in back to back games we had our best hitters at the plate with a chance to win it, the powers of the sweatboxfield would just not allow it. it happens. got to go win this next two series.
The move for Gomez is looking more vital to this season. This team isn't mentally tough enough to make it to the playoffs right now. You can't drop nearly every road game and be that inconsistent at the plate and compete at the top. There is a lot of youth on this team and a lot of pieces that still need to be worked out, but the future is bright. If guys like Gomez and Springer when he gets back can light some fire into this team and start to fight a little more outside of Minute Maid, this team is as good as most.
The problem with the team on the road is that we have a hit or miss type of offense that plays well at home but not in many parks on the road. When you have a leadoff hitter that swings at first pitches with no one on base, you have a problem. We need more than Carlos Gomez, and yes, Springer would help because beside Lowrie, he in another one that works the count, gets on base, and hits consistently. I would make a move on the lineup, i am tired of watching Altuve leadoff innings, or with no one on base don't work the count. Now, with men on base, he does not swing at good pitches, don't get that. I would use Lowrie leading off. Right now this would be my lineup 1. Lowrie 3b (I prefer to see him at 1b as Valbuena is really doing a grreat job defensively at 3b or even Marwin could play the position better) 2. Cargo cf 3. Correa SS 4. Tukcer LF 5. Altuve 2b 6. Rasmus rf 7. Gattis 8. Valbuena 1b 9. Castro/Conger C I think that 2 changes makes a big difference. One, Lowrie leadoff, and move Gattis from the big situation RBI spots because this year he has been consistently mediocre. Now, I am going to ask a question here, once Springer is ready, who should go to the bench? Tucker? Rasmus? Or Gattis???? If the pitcher is a right handed hitter, should we sit Gattis? Well, GAttis hits righties better than lefties, same as Marisnick, he plays vs lefties, but he does not hit lefties, at least this year. I think that the move should be Gattis to the bench, Tucker DH, Rasmus LF and Springer RF. Gattis numbers for the last month have been very mediocre, an OPS of .701, and only 2 homers (yes, 3 triples). This year Gattis has been a disappointment and Rasmus, on the other hand has done a nice job.
Is there any way to break up the lineup to separate the right handed hitters and the left handed hitters? Having Rasmus/Valbueana/Castro come up back-to-back-to-back late in the game as it makes it too easy to just stick with a LHP and totally nullify those three. Top 3 are all right handed (Altuve/Gomez/Correa) and then the bottom three are left handed. I think we need more balance, but I'm struggling to put together an ideal lineup.
Baseball by it's nature is a very even sport. Any team can an sweep another team, regardless of the quality of the 2 teams. It's the reason baseball has to play such a long season so the cream can rise. It's also the reason baseball's playoffs are such a crap shoot. Tough series, but the last 2 were very close, and could have gone either way. Nothing to panic about, on to the next one. As for the road struggles. We beat Detroit 3-2 on May 23, since then we are 0-10 in one run games, and 1-6 in two run games for a 1-16 record (somebody could double check). We are just losing a lot of the close ones. And before somebody says it, no I don't believe the team is choking in road environments.
This team has been terrible on the road this whole season and has a 2 game lead in the division and the 3rd best record in the league. It's certainly not orthodox, but they are proving that you can actually make it to the playoffs that way - as long as you are just as amazing at home, which they have been thus far.
To add to my last post. We are 22-31 on the road this year, and we have actually outscored our opponents 232-218. We'll start winning some of these close ones, these things tend to even out over 162.
All true and I hope that trend can survive crunch time. We're in August now and this series and the addition of Hamels likely will have the Rangers back in the mix. The Angels have underperformed. I don't expect that to continue through September. I don't want to come off as dogging the Astros. Considering where they have been, this has been a truly remarkable year. You have to be able to bring in some games on the road, though. I just don't see them surviving heading into the fall unless they get tougher in the crunch.
Especially when they get a healthy Springer back to go along with a healthy Lowrie and an improved overall lineup with Gomez. Springer Gomez Correa Altuve Lowrie (or some version of this) Regardless of who bats behind them, That's a lineup that has a pretty great combination of speed, power, and contact that will be tough to deal with on a daily basis for any opposing team. (and even more-so if Tucker/Castro/Conger continue their improved plate appearances... and Gattis/Valbuena simply shows a semblance of a pulse at the plate). Would be very interesting to know what their overall road numbers are since Springer went out (in terms of runs scored, etc.). I believe their record is 3-13. So, at the very least, they're likely a .500 team (or better) on the road when healthy.
