I am yeah. We've given them life and some hope. Then again the playoffs are a **** show. We may win 8 to 1 today lol.
It was certainly a demoralizing loss, but baseball day to day is an extremely weird sport. I don't really blame Dusty, assuming Parades was unavailable, and Javier was being held back due to Greinkes uncertainty, all of the other available arms were time bombs. Some will say you push all the chips in on game 3 once you get that lead, but I understand their approach. We knew the squishy part of our pen was an issue.
Yes. Mainly because the starting rotation is so uncertain. And because the our pitchers have not yet built up the level of "trust", particularly in the playoffs, that we have previously witnessed. If our game 4 starter get blown up, then we end up with an 'anything can happen' rubber game.
Damnd if you do damnd if ya don't situation. I'm an optimist. Let's move forward with the best lineup in baseball and a tag team of arms that are rested.
Pitching is what it is, I don’t need to see James pitch ever again. Offense Doing it’s part time - time for everyone else to put on their big boy pants
The Oakland As are burning their bullpen way more than the Astros. Especially the First 2 Games. Their Starters are Struggling and being pulled quickly in the 2nd or 3rd inning. Enoli Paredes, Christian Javier, Ryan Pressley are the Main Part of the Bullpen.
Even excluding the Javier decision... trying to get 2 innings out of James, a guy who hadn't pitched in over 3 weeks, was a big gamble. Its even more egregious when you realize that he hadn't successfully pitched 2 innings (or more) since 8/2, his second start of the season. The last time he was asked to try to pitch more than one inning out of the bullpen was 9/17 against the Rangers, and even then he was taken out during the second inning as soon as he gave up a hit. Why they had some newfound confidence that he could get through a laboring situation, with the tying run at the plate, with all these factors above is truly baffling. Dusty has made this sort of mistake before in the playoffs. Trying to get just a little more out of a guy to boost confidence. Its backfired more often than its succeeded. Being more cautious with him in the regular season vs. the playoffs is almost malpractice.
Yes, but they have more to burn. The bullpen is their primary advantage over Houston, and unfortunately that finally showed up yesterday. Our starters need to go deep into games, because if it becomes a bullpen battle they’re much better equipped than we are to grind that out. Guys like Josh James can’t be relied upon under pressure. It’s a shame the young starters don’t have more support behind them, but it is what is I guess.
Yankees losing in the ALDS to a team with 1/4th the payroll would totally redeem 2020. Astros winning the ALDS at 60% strength would be hilarious. We're playing with house money boys, just enjoy the ride.
I knew going into this game that we could only win a blowout. Once James gave up that 2nd single, I'd have pulled him for Scrubb. Just knew James was going to give up a HR. It was so infuriating. I totally forgot Javier could have been available. Honestly probably would have trusted him with the final 4 innings (if he was up to it) and never put James in at all.
We will win today. That's my attitude when I play, that's my attitude when I'm watching in the stands. We have a solid team and can roll out some solid pitchers today to close this up. Playing in Dodger stadium in the afternoon is crazy though, hit a lazy fly ball just right and it lands in the bleachers. I like our chances today. Astros 6-4.
You go with a bullpen game like the Padres did to closeout the Cards in the 1st rd of the playoffs and the Rays have done the last 2 yrs. Now chances are this series is going to come down to a game 5 with LMCJ on the mound. How comfortable do you with this thought? I'm not comfortable with it at all. My philosophy is when you have a chance to win a playoff game you throw caution to the wind and go for the win. Worry about tomorrow tomorrow. This isn't a midseason game we're talking about here.
I'm nervous about this game but I like this attitude. For such a weird season and on top of that all of the Astros hate and talk about that the Stros have no joy and just want to get the season over with it's been a fun ride and it's not over yet! I'm predicting this game will be another slug fest as I don't think either staff is in good shape but given that they made Hendricks come out for a three inning save tomorrow I think that is a big advantage for us if it's close late. What I'm looking for is Altuve has been getting stronger each game and if continues that trend with Springer and Correa hitting like they did in the first two games we can take this.
Well, this is the situation I was worried about and why I was happy with a 2-0 lead, but not comfortable with the series. We are officially out of bullets when it comes to starting pitching, and we can't hide our bullpen holes anymore. This is where Dusty really earns his money and needs to manage his butt off. With Urquidy not lasting deep into the game yesterday, Dusty had to make some smart, risk averse decisions - I know his options are limited but man he made some questionable moves. If he doesn't get his instincts/mind right, we could be in some trouble.
If Verlander, Cole and Greinke weren't missing in action, I'd say a loss adds some character. As it stands, I'm nervous about losing the series now. Trusting the wrong people will always come back to bite you from Old School players to New School Fools, seems they all make that mistake of managing ahead when you can end it right there. Saw it with the Yanks, Hinch even the nerdier managers so I'm not going to put that much blame on Dusty and just blame human instinct. But after how he played the tandem game so well, I thought maybe there was a chance of never having to go to the untrustworthy part of the bullpen.
Not gonna lie I'm nervous about this game. I just feel like either our young staff is due to get lit up, or the bats go ice cold again. Greinke was a big loss and James giving up that 3 run bomb, man I just hope that didn't swing the series completely around.
