and our bullpen was **** until the trades. After seeing 2 full seasons of Dusty, I think he's definitely more of a big picture type manager. He's perfectly willing to lose a game or 5 in the regular season to develop people, keep them healthy, and see what he's got by trying different lineups.
Just to be clear, I am not being precise, but thinking of 2015 (over perform expectations) as good management and 2019 (under perform expectations) as bad management. I'm sure the numbers are wrong, but it is slightly exaggerated to illustrate the concept that wins alone, without context, is indicative of good management.
It's good because starters 2-6 were better than most. It is the opposite from 2019 when strength came from 1-3. Verlander, Cole, Greinke. That team was, without a doubt, the most talented team we have ever had AND built for the playoffs. I'm hoping that by the playoffs, Verlander, Valdez, McCullers and Garcia resemble 2019 at the top of the rotation. This is not to cast aspersions on 4-7 starters, but the four above seem to me to have the most potential to dominate the line-up of playoff caliber teams.
I blame Joe Torre for that non-replay replay review controversy that completely wrecked Will Harris's concentration far more than Hinch in Game 6.
That team was #2 in starter ERA in the AL... like... what else do you want sub 1.000 WHIP for everyone? Garcia was 2nd in ROY, Odorizzi was replacement level as a 4/5 starter, Greinke actually put up all-star level numbers until he got hurt at 3.59 ERA, 1.119 WHIP in the first half, LMJ was 7th in Cy Young... so what in the world are you talking about?
For the lineup, though I think he gets a lot of feedback from front office and trainers, I agree. Last year, he seemed to ride Pressly, Stanek, Abreu, Smith, and Raley hard early.
Yeah it’s weird. Statistically the bullpen was a little above average, before the trades. But it definitely felt at times that it was among the worst in the league. It’s easy not to notice all the trash teams with truly horrific bullpens, but ours had some memorable blow ups that cost games early, and it was infuriating.
I have less problem with who plays, since we aren't privileged with insider information, but I do have a problem with his line-up choices. Other than hitting Tucker too low, I liked yesterday's adjusted line-up almost as much as I hated the one the day before yesterday. At this point, I like Tucker, Alvarez, Brantley better than Brantley, Alvarez, Tucker. At least Brantley, Tucker, Alvarez since Alvarez is the three run homer guy.
Lots of love for the SP's during the opening series but wanted to send some love to the bullpen: Game 1: 2 1/3 IP - 1 ER Game 2: 5 IP - 1 ER Game 3: 4 IP - 1 ER Game 4 : 4 IP - 0 ER 15 1/3 IP with a 1.76 ERA in the first series.
Riding his pitchers until they wear out has been one of the criticisms of Dusty at every stop in his managerial career. There are some things that are just DUSTY and he's not about to change now. Changes for a purpose can be beneficial. But change for the sake of change generally isn't. I admit to having a bias toward former Catchers and Pitchers over former position players as managers. I think they understand the mental side better than the position players who focus on the physical side perfecting mechanics.
Yes but Dusty has been a manager longer than he was a position player ( even counting games before he was a pro)
I missed some of the game yesterday and was watching what I missed today. One thing I noticed is in the 8th inning Ohtani smokes a ball down the left field line. If Alvarez or Brantley are in LF that is a double. McCormick ran it down for an out. I hope to see Baker start using Siri/McCormick for late inning defense when we have a lead.
That's going to be a theme for these Astros hitters for a long, long time it seems like. Zones continue to get expanded against our guys, but you have to give credit to our batters for not changing their approach.
Yordan will never be able to make the play that Chaz made. Someone built like Alvarez just can't move like that.
Yordan is a better athlete than he gets credit for, and he works hard on his defense…. But agreed, he isn’t ever going to be McCormick, who is a real plus defender as a corner outfielder.
Unless something has drastically changed, Baker gets a lot of information and is 95% of the time receptive to it. They had an issue with Baker favoring Straw and the front office not agreeing but the front office never said he had to play someone “or else”, but the FO resolved the CF issue before it got to that point.