And I chuckle at you and your ilk's 1st inning predictions of #NotOurYear and #SeasonOver in a game we go on to win, because I like when the Astros win - shutting up any and all haters, including those who are inexplicably "fans" of the team. Go 'Stros. Hail Satan.
Maybe you should just worry about you then. Seems to frustrate you that you can’t control others. I mean, you actually think there are haters here? Like hate the Astros? You think you are actually sticking it to Astro fans when we win? Do you just need a war? You aren’t a better fan than anyone else, regardless of what you like to think. Very strange that you consider Astro fans as the enemy unless they are like you. Now that is narcissism. Wow. Relax. Don’t take everything so harshly (and incorrectly).
For the Op, nothing but good vibes! https://open.spotify.com/episode/4kI7sG1tcapSwq8tCArlSc?si=I4jWmUejTpOuoHCfC7-kQw
You guys... You lose something to gripe and complain about (DUSTY IS COSTING US THE DIVISION!!!) and just move to the next thing. So, now it's that they're not the #1 seed? OK... The Astros are 45-27 on the road. They were 5-1 on the road in last year's postseason, including clinching in Seattle & NY. Sure, I'd rather have HFA than not have it but... It is not going to make any difference with this team, and we've seen that play out repeatedly during this era. Plus, they are an untested, young Orioles team losing an ALDS away from having it. Also, they are *nine* games behind Baltimore. Whatever energy you want to direct at Baker for sabotaging the season, no manager is worth nine games, + or -.
If you asked me to make their line-up, it would absolutely include Diaz and Chas most days. But I also fully recognize I'm not in the clubhouse. I really don't know the dynamics. With Maldonado, obviously, the pitchers love him. I'm not sure why everyone just unilaterally dismisses that, as if Justin Fwording Verlander doesn't know what he's talking about. Chas I full-on do not get. Maybe they're not happy with his CF defense enough that they think he can only play LF, and LF is now very crowded? I don't know. But, here's the thing... Dubon went 6/15 in the Rangers series. He hit 2 HRs and scored 4 Rs. The team scored 39 runs. What are we complaining about?... I 100% would've started Chas all 3 games (I say that w/o doing *any* deeper look at match-ups, etc.) - but... it's *really* hard to complain about the results. Dubon was *huge* in the series (made a really nice catch in game 1, too). It just feels like everyone digs in and gripes and complains, with results almost not really mattering. You're so fatalistic! They are *NOT* one three-game losing streak away from missing the playoffs. Know how i know? They just had one and, three games later, they're in first place by themselves! Good lord! It really feels like results almost don't matter. In terms of expectations, they are underperforming preseason expectations because of injuries. Full stop. It's not because of any managerial malfeasance. You can quibble here and there with managerial decisions (and no one is ever going to give him *any* credit when they win, btw - so it always, to you, feels unbalanced) - but managers are not worth 8-10 games/year. The Astros are -2 off their Pythagorean. If you want to put those two games on Dusty Baker and his wonky line-ups, OK. And at the end of the season, those two games might be critical. Or.... we're seeing Texas regress; Seattle was never going to maintain a 130-win pace, or whatever they were in July... Their two division opponents have each been on historic streaks this year. And neither could pull away from the Astros, who just keep chugging along, never going away - and, here we are: they are perfectly positioned for the stretch run, with their line-up fully healthy. And I'm sure all of it is 100% in spite of Dusty Baker, who's won, like, 4 million regular season games, all of which he was riding shotgun.
You guys really are babies... Corey Julks has started two games since August 1. He had 16 plate appearances in August. His last three apperances - all more than a week ago - were late inning mop-ups in games the team won 9-2, 17-4 & 13-4. Why in the double-****-hockey-sticks are we talking about Corey ****ing Julks??? He started SIXTY games because Chas and Alvarez both missed ~ six weeks of the season; Chas was virtually unplayable when he returned for nearly a month; and they expected Brantley to be back in May and when his injury lingered, they didn't have a plan B. And! They are 48-29 in games Julks started this year. That's a 101-win pace. I'm baffled what the argument even is? We're entering LOUD NOISES territory here. You want SOMETHING to grip and complain about.
When and where did I say that? But read through any/every Baker thread, and it's rooted in all the things he hasn't yet cost us. We're in first place. Our playoff odds are well above 90%. We are likely to be the #2 seed. The anti-Baker threads are not reflective of that reality in any way, shape or form.
You know..:I try to stay even keel with things here because I prefer to get along with everyone and have discussions where there is give and take. But sometimes, sometimes… We all hate that Chas isn’t playing. Dusty clearly doesn’t care for him. We all hate Maldy playing over Yanier as much as he is. We all hate Yanier not getting enough at bats. It just gets so F’ing stale hearing your s*** every day. Yet, you’re still entitled to it so I try to stay low. So @MadMax created this thread trying to be cool and just saying his peace, and some of you crap on him for his side of things. Just as you all feel like you can exhaust the Dusty ish on a minute by minute basis. For as much as I’m tired of it, you’re still entitled and I’m cool with it. So, for those of you that are crapping all over @MadMax (and there are many of you I like that are doing it) it’s not personal but F U. he’s entitled too.
Entitled to what? Something different than the rest of us? He spoke , we spoke. He got upset and ran off. Nobody “crapped” on him. He was trying to tell people how he wanted them to fan. We were telling him no thanks we will be ourselves. Nobody crapped on anyone. This is a baseball fan forum. This is not the hallmark channel. Nobody did anything wrong to that guy. People say way meaner stuff to me on a daily basis here. Why aren't you rushing in to defend me?
We all want the same things but when you constantly cry you just sound like whiny pu*****. Yes you’re allowed to be whiny pu*****. Sheesh.
You insinuated it You can take the current roster and put whatever players you want in, and in whatever lineup (now obviously would have to put players in positions they actually play) and in any individual game have a chance to win. Heck, you can even have a huge three game series just like we just did without playing your best lineup available But, over the course of a long season, playing your best lineup less than 10% of the time is going to cost you some games. How many? Impossible to put an exact number on it, but there is no doubt that playing less than your best over 120+ games isn't going to give you the best record possible over those games. So right now we have a 1 game lead in the division. Maybe playing Chas as a full time guy only give us 3 more wins? That would be a 4 game lead and a lot better situation People want to call out the "dusty haters" after the incredible butt whoopin we just put on Arlington Easy to forget just 72 hours ago we were coming off a sweep at the hands of the Yanks where Chas got 3 plate appearances. Chas, you know, the guy who leads the team in OPS at home, the guy who was pulled for Singleton in a huge game situation after which Dusty said the game was already lost That one game lead also is to a team that has the tiebreaker over us and there are no more 1 game playoffs for any of those, if we tie seattle we lose the division. The past 3 nights have been fun, awesome....every game still matters