I'll be honest, I'm a little concerned that Morton will have some rust - he hasn't pitched much lately. He's also resilient, so my concerns are probably misplaced.
We got this; let's tie this bad boy up today, and then make it two in a row tomorrow night. I was hoping for 2 out of 3 at home, and that is still in play.
We need some serious Pina Power tonight. He is the key IMO. If he can make Sox pay for not pitching to Bregs then we'll be in good shape.
I wouldn't wait for that to happen. I'd move Bregman up to the 2 hole and let Altuve bat behind him. Bregman might actually see a pitch to hit that way.
Morton is significantly better with more rest. 1.85 ERA this year's with 6+ days of rest. 2.65 last year.
I'll defend Hinch using Osuna in that situation 7 days a week; it was the right call. He was facing Boston's 3-4-5 hitters: set the heart of their order down, keep it a one-run game and then turn it over to your 4-5-6 hitters in the 8th. Keuchel did not pitch well. He settled down and turned in a workman-like performance - but it was not reminiscent of Keuchel at his best - too many long, loud outs and no ground balls when he needed them. I tweeted it at the time, I think he was a ticking time bomb and had no issue with Hinch pulling him when he did. Where I think Hinch can be rightly criticized... on the back of a day off, there's no excuse for McHugh, McCullers, Pressly and Osuna being not only your first bullpen options: your only bullpen options. He was trying to sneak Smith in and buy his pen an inning - but you can't do that in the postseason.
I can agree with this. McHugh would've been a much better option at that point than Smith/Sipp. Betting you don't see that same mistake today.
There's a smidge of hindsight here, as I didn't think Keuchel pitched well - but Morton then Keuchel might've been a better plan for games 3 & 4. As is, Morton gets 1 start and Keuchel is your likely game 7 starter in Fenway. Yikes. I know that'll be a short-leash, all-hands-on-deck game. But. ewwwww....
They *have* to win today, so - yeah. My concern is that Osuna is almost certainly burned for today (maybe that's a good thing?) so a) they need 6-7 strong innings from Morton; b) maybe James is in the mix, possibly Sipp to a single batter - but he may have to get 12 outs with just McHugh, McCullers and Pressly. And he has another game tomorrow.
I feel like the Astros can get 2 wins with Verlander and Cole on the mound, so I'll be confident if they can pick up a win today.....but the bats really have to come alive, the Astros can't merely coast on what Bregman can do. We need some other players to step up.
I'm all for supporting my team but this isn't looking so good and tonight is a must-win. I don't know the last time I saw Morton pitch but to expect him to come in and pitch a shutout would be a bit much. I'm hoping he can limit the damage. But, really, the Astros offense is what concerns me. They just haven't looked good the last few games. This is not the time for them to be slumping and pressing. They need to come back and bring the swagger. We all know advancing takes a bit of luck and some timely hitting. Maybe some of us thought we were going to steam roll over Boston but the reality appears to be quite a bit different so far. Turn it around tonight. If the team can't come out tonight and perform, then something is wrong.
And they been, Alex has been pitch the entire playoff and still Houston was putting 7runs per 9inings vs the best pitchers in baseball, before yesterday.
Yeah, this. Yuli left 5 on base last night, more than any other batter. His swing or mentality or whatever it is at the plate is shot. Marwin is a threat that will make them think twice about walking Bregman. Correa is at least making some progress. Reddick is either hot or cold but always completely unpredictable. I almost wish we could go Bregman-Altuve-Marwin-Springer. Or Springer-Marwin. Bregman's been getting on base more than anyone by whatever means (as usual). We need people to drive him in.
Tonight is must win. Charlie better bring it. Hitters better hit. Let yesterday be a one time disaster. Let it be a motivator.
I thought of that, but Keuchel made more sense for two reasons. One, you knew what you were getting with Keuchel even if it was mediocre Keuchel(the bad first inning followed by 4 solid innings). With Morton, we're not really sure coming off the injury. Two, you pretty much knew what you were getting with Eovaldi. Sure you could hope he'd flame out, but he pitched well at Yankee Stadium in the ALDS. So you go with the safer bet. In Game 4, Morton is still an unnkown. But so is Porcello. He's a very good pitcher, but he coming off 2 days rest after a relief appearance. So it's a little easier to roll the dice in this game vs Game 4. And in retrospect, Hinch made the right call with Keuchel in Game 3. He wasn't good, but he did enough for the Astros to win the game. It was 2-2 after 5 innings. The mistakes were going with Smith in relief of Keuchel and not changing the batting order.