Last year Graveman said something similar. Said he heard the lockerroom was tight while he was with the Mariners and when he got traded, he said he was welcomed and was like this team is like a family.
Brantley is far more likely to return than Vazquez or Mancini. For many reasons LF is the most available position due to Yordan's potential leg issue (although he's shown great legs recently) If Machete is deemed the best C starter going forward, Vazquez's money will suffer. If he leaves, you can't quite blame him Money > Wins ... ask Springer and Correa and many other players. I'm not mad necessarily, but they will lie about it Don't pee on my feet then say it's raining
Originally posted after the double header sweep of the Yankees, I've kept it open as a tab on my phone since then. Definitely the role I feel we have without the movie ending plot this year.
Obviously this decision benefited the Astros but did anyone feel the Phillies manager made a bad decision pulling Wheeler on such a low pitch count in the 6th inning? They used Alvarado in game 5 and it backfired. They put him in for the next game and he gives up a three run bomb. This to me was reminiscent of game 7 in 2019 when we pulled Greinke for Harris. That ended up being the wrong decision that game as well. I just wasn't getting why the Phillies manager kept using the same reliever for high leverage outs that we end up lighting up in back to back games. Hindsight is 20/20 though and I am glad it worked out for the Astros in games 5 and 6 the way it did.
I look at it as if you, the opposing fans, are welcoming the pitching change.... it was probably the wrong decision on their end. Wheeler was pitching awesome. And Alvarez wasn't really doing much to him except being able to go the opposite way with the sinker. That's probably what he was worried about. They managed by the book throughout the whole series. He was consistent. Sometimes consistency backfires in short series.
I also thought in game 5 the Phillies were going with the bullpen game and Syndergaard was only planned to pitch through the whole Astros lineup one time. He was brought back out there to face the top of the order a second time. They went against what their original game plan was and it cost them. I think their manager did make some bad decisions that cost them a chance of playing for a game 7. That is baseball though it can be very unpredictable.
I really wanted Wheeler to stay in at the time. The extra day of rest had given him a great boost, but it was only a matter of time before the Astros got to him.
It has been an absolutely glorious two days. Long post to follow. As a kid, I was crushed when the Astros lost to that Philly team. Names like Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Tug McGraw, Larry Bowa, Pete Rose and Manny Trillo have been burned into my mind for decades. There is no fandom like when you are a 9 year old kid. You literally love your hometown heroes. Your heart breaks like theirs when they lose and the series with the Phils was soul crushing. The feeling of how UNFAIR it was that your guys lost…how, how how could the sports world be so cruel. That was 9 year old me. Fast forward to my posts above on game day. It was a massive emotional gamble personally. When we parked and walked to MMP, my wife was a wreck, my son was ambivalent, and I simply did not talk. It was tough, but I felt … resolute. Worried but resolute. Clean top of the first with some traffic, but Framber put up a zero. Tough go, but it was ok. Wheeler’s first pitch clocked in at 98 and I said “f-ck”. My son asked why and I told him. The middle innings were a jumble. Constantly looking one level above us to check replays on the small TV to see if the umpire was screwing us on balls and strikes. Mumbling that we needed a homer before they homered because there was no way anyone was going to sustain a rally. Every zero that Framber put up was a movie scene where the hero avoids destruction to fight another day. Schwarber’s homer was the worst nightmare come true. In every other year, I would have felt the doom creep in. I desperately did not want the series to go to a game 7. I also desperately wanted to see confetti and trophies live, just once in my life. When Framber retired the side in the 6th, I told my son, a champion responds now, right f-cking now. Maldy getting HBP was like water to a man in the desert. Like literally, it gave the crowd actual life. It is hard to describe how utterly dominant Wheeler was. Legitimately one of the most dominant performances I’ve ever seen. I actually asked Jose … as if he could hear me … please Jose, just have one more magic moment left. We need you here so badly. The fielders choice wasn’t great, but no soul crushing double play. In past years, that out would have hurt more, but we had Peña coming up. In a story book script, Peña would blast a two run shot to give us the lead and cement his WS MVP award. Everybody was thinking the same thing. We didn’t know that the hit that followed would set up something