All series talk goes in here. Non series talk goes somewhere else. No PBP, that can be found from other sources if you need it. All games are broadcast on AT&T Sports SW unless otherwise noted. 6-13 Cristian Javier (R) vs. Taylor Hearn (L) 7:05 MLBN (out-of-market only) 6-14 Jose Urquidy (R) vs. Dane Dunning (R) 7:05 6-15 Luis Garcia (R) vs. TBD 1:05
They have not posted Urquidy as the starter Tuesday on MLB.com yet. Is it possible they are considering starting Bielak or less likely Martinez? Bielak has been a Starter in Sugar Land 5 times. It just seems strange they posted both Javier on Monday and Garcia on Wednesday, but not Urquidy.
Are there any special rules regarding posted starters and their eligibility before the official line-up card is handed in? I'm thinking about waiting to see how much the Bull Pen is need in Javier's game before deciding on Urquidy or an opener. But if changes can be made without consequence, why not just post Urquidy and change your mind if you want an opener ahead of him. I'm afraid I don't know some of the nuances of eligibility on posting line-ups and Starters, either formal or informal.
Astros are only good against good teams..so I'm told. So Yankees using that rational. Rest of the season, Astros are going to have to limp through for a chance of winning 100 games.
Agreed. Its amazing the dog days are here and its only June. They're going to have to invent ways to be motivated to avoid only winning the division by 10 games vs. 20 games.
My theory is, they are only good vs established starters who they have extensive scouting reports on.
This is now a battle of first and second place teams. At 8.5 games back the Rangers should be plenty motivated to take the series and feel like they aren't buried in the division race.
Urquidy has an xwOBA of .400 for the season, just dreadful. Both fastball and his new cutter (which seems to have largely replaced his slider) both getting annihilated. Doesn't make much sense as the velo/movement on those two pitches are very similar to Verlander's fastball and slider. Urquidy's cutter in particular is almost identical for those parameters compared to Verlander's slider.
Can't win postseason games during the regular season. Don't play enough games against teams in other divisions to control anything outside division. Winning the division in the regular season is the only goal the Astros can control right now. If your goal is to win the World Series, you should be just peachy with a goal of winning the division. Though, I should point out that the Astros currently have the greatest World Series odds according to FanGraphs. Caveat, FanGraphs thinks most World Series Champs win their division.
Making the playoffs is the goal and the easiest way to get there is winning the division. Then winning it all is the next step... however nothing about how they're playing now, a month from now, or 3 months from now will guarantee success in the playoffs or automatically indicate failure in the playoffs. Run differential certainly doesn't guarantee WS titles. Neither does winning player of the week in June. Hell, 2019 showed that winning a Cy Young award guarantees nothing in terms of playoff pitching performance... maybe even served as a detriment as he ran out of steam.
If only there was just one more important pitching parameter other than velocity/movement... in fact, I think the most important parameter between success/failure given that most MLB hitters can hit a 99 mph fastball if in a favorable place.
Urquidy is known for having plus command, although that might be an issue with the cutter it being a new pitch. His fastball command grades out very well though using the PitchingBot.
I'd say Urquidy has plus control. While control is a lot of command, knowing how and when to use pitches is an important part of command. For all Urquidy's control, Javier more often locates his fastball up in the zone while Urquidy has a lot of meatball fastballs. Edit: I've not paid too much attention to it this year, but last year it seemed like Urquidy's slider was higher than Maldy wanted it and that the fastball was closer to the middle of the plate than Maldy wanted it.
Until we look better than the NYY do, I am afraid my cupboards are bare of peaches. That series coming vs them is maybe our first real litmus test for the season.
