It worked out but Espada put himself in a risky spot only using Okert for one out. Pearson and Blubaugh were likely unavailable with recent heavy workloads. I'm pretty sure Ullola was the only option left after De Los Santos.
We can’t get it through our heads because it is stupid. It is a remnant of the old extra innings policy. Now the math is completely different - most games end in the 10th, and it is MUCH harder to have a clean 10 than 9. “But people do it” is not an argument.
We lose this game is we didn’t send Hader out there in the 9th. Generally, I agree with what you’re saying, but we had Yordan/Paredes/Walker up in the 10th. You’ve got to ensure you give them a shot.
One reason I can see is the guy on 2nd to leadoff the inning. Closers are used to coming into a clean inning and not immediately pitch from the stretch.
A tie game in the bottom 9th is guaranteed to be a high leverage, zero room for scoring error inning. As today showed, the bottom of the 10th may not be. If you still have another great arm available, maybe you can save Hader for the K option in the 10th....but we did not.
There needs to be more seasons worth of sample sizes… but road teams are still seeing more benefit of closers in the 9th vs. closers beyond. My guess is that the road teams typically win the extra inning games when they score more than the token ghost-runner run. So the math says (presuming the closer was used in the tie game 9th) you now get to bring your non-closer in for a 2+ run lead (with a man on 2nd), vs. bringing that same pitcher in with a tie game and nobody on (and any run wins the game). The Astros better record in extras this year does reflect their ability to score more than 1 run as the road team (although they have at least one win with the only 1 run scored this year).
Not many guys with options on the roster. Blubaugh and Ullola who just got here. I guess releasing De Los Santos or Abreu is another option, but I get the team not wanting to give up on them.
I would gamble on not losing DLS since he's been really bad lately and Dana picked DLS up after he had been released.
Not really true. The old extra innings policy was that you use your closer in a tie game in the 9th at home (since there won't be a save opportunity in extras) but not on the road. The new math IS completely different - but for the opposite reason of what you're thinking. Extra innings are more of a crapshoot in general with the ghost runner, so I think the idea is that you use your best pitcher when the least amount of luck is involved. Hader is less likely to give up a legitimate run in the 9th than a fluke run in the 10th.
Their pitching finally got healthy and is going to get even healthier. Now they need to find another bat.
Extras in this era is far more about offensive execution than a unified pitching strategy… ideally you just have relief pitchers who can strike out a ton, then it doesn’t matter who’s on base. Again, the road team has to have a real crooked number inning out of the gates. No playing for 1 run. No automatic bunting (even with 1st/2nd nobody out unless you’re really at the bottom of the lineup).
You used the best pitcher when the game is on the line, period. There isn't going to be extra innings if the home team can walk it off.
That may be, but how many times have you seen Hader come in with runners already on base? If that's his normal routine to enter a ballgame then changing that could spell unsatisfying results.