even greater. I lost my sh-t when Pena’s single went up the middle. I started jumping up and down, screaming THIS IS IT! THIS IS OUR TIME! THIS IS OUR F-CKING TIME!!!!! I must have looked like a total psycho, looking up at MMP roof and screaming at the top of my lungs. I felt like I was demanding something from the baseball gods. When Thompson came out for the pitching change, that was it. “BIG F-CKING MISTAKE THOMPSON!!! BIG F-CKING MISTAKE!!!” Shades of Cash pulling Snell. Poor Alvarado had to warm up in the craziest environment in the biggest spot. I don’t know how that dude even threw a strike. The pause in the game helped bring me down a notch. I told my son, Yordan just needs to get Tuve home. We will beat them in a bullpen war, I promise you, we will beat them in a bullpen war. When the game resumed, it felt like a pot about to boil over. In hindsight, I feel bad for Alvarado because man, that’s some crazy pressure. He later said his pitch had no movement and I’m guessing that’s because he was gripping the ball so damn hard. Each pitch, the crowd was so loud right until Alvarado came set, and then the volume dropped about 20 percent in anticipation of him releasing the ball. That crazy sequence of crowd noise got louder as we got deeper into the AB. When Yordan tore into that ball, it was everything you can imagine …. bedlam, insanity, buzzer beater, walk off homer, hail mary touchdown, Vince young TD in the rose bowl …. Like all of that put together into a single moment. We nearly blacked out. We sat wife/son/me. When Yordan struck the ball, everyone in the building knew it was gone. Instantly we knew. All three of us immediately started jumping up and down like maniacs, I had my right arm raised and my left arm around my son. I don’t know how we didn’t fall over. My vision was completely f-cked because we were jumping up and down, the building felt like it was going to collapse, and it was a sea of hugs, high fives, and holy sh-ts. I screamed at my son - “CHAMPIONS ANSWER!!! CHAMPIONS F-CKING ANSWER!!!!!” The game was over. We knew it, the Phillies knew it. You just can’t recover from that kind of a gut punch. We all knew a comeback was possible, but not that day. Not with our pen. It was our day. Counting outs was glorious. With a title at stake, the crowd had some nervousness, but Neris took care of that. Him coming in and mowing down Phillies in style … that was huge. It made sure they had no life, particularly staring at facing Abreu and Pressly. Neris needs to get some serious credit for that clean 7th inning. When he came off the mound with his fist pump, it was like he dispersed any remaining nervousness in the crowd The baseball game turned into a coronation. When Schwarber attempted to bunt against Abreu with two strikes, he bent the knee. Pressly’s entrance one last time was magical. The single he gave up didn’t mean crap, and the crowd refused to get even a little nervous. It was our time. Then the final out. I got to see confetti. The whole game I told my son I want to see confetti so badly, just once. The single word to describe how I felt would be pure elation. 9 year old me didn’t get to experience this and I cried in front of a TV. But that’s ok because it kind of reflects my life arc. We struggled as an immigrant family. Times were always tough and Houston sports mirrored that struggle. The big home run, the big moment always went against us. Against the Phillies, the Mets, and the braves, But 50 year old me got to see confetti, and I got to see it with my wife and son. Yordan gave us that big sports moment and we got to see, hear and feel it live. I still can’t believe it.
Putting in Alvarado would be more akin to say pulling JV at that point of the game and inserting Bryan Abreu to face Harper or Schwarber only for Abreu to give a homerun and for fans to question huhh why did you pull the Cy Young winner?? Alvarado was the best pure pitcher they had to offer.
This post I had on Page 1 got a lot of positive attention, and I think it's because we can all relate in some way. In the throws of life, it can feel like crawling through the desert sometimes, and an oasis can emerge from unlikely sources. In my case, it was the Astros. Winning a title was the oasis I was looking for. Today, I feel like a brand new man. Here's to anybody else that is also closing the book on a dark time. We did it!!!!!!
Yordan Alvarez favorite to eat is Ox Tail Dusty said to Yordan better be some hits in them The Crew made a bet with Dusty if the Astros win a Title the Crew eats Ox Tail
wow I didn’t see your earlier post and I’m thrilled for you that the Astros won! May the immediate joy be followed by an good long era of health, peace and prosperity.
Hopefully, there is going to be a live stream of the parade. MLB network may air some of it but I don’t get that channel. ESPN probably airs two minutes of it.
I almost always scroll past posts this long but I am glad I didn’t do that this time. Great post. I’m happy you got that experience. Sports can be such a great thing.
