Point taken but I think McCullers and Rasmus are two people that are certainly not to blame for the poor start lol
Tigers(8-6)(4): Marlins, Yankees, Pirates, Astros, Royals Reds(8-8)(3): Phillies, Pirates, Cubs, Cardinals, Rockies Brewers(7-9)(3): Giants, Astros, Cardinals, Pirates, Twins Astros(5-11)(3): Yankees, Brewers, Royals, Tigers, Rangers
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Astros lineup vs. Red Sox <a href="https://t.co/IHCq1BDZiz">pic.twitter.com/IHCq1BDZiz</a></p>— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianmctaggart/status/723603189581250561">April 22, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Kratz catching McHugh for the first time all year. Previously was only catching Fiers. Castro cannot continue to hit as bad as he is... Even with better than average defense.
Knowing Castro...he'll probably have a pinch hit home run. Then, be inserted back into the lineup the next two games, and go 0 - 8. Dude is just a mess with his hitting right now. I want to strangle either the hitting coach or the one throwing batting practice.
Altuve: we know what we have here. We are a good team. We will win. Keuchel just told us the mistakes have to stop. I need to lead better. We will play our brand of baseball. Altuve points to his own base running mistake. I should have stayed on first. We love our passion but need to be smart. Altuve admitted he made a mistake by trying to stretch single to double the other night in Arlington. Said they're all trying hard. McCullers threw a bullpen today and felt great. How he feels tomorrow is key. The recovery is the issue. Keuchel: We obviously don't want to be 5-11 by any means. At the same time, we still have plenty of room to grow. Any point in time we can click. There's really nothing else but to take it day by day and come in with a good attitude looking to work and get better. You try to overdo stuff and it backfires. It's a very team oriented sport but you have 9 individuals on the same field and if one guy is breaking down, not paying attention to the game or being a very knowledgeable baseball player, it shows. At times that's what we've had. We gotta clean that up and be in sync, all 9 of us at the same. You saw it last year. We know what to do. We gotta get back to it. ...look to me to sure things up and I haven't been much of a leader and doing my job particularly. There's a lot of stuff we need to fix but at the same time, a long ways to go and hopefully start tonight. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Altuve said slow start nothing to worry about <a href="https://t.co/SDmf1vCVtn">pic.twitter.com/SDmf1vCVtn</a></p>— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianmctaggart/status/723613212915064833">April 22, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Hinch: I certainly don't like where we've put ourselves but there's nothing we can do looking backwards. We can fix things and address things moving forward but that's where the energy has to be. If we continually talk and think about things in the past, it's only gonna slow you down. We are a better team fundamentally than we've played. There's been a few plays here & there that have gotten us. We still play hard, we still finish games, we still made a couple runs at the end... Hinch on LMc: Felt really good. He always feels good when he throws his 'pen. The key day is the day after(tomorrow). We hope he recovers. We had him extend himself a little bit. Throw more harder, get more energy into his bullpen than a normal bullpen in between starts. If he comes out of that feeling as good as we hope, that's a step in the right direction and trending towards getting back to competition. Hinch on JCastro: Like most hitters that fall behind, statistically it starts to pile up and you try to do to much. He's in between getting his rhythm & timing in order. Anytime your rhythm is messed up as a hitter, it's hard to hit as this level. Pitch selection becomes key. Being late on fastballs, early on breaking balls is a difficult.... Hinch: We're not gonna change who we are. We're an athletic team that...we are gonna fly around the bases, we're gonna swing with swagger, we're gonna hit home runs. Sometimes that produces some inconsistencies that we're continually trying to get better. We're not gonna be defined by the first 15-16 games. That's ludicrous to think this is the way the next 5 months will go. We have our hands full trying to establish again...
Hinch is a major problem, you need to make adjustments. This team struggled second half last year and star of this one, are we going to continue this madness?
Only way we win this series is if we hit early, as the Red Sox have worse starting rotation (ERA is highest) but have great relievers, a la Royals. If we are losing after 6, game over.
