Dusty: I need a lefty in the pen in case there is a great platoon advantage for one. Dusty: I need a lefty on the bench in case there is a great platoon advantage for one. Bases loaded, lefty on the mound in a tie, weak hitter at the plate.... one of the best situations for a RHB on the bench with a platoon advantage. <crickets>
My suspicion is that he was already up to close out a 1-0 game and Dusty just didn't want to burn him when they tied the game. If he wasn't already in his warm up routine, then it doesn't make sense. Well, not to me.
Its just hard to see the last 7 years of baseball and get upset at manager decisions in game 1 of 162. Yall need to chill lol.
We'll see after the season. I liked it at the time and still do. Oh, we let the winning pitcher walk, so there's that.
Someone will always be at the back end of the elite portion of the line-up. The move Dusty made placing Dubon in the 9 hole with Maldy in the 8th is an old one. It's to get someone ahead of the faster lead-off man so his speed isn't hindered. The old way was putting the pitcher in the 8 hole with the same reasoning. I criticize Dusty when I don't understand the move, but this one I do. But I hate when he or anyone just says manager's decision and doesn't at least attempt to explain his reasoning. But that's how I am wired, so I understand the frustration of some when I fail to adequately explain my sometimes crazy ideas. I'm also not wired to hold a grudge except in exceptional cases like ANDYSERALOL who ruined a great message board years ago with stolen MOD powers.
I don't care if they barely gave up a run in the entire playoffs. They need to be flogged for giving up runs to the White Sox. Framber needs to give them the cold shoulder in the locker room. The White Sox are the world series favorites now.
I think he's just feeling the effects of ramping up too fast. He was throwing strikes down the middle instead of on the edges. It worked until it didn't.
Yeah I think people don't realize that Cease is really good and he was also very much on his A game last night. It happens, just sucks its on opening day.
One big question early will be Jeremy Peña. Is he the .289 OBP guy from regular season or Something more of a stud like we saw in the playoffs. Bregman always starts slow. Yordan looks like Yordan Tucker and Abreu will be studs. See where Diaz is after 100 ABs
We won it all last season. My belly is full. I’m not sure how much I will get into this season. We will see. It all feels like ‘been there….done that’ at this point.
I just realized Javier, who is among the most extreme fly ball pitchers in the game, is pitching tonight. That means Meyers in CF and McCormick in LF with Hensley at 2B. Pena SS Bregman 3B Yordan DH Abreu 1B Tucker RF McCormick LF Meyers CF Hensley 2B Maldonado C I think Meyers and/or Hensley gets a big hit tonight. I'm looking forward to this. The Astros have hit Lynn hard last few years. Since 2019 ( including playoffs) 8 games started. He is 1-7 in 47.1 IP 16R/15ER = 5.13 ERA 60 hits, 13 BB = 1.54 WHIP. Alex, Yordan, and Maldy each hit .400+ off of him in 11+ ABs. Maldy is actually .500 in 14 ABs w/ a HR ! Looking forward to it !! And this one gets the season back on track in a hurry !!
I have a strong suspicion Pressly is a closer. Closers should only be used in save situations. Period. Too much evidence that closers suck otherwise.
So, are some of you saying you never want to use the 2nd best bullpen pitcher by ERA since 2018 in a home game the Astros are tied in the 9th inning or later? Because you know, if a home game gets to the 9th and is tied it's impossible to have a save situation. Just bench him in all those games?
It was one game and Diaz put the bat on the ball pretty much all night even on some crazy good pitches. He seldom whiffs which proves he has amazing hand eye coordination and has a good idea where the ball is going. He just needs to be more selective in what he swings at. The solution at 2nd is Altuve. Until he gets back, Baker just likes Dubon because he's very good defensively. We would have won the game if our normally dependable relievers didn't have a bad night. It's the first game, so lets not overreact. If we weren't playing against probably the best pitcher in AL this season that looked totally zoned in, we would have looked a lot better. Cease was making everyone in the lineup including Alvarez look stupid for most of the game.
