what a difference jed and carlos have made to this lineup! imagine when springer comes back! springer altuve carrea comez jed tucker gattis marwin castro
he's been pretty darn solid since his return. credit to altuve too. seems like he gets piled on when he doesn't have a good game, and taken for granted when he has great ones, like he did tonight.
I still don't like that Gomez bunt. Hate giving up outs with RISP, especially when you have the meat of the order up. Trust one of your 2-3-4 guys to get a hit.
Great win. Hopefully sets a future precedence. Team is too good to be so awful on the road... and they were actually very good earlier this year. Beating Gray tomorrow could further ignite us.
I rewound the game and watched it again. Gomez didn't even look over to Pettis pre-pitch, I think he might have done it on his own... which makes me feel a little bit better about it (instead of it being a Hinch decision). Maybe Gomez thought he could get a hit out of it and just mis-executed.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We won on the road!!!!!!!!</p>— Dallas Keuchel (@kidkeuchy) <a href="https://twitter.com/kidkeuchy/status/629540539075932160">August 7, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> A's 8-20 v LHP this year. Keuchel threw a CG shutout v them earlier this year on the road. Let's keep the W train rolling on the road.
I like this lineup moving towards a division title Altuve 2B Gomez CF Correa SS Springer RF Lowrie 3B Gattis DH Tucker LF (Marisnick late game PR/Defense) Castro/Conger C Gonzalez 1B PH's: Rasmus (more of the RBI situation with say runner on third 1 out) Carter & Valbuena (more of the 2 outs down a run, looking for a HR)
This was a great win, not pretty, but could make a big difference for the Astros winning road games from now on as we had to fight at the end, and then back in extra innings. Lowrie again was very good with the bat. Now, would it be too difficult to play 1b for him? Only reason i say it is because Valbuena plays a very good defense out there. Nothing against Lowrie, is just that Valbuena is really playing the position GREAT. Also, Valbuena is starting to hit for average, last 2 weeks his average is .258, last month i believe is .248. . We need Lowries bat, but we enjoy Valbuena's defense, I think Lowrie has the ability to make that shift, well, usually if you can play 3b you can play 1b.
Actually, these are the numbers Last 30 games Average .267 with an OBP of .364 and slugging .429. The home runs have gone down, but average and OBP has gone up, plus very good defense, i would even say great defense. I like Valbuena for 450-500 at bats, i dont like him for 600 plus at bats.
If we beat Gray tonight, we sweep. Many could say, If we could not hit an below average pitcher last night, how can we beat this guy? Well, we need to get to the A's bullpen, meaning, take pitches. Plus, we have done ok against Number 1 starters this year. Also, we need a defensive lineup, meaning, go with Marisnick at LF and yes, i am going to be inconsistent here, but I would use Conger on that game. K is not dominating on the road, as he has a 3.66 ERA and a record of 3 and 5 (10 and 0 at home). It is going to be a good time for K to out duel Gray, and show he is a real number 1 starter on the road and carry this team on his shoulder, and proof to the team we can win games and series on the road. It is time to see K be the leader on the rotation and win this game ON THE ROAD. Is going to be difficult, but lets go for the sweep.
Last 7 games from Feldman are very good, a 2 and 1 record with a 3.74 ERA and a good whip of 1.29. Maybe more walks that he would like, but doing very good. This is important for 2 reasons, ONe, helps us win this year, second, if we re sign Kazmir, and i hope we do, then we have a lot of starters in 2016, and thats without even counting Appel, so a good second half by Feldman makes it possible to move him in the off season. Rotation next year would be: 1. K 2. Kazmir 3. McCullers 4. McHugh 5. Fiers Waiting VV and Appel, so we really need to trade Feldman, again, if we re sign Kazmir. Luthnow has a lot of options, is going to be an interesting off season, but for now, we are in a pennant race, and Feldman is pitching very good.
I disagree, in 2010 he was number 2 prospect of Brewers, and was not 1st because Alcides Escobar hit .304 in 125 at bats in the majors in 2009. He was the 16th pick in the first round in 2008. He was projected to become a Jeff Kent type of player. Now, is unfair to compare any past prospect with Correa because i think we are watching a future Hall of Famer. We can compare Correa to ARod when he began with the Mariners. Lawrie was more a type of prospect we could compare with Javier Baez than Carlos Correa. So i would say, Correa was great prospect, Lawrie was a very good prospect. Lawrie numbers are weak for a 3b. He was a much better prospect than his numbers in the majors, so i believe that he has been more of a disappointment so far in his career. This year he has 18 errors at 3b and 2 at 2b, ouch.
