Well, you had to have a feeling the Astros were going to do some dumbass **** to lose this game in extras, at least they were creative about it.
Hate it when a closer blows a save. I hate that the ump, who was off the whole night, calls a balk on that. Lost focus after that. Win the next 2.
The good: Valdez settled in nice after his disastrous first inning. Would be big if this Framber is here to stay. Brantley VERY clutch, his AVG almost back at 300. Has a good chance to improve from last year. Infield defense was reliable for most of the game. Altuve 3-5, even if the 2 outs were when it mattered most. AVG and OBP went up. The bad: Uncharacteristic errors on Correa and Maldonado, plus the balk, all costly. Toro with weak contact, the infield hit was weak and in an uncovered area. Second hit just off the 2B's glove, I guess a make-up for all the hard liners gifted Arenado/Chapman. Did nothing to change my mind on his pitch selection. Springer 0-4, and exactly at the Mendoza line. The ugly: The bullpen meltdown Dustin Garneau. That's all. On my hate list and should be DFA'd. Stubbs and Papierski time.
Prior to last night, since his last blown save, Pressly had pitched 7 innings in 7 games, allowed 1 earned run, 4 base runners and stuck out 11.
His breaking pitches are still dominant but his fastball is down nearly 2 mph from 2018, which has to be a bit concerning.
I thought the offense being MIA against the pitcher with the worst ERA in the AL was the true downfall. Even the go-ahead HR was preceded by a failure of the top of the order after the bottom of the lineup got on base. Framber was a little spotty... but still ultimately good. My original question was whether or not Garneu had caught him in other starts this year, or was this the first non-Maldonado start? Not that Maldonado can catch everybody... but to say he has zero impact on the pitcher is doing him a disservice.
