Jesus. Tucker struck out on an 84 mph fastball. I’m trying to stay positive, but this just isn’t a good baseball team right now.
This season reminds me of 2000 when the Astros first entered MMP. They were a good team but were too distracted esp since MMP was considered a super hitter friendly part. That team underperformed and didn't make the the playoffs even though the three previous years and the next one did.
Started outside. Stayed outside. If he swung, and did anything than foul it off... everyone would be ripping into him.
I HATE saying this and I NEVER thought I would say this but....it may be time for... What's the worse he could do?
cant be too mad at tucker for that last at bat. Guy starts him off off-speed. Throws another high strike with an off-speed . Gets a ridiculous strike 3 call. Now correa on the other hand had a much fairer opportunity at the plate , but maybe tucker had the advantage of being lefty. Had he seen more pitches i was confident he'd get a good swing on one
Down 0-2 I think you swing at that pitch... especially with how bad the umpiring has been this abbreviated season.
That team also had Scott Elarton as their ace, Biggio blew out his knee, Wagner hurt his elbow. Berkman did turn into an everyday player beast, so it wasn’t all bad.
Richard Hidalgo also had a great (one-hit wonder) year. Bagwell hit a career high 47 homers, and somehow was snubbed from the ASG. Reynolds somehow made it, though, despite it not even being a decent year for him.
The bullpen just couldn't get strike 3. Hunter went deep on a two-strike count. Yaz worked a walk in the ninth after working the count full and then Pence got a knock down 1-2. Just needed a couple more pitches that our guys just can't execute consistently. So frustrating.
Dusty Baker said Stubbs tried to steal on his own: “I talked to Stubbs after the game and asked him where he was going & he said the guy was slow to the plate and he thought he could steal third.’ I said ‘That’s a baserunning mistake.’ He was already in scoring position.” Dusty: "Boy, this is tough to take."
That ball measured about 5.5 inches from the plate. Tucker is barely batting 0.200 when he swings at pitches over the plate. Maybe, Gurriel makes contact regularly on pitches that outside the zone, but I would not want to see what happens if Tucker expands the strike zone by 5.5 inches in every direction on 2 strike counts.
