Yeah, I believe the radio said the Astros were 1 for their last 27, with RISP going into last night. Crazy.
Yep. Another game where we either hit back to back jacks...or get good offensive production / power hitting but still lose. The season is still young, but man it's been frustrating. (where have I said that before.....cough...Rockets [not that I think the Astros will implode like that]) Let's go Stros!
Spoiler Spoiler <iframe allowfullscreen width="600" height="150" scrolling="no" src="https://www.iheart.com/video/jeff-luhnow-26923798/?embed=true&autoStart=false&share=http://www.sports790.com/media/play/26923798/&siteid=589" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" ></iframe> http://www.sports790.com/media/play/26923798/ •(How are things?) They could be better. Hanging in there. Some positives but we clearly gotta get our act together and put some wins up on the board. •(Most disappointing?) Pitching isn't up to where it was last year. It's early. We need to get our starters deeper into games and relievers need to do what they're out there to do. Had hard hit balls last night and bloops on their side dropped. Can't control that. Our pitching staff as a whole needs to pick it up a notch. •(Panic button early) We did win a series at home against Detroit and still have 2 more in Texas. One series at a time. Positive storylines out early. Tyler White at 1B, Springer has gotten hot, Altuve as hot as anyone. There some good things to look forward to as the summer comes. •(Altuve) Jose is stronger now than he's ever been. He has some pop in his bat. It's not coming at the expense of taking good at-bats. He has that line drive swing. The opposite field HRs are indications that he's getting stronger. •(Balance of getting guys opportunities) It's tough. Guys like Marwin, Marisnick & Gattis all do better with regular time but can we afford to give them the time to get in rhythm and at who's expense? It's a conversation AJ has daily with his staff. He's communicating frequently with the players. They'll get frustrated. AJ is going with the guys he thinks who gives us the best chance on any given night and that's all you can ask. •(Chris Devenski - long relief, high leverage or rotation) Right now, we'll see him in increasingly high important situations. Last night he was so efficient. We'll start to see him in more important situations because he can handle them. He'll probably be a reliever for the most of this year. Long term, he's a starter. He'll be effective one way or another. •(McCullers) He threw a bullpen yesterday and felt good. We'll take it one step at a time. Another bullpen in a few days and then back in game action and see how it goes. It's frustrating for fans. We want him back but we want to keep him there in the rotation all year and deep into October. •(General soreness) He'll learn how to manage it as he gets deeper into his career. Not worried about it. Not an injury there. This is him getting built up and feeling strong enough to come into our rotation and hopefully that happens in the next couple of weeks. •(Ken Giles Sunday 8th inning) That was the highest leverage part of the game. You had the meat of Detroit's order. Big confidence boost. HRs have been an issue but strikeouts:walks to IP, he's the guy we thought we were getting. Turn those HRs down a little bit and he'll be good for us. •(Alex Bregman) He's been terrific. This guy was at LSU last year and now in AA. The other guy keeping people excited is Collin Moran. Off to a tremendous start. •(Was Collin close?) We had a discussion. If White did not have the spring he had, there would have been a legitimate discussion about Valbuena at 1B and Moran at 3B to open the year. Who knows, we'll see how it goes. One injury or slump and Moran could very well be up here. He's on my short list.
feels like it. but what about the errors we've had. it's baseball errors happen but ours come at the worst moment, then the flood gates open. the gods just have to make up for things later.
Good solid breakdown J.R I think you'll like this..goes in line with your breakdown: MLB Network host: The Astros are 'very scary' in two-horse AL West race against Rangers This Story is About... RANGERS PODCASTS http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/tex...n-astros-scary-two-horse-al-west-race-rangers
We are a scary team. We have pop. Our offense is necessarily the problem... It's the pitching. If McCullers can come back healthy, if our bullpen can become consistent. We we will be ok. If not... we need to seriously need to start evaluating trades for an ace... sooner than later.
I believe it is the youth of our team is the reason we are off to a slow start. The pressure of being chosen as a world series contender must be weighting on this team. The Rangers are a brunch very good veterans teams and it shows against us.
There are some issues with the rotation but I tend to agree with you. It's pretty heavy to start the season with those kinds of expectations when a large portion of the core is 25 and younger. They'll get it figured out sooner rather than later.
I don't know... offensively, don't they pretty much look exactly like they did for much of last year: a streaky team too reliant on the home run with minimal capacity to withstand long power outages? Their starting pitching has regressed; their bullpen doesn't look very good.
Astros are hitting .184 (3rd worst in MLB) and have a .228 OBP (2nd worst) with RISP. Pitching has been largely ****, but the offense isn't exactly helping.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tonight's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rangers?src=hash">#Rangers</a>-<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Astros?src=hash">#Astros</a> lineups: <a href="https://t.co/3Qs9frASQI">pic.twitter.com/3Qs9frASQI</a></p>— Stefan Stevenson (@StevensonFWST) <a href="https://twitter.com/StevensonFWST/status/722878299148406784">April 20, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Yep... they had the best ERA in baseball last year. Thus far, they have the worst. The starters are behind the bullpen... who besides Fields and the zany HR balls by Giles, will be fine (Neshek and Harris not showing any sort of hangover).
And, according to Holland, we have to cheat to do that poorly... http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/tex...er-derek-holland-thinks-astros-stealing-signs
I thought stealing signs was a part of the game anyway. I don't buy it, though. The evidence is flimsy as hell.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Astros have lost 8 straight at Globe Life Park.</p>— Julia Morales (@JuliaMorales) <a href="https://twitter.com/JuliaMorales/status/722936570056052736">April 20, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Obviously some guys are not performing. While its fun to speculate here, its what Jeff thinks that matters. And along those lines, when will he will decide enough is enough? We are 5-9 at the moment. If we go to 10-18? 15-27? 20-36? Certainly if the current pace stands, there will be a breaking point. And like the Rockets and McHale, the change that happens may or may not be a solution, but more of a reset. Will we play out of our slump with the current contingent? I dont know. Nobody could know. But I do know that a sub .400 winning % will not stand without changes being made. Since we cant know what will change, a better bet is when they could/would change. A winning streak could change a lot. But short of that, I am thinking mid/late May. I know thats earlier than many here predict or say. But I feel if we continue to deepen the hole we have created, management isnt going to wait for it to get so deep that fans start thinking and acting like we are back in 50 wins mode.
