Jesus this offense is putrid. We are lucky to be 9-3. Dallas probably wishing that his contract year fell on an odd year. 2016 and so far this year have been less than impressive.
When he's at his best... the low pitches are truly border-line called for strikes (i.e. - they're not all truly strikes). That's why I said he was unlikely to get better with an electronic zone.... he's admittedly said that his effectiveness could rely on the umpire's zone that day, as he either gets the favorable calls, or he has to adjust to find the "soft" spot in the variable zone. And its most frustrating when he gets to a 3-1 or 3-2 count... as he's forced to come into the zone and challenge guys, and that puts the odds severely in the batters favor.
I don’t think so. His stuff wasn’t that bad last night. He was hitting 89-91mph with his sinker, catching the corners and, even more Keuchel-y, spotting the ball just outside strike zone. He just wasn’t getting any love from the umpire. Even the pitches that were catching the corners weren’t getting called strikes with any consistency. Keuchel, like any other control pitcher, ain’t gonna do well in that scenario. Those same pitches with a different umpire have a very different result.
I wish I was this optimistic. I am not going to write him off, because he has come back from the dead several times before. However his stuff yesterday was bad. He didn't have his usual command and they were not swinging at pitches outside the zone or on the edge of the zone that they have in the past. 10 base runners and over 100 pitches in 4 innings is really concerning. Against a better team the game could have gotten really ugly fast. He was laboring for everything, and I will give him a lot of credit for scratching a crawling through 4 innings and only 3 runs. At the end of the day, he kept his team in the game and it was winnable. Still with the stuff he had, that can easily be 7-8 runs next time. He has shown the ability to get his pin point control back in the past, so he needs to be going out there every 5th day. It is a luxury that the pitcher that was your #1 less than a year ago, can act as your #5 when struggling.
I don't think his stuff was bad. As we've all said, he wasn't getting calls at the bottom of the zone - that means that batters don't swing at those low balls and it leads to the walks. But he was putting the ball basically where he wanted for the most part. He gave up 6 hits, but 3 were infield singles (2 other singles, 1 double). So while they were making some contact, it wasn't all that solid. If the strike zone was about an inch lower, those players that walked largely strike out and batters have to flail at all those balls. I think the game is completely different in that scenario.
Watching Keuchel last night I didn't get the impression of someone who's washed. His stuff still had the late life, the ump had a super tight zone, and it was cold. I think he'll be fine. He might be our worst starter this year, but that's only because every single other starter of ours can compete for a Cy Young.
Some of you need to relax. It's so early in the season and there are things such as slumps and pressure in sports. The Astros will be fine. What you see on paper is the real deal. Don't act spoiled.
