I was already cussing before Pujols approached the plate. You don't let Eickstein and Edmonds get on base. With Edmonds I would have made him hit the ball out before I gave Pujols the chance. The Astros played with fire and got burned last night. All can be forgiven if they win one of the next two. It hurts, but I am hoping for a remedy later this week.
Wow, what a night. I have never been so deflated watching a game as I was last night. See ya`ll Wed night
I feel the exact same way. I was in a bad mood the rest of the night and had nightmares in my sleep, seriously. It is hard to believe that one slider that didn't have enough movement on it to the wrong person and that is the game. Of course Pujols did that stare at the ball with a cocky swagger before going around the bases again, and I can't help but have some real animosity towards him. I'm glad that Oswald is next up on the mound for us. He seems like the person who will be least in a mental slump for our team. I know that I am in a mental slump now, and have very little energy. I have to conciously tell myself to focus on the tasks at hand that I need to do, otherwise I would be depressed all day.
It didn't help last night when Pujols hit the damn ball out of the stadium that there were ****ing Rangers fans cheering. Wanted to pound my beer bottle into their skull!
One thing I will say about the Astros is that they lost a lot during the regular season and kept coming back. They won the wild card after losing so much. People wrote them off during the season, people wrote them off before the playoffs. So far they have always come back. They definitely capable of handling losses and coming back to make the best of it. The team is probably more capable than the fans are. I'm not saying I feel like the Astros are going to lose, but I do feel drained, and like all my energy has been spent, and a little depressed. So the team needs to feel better than I do, because that isn't the way to go into the next game.
I haven't heard anyone talk about this yet. On Ecksteins's single, was was Ensburg doing? Was he up playing the bunt? He looked way out of position to me.
Yeah, that would be #4 on my list. When I think of the Rockets I mostly have good memories so that one doesn't effect me as much.
That's one I didn't understand either. I thought Edmunds should have taken the hit by pitch in the 1st place. We get a reprive on that one, and we still manage to put him on w/o a basehit. There was no excuse for not putting strikes right down the middle on a 3-1 or even 3-2 count to Edmunds with Pujols as the winning run on deck. The Eickstein seeing eye single happens, Pujols HRs happen, walking the guy before Pujols should NEVER happen. As a aside, I kinda feel Ausmus hasn't shown much leadership when the other team is batting. His O has been excellent, but usually it is the other way around. Yeah Lidge melted down, but you would think a vet catcher would have seen some signs and tried something different in approach. Should have settled Lidge down and made him throw easier pitches to Edmunds. He also hasn't been working with pitchers to hold runners on. IMO he needs to take more control defensively overall.
Despite all this ridiculous second guessing, after careful thought, I think that all the right moves were made. At least in the sense that everyone would have equally crucified Lidge and Garner if they had made different decisions. Now firstly, on Eckstein's hit, we all agree, no one's at fault. Just a gutsy clutch batting performance on his part. So now we have 2 outs, man on first with only a 2-run lead. Now with Edmonds at bat he represents the tying run but with obvious HR power, especially considering how easy it is to get those cheap "fly ball" HR in this park on the left side. So Lidge decided to pitch around and unfortunately Edmonds didn't bite. Everyone is saying how that's the wrong decision and Lidge should have challenged him but that might have ended in Edmonds tying the game. How people forget about the heroics of Edmonds last year. Then who knows what happens after that. So I think pitching around to Edmonds was the RIGHT CALL! Okay, so Edmonds is on with a walk. Now all of you 20/20 hindsight people say you should intentionally walk Puhjols. But that's just stupid cause that loads the bases. And with bases loaded, now you're forcing yourself to be perfect cause you can't walk the batter and any hit will tie the game. Anyway, even with Puhjols, the odds are still in in your favor as no batters bat better than .500 and with Lidge the oddds are well in your favor! Funny how everyone is saying to go after Edmonds and in the same breath saying inconsistently to you should walk Puhjols! I bet if the bases were loaded and it all fell apart because Lidge is forced to be perfect, everyone would have been screaming to challenge Puhjols and let him beat you!
Okay. Yeah. I think you're wrong. The alternative of pitching to Edmonds is pitching to Pujols. Given a choice of the two, the logical choice is to pitch to Edmonds. I think you're wrong again. You're so busy try to prevent a tie, that you risked the HR. You'll risk loss to prevent a tie? Bad idea. Now, if Pujols homered, you'd lose the game. If you walk Pujols and Sanders homered, you'd lose the game. But which is more likely: Pujols or Sanders hitting a HR? Pujols. And let's say you load the bases with Pujols. Even if Sanders hits a double, the game is only tied. The Cards could only win if Sanders hit a triple or a HR. Nope. You're wrong. It was stupid for the Astros to pitch to Pujols.
Yes you would not intentionally walk Pujols to load the bases. But you do intentionally walk him if Edmunds got the tying home run or if he got a double. The key was not giving the best hitter in the national league the chance to beat you. Take your chance Edmunds hits a gopher ball out of the park to tie you before potentially giving in to Pujols. Exactly, pitch to Edumnds (a good but still lesser hitter) to potentially tie the game or Pujols where you can lose the game. Even if Edmunds Pujolses the ball, then you pitch around Pujols, strike out Sanders on sliders, and try to win in the bottom of the ninth. At worst you are tied then and St L closer has already pitched 2 innings. At first I thought intentionally walking Pujols was a bad idea once they had 1st and 2nd. But I forgot it was Sanders rather than to me the more difficult out in Walker. Actually it was a pretty close call--Sanders with the bases loaded versus Pujols with 1st and 2nd. Pitching to Edmunds was not such a difficult call. They were pitching to him I believe. Lidge and Ausmus just got too cute, particularly with 3 balls.
There is simply no logical reason to walk Pujols at that time. You don't walk the potential tying run to second base with 2 out where a SINGLE (not a double) will certainly tie the game. Period, even if it's Babe Ruth at the plate and a minor leaguer on deck. I agree with people who said they should have pitched to Edmond. Also, there was no reason to throw a slider close to the plate to Eckstein at count 1-2. He looked three straight fastballs, and they were trying to be cute. Just blew him away with another high fastball or a slider that bounces or slides 2 feet outside.
