Gomez is too good a player to continue struggling like he is. He's due to turn it around sometime in the near future.
When the Stros struggled to start the season I wasn't worried and even said that its a young team and once they gelled and started having fun that they would feed off of each other and they did that pretty much until Springer got hurt. Right now this team is pressing and is not having alot of fun or success but that all can change by getting Springer back and getting hot at the right time.
i swear longoria bats 1.0000 against us all the time. it feels that way. Throw at his head, seems to be the solution for everything.
It was inevitable that some team would over-commit to beating the shift (just like some teams have completely sold out on shifting for every single batter). Seems like the Rays are in that mold.
I agree on McCullers and VV. Their performance was important obviously, but just as important is the fact that they were a pretty big part of the chemistry of everything that was going on. Losing Springer, who in many ways is the heart and soul of our team even at such a young age, and then losing those two off of the club, can make a big difference in the chemistry of the team. Bottom line is, we still have a 2.5 game lead, and less than two weeks until the rosters expand and Lance and VV will certainly be back then.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If Rasmus doesn't swing at Ball 4, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> have 2 on and 0 out. Instead, strike 'em out/throw 'em out on the next pitch. Game of inches.</p>— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenDuBose/status/633802644281126912">August 19, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The ball he struck out on (and the one they hit and run on) was right down the middle... can't miss pitches like that.