Well these last 2 games were weird as f**k, but a win is a win. A four game sweep of those punks and the Silver Boot is wrapped up by mid June
Balks aren't reviewable. Altuve called it from 2nd. The entire Stros bench went nuts. I'm fairly certain that any of the 4 umps can call it. I still have no idea how they missed it.
Rondon has closer experience, and he's certainly beasting right now. It is kind of funny that a closer lost his job without actually blowing a save, but Giles highs and lows this season have been terrifying on the heels of a catastrophic postseason. Hard to argue with giving another guy a chance. Maybe Giles puts it together and dominates in non save situations. Overall the bullpen has done a ton of good work this season despite constant complaints about it.
Banister: My concerns that no one on the field originally called a balk. There was nothing, no umpire called a balk. Their manager came out & I guess was arguing for a balk, they got together & explanation to me was that Keone didn't tell anyone he was going out of the windup. Unfortunate. Never seen a non-balk call turned over and called a balk. Haven't looked at the video. My argument was I didn't know we could come out & get them to convene to see what everyone came up with. You can't argue against a balk. That was my concern. Did they tell you one umpire made the call? No.
Well, yeah, that goes without saying. This is getting more bizarre: in his postgame, Bannister says that the reason he was given by the umps is that "[Kela] didn't tell anyone he was going to be pitching out of the windup." This makes no sense, as he was pitching out of the stretch, and regardless he doesn't have to tell the umps beforehand anyway. Also, between the Stros broadcast, Stros radio, Rangers postgame and 6 or so longtime baseball guys I've talked to, nobody has ever seen anything like that before.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Keuchel gets a 10 day DL stint soon, just to give him a break. He needs some time off. Looked horrible today.
