He was doing this stuff for over 10 years before he defected. Crazy stuff. He probably would be a hall of famer if he got to play in the MLB from the beginning.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...tatement-other-observations-mlb-first-weekend Here are some observations from the opening weekend of action: 1. The Astros certainly made a statement with a dominant four-game sweep of the A's in Oakland. Facing a chorus of boos and sounds of banging garbage cans from the Oakland fans, the Astros won 8-1, 9-5, 9-1 and 9-2. They hit .320/.398/.565 with eight home runs and 12 doubles, becoming just the fourth team to begin a season with at least eight runs in each of its first four games (1978 Brewers, 1995 Red Sox, 2003 Yankees). Alex Bregman hit .500 with two home runs in the four games, and Jose Altuve hit .375 -- to name two players who saw their numbers dip in 2020. But the biggest positive is the return of dangerous Yordan Alvarez, who was so good as a rookie in 2019 before surgery on both knees wiped out his 2020 season. He homered on Saturday and just missed another homer with a double off the wall in the opener. If Alvarez is a force in the middle of the lineup, this could still be one of the best run-scoring teams in the league, even with the departure of George Springer. And it doesn't hurt to send a message to the A's, who went 7-3 in the regular season against Houston last season, holding the Astros to just 25 runs in those 10 games. The Astros then beat the A's in four games in the division series, so perhaps the message is this: The A's might be the reigning American League West champs, but Houston might still be the team to beat.
I don't think it would be an exaggeration or homerism to say that the Astros are the best team in baseball to this point. Not just winning, but dominating almost every aspect of the game. Tons of offense, great pitching and defense. Smart playing and managing. Its just been amazing! And sorely needed after dealing with Houston's other sports teams.
Or the message is the 2020 season was an abortion of a season and maybe we shouldn’t pay much attention to results/stats from them... and despite that, the Astros still won when it really mattered. In the end, you’re never as good as you think you are.... you’re never as bad as you think you are... but the Astros, if they stay healthy, are going to be pretty damn good.
Man that series was nice. Pretty much the entire team looked good. The pitching was rocky a couple of times early but overall terrific. Breggers, Alvarez locked in already. These boys are on a mission.
How did A’s fans allow to bring trash cans into the stadium in the first place? Even if they were banging the stadium trash cans, no way security wouldn’t let fans moved trash cans into seating area. Make me wonder if it the A’s employees doing that banging the trash cans.
Gonna have to get some reports from fans on the road ... I want to take my kids to some games out here in SoCal this season but I'm not sure I'm willing to subject them to the nonsense that may be thrown (literally and figuratively) our way. Sad I have to even think like that, but it is what it is especially with some of these crazy ass Dodger fans.
Defense and baserunning need work. Too many errors early on. Straw's arm is not... impressive. Starting pitchers need to be able to be more efficient or our bullpen won't last.
Starters going 5-6 is more the norm now. Teams that have built in redundancies in the bullpen are going to do much better over 162. Today was the perfect example. The Astros had a guy who would normally be a starter. He went basically 5 innings of relief and finished the game. The entire bullpen gets a day off despite there being an actual game. It’s a great “reset” of sorts. Meanwhile, I’m watching a White Sox game where TLR (one of the innovators of the the bullpen specialist roles) has made 117 pitching changes with sub-standard results. Today’s starting pitching is not good enough to manage the entire season with previous strategies that were more effective in an era where starters were expected to go 6-7. Like I said above... the Astros are likely not “this” good... and will need to have as many options as possible for roster contribution.
This reminds me of the old Phil Garner saying that you can pull a magic rabbit out of your ass on any given Easter Sunday, but if you pull a magic number out of an elephants ass on Easter, you have the right to put it on a stick and wave it around.
1st option. Visit the game incognito. Maybe even put a LA hat on. 2nd option. Strap up the kids. Get gangster
