....4 starts in 13 days. .847 OPS for the season, 1.021 OPS in September, and he's started 4 games in 2 weeks. Dusty being the sorry ass manager he is will say how "tough' it is to get him in the lineup as if no other player can sit occasionally if he's not catching (which he should be). F**k that geriatric POS. Dusty always finds a way to get "his" guys in the lineup regardless.
If Verlander gets lit up again he can shut the f**k up about demanding Maldonado also. I'm sure Diaz can call for a high fastball that gets hit 400 feet just as well as Maldonado can.
And demanding Dubon is in Center, that's annoying. Shut up and pitch JV, he shouldn't have roster influence.
If C.Julks, or D.Hensley was on the current roster, Dusty will put them in the lineup somehow. Nice guy, but wrong guy to manage this 2023 team.
and yet he's still only hit a 0.751 OPS batting 2nd this year while he's hit with an OPS of 0.789 in the 7th/8th spots. Bregman, Altuve, Dubon, and Julks have hit better batting 2nd this season. I think the Dubon and Julks results are just luck that has no bearing on the future just as Pena's batting well in 2nd spot last year didn't carry over into this season outside of random spurts. if one believes in the power of batting order and protection, getting a good OPS from the 2nd spot should be easy. Now that 0.789 with Maldy backing you up most nights, that's something that shouldn't be thrown away. Granted, I think batting 2nd helps with runs/RBIs a lot and helps a little [but no where close to what others believe] regarding OBP/slug.
Astros would have won 120 games already if everytime I called Dusty out on doing something stupid it went Dusty's way.
Brantley has a .287 xwOBA through his first 44 PA and has yet to hit a barrel. He's not whiffing at anything however. Hopefully the contact picks up.
I think odds are good that Brantley will hit well enough against RHPs (i.e., better than he has this season) to make platooning him with Meyers beneficial provided it doesn't take away PAs from Diaz and/or Chas. Granted, Dusty won't play Meyers much anyway, and it looks like Meyers has lost his timing.
It’s mid-September and Yainer has the third highest xwOBA on the team and is sporting a .410 xwOBA this month. How often does he even play in the postseason? Once or twice per series?
