The Astros have choked this year. Perhaps it started as bad luck but it isn’t at this point - it is in their head, they don’t expect to win close games. Going to the bottom of the 10th up 2 and they commit two errors and lose 4-3. Without the errors, the Astros likely win. I would cut the front office and manager slack if they were doing everything to win and lost - but they aren’t. They are playing a 1st baseman with a sub 400 OPS every damn day because they have too much pride to admit they ****ed up and just cut him. It is pretty clear to me the team needs some consistency- play a consistent line up and play the best players. Instead guys are all over the place and Abreu is out there every game. Fire Espada. Release Abreu. Trade for a reliever and play the same lineup for a few weeks and see what happens. What I do know is ownership isn’t serious about winning - or Abreu wouldn’t be playing and ownership would tell Brown that his buddy Espada is fired and someone outside the organization is taking over and will handle the pen.
Espada is not reading the back of Montero baseball card, Montero this year is 27 IP and 18 K. You want him to close games?!?!?!?!!? I can't believe the Stros invested in Ralph, who has a career 4.61 ERA. 1 career year out of 11 years in MLB and we gave this Ralph guy, a guaranteed contract. 30 and 30 for the Stros would be signing of Montero and J.Abreu, can't keep young guys (except Yordan) and Tommy Johns.
It so obviously isn't working. I've never liked Jim Crane, not ever, but he almost had me fooled there for a while. As it stands now, this looks like an organizational failure from the top down. He can't allow this to continue. They've got to make some damn changes.
And he’s saying in his postgame that he has confidence in Abreu. That’s why I can’t take him seriously at all.
I like Jim Crane - he has been an exceptional owner. Having said that, this isn’t working and at the end of the day it is his team - so it’s up to him to fix it… and until he does something, I’ll criticize him. Same with Dana Brown. He was fiery and passionate and then he joins the Astros and spends all his time lying to the press. At some point he needs to speak up to save the season. Just admit Espada was the poor choice and get someone to come in and win. I don’t think the players believe in Espada anymore either.
I thought about Espada’s managerial skills when I was inside my wife to go longer. Doubled my time to a respectable 4 minutes. Thanks Joe
Abreu had NO CHANCE against that pitcher. None. Not pinch hitting for him under those circumstances was kind of a perfect summation of a lot of what is wrong with the team this year. Poor performance, bad management, and stubborn pride all wrapped up in one big steaming crap burrito. In that moment, you knew they were destined to lose tonight, it was only a question of how they might do it.
You don’t expect a manager to throw his guys under the bus but at what point does he cut the charade and show some damn urgency? Whatever it is he’s telling the players in the clubhouse isn’t resonating bc we’re doing almost everything poorly, especially in critical moments. This is a veteran team w WS expectations and he’s been on the bench and in the clubhouse for YEARS. The fact that the team has quite literally fallen apart under his watch is damning. As Nook said, this team obviously isn’t serious about winning bc they’ve completely abandoned what got them here and seem perfectly content continuing down this path of “feel” over analytics.
Hader threw 1+ innings yesterday. I didn’t expect him to come out in the 10th, especially with 2 runs lead. He’s our only reliable high leverage guy and certainly don’t want to blow his elbow. If only Pressly would have done his job yesterday, we would have won both games. Damn bum!!
I like Crane too. Best pro franchise owner in Houston. But I like him a lot more when he hired a GM and let the GM run the team. I think Dana is handcuff by Crane and his country club boys.
Was Espada a Dana Brown guy? Or Crane forced Espada down Dana’s throat? Either way, Espada has to be the worse hired with the roster we have this year. Clueless all since game 1.
True, but Montero shouldn't have been playing in the first place -- Hader should have pitched. I don't care how long the top inning was, he's better, and Rafael was pitching his 3rd game in 3 days. Hader has barely pitched the past few days. Besides that, Martinez was pulled far too early. He only threw 2 pitches in tied game when he's fully capable of going 3 innings if necessary. Espadumb's thought process is completely idiotic. Most times when Seth, Dubin, and Scott pitch, there should be an automatic 1+ innings in mind. Then, you have Abreu batting not once, but twice in wRISP late in the game when Loperfido was readily available on the bench. Espadumb made multiple stupid decisions that eventually led to another pathetic loss. He will be the Astros main demise if he continues to have as much power as he has. If Crane doesn't fire him, Joe should at least be stripped of his in-game decision making.
