As McTaggart notes, teams that go up 2-0 in a Best-of-Five seal the deal 88% of the time. Dusty Baker: I've been up 2-0 before. You got to put 'em away when you got a chance. It's not complete and it's not done. Dusty: Greinke is ailing some. He didn't say much about it, but it's been pretty evident the last three or four starts that he wasn't himself. Urquidy has been dealing, so it was kind of an easy choice. Luzardo pitched in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the White Sox and allowed 6H/3ER, 5K:0BB, 2HR in 3.1IP. Where's Mike Fiers? Not one of their four best starters, according to Susan Slusser - the A's beat writer. The Yankees struck out 18 times in a 9-inning game, a postseason record. That series is tied 1-1.
I have concerns too. After Urquidy we are basically out of starting pitchers for the rest of the series with Grienke now being hurt. At some point the depleted/inexperienced staff will catch up with you. Dusty is really going to have to manage his butt off if the series is extended.
Greinke is probably still going to pitch at some point this (or next) series... but expecting something in the 4-5 inning range, 6 max. Javier could likely go 2 innings today if needed. James hasn't pitched in awhile. Raley available and likely will see action today regardless. The Astros, even with Greinke's issue, are actually not that bad compared to all playoff teams in terms of available/viable starting pitching. The Padres are a mess. The Yankees used an opener last night.
Javier has pitched one inning. He can pitch tomorrow if needed. Luis Garcia is available as well. McCullers didn't last long in Game 1 and would start Game 5. That said, if Astros have a lead after the 6th inning today, I want to see Javier in the game tonight. edit: Plus what Nick said.
A huge lead for most of the game would be ideal so we can just take it easy with the bullpen. With the lack of depth there due to injuries we need to conserve as much as we can.
If the Astros get out to any sort of lead that has them pulling their starter, and given the state of the A's bullpen use the last 2 days, it would almost be inevitable that they'd have to pitch "you know who..."
It could... then again, not too different from stretches during the season where they have to play 7 in a row and manage starters/bullpen accordingly.
Relive yesterdays moments in a great edited short clip by the Astros Social Media to hype you up today.
At least on the AL side, the Rays just have the deepest pitching staff. They also have a very good offensive team that crushes lefties. As much as everyone is fearful of the Yankees' big names, I think the Rays have more paths to victory. So in addition to the revenge aspect, I think the Astros would just have an easier time scoring against the Yankees and their similarly shallow pitching staff with 2 great starters and about 3 or 4 good relievers. Rays are just scary deep.
"Those home runs shouldn't count since he was cheating." was one of the comments I read on the twitter stat post . Other than Altuve struggling in the post season but still contributing with the scoring walk vs the Twins and Game 1 of the Oakland this lineup is identical to the 2017 just replace Marwin with Brantley and add Tucker's rise to offset a struggling Altuve. Wish we still had Beltran to steal signs the traditional way nothing shady like iwatches of trashcans.
So root for the Yankees to win the series then for sure? At first I didn't want to face them but this sounds pretty logical and I would love to knock them out again.
