I think the time off impacted the pitchers (and Altuve). Creatures of habit. Expect them to pick it up. Really surprised Neris did what he did given the time off between appearances. Huge situation, huge out.
Cutter typically has more rise and less horizontal break. I like the following figures to illustrate these pitches for the way they move for the Astros: Not all teams have pitchers get the same movement the same way, but the right graph generally is how pitches get classified regardless of team. Movement (or resist gravity more) relative to if ball didn't have spin, up/armside is a 4S (1 or 2 o'clock for RHPs), cutter's movement is slightly more counterclockwise (11 o'clock), slider even more counterclockwise (9 o'clock), and curve's movement almost 180 degrees opposite 4S (7 or 8 o'clock). There is a lot of overlap. For the Astros, one can see that the final movement direction of the cutter and slider are close (right side image), but the spin the batter sees out of the hand is very different (left side).
So we still have people defending Scott DisServais' move to bring in Robby Gopher Ball Ray? Got to be kidding me. Even after I presented all the facts as to why that was arguably the stupidest bullpen decision in post season history. And you just put a fork in your actual closer.
Super grateful for these wins, but have to wonder what in the world is wrong with Altuve? He swings at every single pitch. His fielding has been excellent at least but damn. His batting has been horrendous.
FWIW, I always feel shaky with Pressly. Montero I’ve felt a little bit better about, and I have felt relatively confident in Abreu’s and Stanek’s performances this season. Rightly, or wrongly, however, personally I feel a lot more confident when I see one of our regular season starters come out of the pen during the playoffs (even though that didn’t work out so well for Seattle in game 1)
Altuve swinging aggressively is his MO. His average hovered around .300 during the regular season so I would chalk this up to mini-slump with some playoff Altuve on the horizon, hopefully vs the Yankees if the Yanks take care of their business and the Astros sweep the leg
Up 2-0, and a great spot to be in. From a SP perspective, game 2 went a lot better. Bullpen has been nails overall. Offense, pretty respectable. I was harsh on Framber yesterday but overall a decent outing by him.
Pressly is the only guy in the pen I trust generally. Stanek walks too many guys. Montero always seems to have a long fly ball that gives me a heart attack, but doesn't actually go out. Neris drives me nuts because he doesn't give up many walks, hits, or HR, but somehow ends up giving up runs. Have high hopes for Bryan Abreu, but need to see him out there in more high leverage situations.
It’s the time off. 6-7 days off then a game…then a day off…game…day off…We win tomorrow… 3 days off. Altuve can’t get into his rhythm, needs to figure that out.
I'm perfectly fine with Altuve struggling at the plate if we keep winning...as long as it means he comes alive against the Yankees. Few things in life make me happier than how pissed off Yankees fans get when Altuve crushes their dreams. I want him to do it again. It tickles me how many of Servais' decisions have backfired in this series while most of Dusty's, even the questionable ones, have not (or at least didn't cost us the win). Also, I'm so encourage by the Hensely and Pena showings so far. Hensly hasn't had many opportunities, but I feel like his patience at the plate has shown he has the ice water in his veins to be relied upon in the playoffs, and Pena has really come through in a way I was not expecting. He may never be quite the hitter that Correa was, but he can be incredibly close if he continues to develop and if it turns out he is nails in the big moments too, then we've virtually replaced Correa's production for pennies on the dollar. Go Astros!
There's nothing wrong with him. That's tuve's ab's. He's aggressive and that's exactly how his approach should be in the lead off spot. hes never been the take walks like breg is at the plate. you would think folks would stop questioning a person like tuve whose proven time and time again he knows what he is doing. dudes an all time great, he'll get going, not worried about him at all. It's the beauty of these stros. different guys step up. they don't care who. that's what you need to win in the long run
It was definitely planned out. This morning I found where Servais said they had discussed Ray out of the pen. There is also apparently an article on fangraphics (I don't read fangraphics) according to what someone messaged me.
You know things are going well for the home town team when instead of hammering Dusty for his lineups we are arguing for days about what the OPPOSING manager did on a game we won.
Yes, it was a little nerve wracking but Mariners were doing a good job being patient with their AB's. Took a lot of borderline strikes and didn't chase. I was definitely worried about Pressly since he hasn't pitched in a while but he settled in nicely and got some big outs. Hopefully they will gain confidence and have the rust/nerves over with for the rest of the postseason.
Fans are giving way to much credit/discredit to Servais for the outcome of the games. Good things happen when Pena (or whoever is in front of Alvarez) is able to “pass it to the big man".
yeah i think so too. cleveland has a decent team but just seem overmatched. cheering for cleveland to go as many games as possible though
It's encouraging that Pena is hitting the off-speed stuff cuz that's what they'll be feeding him. I don't think he'll ever be the type of elite hitter that can do damage no matter the pitch type (e.g. Yordan) but its very encouraging that he is starting to be able to hit the slider if he sits on it. We know he can hit the FB if he's expecting it. He was fouling off FB's that if he were sitting on those, he would have crushed. Just means situation to situation he's gonna have to guess right, a lot.
