Absolutely no reason to play Brantley vs a lefty. It's imperative that he stays healthy and strong. Chas plus Meyers or Dubon are plenty good enough and better than risking him. Diaz needs to catch Brown.
Lineup prediction. For giggles and sht. Altuve 2b Pena ss Alvarez dh Bregman 3b Tucker rf Abreu 1b Diaz c McCormick lf Dubon cf As close as you can get to the best lineup...with Brantley off. Good chance Astros lose mainly because Snell is pitching and Astros suck at home until proven otherwise.
I would like to see Meyers get a start today, as long as Chas is in LF. There's no doubt that Dubon has been hot, but Meyers has started 1 game in the past 13 days and is simply a better outfielder than Dubon. He takes more pitches and walks than Dubon and waiting out Snell is a good strategy as stated earlier. He has more power and is better on the bases. If Altuve, Pena, or Dubon get hurt then Meyers will suddenly be needed so it's important that he keeps getting playing time. Besides, I still think he hasn't hit his ceiling and could make a Chas-lite kind of jump in production if given a chance. I'm pretty sure Dubon is at (or maybe over) his ceiling.
Lineup prediction 1. Altuve 2B 2. Pena SS 3. Alvarez DH 4. Bregman 3B 5. Tucker RF 6. Abreu 1B 7. Brantley LF 8. Meyers CF 9. Maldy C Hopefully I’m wrong and Chas and Diaz play.
I have a feeling Dusty will have Maldy catch Brown, because we're facing a lefty. Dusty points to that a lot, and he recently (about 2 weeks ago, vs Seattle) had Maldy catch France for a start. Maldy is actually batting 250 with a >800 OPS against southpaws.
Yep, hitting wins the game, usually. But other areas of the games is what loses you one-run games. Gotta have Meyers in there over Dubon in case of the one-run games and Chas needs to be in there because hitting usually wins the game.
I wish the Astros twitter team would've used McCormick as the stand-in photo with all the hullaballoo going around...but maybe that's too much of a hot potato! The clubhouse chatter around the Dusty v McCormick feud must be interesting... Also - not sure I like Pena in the two spot. Keep Bregman there and move Pena to 8.
Sure But if he should only play 2 of 3 then this is the 1 to sit him. Whomever replaces him is likely better here than against a righty, and I bet on Uncle Mike vs anyone
I would rather see Brantley instead of Diaz at DH but still a solid lineup. Snell has a propensity to be wild and Diaz already doesn’t hit LHP well so that’s tough given he chases. As mentioned Brantley is 6-13 against him and isn’t going to be swinging at balls. As I say this, Diaz will probably hit multiple homers tonight.
I agree that Brantley would probably have as good a chance as any to have a good game today, but I just can't shake the feeling that they need to save his bullets. 2 games per series the rest of the way. Maybe all 3 vs Seattle if others cool off. He's the ace up the sleeve for the playoffs
