I'll never forgive him for taking out Zack Greinke in game 7. A move thats not talked about is how he took Jose Urquidy out after 5 masterful shutout innings in Game 4 with a 4-0 lead. He overmanaged by putting in Will Harris who had already pitched in games 1 and 3. He also pitched in game 6 and had nothing left by the time they got to game 7. Enter Howie Kendricks.
I will gladly eat crow if it means we keep this up..................not being a douche, but how much is coaching and how much is a little luck. I have no clue and I am biased but I give Joe props for pushing the right buttons and then those buttons producing
I have not been down or up on Espada. He seems like a garden variety manager. Not sure if this is the pitching coach or Espada, but it seems like the Astros are pulling starters when the pitcher gives a good performance. Previously, the let's get one more inning while the starter is pitching good mantra persisted under Baker. This hasn't been a huge reduction in innings by the starters. Maybe an inning or two every week or two. I've watched fewer games this year, but I'm just not having the feeling that the starter is being left in too long often.
Baker had the 6th lowest bullpen during his tenure which included a 2020 season in which he wasn't given much pitching. Baker pushed a lot of young guys for one more inning in tight games. About 60% of the 6th inning and on innings this season for starters are from Brown and Framber. Maybe Espada should be using the pen more.
Whatever he is doing, it's working. I only disagreed with him resting the pen in the last Rockies after we tied it in the 7th. That game was winnable, so he should have tried to win it. Maybe he already told Abreu and Hader that there was no way they were going to play that day. If the that's the worse Espada does, then he's doing a great job.
https://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/joe-espada-departures-injuries-chaos-20761035.php Good article and confirms my opinion on him. He connects with the guys and they play hard for him. That's the most important part of being a manager. Lineups can be created by anyone. The pitching coaches can decide how to us the bullpen. The manager is there set the tone and get the guys to play hard.
Unfortunately he makes decisions on when to pull pitchers. Something that Espada screwed up again tonight that will most likely result in another loss. That's 6 losses in the last 7 games.
