I love the guy and know he is a good player historically but watching him swing at a slider away and whiffing has almost become equivalent to watching an elbow bank jumper from Westbrook when he was on the Rockets...almost. It is one of those things I just can close my eyes and predict the outcome.
he doesn't really replacement diaz as a utility player unless he can play OF, which he can't/hasn't. He's an IF
After last nights absolute pitching marvel, I hope JV is inspired enough to go out there and just burn them. It is clear that the Phillies don’t want fastballs; they want breaking balls. The Perez guy from MLB Network made a great point: he said that in Game 1, JV was pitching just like Javier was, killing them with well-placed fastballs. Then he decided to start tossing breaking balls, and got his bell rung. Once he tried to go back to the fastball, his mechanics were off. At this point JV is due. My hope is that he pulls a David Price and pitches a gem tonight. David Price was also considered a guy who could not win in the playoffs, but then he pitched a gem in Game 5 of the 2018 WS against the Dodgers. Hope history repeats itself.
Wanted to a deeper dive into Verlander as a World Series choker narrative: 2006: 2G, 0-2, 11.0IP, 12SO, 5.73ERA, 1QS. Got lit up in the first game but was pretty good in the second, 1ER but 2 unearned runs and the Tigers lost 4-2 2012: 1G, 0-1, 4.0IP, 4SO, 11.25ERA. No analysis needed, he stunk it up and the Tigers got swept. 2017: 2G, 0-1, 12.0IP, 14SO, 3.75ERA, 2QS. Bats were silent in his first game, but came back to win in extras. Second game, bats silent again and gave up 3 runs late. 2019: 2G, 0-2, 11.0IP, 9SO, 5.73ERA Again, bats went silent but kept the game tied 2-2 until the 7th when the Nats went ham and won 12-3. Second game, gave up 3 runs and the bullpen imploded, bats silent again in a 7-2 loss. A case can be made if he was his usual otherworldly dominant self, these games could have been wins. Certainly can't say he didn't do enough to win though 2022: Everyone knows that he should have been pulled after his 4th inning meltdown, but hard to ignore his 3 perfect innings up to that point. No excuses though, he should have been able to hold it together for 5 innings and that win Dusty was pushing so hard to get him. Generally, Verlander has been the victim of circumstance with the occasional blow-up. He hasn't been unhittable like he has been in the regular season and earlier playoff rounds, which is why this narrative persists. One dominant start would go a long way to quiet this narrative and I think he gets it today.
Geesh, these media pinheads going on and on and on about this combined no hitter wasn’t that special (I agree) blah blah blah, the “special” part wasn’t the no no it was this team coming back from a disaster game 3, scoring runs and shutting PHI down on the BIGGEST stage and that’s the story they don’t want to tell because they wanted us dead.
There's nothing special about winning a game after losing a game, even if you lose it badly. It's one game. Losses happen. Wins often happen after them. Astros came back after heartbreak in Game 1. Philly came back after being dominated in game 2.
If front office likes him, then put him at 1st as yulis replacement. He can learn the position. Yuli did
Feels nice to see Hensley in instead of auto-out Mancini/Diaz. Gives you some hope for that position.
that's possible. but based on the way Yuli is ending the year, is the FO anxious to just move away from Yuli. I would say no. i wouldn't blame them. He has looked great at the plate since the post season started
Yeah but seeing his was 0-9 in World series game was a bit shocking for me when I saw the graph and I knew it was bad but it was still shocking to see. That's legacy tainting for sure and Verlander wants to talked about with the all-time greats if not the greatest, and you can't have an o-fer in WS wins especially when he was staked to a 5 run lead in his latest outing. Especially with the money he wants, we have way too much depth for just a great regular season pitcher.
The fact that he is not as dominate tarnishes him from being considered amongst the all-time greats, which is the way he wants to be judged. Him giving up leads late also tarnishes the legacy, and at this point its not exactly a small sample size.
