Yeah, I'm not that mad for all the trash talking. It's whatever. I'm still happy with the team. We were down on pitching (Gracia, McCullers [not a shocker]) and the others weren't themselves. I'm not sure I would have put France in vs Urquidy (or even leave Brown in longer?). Hoping they don't resign Maldi. And Pena needs to get better. It would be one thing if it was a playoff slump, but it was most of the season. Can't have those blacholes at the back of the lineup. I was legit nervous with every Rangers hitter. And then nervous that ours would just strike out.
At the end of the day say what you will about the offense not scoring runs, but pitching is really what let us down in the series. Besides game one which was an anomaly and looking at the series total of runs from both teams it’s shocking that game ended 2-0 only, that one was on the offense. However the other 3 loses are on the pitching, it’s hard consistently coming back from being down early. Yes we did it in game 5, but barely. If the pitching was as good as last year we would be singing a different tune now.
Better offense would've forced Bochy's hand more often this series. Peña, Dubon, Tucker, and Maldonado were all duds. But only one of those players had a viable (awesome is more like it) replacement. Dusty chose not to use him knowing full well the offense was struggling at home. The lineup was short AF and Rangers escaped many innings/rallies because there were too many auto-outs. Rangers getting two lucky wins to open the series was too much to overcome. Dusty had other options for offense and he ignored it. Astros were forced to use Abreu, Pressly, and Neris 5x in the first 2 games, and both games were L's. That was a killer. Framber killed us too, but even then, the umpires favored Arlington the entire series. Rangers got all the luck. Their BABIP was unbelievable compared to Houston.
There's rarely ever just one answer/reason - and I would agree - and have been saying for a while - that this wasn't a deep line-up. But the vast majority of run-scoring opportunities in this series - among the four losses - weren't squandered by 7-8-9: GAME 1: - Yordan struck out with runners on 1B & 2B; 2 outs - Pena struck out with bases loaded; 1 out - Maldonado struck out with bases loaded; 2 outs GAME 2: - Bases loaded; no outs - Diaz & Altuve struck out; Bregman grounded out - McCormick strikes out with runner on 2B; 2 outs GAME 6: - Abreu lines out with runners on 1B and 2B; 1 out - Tucker strikes out with runners on 1B and 2B; 2 outs - Abreu grounds out with runners on 1B and 2B; 2 outs - Rangers hit Maldonado, and Altuve, Brantley and Bregman go 1-2-3 [this wasn't a scoring opportunity - but a gift, and they failed to cash in] - Tucker hits into FC with runners on 1B and 2B; 0 outs - Brantley hits into a DP after Altuve single; 1 out - Dubon lines out with bases loaded; 1 out - Singleton strikes out with bases loaded; 2 outs GAME 7: - Brantley hits into a DP with runners on 1B and 3B; 1 out - Pena strikes out with runner on 2B; 1 out - Maldonado strikes out with runner on 2B; 2 outs - Abreu grounds out with runner on 3B; 1 out - Brantley grounds out with runner on 3B; 2 outs For whatever reason, when the team needed a hit *at home,* the guys we actually expected to hit repeatedly failed. So frustrating.
ALCS RBI's 1-6 - 27 7-9 - 5 Runs can be scored without any baserunners too. Dusty allowed that option to rot on the bench. An extra run here and there could have forced Bochy's hand to burn his bullpen more, thus, exposing more of it more often. Rangers got damn near ALL the luck this series -- umpiring and BABIP. Had those factors just been even (not even in Astros advantage), Houston wins this series in 5 or 6. Houston surrendered runs from those factors and starters/pitchers had early-exits. Flip side of the luck, Rangers bullpen didn't get exposed. Sidenote: It's incredible that Brantley actually sucked worse than Tucker sucked.
I assumed everyone was happy with how the team played in the their three wins - I was focused on the four losses: ALCS RISP @ MMP: 1-6 - 2/16 7-9 - 2/8 (not including Diaz and Singleton PHs) Sure. Again, let's focus our ire where it belongs: Dubon (.300) had as many hits (6) as Alex Bregman (.231) Pena (.160) had as many hits (4) as Kyle Tucker (.152) Maldonado (.125) had as many hits (2) as Michael Brantley (.118) The Astros' 7-8-9 hitters did *not* lose this series. They didn't help! But Yainer Diaz isn't going to reverse 2/16 from our top 6 with RISP @ MMP. (And let's keep in mind: Diaz struck out with the bases loaded in game 1 - let's not pretend he didn't have a chance to alter the series.)
Diaz is NOT a PH or DH. This was proven in the regular season with his 1.000 OPS at catcher vs .600 at PH/DH. OPS Dubon .586 -- Bregman 1.067 Pena ..352 -- Tucker .521 Mold .452 -- Brantley .426 Everyone could've done better wRISP, but it's a travesty that 20 PAs were wasted on a .500 guy instead of a 1.000.
In defense of Diaz, he got froze out by Dusty the last part of the season and the post season. With steady starts he will gain consistency.
I'm not pointing any fingers at Diaz (though that was a particularly atrocious AB) - but this seems like a remarkably silly distinction to make, especially since you're not granting Dubon, Pena and Maldonado similar distinctions, comparing them to Brantley, Bregman & Tucker even though we're all fully aware they're in the line-up for their gloves and certainly not their bats. Again, it's never any one thing - but if you start to list treasons we lost this series, your should be fairly long before you get to: our 9th hitter wasn't good.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/alcs-managerial-report-card-dusty-baker/ Excerpt below... Dusty Baker, Houston Astros Batting: F
Diaz doesn't bat 9th. And he's the only player who can replace others players who sucked. Maldonado's ERA isn't even better than Yainer's. And the Rangers enjoyed running all over him during the series. Everyone gets a free base.
My bad. These posts should have been in the GARM. Posting to CF from my phone is a fool’s errand given I’m in the autumn of my years. My apologies
