And yet in that very same series, less than 1 week later, he throws 6 innings of no-hit shutout baseball in a clinching game. People need to get a little less reactionary on these small sample size playoff appearances. Same thing with Framber. Garcia could start... but he could also relieve. As is likely true with any of their starting pitchers. Its a great weapon to have versatile starting pitching depth in the post season. Its also why its exceedingly dumb whenever somebody says we have "too much starting pitching" and wants to trade or let go of one of them. This team is where they are right now, both regular season and playoffs wise, because of their pitching depth... and they'll continue to have success with that presuming health stays somewhat stable.
Most people here wouldn't have guessed that Abreu would be tied for the most often high leverage arm used out of the pen (with Montero), but here we are. He's basically supplanted Stanek and I don't think that came from Dusty.
As in any profit-making business, or life in general for that matter, just because they’ve always been doing it doesn’t always mean it’s the best thing to do.
Yea, Luis Garcia is fine pitcher who has pitched many fine games. Duh. That doesn't detract from the absolutely miserable (and expensive) experience 40,000 people had last year in the ALCS thanks to his pitching. Let the people who actually showed up, paid for it and suffered through it have a swipe at him without getting all momma bear about it.
I was at both game 2 and 6... and the latter was a much better experience and you get to celebrate a pennant winning performance afterwards. Funny how I remember the game 6 performance much better than the game 2 performance. I guess I'm not being sensitive enough...
Or can just simply look at his performance in series clinching opportunity games... maybe that's the secret. Obviously he's never allowed a run in his entire career in those sorts of games, so why aren't the smart anlaytic people exploiting that and making sure he lines up to start or relieve every series clinching game?!?!
They've been doing this TV-deal/for-profit ad revenue stuff for quite some time... and yet they still choose to stagger the games. The NFL also chooses to stagger their playoff games. Maybe, just maybe, they all prefer this to be how it is in a sport where they do play everyday (which is why the NBA doesn't have to do it). We're also in an era where everybody literally walks around with a TV in their pocket now.
Two thigs I am hoping for in the AL Championship Series. 1) The Astros advance 2) I never have to see or hear that stupid Christie McVie, "I want to be with you everywhere" commercial ever again. OWWWWWWW WAAAAAAA.
What are your talking about? When did Odorizzi become Garcia? Odorizzi allowed 2 of the 3 runners in the 2nd inning and gave up the grand slam.
Giving up 2 grand slams in the first two innings is pretty remarkable and a lot more memorable then a quality start, which is fairly ordinary.
Ok, he gave up one grand slam in the top of the 1st, ended up being responsible for 5 runs, recording three outs and forcing Odorizzi into the game. Whether it was one grand slam or two kind of belies the point, it was a horrific experience as fan, being down 8-0 after two and the game taking forever. You remember those, they are very rare. Quality starts are very common. They are far less memorable.
Because I remember being there, losing 8-0 in the second, giving up two grand slams, Garcia starting and I guess I remember Garcia being the one responsible? What's your deal?
