Sousa has thrown in 4 of 6 games (days) too. Just way too much usage for games in July. He should have never pulled Walter though. Bullpen has been taxed and you’ve got a guy cruising with only 82 pitches.
Sousa blew the lead after Walter went 7 innings giving up only 1 run but he gets the win and not Walter..
Espada manager of the year. We can all agree fantastic decisions resting Altuve, Smith, and Abreu. Also not pushing Walter another inning. Sousa needs to do his job better, but maybe he just wanted to be the winning pitcher. He's 4-0 now and still with a very good 2.59 ERA.
This is over confidence by Joe in all of his relievers. It's gotten out of control at this point. Last night he lucks out with King who was absolutely terrible. Today he still lucks out we weren't a couple of runs behind going to the 9th. Being lucky is gonna hide the horrendous decisions Joe is making. He needs to get better. Much better. And sooner than later.
Didn't watch most of it, tuned in at end... not sure how many times through the lineup they saw him. Not sure what his splits have been throughout this season (and in his career or minors) when he faces a lineup the 3rd or 4th time through. We also don't know how he was feeling... but it doesn't seem like he had a lot of stressful innings or had to labor. The combination of starting pitchers that can't or don't go long in games and the Astros always being in a position to win is a death-nell for any bullpen, even if you have a bunch of studs. They still have a lot of consecutive games to go (7 more) before a day off. Continue to build the division lead, continue to win series, and they'll get some more built-in rest in August/September along with the hope of some starting pitching reinforcements. At least one of the current starters of Gusto/Gordon/Walter should be able to find themselves in the pen once Spencer/Javier return... but they can't afford to have Abreu or Hader not be in peak physical form.
Guess I shouldn’t be surprised that we still have posters crapping on Espada even though he should absolutely be the undisputed leader for Manager of the Year. Best record in the AL with a mostly AAA squad. 19 players on the IL. And every time one of the starters goes down, they go on a winning streak. It’s silly at this point and the rest of the league knows what’s coming once we get healthy-ish (as long as McCullers still has a roster spot, we’ll never actually be fully healthy).
People complain when he try to squeeze the juice out of the starters. People complain when he doesn't squeeze the juice out of the starters. Chronic complainers on this board. You want your relievers to come in with clean innings not when there are men on bases. Sousa didn't do his job. Period.
