I'm just referring to the ultimate dejection at the time. 2005 doesn't seem as bad now because of what happened afterwards. Likely, this bump won't seem as bad in the future if this team goes on to future LCS/WS appearances... and a possible championship. But, in the heat of the moment, and right after the game... I never felt as bad as I did in 2005... and I likely never will again. A team/franchise who was a strike away from their first World Series birth, and it all came crashing down in just 5 minutes without any guarantee that they would get that close again. That was the lowest of the low for Houston sports, and hence why it will always be ranked higher than this in my mind.
Yeah, almost as bad as the theory that Harris was allowed to give up four straight hits because the manager wanted to rest Sipp and possibly Gregerson. What do you want him to say? "Well we had the lead in every game, and in 2 of the three games we lost we had a lead late but the manager made odd decisions and the bullpen blew it. I did my part, but this sucks." Really there isn't much he can say. You can dock his pay for what he said to a trite question, I think he deserves him pay, considering he won 2 of the 3 playoff games the Astros won and was dominant, including going on short rest.
Who cares? Keuchel is not some former rhodes scholar who goes through all the possible manifestations/algorthtims or ultimately gives 2 ****s about what he's saying before he says it. He didn't throw a teammate or coach under the bus... hell, we all know the ins/outs of why they ultimately got beat (some of it extending back to long-standing "issues" we saw before they ever played a game)... so its not like we're relying on Keuchel to add any "insight", or that his words are going to somehow fix everything. On the one hand, you claim people are taking things way too seriously... but here you are blowing up and taking throwaway post-game quote way too seriously. Nobody's pay is getting docked... and nobody is going to speak to anybody. Perhaps they should just be like BOB's coached Texans players who say nothing at all to the media...ever.
With Keuchel's quote, there is no telling exactly what he meant. For one thing he said the "extra" it factor. He could have very well meant experience in the playoffs or for that matter, overall experience as compared to the Royals. Or he could have meant, "gee, even in that inning that gave us the 6-2 lead, we had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out and couldn't get another run or two."
That HR altered our pitching rotation for the next series. It was the proverbial beginning of the end.
No one proposed that theory, Nook; not a single person - the theory was that they didn't throw the kitchen sink *at the start of the inning* in hopes the lesser arms could get everyone an extra day of rest. Don't make up things to be outraged about, Nook. Almost literally anything BUT something about an IT factor... Citing the IT factor is still worse - but I'd prefer Keuchel not pretend like he didn't douse any pretense of a late rally by, you know, sucking balls in the 7th. But that's just me.
Me. I'd think you... Don't we prefer smarter baseball discussion - how does a pitcher with fan cache citing an IT factor help that, exactly?... We've already got several fans agreeing with him... Where did I claim people are taking things too seriously? And are you under the impression I literally think his pay should be docked?... As in, I'm dumb and think the union is some figurehead organization and the team can do anything it wants to its players?..... Gimme a little credit. It's a dumb comment. Any comment that invokes the IT factor is dumb (beyond, "The IT Factor is stupid, made-up bull****...")
He answers an open ended questions in a way that didn't throw his manager or teammates under the bus. I have no problem with how he answered it.
No one is making anything up..... your assertion that Hinch went to lesser arms to start the inning is absurd, and if IT is the case, then Hinch should be fired. It makes absolutely no sense. No, citing the "IT" factor is a throw away ambiguous response to a an open ended question. I am glad he didn't get into specifics. The guys in the pen know they didn't get the job done. Hinch will relive game 2 and 4 for the entire summer. He gave a throw away answer and we move on. Also the assertion that he shouldn't get his playoff share is insane, he was the best thing going for the Astros in the playoffs. However, I am not going to dwell on that because I think you were just speaking off the cuff and we all do that sometimes.
Alright... point noted. In your mind, Keuchel made a dumb comment. Great. I honestly am in no way affected by it... I guess it was a poor choice of cliche's from him, but as I said, I doubt he really thought that much before he said it. If he had spoke ill-will about the organization or players specifically, by all means lets dissect each and every word... but in the end, this is making a mountain out of a grain of sand.
I don't want to watch Houston sports anymore. This is a world where nothing is solved. Someone once told me, 'Time is a flat circle.' Everything we've ever done or will do, we're gonna do over and over and over again. And that Astros choke and that Oilers choke, they're gonna be in those stadiums again and again and again forever." -- Detective Cohle
Who cares? What's the point of fans keeping lists like these. It's just depressing. Why wallow in the misery? Are you expecting a pity party or something?
You don't think the extra it factor he referred to could be playoff experience? Remember he did not say "it factor" he said "extra it factor". To me that implies they were missing that something extra the Royals had, which could very well be actual playoff experience.
It doesn't matter...... his comments after the Fiers no hitter were not exactly Ivy League quality. What matter is that he is an extremely competitive and elite pitcher that brought results in almost every major game this year. He can do the interview in Mandrin as long as he isn't throwing his teammates under the bus.
Yes; you are No one suggested that as a "theory." It's made up. The theory is that Hinch didn't throw the kitchen sink in the 8th inning because his team was rolling, the crowd was rocking and they had a 98.4%WP - not burning your most reliable bullpen arm in that situation is, generally speaking, a desireable position. He gave an answer that feeds the LCD; I don't generally give two flips what athletes say because 99.9999999% of it is empty nothing. But for one of them to cite the IT factor, as if it exists and to give it credibility... it's disappointing. Yes, because I was being literal; I literally don't think they should pay their best pitcher his playoff share because *I* thought his postgame comment was stupid. Yep...
It's a dumb comment. I don't believe there's a single ounce of actual repercussion required, other than for someone (me) to point out that it was, indeed, a dumb comment... is that OK? Or have you lost interest because someone started the wave?....
Yeah, if only there was a way for him to express that the Royals had more playoff experience... Oh, well - the English language fails again.... IT FACTOR it is!
This is the second time you've mentioned this. Did I miss something? And, on a grand scale... trying to start the wave during a playoff baseball game is a much worse offense than believing in or mentioning the "IT" factor. At least Houstonians have grown enough to not succumb to being the lowest common denominator of humans that feel the need to stand up/sit down in a synchronized mass exercise that even pre-schoolers find to be primitive.
