There is no value in holding your best pitchers back, not to mention Verlander likes being on regular rest. If the Astros make the WS, he will be able to pitch game 2 and 6. If not for a bad 1st inning, we would have won tonight. It happens, the Yankees were at home and they won well over 100 games this year.
Yuli has hit the ball ridiculously well. People bagging on him just don’t understand the first thing about baseball. Just freaking quit watching or reading box scores or whatever you do. Each game has been won by the team that homers. The pitching is so elite it is hell to string together rallies. Game 1: NYY multiple homers on Grienke, NYY tack on late, but game was decided Game 2: correa double, Judge two run shot, springer solo, correa walk off homer Game 3: Altuve and Reddick homers, astros tack on late, someone had a solo homer for NYY. Game 4: springer and correa both hit three run bombs Game 5: LeMahieu and Hicks homer
Disappointment in Yuli is his .0001 BA and 1 Rbi, on an error? Yordan needs to sit. Play Diaz, play Tucker, play a bag of potato chips and youd get the same results.
Yuli has a crap BA, sure. How many well hit balls? How many with high exit velo? He has been beyond unlucky with those balls being hit right at people or great defensive plays being made. Dig deeper than BA with a minuscule sample size. If you actually watch the games, you would not think yuli is doing badly at the plate. Be a student of the game. Or just listen to Smoltz talk about the quality of ABs by yuli. Yordan looks lost. If you are gonna complain, focus there. Poor ABs yielding poor results. Looks lost from pitch to pitch. Vulnerable to heat up in the zone. Can’t catch up to it, vulnerable to sliders down and away. Only hit one ball hard all series, and it was a DP when Bregs got double off first. Yeah, maybe you sit Yordan. I wouldn’t but I could understand it.
It seems like the offense is trying too hard to hit homers and taking wild aggressive swings at wack pitches. Kind of similar to how the Rockets sometimes live and die by the 3, when they start just chucking stuff up.
Fun fact: Crazy tidbit from Elias: Tonight marked the first time in 1,609 postseason games through baseball history in which both teams scored in the first inning then put up zeroes the rest of the way.
I really think AJ ought to consider swapping Bregman and Brantley. Too many times this postseason has Brantley come up in a big spot when I feel so much more confident in Breg doing something more productive... too many ground balls from Brantley in important situations leads to a lower leverage AB for Breg.
If Cole is being saved for game 7 that surely confirms that Verlander in game 5 was a mistake. Either use the principle of saving the best until last (with a sprinkling of the most favourable conditions to pitch in i.e at home) or don't. No way can you consider the next series until you have done the job in this to the best of your ability. Then you see where you are. On the plus side it is a positive that you can admit your mistakes.
Ask yourself "am I more expecting to win with Cole a day short of a more ideal rest or with the alternatives we have a available". No? Anyway, by hook or crook it is our destiny to do it. Come on boys!
Astros have scored 35 runs in 11 playoff games. 7 are unearned. They are averaging just over 3 runs a game and 2.5 a game taking out the errors. To put this in comparison, the Detroit Tigers were the lowest scoring team in MLB in 2019 and averaged 3.6 runs a game. The level of underachievement from this offense is astonishing. That they are one game away from the WS in spite of it speaks to how amazing their pitching has been.
Hinch made the right decision and knows perfectly well what to do with his lineup. Unlike Boone who looks completely lost.
Verlander was ready to go, our #1. We go bullpen next. Cole will be there. This was the proper move. We've made zero mistakes.
