this vitriol into pure dominance next season. If the 2019 WS loss wasn't enough bulletin board material, every media outlet and twitter account scapegoating us should do it. I hope we come in and win 110 games next year and blow everyone out of the water. We're not the only team looking for advantages. What we allegedly did was bad, but we're definitely not the only ones.
Yes the Astros met with the agent for Zach Wheeler. They tried to trade for him at the deadline and still have interest. They will pay more than most fans think but it all comes down to whether someone severely overpays. Also conflicting reports on Cole........ there were reports that Cole could go into January and not be signed. Boras however recently has said it could be a very quick negotiation and signing.
Crane said as much when asked about it after Ryan said he was done. Crane has been very straight forward about things since he bought the team.
They won't. We were begging them to go out and play with chips on their shoulders after embarrassing losses in these past playoffs, and they just kind of rolled out there with their usual moderate intensity and happy-go-lucky team attitude all the way through Game 7. Forget this "scandal." Losing all their WS games at home after being the best team in the majors ought to provoke enough self-anger to power a couple more titles. Let the humiliation build actual humility. They should go burn a "dynasty" effigy in center field next to Beltran's glove to rid themselves of the notion that that was ever a given. Pin Correa's eyes open Clockwork Orange style while doing that. And put up posters of the Nats celebrating at MMP in everyone's locker, to be taken down only when it's the Astros themselves out there doing it. Oh, and, if you want to remember all the outside people trying to take down the team off the baseball field, well, then just add that on top. Hit the ball 435 ft instead of the 425 ft your own self-determination gave you.
Didn't Patriots fans call their season after deflate gate their F-U tour? They won a SB that season BTW.
Odorizzi surprises me. Figured several teams would be willing to guarantee him $50M+. Abreu is smart for accepting his QO. Will Smith setting the market for relievers. That’s a fair deal and if Houstons payroll situation wasn’t so strained I wouldn’t mind him in on that deal. Pomeranz is a guy that seems like a great fit for the a Astros; he can be given a chance to beat out Urquidy/etc for SP5, or stick in the pen.
Spiteful Tiny Peen Drama Queen Mediot #1: Evan Drellich Spiteful Tiny Peen Drama Queen Mediot #2: Evan Grant
Am i the only one in this thread that watches Altuve walk off in game 6 daily as the only way to cope this off season? Losing the world series while we were that close and then with all these allegations is really damping the mood this off season. Anyone else not even following baseball related news? This has to be the worst off season since 2015. From being 9 outs to being considered a dynasty to this cheating bullshit. This sucks.
And to think people used to hate Crane. He's been very open and honest. He's also done everything he said he would do back in the dark days.
No there were people that hated Crane. There were fans that didn’t think he should have been allowed to buy the team because of a single lawsuit many years ago. Some fans hated his rebuild plan, some hated him for the league change and some felt he didn’t have the finances to buy the team.
I guess we all remember things a bit differently. Sure, there were a few haters, but I wouldn't characterize the general consensus as that.
