Ughhhh wasted a leadoff double.
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Pena with game winning single. Raises his BA to .328.
Mariners win. Astros 5 GB.
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Believe it or not fielding is one of singletons strengths, hes pretty athletic
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Rangers lost. Astros are closing in on second place. If they can close to within 3 games of Mariners by the end of week, that Mariners series becomes really interesting.
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Play the long game and we’ll see what we have in the Hader signing and the decision to go with Meyers. Maybe Brown isn’t so bad after all.
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Last night, I noticed and Geoff Blum mentioned that Javier’s velocity was down. Statcast said it was down 1.5 mph. I also noticed that when CJ went to the rosin bag, after he put it back down, he would wipe his forehead. Blum also said his spin rate was higher by 20. Doesn’t sweat mixed with rosin create stickiness?
Hunter pitching this afternoon. Unless he pitches an exceptional game, the team better score a ton of runs.
My confidence is low, but hopeful.
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Bloss and Ullola are both pitching great in Corpus and have both been up to 98mph recently this season.
The way that Ullola’s fastball carries to the plate is insane….He will throw a pitch that looks like it should finish at the batters ankles and it will stay in the zone.
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Brown left a pitch over the plate. He just makes mental mistakes.
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Well there were two garbage base running mistakes….Instead of a runner on 2nd with no outs Dubon is thrown out at 3rd.
Then Caratini is jogging his a$$ down the line and is still out after a high throw……would have been safe easily safe with any effort.
Stupid, lazy baseball.
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Agreed.
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Yeah and I put that on Espada and the vets not setting the tone. Altuve did the same exact thing a few weeks ago…no hustle getting to first base…
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What a waste of opportunities to win the game.
Controversial HR ruled double that generated no runs.
Unnecessary aggressive base running (Dubon) and lazy base running (Caratini).
Good outing by Brown and RP.
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Yah the home run reversal was unfortunate. Still had enough opportunities to win but in a one run game that sort of thing is very costly. Wasted a rare quality start from Hunter. On to the A’s. Naturally they come out to Oakland the day I’m leaving the Bay Area smh
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No argument from me on this point.
If Espada had higher expectations and the Vets respected him more we wouldn’t see this stuff.
He doesn’t have to make a scene in the dugout or public, he doesn’t owe it to the fans to tell us about any conversations with players he had….but it does need to be handled in private.
I get Altuve loafing to first( not that it’s acceptable) but where does the backup catcher who has been a part of this team for only a couple of months think it’s the norm?
Circle back up to the top of my post for the answer.
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I’ll give him a pass as s fan. It might have been costly. If it happens again he needs to be handled by Bregman and Tucker.
Espada is just in way over his head. It is mind-blowing how bad he is at lineup construction. Why are baseball managers so hard-headed that they refuse to make changes even when they are obviously needed. I though last year was bad with the constant reliance on Martin Maldonado, but this year with Jose Abreu for as long as it was allowed to go on was way worse.
There is no justification for having Bregman as the cleanup hitter every game. This season when batting 4th, Bregman is hitting .187/.244/.496 with 0 HRs. Nearly 2/3 of his ABs this year have been as the clean up hitter, but the majority of the damage he’s done at the plate came from the 5 games where he hit 5th or 6th.
After his explosion in offensive production from the 5th and 6th spot he got moved back to the 4th spot and in the week he’s been back in the 4 spot, he’s hit .143/.214/.440 with 2 doubles and 0 RBIs. A week with no RBIs from your cleanup hitter.
I also question the use of Singleton against lefties, when you have 3 better options on the bench according to the “back of their baseball cards.”
Diaz v. LHP - .292/.417/.763 (48 ABs), OPS+ 118
Dubon v. LHP - .344/.500/.853 (32 ABs), OPS+ 142
Loperfido v. LHP - .400/.400/.900 (5 ABs), OPS+ 163
Singleton v. LHP - .200/.333/.606 (30 ABs), OPS+ 73
Against a starting LHP, Singleton has to come out of the lineup in favor of Diaz or Dubon. I would even use Loperfido some more to see if he can consistently hit LHPs at the major league level. Between Singleton and Loperfido, I think Loperfido has the longer future with the team, so let’s see what he’s got.
I think the lineup should be:
Altuve (2B)
Dubon (LF)
Tucker (RF)
Alvarez (DH)
Pena (SS)
Bregman (3B)
Loperfido (1B)
Diaz (C)
Meyers (CF)
Finally, the next time the Astros need to make a call up, it’s past time to see what Pedro Leon can do at the major league level. Trey Cabbage should not get the next shot. Leon is only hitting .300/.559/.940 for the season at Sugarland with 9 HRs and 12 SBs.
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Good post.
I agree with basically everything you said 94.
I agree that Leon should be the next guy up if an injury occurs….followed by Whitcomb( Way better player than Kessinger will ever be).
And unfortunately look for Joey to be sent down when Abreu comes back……I thought it would be Kessinger because Dubon can back up any infield position and Loperfido can play 1st and 2nd base( some may not know this).
But he hasn’t played in what 4 games? Ridiculous.
You don’t bring a rookie like him up and then play him sporadically.
Between subbing for Singleton, Chas, and Meyers there are plenty of AB’s to be had but Espada is not as smart as I thought he was.
Chas was hitting around .200 in his mostly AA rehab assignment……There was no reason for him to have to come back and immediately start.
That was your chance to give Loperfido a week of starts to let him get settled….Give him a chance to get comfortable and show that power/speed combo.
Just dumb.
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Good day. Rangers and Mariners lost.
We really shouldn’t have dropped a series at home to the Angels.
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I would swap Pena and Tucker and let the Big Dog eat. All three of Altuve, Dubon, and Peña can motor. And Tucker is on track to challenge for RBI and MVP.
What hell is so wrong with having a lineup that a baseball coach would understand?