Every pitcher who ever played in the playoffs had a first time. Sometimes it goes well and sometimes not. The odds are with not because they are pitching against PLAYOFF TEAMS. But who wants to make Smith the closer because he was good in 2021? Right now he makes the roster because he's the only lefty.
It depends. But not likely because he is normally effective at getting the strikeout. But if he is uncharacteristically wild all of the sudden and has loaded the bases with HBP (hard to have 14 outs in 60 pitches and have the bases loaded), then yes. If they are loaded due to errors, then no.
2 singles and a walk. Gave up a run in the first on a single, SB, single and SF. Gave up a run in the 3rd on a triple and SF.
I'd probably stick with him, but it's not a no brainer. I'd have to think he had his command from the pitch count. But it would not be vintage JV with 5 hits in the game already. And despite saying he was healthy in that situation, I would suspect something was wrong.
By the way, I missed your post in the game thread where you said Urguidy should be taken out after the triple.
You don't even need to be a Dusty-apologist to see why some of these moves are made/not made. Pulling your starting pitcher in the 3rd inning/no outs: your pen then has to throw 7 IP. Just a completely unnecessary thing to do. Just keep Quidy in, hope he settles down and/or hope he can soak up some innings and maybe the offense gets you back in the game. If not he takes the loss. The key thing is: if he takes the loss, it's no big deal because its the regular season and literally nothing was on the line this game. There was no reason to have such an aggressive strategy of pulling the starter in the 3rd inning. He went on to get 12 more outs, saving the pen 4 innings. Did he give up more runs? Yes, but again... who cares. The Astros pen has been SO good in large part because they haven't been overworked (and definitely not gratuitously overworked). This game was to save the pen for future games. You know who implemented that exact strategy, only successfully? The A's in the exact same game. Irvin game up 4 runs early and they left him in so as to not burn their bullpen. Their offense rallied, he settled down, and they ended up winning. That is a perfectly valid strategy in baseball. If the Astros were in a playoff chase and something were on the line, things would be different. But this was a meaningless game and Dusty knew it.
Re: bringing in Garcia in the 3rd with no outs, man on 3rd. - that's not tag team pitching. that's asking Garcia to warm up on short notice, put out a fire, and then throw bulk innings. That's a recipe for failure. Tag team pitching is the second guy knowing when/which innings he's going to pitch, having time to warm up appropriately, and coming into a clean inning.
These last few weeks are an audition for the 4th starter spot and possibly 5th starter if the ALCS goes 7. You do not pull Urquidy in the 3rd or 5th innings. We needed to see how he'd do and he failed but that's good information to have to push him closer to not being one of those final starters. These last few weeks are like exhibition games. Care more about seeing individual performances of some key players rather than what the final score is.
If this pushed Urquidy out of the mix, then that makes sense But Dusty was already making excuses that he should still be the 4th starter in the playoffs. So it doesn't make any more sense than relegating Javier to the bench just because he's a team player and started on the bench. To me, McCullers and Javier are too close to call as Number 3.
https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/jose-urquidy-struggles-again-in-loss-to-athletics Alleged Baker amd Urquidy quotes from MLB.com. Almost believable.
After you referring to this? Baker will continue to evaluate the pitchers in the final weeks of the regular season, but one thing to note: He has not lost faith in Urquidy. “Guys go through these ups and downs,” Baker said. “I have full confidence in Urquidy. You don’t lose confidence in a guy because of a couple of rough outings.” If so, what do you expect any manager to say? If not, then what are your referring to?
Agree with Baker, Urquidy has time to right the ship. He would be my first choice as number 4. Love the idea of Javier coming out of pen, he is the one with most experience in that roll. Garcia or Brown as number two option... unless all 7 starters make the playoffs?
Hate the idea of Javier being relegated to the bench because you want to start inferior starters. He is arguably the #3 Starter by production and his stint as a reliever almost always required a starters rest. He IS that good as a starter and NOT that good as a reliever.
Yordan last 6 games .546 BA 2.084 OPS (not a typo) 11 Runs 6 HRs 7 RBIs 4 BB, 2 Ks Only 2 Ks in 26 PA, a power hitter with Bregman plate discipline, yikes
