Agreed, AJ nailed this one. When I saw Qualls up in the bullpen, I was thinking "oh crap, not Qualls again." But he brought in Sipp instead.
Lets see: Last 4 "series" Rangers at home, Astros won the series M's on the road, Astros won the series Arizona on the road, Astros won the series WC game on the road, Astros beat the Yankees I have to say, yes
I forgot to mention but Castro was a general behind the plate. I did not see a pitcher ask for a different pitch once, he was framing the pitches great. I hope he gets hot in the KC series with the bat.
bad ass comment by him on the radio...said he wanted to play this one no matter what, because even if it meant him being out for the rest of the playoffs, he wanted to give his teammates a chance to play 5-15 more games (math was of, but the sentiment was there). gotta love hearing that. i get the impression that there's no way he should be playing baseball right now. a true warrior playing through pain.
Astros vs KC C Castro vs Perez adv KC 1b Carter vs Hosmer adv KC 2b Altuve vs Zobrist adv Altuve 3b Valbuena vs Moustakas adv Moustakas SS Correa va Escobar adv Astros LF RAsmus vs Gordon adv Astros CF Gomez vs CAin adv KC RF Springer vs Rios adv Astros DH Gattis vs Morales adv KC Starting rotation: McHugh vs Ventura tied Kazmir/Fiers vs Cueto adv KC K vs Volquez adv K McCullers (at home) vs Young or Ventura on short rest adv Astros Bullpen They lost their closer, but wade davis is even better Gregerson Harris Sipp Oliver Perez Davis Herrera Madson Morales Bullpen advantage KC This is going to be a very close series, IF our rotation responds, we win
So I'm guessing a complete 5 game series here? If the Astros can manage to steal 1 of 2 games in KC and bring it back to MMP this Sunday with Kuechel pitching, Astros could have a 2-1 series lead. Let's hope so!
Great win by the Astros, 4 and 1 in October. Hinch made ALL THE RIGHT MOVES tonight, including letting McNIFICENT continue to pitch after the rain delay, and allowing him to pitch to Morales to end the 6th. Bringing Sipp to face 2 lefties in the 7th, great move. Also, i agree with him having Neshek ready to face the righties in that 7th inning. Again, good move to pitch Harris in the 8th, eventough he struggled a little, but it was a GREAT move to bring Perez to face Hosmer in the 8th, GREAT MOVE. The out of Altuve, trying to steal, another good move, we were unlucky as that pitch was head high and the catcher was standing when he caught the ball. Now, tomorrow Hinch has a question, will Marisnick play? He had 2 hits and a diving play in CF, best play of the night. I trust Kazmir will pitch great tomorrow, go Astros Another win with orange jersey on the road.
keep gomez on the bench, let him fully rest for gods sakes. Might as well sit him this series and have him fresh for the alcs.
Tomorrow the pitcher is Cueto, he is very good vs left handed hitters, our lineup will only have 3 of them. He has struggled a lot with KC, in 81 innings 100 hits allowed, ouch This is a game that we CAN win. The top 3 hitters will have a good day for the Astros, especially Springer, who is carrying the team lately with Rasmus
Agree with you, Altuve, Carter, Rasmus and Springer. We tend to forget about Rasmus, but last 28 days he is hitting .299 with an OPS of 1.047. Another bat that is really hot, last 19 games is Valbuena, hitting .357 with an OPS of 1.116. Last 3 weeks this team is really playing good baseball, and like i said before, I like to be a WC team because they usually play good at the end of the season, and need to play games that matters to get into the playoffs, those teams are difficult to beat in the playoffs. Now, i am very tough on Hinch, i try to always give my reasoning, and right now, HE IS MAKING ALL THE RIGHT MOVES. Examples, not playing Lowrie, or playing Carter or playing Marisnick more, same with RAsmus he is playing even against left handed pitching. He is running more, even some hit and run, using relievers the way we wanted, more matchup oriented and no Neshek in the 8th. So far, ONLY mistake in the post season was Qualls warming up in the WC game, everything else, PERFECT, including starting Kazmir today.
Huge mistake. I'd venture to say that if he left him in the bullpen to throw 2 or 3 more warm-up pitches that would have cost us the game.
Sorry, but believe me, many managers have made mistake of not having X guy warming for X hitter, that is part of baseball. How many times have you seen and think, why did that manager not had a lefty warming up for X hitter? What IF we needed a righty to face Arod? Who was going to face him, Qualls? He was the one warming up. So yes, i have the manager responsible of who is warming up or NOT, that move could had cost us. Actually, MANY forum members were not happy to see Qualls warming up. And reality is, we WERE RIGHT, you know why? Because Qualls is not in the 25 men roster for the KC series.
Yes, but he didn't. Who is the alternative? Fields? Neshek? I can only imagine the reaction if Neshek was warming up. Is it some no-brainer that Fields would have been a better option for one batter than Qualls? Harris is obviously our set-up guy now. Risking burning him on one batter if the inning was extended wasn't an option Hinch was willing to entertain. Yes, many forum members are not happy to see something, while others are. Many forum members are not happy that Kazmir is starting today, others are. Who cares? In your mind, Luhnow saw Hinch warming Qualls up in NYC, had the same reaction as you, and then left him off of the ALDS roster because of that. If Qualls is back on the ALCS or World Series 25 man, does that mean you WERE WRONG?
It's my understanding he can't be on the ALCS roster. If you're off the roster for one series, you're off it for the next one, too. He could be added to the WS roster, though.
They are set for each series. Under your scenario, the players who weren't on the WC roster (McCullers, McHugh, Kazmir) wouldn't have been allowed on the ALDS roster.
