Tough watch losing without scoring. Could this team be totally mentally exhausted? I thought of this early in the season when they kept losing and allthough they spoke of confidence and we don't panic....it looked like there was no fight. Almost like can we have one season off. Wonder happened and they did claw "back" to 1st place but how much did it took out of this team with this depleted roster? Even when failing Altuve always has this almost childish confidence and swagger in him and it's great to watch. But yesterday he looked bit like he was pressing and maybe feeling if he does't win this himself no one will. Pena is puzzle to me. With how he is hitting now and to what pitches, he still look likes he goes to bat with no preparation or plan. Tired or something else? Does he think that he is fixed if pitcher makes a one mistake or does he need like 2 weeks off. He looks like he wants out of the box and off the field asap. If I looked right he is FA 2028 so there should be lot to prove still if one wants to make that 10 years in the league. The defense is't miracle level stuff. Tampa would be prob.trading him away first season he makes any money and hits a hot streak. I have been a supporting the idea lefty v LHP can only be learned by practice and exposure. Platooning a player and never giving a chance to be more is idiotic in my mind. But gotta say Singletons AB looked horrifying. The sliders were pretty much junior level (fingers on the side and no sharp break) and he totally opened hips and whole package on every swing. Team looks tired and gassed and everyone needs a week off. Fans too because this is a tough watch players sleepwalking and lacking confidence. Regular season ends next month and Tucker has no time table . Luckily AL West is crap and prob. Seattle will win it all horseshoe up their a**. Next year Angels and and year after that A's . Royal flush.
I think this was a 100 win team as originally constructed/projected. They lost Javier and Urquidy, which probably cost 2-3 wins. They lost Tucker for at least half the season, costing another 2-3 wins. Jose Abreu was not just below expectations, he was actively costing them games; on paper, it probably cost them 2-3 wins, but after factoring in the clubhouse impact, it was probably more than that. They lost Verlander for half the season, probably costing them 1-2 wins. Hader ran into bad luck and Montero fell apart, costing them on balance another 1-2 wins. Bregman had a major slump and is putting together a very pedestrian season, costing 1-2 wins so far against what he should have done. McCormick has sucked, costing 1-2 wins against his projection. They lost McCullers and Garcia for most of what they were planning on them for, with McCullers missing the entire season. That has probably cost them 1-2 wins so far and if Garcia doesn’t come back at all it’ll probably cost another win or two. Thats 11 to 19 wins to the downside. Sadly, the only significant changes to the upside have been Blanco, Arrighetti, and Tayler Scott, who’ve probably had an impact 2-3 wins above what would’ve been expected. They traded for Kikuchi who probably added a win on paper. So all in all thats between 8 and 15 wins they’ve lost net vs the projections before spring training. If they were a 100 win team before, they’re a 85 to 92 team now, and that’s if Tucker, Garcia, and Verlander come back, Bregman and McCormick start performing, and they don’t have any meaningful bad luck. It’s actually amazing that they’re still in the race. No team no matter how good can lose 2/3 of their opening day projected SP innings to injury and expect to be in the playoffs. If Houston ends up winning their division it’ll be a huge credit to Dana Brown and Joe Espada.
Espada has made (and continues to make) some bad managerial decisions. But nobody knows exactly how much freedom he has, or what specific player usage instructions he has been given. On the whole, the fact that THIS team, with all their injuries is still in the playoff hunt is a solid job. But I will say this team is at a crucial part of the season, they have been fighting w/ 1 hand for a couple of months now and nobody has returned from injury. They can only hold on that short handed for so long. Kikuchi was huge. Not just in his first start, but as a reinforcement. But he was not enough. Leon could be another boost but this team can't keep winning w/ 4 hitters against teams w/ 7 or 8
Injuries always happen. Odd stuff happens. This is a lot more than usual, but it would have been hard to win 100 with this roster with normal wear and tear.
Hold on ... need to get that full bong rip going ... OK. What we talking abut now? Grass versus AstroTurf? I think that I am all in on grass rn.
The Verlander, Valdez, McCormick, Bregman stuff was kind of par for the course for any team; guys are gonna slump and get banged up. And maybe even the Tucker injury. But losing Urquidy and Javier plus not getting Garcia and McCullers back was really not normal bad luck. And Jose Abreu dying was super bad luck. With Abreu posting a 750 ops and a healthy Javier all season I still think this team wouldve been in range of 95-105 wins.
The Astros are lucky that the AL West is trash this year. They get JV and Tucker back, and they should finish out strong in win the division. Then they just have to do what they have done the last 7 years and that is play well in the postseason.
The Astros lost a tight series to a team just as good as them. "Choke" is the most grossly overused word in sports.
I just want to put it out there that Chas has started to put it together. Slowly and still not to the level of past years, but it's there. Baby steps. ( OPS) July .547 Last 30 days .591 Last 2 weeks .748 I have hope. This team needs him. It needs every starter to hit .750 or better, except possibly Pena and Meyers who need to be .700.
I would agree. Up 3-2 going home. All the pressure of game 6 on the other team. Same as 2019. That simply can't happen.
If you take off your Homer glasses and look objectively, our lineup isn’t that scary or overly impressive. Let’s just take 3 stats: OPS, OBP, and BA The league AVERAGE for OPS is .712 The league AVERAGE for OBP is .313 The league AVERAGE for BA is .243 Singleton is below avg in every category. Meyers is below avg in every category. Mccormick is below avg in every category. Cabbage is below avg in every category. Dubon is below avg in every category except BA. Peña is around avg on OPS and OBP. Bregman is avg on all. Then of course you have the big 4. Altuve Yordan Tucker Diaz (kinda) And honestly we don’t even know if Tucker is even coming back… but for the sake of argument let’s just say he does. That means if we make the postseason you’re gonna roll out there a lineup with 4 below avg hitters on the regular. With that being the case the Astros are PRAYING and hoping that the big 4 will not only play to their full potential but also carry us the whole way. I haven’t even discussed pitching. Idk man, I love my ‘Stros but it’s just looking like an uphill battle.
Many of us have been screaming this for weeks if not months. No rose colored glasses around here. But that does not meen that's how it's going to stay and be in games 110-162 and into October (if they get there) Brown failed this team by not getting a bat or 2 but maybe bringing up Leon will end up bring equal to a guy like Winker/Arozerana. Brown also mentioned Whitcomb and/or Dezenzo maybe forcing their way onto this roster. Chas is finally starting to pick it up. We all understand how poor and shallow this lineup has been, but that does not mean tomorrow has to be that too. How's that for rose colored?
I think we lost more at the trade deadline than just a couple of rookies. We lost a couple of young spark plugs in the clubhouse. Without them this is a team of grumpy old men who needed that spark to keep grinding.
I agree about losing that in Joey. And I agree it is needed. I think Leon can add that. I think, in general, this team needs an injection of youthful exuberance. Bring in Whitcomb or Dezenzo for Aledmys Diaz for starters
