I would personally put Diaz at 1st and have Caratini behind the plate. Diaz has a lot of talent with the bat and strong physical tools behind the plate but asking him to run a staff with his experience is a lot to ask.
Offense will need to continue to do their thing against a middling pitcher, although Mackenzie did give us trouble last year. Either way, I'm willing to bet pitching can't be worse than they were today with the big mistake pitches at the worst possible time. If JV can give us 6 innings of 2-run ball, it doesn't feel crazy to believe Dubin/Martinez/Scott/Pressly can do their job if we have a 4 run lead.
Personally I’d go JV 5 or 6 and give arrenghetti the rest of the game and then send him down. Then pitch Blanco Thursday. Thats normal rest for him. Framber Friday, normAl rest, Javier Saturday, normal rest and then brown I guess on Sunday. Day off Monday. I like that plan better than trotting out all our non-leverage arms to back up JV. Have to think at least Abreu and Hader are down. Or should be. Hader should be down for Thursday too probably.
If JV can go 6, I’d go Dubin-Martinez-Pressly for 7-8-9 if the game is close. If the game is out of hand, let Bielak and Scott mop it up.
Jose Abreu being a Dark Cloud, Negative Energy in the Dugout. The team seems more loose and more talkative. Jose Abreu seems Introverted and closed off, the struggle, injuries, Age, Mentally Tired. Joey Loperfido seeing the ball well and giving information to other hitters in the Dugout, Energy, His Confidence as a batter is Impressive.
I would give Dubin one inning… stuff is good and he is capable of a scoreless inning. I would let Scott go an inning… Pressly gets the 9th to win it or lose it.
Well Seth Martinez is rested and ready for that 9th inning assignment you promised, lol. On further dissection, I know you said you’d be ok with Hader coming in extras with a man on…. But wouldn’t middle relief guys (not necessarily Martinez) have more experience/comfort when coming in with guys already on base vs. closers? Again, no right answer and Hader is definitely not available tomorrow while Clase is… however the Astros did win the game tonight they almost had to win, and are now heavily favored to win this series no matter who the available closer is. Everybody but Hader should be available tomorrow as well… even Pressly the old (who I agree still looks like he aged 10 years in one off-season).
Plenty of ways to get Diaz in the lineup. I just want him to be a better catcher. Less mitt movement that somehow got worse than last year. Less catcher interferences (that may have something to do with all the mitt movement). Better ability to navigate young starters through the toughest inning any starting pitcher faces (first innings). You don’t have to be a mythical pitcher whisperer… but you do have to have a semblance of command of the position or be able to recognize mechanics issues with pitchers or be able to work umps with shitty zones, or be able to tell the difference between a HBP and a foul ball. And thats just the in-game stuff. Obviously we know catchers put in a f-ton of work on before the game preparations. We also know that two organizations questioned his ability to command most of that at this stage of his development at the big league level. Theres a lot of gray area between Mitch Melusky and Joe Mauer.
J-lo had the mythical bloop. Also, blame Blummer for the non-stop J-lo reference. I didn’t like Doobie either.
Okay this was a nice win. addition by subtraction with abreu who is enjoying cigars in west palm beach