Went to the game in Arlington last night...Rangers' fans are almost as insufferable as Mavericks' fans. They kept acting like they had just won the world series with each out. It's too damn hot at that ballpark as well. Just some quick knee-jerky thoughts, mainly stemming from my ongoing frustration with how the entire series went: Kazmir only gave up 1 earned run...indicative of how the night went. We were actually hitting the ball pretty well and getting good cuts, but luck seemed to favor the rangers the entire night. I don't want to see Valbuena in the line up anymore. Yea his defense is nice and his occasional solo HR's are neat. But dude is hitting like .188 with RISP. I say just stick with Lowrie and Marwin, confer some stability and consistency in the lineup. Time and time again he just doesn't seem to get it done when it truly matters. Hinch should have PH for Valbuena sooner in the game than he did. Several times this series and including last night, all he needed was a sac fly to tie the game. The succession of lefties in the lineup seems to keep hurting us too. All teams have to do is bring in a LHP in relief and it gets them automatic outs when they're facing that black hole in the line up. I don't know if there's a good solution though. Marisnek also continues to flail offensively..but he also had some stellar plays on defense. I think our road woes are bound to improve though--we can't keep losing one run games on the road. All 3 games of this series were very winnable, and we definitely should have won the latter 2 games. It is amazing though how different the team is on the road vs. at home. Hopefully this series ignited a torch and we sweep the A's. Angels are clearly still slumping so there's a good chance for us to gain ground again this weekend, and the rangers and Jays don't honestly concern me. On to the next game...
I watched the game last night but did not listen. It seemed there were two prime opportunities for Tucker to pinch hit. Was there a reason he didn't? EDIT: Just read that he had a triceps issue but 'was available'. I guess he wasn't that available as the 6th inning would have been the perfect opportunity for him to pinch hit for Marisnick.
What really sucks about that 22-31 mark is, we actually started the season much better on the road than we did at home.
The best thing the Astros can do is get the bad taste out of their mouth by winning their next game as soon as possible and not let this snowball. If they continue to lose in droves on the road, then this team will screw itself out of playoff contention. And, it's not entirely unexpected that they could collapse here. It's more mental than anything and that is what is so frustrating about it. We know the ability and talent is there.
There is no real sign of this team collapsing,and yes it would be entirely unexpected, we're the best team in the division. We lost 2 games both by a run, 2 bloop singles and everything is different. We've been losing on the road for a while now, and we're still in first place. People worry about us falling apart after every losing streak, still can't get that loser mentality out of some peoples heads.
The team will not collapse as we are going to continue our series at home, but we are going to continue losing our series on the road. That will make the job difficult, but should end on top, even if we go down for a few games to the second place. Lets hope the Astros change on the road, it could happen. I still think we need 2 changes in our lineup. One Altuve hitting 5th and Lowrie first, and move Gattis to the 7th spot, that way you take away 3 lefties hitting in a row, and the truth is his numbers are below average.
altuve should get a day off, and be moved to 2nd in the order. some really bad at bats by the top of the order compared to the at home tear they were on. it's fascinating how they all struggle at the same time on the road.
I would like to see him take that day off, and play Marwin. Now, why i want him in the 5th spot? Because he does not take pitches, and hitting 5th a .290-.300 average could mean a lot of RBI's. Now, a .290-.300 is not as good hitting in the first 2 spot IF the OBP is low, in the .330's.
I think what happened right before the All-Star break was a sign of what can happen in a hurry if you drop several in a row. We lost the division lead. We are fortunate that LA has been stinking it up in the second half to where we got it back. Plenty of teams' seasons are defined by numerous one run losses. Lose by 1....lose by 20....a loss is a loss. It could have been different doesn't change anything for those teams. We were one of those teams as recent as last season. Doesn't mean anything other than we've been taking care of business at home and have been fortunate LA is struggling. And, we just kind of let the Rangers back in the race. I don't have a loser mentality. End of season races can become quite heated and the pressure can mount. There is not a lot of separation between teams right now. Every game is important. We have a young team and the grind of the season can mean fatigue at the end of the season...just as fatigue was pointed as a possible reason why we lost out toward the all-star break. The downward trend regarding road losses is concerning. I seriously doubt that "play pretty well at home and lose on road" is going to end well if it continues this way to the end of the season. Just win a few road games and get the confidence back to where we are playing well regardless of stadium.
The problem is that the lefties in our lineup are a grab-bag of inconsistency and frustration. Not one of them can get on base with any regularity, or even slug when asked to.
And the team came back and won 11 of 18 games. As seal said, there's been no signs of collapse in this team. They are very streaky, in large part due to their home/road splits, but there's been no sign that they are falling apart. It's not luck that the Angels are "stinking it up" (at 9-10 since the ASB). They have a lot of weaknesses and are going to have weak periods too, just like the Astros and every other team. Overreacting when the Astros have a down period and another team gets hot is silly. These things balance out, as we saw the last few weeks.
