Nobody will ever know but. . . I don't know if Hinch had a choice, but Harris was exposed and the Nats has faced him and seen a lot of him that series. That makes a huge difference.
Plus Hinch and Cole had come to an agreement before the game that he would never be brought in mid-inning. He was only going to be used to start an inning. The options were leave Greinke in or go to Harris. In hindsight he chose poorly. Greinke had been dominate, only giving up a Crawford box HR and a walk in an at bat where the ump called a strike a ball.
People liked Hinch more than Dusty but look at the results. Hinch - 1 tainted WS win, 1 WS loss, and 1 ALCS loss Baker.- 1 WS win, 1 WS loss, and 1 ALCS loss The results are identical. Hinch had a better team that was hungrier, and healthier.
Hinch used analytics much more. From memory (correct me if I'm wrong as I have not researched it) Hinch never started a vastly worse player like Julks over McCormick (or even Meyers) or Maldy over Diaz, (especially vs RHP) OVER and OVER and OVER based on his gut or what a pitcher wanted. Or played Fisher (Dubon) over Marisnick ( Meyers) in CF stating it is because his defense will be needed in a low scoring game.
WTF are you talking about? Last year's squad was the healthiest squad we ever had. We had no serious injuries at all. In regards to hunger, there were only 4 hold overs from the 2017 squad and they were all hungry. Altuve, Bregman, Verlander, and McCullers.
If Hinch had the bullpen we had last season, we would have have won running away in 2019. Heck, if any playoff team had our bullpen, they would have been favored. It was historical.
What has Hinch done in Detroit? Nothing. What did he do in Arizona? Nothing. Hinch had absolutely LOADED teams and all he really did was follow the analytics. He is not a good manager. He has show the ability to manage in other places. Dusty has won (made the playoffs, won division) with every team he has managed. You can bring up everything that happened, but the point is, he was able to lead those teams to wins.
'17-'19 -- "hungrier and healthier" '20-'22 -- more experienced 2017 -- Won tainted as an underdog 2018 -- lost ALCS to a cheating team as an underdog 2019 -- lost WS in 7 as a favorite (stupid decision pitching JV on short rest in the previous series) 2021 -- lost WS in 6 as a favorite 2022 -- Won WS in 6 as a favorite (decision-making stripped from the manager in the postseason) 2023 -- #maldy125 (which has helped cost the division lead) Overall, Hinch has been slightly better in Houston
In Dusty's defense, I think most Astros fans have been more supportive of his decision-making in the playoffs vs. the regular season. We complain about the lineups all season long, and then the postseason comes, and his lineup cards actually make sense. My issue isn't with postseason Dusy; it's with regular season Dusty. And, sure, you could make the argument that the playoffs are all that ultimately matter, but if the Astros don't win the division or, even worse, actually miss the postseason, that will be a direct result of regular season Dusty's decisions. I'm all for resting guys on occasion to ensure their long-term health and giving bench and utility guys the occasional start when it makes sense. But Dusty's taken it to an extreme that almost certainly has cost the Astros games this season. And if those losses impact the Astros from being in a position to repeat, that's 100% on Dusty.
Dusty has only ever inherited loaded teams with some of the best players the last 20 years and constantly came up short
Our Latino players really gravitate to Dusty more. When Jeremy got the wind knocked out, he leaned on Dusty. Same with Yordan. While the line up card carousel is annoying in the regular season, the respect Dusty has from the team is one of the reasons they can keep afloat through disastrous injuries. Dubon's "It's like family." Club Springer was always around but I don't ever remember Hinch being a part of it something tells me Dusty and Springer would be fighting over songs played. I think it was Rendon. That play where he robbed Alejandro from batting in more than 1 run was a bad omen. It's like the dude was born just to ruin that moment. He hasn't played more than 60 games these last 3 seasons.
Horseshit. The guy hit a pitch that nobody hits and he had never hit in his career. Sometimes the other guy beats you.
Yeah. The giants had super freak bonds at his absolute Apex (IE the absolute apex of anyone ever playing the sport) and mvp level jeffnkent plus a team that made sense for the era and fit. cubs had wood and prior and Dusty fed their arms to the wood chipper and underdelibered. Washington won all year long and couldn’t get out of the first round (90’s astros). I’ve got no opinion in particular in Cincinnati. I’m not sure that’s even a real place and I think I’ve even been there.
