The Guardians need to sell, that team is trash but they are closer to the first place Twins than the Astros are to the Rangers, lol. The comedy AL central is a joke.
Lol I knew you would come fight against it Actually, I think there is a lot of logic behind it. Pena struggles with pitches out of the zone and especially breaking stuff. Batting 2nd pitchers aren't nearly as willing to pitch him there and say if I walk him I walk him. Yes, Yordan is out...but Personally I think it's a little different batting in front of Tucker as opposed to batting in front of Maldanado/Meyers/whoever else Johnnie has behind him. Obviously you don't think Tucker provides any protection so we will have to agree to disagree on that (and everything else lol cause you argue against everything I post) Yes, the "career" numbers say the playoff run was an outlier, sure. BUT...he was batting in the 2 hole where he had protection, and where he has an OPS of well over .800 in over 200 at bats in the regular season. So while his 1.000 OPS in the playoffs was better, it was certainly within the range of a hot streak for a guy with an OPS of over .800 Now PLEASE explain to me how i'm using similar logic to Dusty? I'm using actual performance numbers, you don't like them, but that's what i'm using. It's OBVIOUS that Dusty doesn't use any actual performance numbers with Maldanado, cause not only is he awful on offense the pitchers do better with Diaz. Hell is Dusty used the kind of logic i'm using Maldanado would play against LHP and Diaz against RHP, regardless of the SP for that night. Maldanado is actually usable on offense vs LHP and Diaz has struggled mightily against them, even in the minors. I know you only post to argue and it usually just makes me laugh, it's just who you are and that's cool. But trying to compare my logic to Dusty's is idiotic
The next six games after today we play the Rockies and A's and Rangers play Rays and Dodgers. I really hope we can make some ground there but ya know. We can't lose this game today.
This is the excuse for Maldy to be bad? Last year he was only bad with his bat. He was able to throw people put and catch fly ball in foul territory. This year, he can't do anything properly. We all knew his bat was going to be ass ala 2021 WS. But at least throw some people out and block some wild pitches, damn.
He's down to .238 now, but even worse is that he is .159 for July. I wonder why our batting coach can't get him to fix that problem you see.
And this is simply not true Yesterday was the first time he had batted 2nd since Yordan went out But earlier in the season when Yordan went out against Tampa and Philly, Pena batted 2nd with Tucker behind him He went 1-4 with a HR 2-4 with a 2B 2-4 1-4 with a HR Yordan came back the last game against Philly and Pena led off, then back down the lineup So his sample size batting 2nd with Tucker protecting him is extremely small, but 7-22 (including 1-6 last night) with two HR is pretty freaking outstanding
I don't think Altuve will be back by then. Good chance Yordan will though which makes a huge difference obviously Who knows with Framber. The way the Astros guard injury info Framber might have a mild calf strain or he might have torn it completely off the bone
Yeah, punish a rookie who has 15 at bats and limited field time for a mistake. Yeah, that is the way to build confidence.......dumbass.
My Dad, God rest his soul, would have said to Pena, "Get that bat off your shoulder." I can't help wondering why he hasn't been taught a better batting stance. Maybe it's as simple as that. Maybe not.
I agree with very little you say lol But you are 100% correct on this one. You don't bench guys for making a physical mistake, especially a guy like Kessinger who really doesn't have the talent to be playing there regularly anyway, so you are going to get those errors. We simply have no other choices right now
The underlying issue is that the Astros priority is not getting Pena the best hitting stats possible. It's winning games. Despite the playoffs last year, this team is better when 5+ hitters are actually better than him. We are not talking about Yordan here. Pena is a defensive player who has some hitting ability. The team should put Altuve, Abreu, Bregman, Yordan, Tucker, and Diaz in the lineup, and then put the other 3 players wherever is left. When Julks starts include him. These players are paid to hit first and catch the ball 2nd.
