When Espada's team is 6-8 games under .500 somebody needs to tell him he cant afford to play his Sunday lineup. SMH
Maybe this will be the end of Espada. I can’t believe Brown is responsible. I think this is a Crane boy crush. This guy should’ve been gone before the season started, certainly after Brown got hurt.
To be fair, we are still only 4 back in the division and 3 back in the WC so technically he can afford to do it. We would be buried in the NL right now. On the flip, I do see the argument that every game matters and we should be trying to build some momentum before the deadline to see if it is worth investing in the team.
Astros snuck into the postseason in 24 on the last day of the season due to a tiebreak and missed the postseason in 25 entirely due to a tiebreak. Every game matters, especially when you're behind so much. Margin of error is razor thin. Espada is still managing the team the exact same way season after season. He's a robot. No killer instinct. Something has to change or we're probably barely going to miss the postseason again.
2-10 in final game of last 12 series. Scored a total of 10 runs in the 10 losses. Gave up 5 or fewer runs in 7 of them so a good offense could have won them. Its managerial malpractice that Espada is surrendering before the games even start.
Team is trotting onto the field going thru the motions. Who is the leader of this team? Who is the out-burst leader in the dugout who's going to light a fire under his teammates' lose-often pants?
I would like to b**** about lineup but at the same time have to admit guy like Yordan would need a day off now and then to keep him fresh and healthy. Ofcourse we can't afford it standings wise but season is over if he's hurt. Anyhow for me the bigger problem is the same as has been the whole Joe and Dana era. We scrape wins of having some great players and big payroll but we have no plans or method of process running this team. Just throwing s**t on the wall every year, both of these dufuses pulling randomly every lever they can reach and being suprised time after time how chips fall. If we are getting picked off all the time or giving stolen bases all the time or taking horrible AB's crucial spots or making insane PH decisions or losing games trying to force BP arm back to being effective or doing any dumb s**t you know we are doing it until end of time. It creates a culture don't need to give a s**t and players know not much is required of them. Just show up to the field. It works in places like Colorado where they have spent years to have not any expectation of results. But as a sports team fan who has been pampered with success and doggy players hungry to fight and compete.....this daycare stuff is painful to watch. Players like Diaz trying to get out of the bigs both sides of the ball but Astros are like no you're good bro keep swatting. We can be saying how bad Mariners are or we can realise somebody will find their feet in AL because it will happen every year. It's just another miracle run for some team but somebody will crack bunch of wins to keep playoff bar bit higher than now. Lowest wins for AL playoffs. 2021 - 92 wins 2022 - 86 wins 2023 - 89 wins 2024 - 86 wins 2025 - 87 wins 53-36 required for Astros reaching the minimum 86 wins.
Yesterday felt like a give up game, rest the stars and let these no names get a day to play, it's the same ole Joe E, I get it that guys need time off but this seems to happen every time were up 2-0 in the series, Joe feels it's OK to take a day off. Bro, were way behind and EVERY game counts, these guys get paid millions to play a game. Get out there and play...............they all matter dam it.
Ironically, the lineup yesterday was probably the result of analytics that showed Paredes and Altuve needed rest and that Matthews and Delgado were likely to perform as well (they went 2-5 with a walk and a double and are better defenders). So Espada was probabiy following the forward-thinking model.
