Clutchfans pessimism never fails. He's hurt right now and rounding into shape. You dont think that he will ever be elite again for the rest of his career?
There is valid concern regarding how Keuchel has looked since coming off the DL. Last year, while supposedly pitching hurt, he had several good to stellar starts... along with starts where he would look stellar but have one bad inning that would knock him out of the game. I have concerns that he has looked shaky, or given up hits/walks in nearly every single inning he's pitched since coming back. I don't think he will face a worse lineup for the rest of the year, than the one he faced last night. If he's not right, he needs to tell somebody this time around.
What makes you think he's rounding into shape? He's managed to look worse than he did in his first start back so he's not progressing. I get that it doesn't help anything to be pessimistic, but how can you not be a little pessimistic about him at this point? He looks significantly worse than he did last season. And even last season he wasn't anywhere close to being an ace. If Keuchel doesn't get right by the playoffs then you're gonna trot out a pitching rotation of... 1. McCullers 2. McHugh 3. Morton/Peacock (Maaaaaybe Keuchel if he can get back to even something like what he was last year) The point is, while our bats should be good to go and very dangerous in the playoffs, our pitching is likely going to be bad. Right now I'm not sure there's any reason to be very confident that they'll hold off the Red Sox for the #1 AL seed. I'm not saying it's inevitable, but there's at least a half decent chance the Red Sox pass us. And if that's the case, then we go from playing one of Seattle, New York, Tampa or KC (in all likelihood) to playing Cleveland in the ALDS. And that should scare every single Astros fan.
The post DL DK is maybe the worst he has ever looked as an Astro. Yes I know, small sample. But in watching the games; Many of his misses have been by inches This gives me some room for optimism. A small change in delivery, mentality or approach could reshape his outcomes and effectiveness dramatically. The "more rest" solution seems to be loosing its legs.
His drop in velocity is far more concerning than location. After they were pounding his 87 mph fastball last night, he started going more to the changeup/curveball... which eventually become ineffective pitches when the batter doesn't have to worry about an effective fastball/sinker. He doesn't have enough stuff to overpower people... and deception goes out the window when there's not much change in the velocity or movement on pitches.
He had issues with command and velocity. He was missing on his location and was getting hit hard. He was missing with his fastball as well. He didn't look right at all to me. It wasn't just the fact that he was absolutely shelled by a AAA line up, but how it happened. The only legitimate hitters in the White Sox line up had a field day against him which makes you wonder what the outcome would have been against a decent line up. 4 innings with 3 walks ...... 10 hits and 92 pitches is just not pretty. If I were a betting man there is something still wrong with Dallas and it wasn't just a bad day. There is no explanation for the velocity drop and the lack of command makes me think we was actually either in pain or he was over throwing to get his velocity up to the 87-89 level. He actually hit 86 mph on one of his last fastballs last night.... that is scary, that is like an 7-8% decrease in velocity.
This is all in-line with an arbitrary 2 month "no throwing" prescription for an injury that was never fully disclosed or expanded upon ("he slept funny! nothing more!"). Somebody needs to go back and re-watch his 5/16 start against Miami.... the game he went 5 innings, only 70 pitches (team had a big lead), and was pulled "just to get him some extra rest" (while he lands on the DL prior to the next start).
I agree with you and if you remember I thought there was a real chance this was inevitable, why I wanted him to be treated with absolute kiddie gloves. I would guess it is a nerve issue, and question whether he will ever be healthy again.
It does feel like there is more to the story. Or maybe there are two or more stories going on here. I haven't heard a thing about whether his latest difficulties are the same ones that put him on the DL. So whats possible based on what we know. 1) Nobody knows whats wrong 2) DK does, but isnt telling 3) Jeff and Hinch know, but aren't telling either 4) Nothing is wrong
This is where having more hard-hitting/aggressive local media coverage could help unearth the truth. Given what has happened in the past, I don't expect Hinch or the front office to be up front about injuries until well after the process has run its course. I'd be fine with DK coming out saying "I'm fine... just sucking..."
it's over. Playoffs. Likely but not likely to get to WS. And not beating to Dodgers, not this year even if they do. That's Houston sports. But it was fun while it lasted
By inning yesterday, Keuchel surrendered the following batted balls in play -- 1st inning: 5 grounders, one line drive 2nd inning: 2 grounders, one fly ball 3rd inning: 4 grounders, one fly ball, one line drive 4th inning: 4 fly balls, one line drive, no grounders So it can be said that through three innings, Keuchel did a good job of inducing ground balls (his trademark). However many of them were hit hard and found their way through the infield. The White Sox had an in-game BABIP of .400, which reflects a certain degree of good luck in simply hitting balls where defenders were not. Had their BABIP been a more normal ~.300, it's likely Keuchel gets through the first inning surrendering only one run and giving up only two runs in the third. Who knows how that would have changed the direction of the game. Aside from the lost fastball velocity, most alarming to me was Keuchel's inability to induce ground balls in the fourth inning. We can expect that around 10% of fly balls will leave the park so it's worrisome when he starts letting hitters elevate the ball. Keuchel claims that none of this is due to injury... I guess we'll know at some point over the next six weeks.
Obviously I watched him, idiot. I said that bad luck was one factor, not the totality of the story. Read the post and if you are fluent in the English language, you will see that.
If you try and use BABIP as an argument in favor of Keuchel last night... its a pretty short-sighted/non-sensical/seems like you didn't watch the game argument. I'd venture that every time a pitcher gets rocked... the BABIP is decidedly elevated. You cannot use that metric in one single (bad) game. It works better over the course of a season, or over a handful of games at least. Keuchel allowed a lot of hard hit balls... the ground balls included. HIs velocity was down, control was spotty.... like I said, a shell of his normal self. As far as your choice of name-calling... not sure if you're just having a bad day, on your period, or simply can't handle it when Keuchel is deservedly criticized. I guess given your handle, shouldn't have expected otherwise. Most of us try to be professional in here...
When you post on this forum, it's pretty much taken for granted that everyone who takes the time to post is watching the Astros' games. If you visit a forum about soap operas or quantum physics, that is probably not a valid assumption. But you're on the clutchfans Astros forum for goodness sake. Anyone who re-watches Keuchel's 1st and 3rd innings will see that there were ground balls getting through the infield that were simply the result of good luck (i.e. fortunate placement) on the part of the White Sox. My point was a simple and measured one: That, absent this measure of good luck, Keuchel would likely have given up around two runs less than he actually did. I myself said I found his performance 'alarming' so no one ought to think I was singing his praises. Just simply asking for some sobriety and reason in assessing his performance. I also said that the drop in velocity was concerning. I didn't sugarcoat anything. But the extremist/alarmist element started to come out of the fanbase so that was worth responding to. You are hardly professional if you insinuate that other posters on this forum aren't even taking the time to watch the games (even posters who give detailed inning-by-inning analysis!) and you have no reason to expect to be treated politely when you make such unreasonable insinuations. If you will send me your mailing address, I'll drop you the tampon coupons from the Sunday paper if I come across them. Dumbass.
