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. 9-8 Blake Snell (L) vs. Hunter Brown (R) 7:10 Apple TV+ only 9-9 Seth Lugo (R) vs. Cristian Javier (R) 6:10 MLBN (out-of-market only) 9-10 TBD vs. J.P. France (R) 1:10 MLBN (out-of-market only)
This could be rough. 8-26-23 Brown : 5.0 IPs 4 Hs 2 Rs 8-27-23 Verlander : 5.0 IPs 2 Hs 0 Rs 8-28-23 Javier : 4.0 IPs 6 Rs 4 Hs 8-29-23 France : 5.2 IPs 5 Hs 2 Rs 8-30-23 Framber : 6.0 IPs 5 Hs 4 Rs 8-31-23 9-1-23 Verlander : 6.0 IPs 8 Hs 6 Rs 9-2-23 Brown : 4.0 IPs 5 Hs 5 Rs 9-3-23 Javier ; 6.0 IPs 4 Hs 3 Rs 9-4-23 France : 5.0 IPs 6 Hs 5 Rs 9-5-23 Framber : 7.0 IPs 6 Hs 1 Rs 9-6-23 Verlander : 7.0 IPs 4 Hs 2 Rs
y'all noticed Dubon had a recent uptick of infield error lately? y'all think playing outfield and infield inconsistently have something with it?
The good news is we hit lefties well. I'd go with: Altuve Tucker Bregman Alvarez McCormick Abreu Meyers Pena Maldy But I'd want Diaz & Brantley ready to pinch hit if a RHP comes into face Meyers/Maldy at any point.
Having the extra RP in the pen and being off yesterday will help. They have 9 RP including Urquidy who can throw up to 4 innings in one game if needed.
The Padres are an exceptionally talented team that simply hasn't translated into wins They have a very dangerous lineup with 8 starters above 100 OPS+ and their ace and CY Young candidate on the mound and a good bullpen. They have scored 8+ runs 24 times this year. The Astros need to limit Brown to 2 times through the order. The top of the lineup is dangerous and Brown should have his pitches/innings limited anyway. This is the most important game of the series. If they can score runs and win the home struggles go away and the pressure is reduced. If they don't score and lose it continues to build.
Big series Padres are very talented but it just hasn't been a good mix. They have been especially bad on the road, and especially lately. Last road trip was a 1-5 trip to Milwaukee and St. Louis, before that a 1-4 trip to Seattle and Arizona. Snell has dominant stuff but is wild. Guys like Bregman, Tucker, Chas should do well against him. Guys like Dubon, Diaz likely struggle. Will be interesting to see the lineup tonight for sure cause guys with no patience don't typically have a great chance against Snell The last two games definitely favor the Stros so a win tonight would be big I hope dusty manages tonight more like a playoff game. The pen is rested right now, if we can get 4+ strong innings out of Hunter or Javier I would pull them at first sign of struggle and go to the pen. 2/3 would be an ok series, a sweep would be huge
At this point I’d settle for just one finishing really strong and becoming a lock for the game 3 starter. Right now I don’t know what they are going to do - it’s definitely the biggest hole on this team.
Dubon is guaranteed to play tonight, Maldonado is sure to catch tomorrow. Sunday is the best bet, but Dusty seems to get off on making sure the best lineup is never actually on the field so I'm guessing Singleton or one of the other bench guys starts the last game.
