yeah - so is Argentina Chile and Uruguay and parts of Colombia. People sometimes forget Hispanic is a cultural moniker ie “derived from spain” and basically just means having a Spanish last name - nothing to do with race . People from Brazil are mostly Portuguese derived and thus aren’t Hispanic but are Lusitanic. Fun facts !
We haven’t played superb. Nowhere near our best baseball. Injuries. Guys on the way back. We’re 3 back with around 120 games left to go. I like our chances, and for most of my life as an Astros fan I’d kill to be in this spot long before I ever knew what it was like to watch my team win a WS. I'm just spit ballin here, but maybe let’s relax and enjoy it.
It is a win. Valdez is human, he was due for a tough inning. Amazingly he almost got out of it with one run. Bregman homered and Abreu had hits on pitches inside and outside. Baker went back to Montero and Stanek and it worked. It doesn’t feel like it, but we are 15-10 in our last 25 and have won 5 out of the last 6. I saw JP France in person and wasn’t terrible impressed, but he still battles and can touch 95-96 mph when he needs to. With our defense and pen, that is adequate. Right now the Astros only have 4 hitters that are league average or better this season - Alvarez and Tucker are well above average and Pena and McCormick are exactly league average. Obviously Altuve will likely make it 5 and most likely Bregman and Abreu will make it 7 - but even if both Bregman and Abreu get hot, the Astros are AGAIN a bat short. Brown is more likely to be aggressive and fill the hole at the deadline.
Obviously in-game strategy is just one component of being a manager. And while lineup variability can be frustrating at times… I also think any nutless monkey could pencil in the “best” same lineup game after game, and even those teams go through slumps or cold spells, but may be even more challenging to make adjustments if you don’t have some built-in flexibility in your armamentarium. But I do think you and others have been a little repetitive in the criticisms this year… so just seeing if anybody willing to give credit when they would have certainly dished out vitriol had any of these decisions back-fired (namely Stanek with a lead or Martinez in a tie game). And I fully admit I was dead scared about his track record that he runs his pitchers into the ground (both bullpen and starters), and he’s basically done anything but that.
I remember reading a story about a portugese man back in the 1910s who tried to gain entry into the American Hispanic Association or something like that, was rejected because he was Portugese, not spanish, then returned with a map of the roman empire that clearly showed both Portugal and Spain under the province of Hispania.
I found myself highly annoyed and negative about this game, but also very happy that we won. Baseball is weird. Great win fellas.
If Chaz goes back to being a part time player and Diaz continues to play infrequently I will keep complaining about it because it makes no sense. I hate his loyalty to Dubon, but with Altuve out and Hensley sucking he became the least bad option we had and I stopped complaining about him playing everyday. Once Altuve comes back, if Dubon is still taking significant AB's from superior OFer's I will complain about that too. You won't find a post of me complaining about his bullpen management because the choices usually make sense, even if they aren't always perfect and don't work out all the time. Corey Julks having twice the PA of Diaz and Dubon splitting time with Chaz last season, no real defense for that.
It is indeed repetitive… I would also fully prepare for a lot of guys to get days off… something he has done a lot less of this year because there hasn’t been much viable depth. Dubon/Hensley won’t be playing as much and likely not as high in the lineup, but I bet they’re still going to get in based on resting Bregman/Pena (guys who had no days off before the weekend)… and giving Altuve DH days… and being defensive replacements. The playing time for Diaz should increase organically… but pitching coaches and staff input still plays a role there. He’s also still letting Abreu get over whatever he’s going through, but I doubt he continues to pencil him in everyday if his power is still absent by the end of this month.
Which France game did you watch in person? The last one in Chicago? It's interesting bc your assessment sounds more like Brandon Bielak rn than anyone else, aside from the 95-96 dick. I was extremely high on Abreu heading into the season, but rn I just don't see an avenue to him getting back to respectability. Even tonight, it's unimpressive and he was extremely lucky on the double. That being said, I've seen crazier things. Jake Meyers not hitting like a paper bag is one of the wildest turnarounds so if that can unlock than anything is possible. Any names or positions you think Brown would target to upgrade?
Got it, if a coach/manager keeps doing something you don't like you just stop talking about it and accept it. Dusty knows no wrong
I imagine Chaz will continue to get plenty of ABs because Brantley isn't coming back... for awhile... maybe... if... at all. I completely understand putting Meyers in center over Chaz, but Fizz should be getting more playing time in left because he is pretty damn solid defensively. Meyers is just better when he's not terrified of walls, which has seemed to subside since about 3 weeks into the season. Diaz, I mean, get used to it I guess. He absolutely should be the everyday catcher, at worst 50-50 split with Maldonado, but unfortunately it's gonna play out this way until Dusty retires, so hopefully we can win another and he can ride off into the sunset. Don't get me wrong, it infuriates me as well.
I've been trying to settle into to this mindset, and just when I think I'm in a good place mentally Rafael Montero enters a tie game...
Not saying that at all… you’re better than that. I don’t see him playing “favorites” as much as adjusting based on performance or injury. He had elevated Chas to batting leadoff and getting more and more playing time over Meyers (including against righties) before he got hurt. Then Meyers got his opportunity and capitalized. He played Hensley a fair amount of games/starts and was using him as the first PH option off the bench. Hensley just hasn’t had the same plate awareness that he did in a brief time last year… and thus guys like Julks are getting more looks. He put Dubon in the leadoff after trying Pena then Chas… Dubon shouldn’t be there at any level when Altuve comes back, but he hasn’t exactly “failed” moreso than anybody else who got that opportunity. Unless he truly decides to let Tucker bat leadoff, there really isn’t a clear-cut other option that is guaranteed to have major success till Altuve is back. As far as Diaz goes, a lot will depend on whether or not Abreu is truly done. Despite all the continued complaining of Maldando starting, they did have the #2 pitching staff (closing in on #1 Rays with all their injuries) prior to tonight’s game.
So why isn't Diaz? From the outset he gave Julks regular starts, including at DH before he finally broke through and had a couple of good games. In fact he gave everybody regular duty except for him and the catcher they kept on the roster solely for the purpose of keeping Diaz flexible. Julks has been pretty bad for a while, yet he continues to get regular AB's over Diaz. Hensley too gets more looks, but as the backup infielder he has to play some. The pitching staff hasn't exactly struggled when Diaz is behind the plate. Chaz played well all of last season, and in the playoffs, and then he sat the first 2 games of this season. True he did finally appear to be giving him regular duty before he got hurt, but we'll see if that maintains when Altuve gets back and Dubon no longer has an everyday spot. Last season Dubon was basically splitting time with Chaz despite being consistently awful, and he was given CF priority. I'm sure the fact that he's known Dubon since he was a kid played no role in that.
