I don’t like to say it, but I’m concerned with the intangibles. I was very bothered by George Springer not hustling up the line and giving full effort to beat out that weak grounder. That’s inexcusable in a playoff game. I was also unhappy with Brantley’s defensive effort on the single to left that drove in an early run for the Rays. Any other outfielder makes a throw to the plate there, especially with a slow man running. That kind of BS just can’t happen this time of year. That’s lazy and complacent, borderline entitled, and guess what? The Rays aren’t going to just roll over because you won 107 games and have two Cy Young candidates. The Astros need to play with some urgency, or they’re going to be embarrassed.
The Rays have a great, deep pitching staff. I think bats pressed a little once down in the last game. One should have expected it was going to hard to score runs in a game that Rays trusted their bullpen depth instead of trotting out a starter on short rest.
I said before the playoffs started the Division Series was going to be the Astros biggest challenge, and that if they got through it they'd go all the way. Game 5 is huge guys, not just for the obvious reason their season would come to an abrupt end, but in my mind they win tomorrow they win the whole effin thing.
For some reason, I remain without worry. It just doesn't feel like the narrative of this 107-win team, the most dominant baseball may have witnessed since the '01 Mariners and '98 Yankees, is to go out in the first round. In the ALCS, sure, anything can happen. But not like this.
I'm worried only because of the offense. It's been really bad this entire series. Even in Game 1, they should've only scored 4 runs had it not been for that dropped flyball. Excluding that error, the Astros have put up 4, 3, 3, and 1 thus far. I do however take comfort in how similar this feels to the ALCS in 2017. The Astros scored 2, 2, 1, 4, and 0 in the first 5 games before finally exploding in Game 6. And even that didn't happen til the 5th inning.
Nope. They just used multiple guys that can put up best 2 starter like performance combined with each pitching in less than 2 inning outings.
Hasn't Tropicana been like, a house of horrors for the Astros? I'm assuming, I'm HOPING the Astros return to form at home.
And if that's how the Astros' pitching staff had been designed, they might have tried that too. But it's not, so they decided to do the thing that made the most sense for their team.
If we can win game 5, then get by the Yankees, and then beat whoever comes out of the NL, we have a real good shot at another World Series ring.
Not every team has that bullpen depth. And they did have to use a starter as part of it. Even though there are off days, this sort of usage does catch up with teams eventually. And Glasnows arm is not likely to go deep in the game.
Agree, it's a very good pitching staff. But this is a historically great offense, and, at least in Tampa, they've been hitting like they're completely overwhelmed. NY has decent pitchers too. Everyone does at this stage of the season. It can't be an excuse for them to not perform. Unless they want to go into the record books with teams like the 2001 Mariners.
Girardi, is that you? Reads like something out of Fire Joe Morgan... I have faith the boys will perform in Houston. And win.
They'd be closer to the 2017 Indians than that Mariners team... if they lose tomorrow. And there would largely be no major shakeups or repercussions or record book shaming. This is how short series baseball goes.
I'm not sure how the design of Astros' pitching staff has to do with expectations on how the Astros batters hit Rays pitching. The Rays's didn't throw a starter on short rest like someone suggested would have been scarier than what Rays did. The expectation for Astros hitters should have been that it was going to hard to score runs yesterday. On Astros pitching, a separate topic, the Astros have enough pitchers to have not needed 4 innings out of Verlander yesterday. At most, Verlander should have been brought in as a reliever. Astros choose not to trust relievers.
It wouldn’t have mattered how Verlander would have pitched within reason because the Astros scored one run. For all the talk of Starting Verlander on short rest; at the end of the day you are almost always going to lose when you score a single run.
Bought my tickets for section 232 tomorrow. Any fellow posters at the game tomorrow a shot of tequila is on me. I will be tearing the house down and will be loudest mother fker on behalf of the forums. LETS GET THIS FKIN WIN . Some of you are already acting like we lost the series. We got the cy young at home for an elimination game. What the fk do you guys live for if its not this for this as baseball fans.