look man, i understand Espada ain't no HOF manager and he deserve some of the hate but WTF did you want him to do in this game? Offense only had 5 hits. Errors by the infielder. Can't score your PH when you have guys like Altuve, Pena and Bregman at the bat.
Hader just sucks in any non-save situation. And he's too prone to the long ball in any situation. Despite playing much better over the past month, this Astros team remains deeply flawed. They are very fortunate that the Mariners also have many problems.
Certainly in hindsight, that’s the play. At the time you could also look at it as Altuve is the best hitter in the lineup today and the most likely to get a hit there…. But yes, small ball would have been nice. Just like the Twins could/should have played small ball in the 8th.
Dubon is no longer hot. Chas is in the dumpster fire. Cabbage is only good for defense and might come through once every 30 ABs. Too many quick innings for the opponent pitchers.
His location on HRs has been awful. Which is to be expected when hitting a HR but eight in thirty nine appearances is horrible….
Astros were finding way to win game without Tucker and with no Yordan in this game, that well was running low. had guys that stepped up and came through but of course eventually that was going to end.
I absolutely hate this saying, you’re actually trusting Altuve to do something that isn’t easy, you’re counting on him to do something he rarely does and looking up and down the lineup and what you have in front of you vs what you’ve seen the last twenty some odd outs I say you get that guy over and Peña’s fly out most likely plates Joey with his speed……
And blowouts have been turned back into close games. Still doesn’t change the fact that nobody is suggesting alternative pitching choices or bullpen management in general… and if he’s getting full blame for lineup ineptness, he’d have to also get full credit for when the lineup has been the best in baseball for the last month. In the end, this season still comes down to the players doing what they’re supposed to do.
So we just bad lucked our way to a 13-26 in such games? Ok, got it. If we were 18-33 in all other games, then you're the Chicago White Sox, I get it. But when you're 33-18 in the other games, there's a glaring issue going on in these games, and the most common denominator by far is Joe Espada. You do agree 39 games is a big enough sample space? With every playoff hopeful team, these are the games that matter.
I agree… that’s just the one move that could have been “different” that may have led to another outcome. He should also blame Altuve for the short hop throw to Salazar that would have prevented that run. Who told Altuve to play anyways today? (Lol)…
