Stanek Also at the Straw ab, were 2 balls called a ball when it looked like both were in the strike zone?
Aside from the extra inning comeback against the Angels, this is the biggest win of the year. Coming back from three runs down with a poor performance from their best starter and their 1-3 hitters going a combined 0-13 and they still came back to win it. Instead of being back at .500, they jump the Mariners for second in the division and pull within 1.5 of Oakland. And Baker has taken a lot of crap in this forum (sometimes deservedly so), but he deserves some credit for this win. His bullpen choices all delivered with only one run given up on three hits over five innings, and his two pinch hit decisions (Diaz and Castro) both came up with huge at-bats and got RBI to tie and then take the lead. Solid managing tonight on his part.
Remember when people were debating getting Jason Castro and I mentioned that we needed a good, solid catcher who could pinch hit and win us a ball game? Well, okay, that's not strictly the truth . . .
It's not bad to be in 2nd, this year Olivia and Liam, baby names who had been coming in 2nd for years, finally overtook Emma and Noah. Which does beg the question, why don't the Astros have a Liam or Noah on the roster. and how do we get one who can play catcher.
Lol. But it's better than batting under 0.100. Update: I looked at both of their careers. Not much different sadly. Maldonado is a career .216 hitter, Castro the Astro is .230. Still, better though.
Astros win another 4 game series though. That's really encouraging. Hopefully they can go for the jugular today and sweep . Let's take power like Stalin!
I love that feeling when you go to bed and the team is losing and you chalk up an L in your head, then you wake up to see the good news.
Shout out to Brandon Bielak with his second pen saver of the season. He got off to the great start last season, but it was clearly built on a house of cards. He's doing a much better job of avoiding walks so far this year. If he keeps it up he could find himself back in the mix for starting opportunities as the grind starts to set in.
