However good Urquidy has been, Verlander has been better. I'd rather have Verlander pitch 6 and Urquidy pitch 3 than vice-versa.
I'm good with this (JV going gm 4). If they win Cole goes gm 1 on Sat and JV pitches gm 2 on four days rest. If they lose tomorrow they have Cole going gm 5 at home and if they win they'll still have JV going gm 2 in the ALCS. Greinke goes gm 1 and maybe he does better at home. If they lose the next two games than the Rays were just better. My concern now is really if Greinke doesn't get his **** together. If he doesn't it's going to extremely hard to beat the Yankees and the Dodgers with two reliable starters and a closer who I have no confidence in (unless Hinch does what he did with Giles and doesn't put him out there and just goes with Harris (or Will Smith as he's been called by JG).
And make it more likely JV comes in behind? A guy on short rest already? If were going to use him (JV), let him start. If we build a huge lead, then Urquidy.
From the start of the series, I expected Game 3 to be a tough game for the Astros, so us losing today isn't surprising. The Rays aren't some fluke team; they're going to be a tough out. Wasn't expecting JV to start on short rest tomorrow, but I'm A-OK with that decision. Urquidy had better be ready though, in case Verlander doesn't have his A-game. The bats need to wake up tomorrow in RISP situations. Especially Springer, Brantley and Correa. Springer in particular has been underwhelming this series. The Astros still have a 90-95% chance to win this series.
He aint lying. This is like a football game where the opposing team scored in all aspects of the game (offense, defense, special teams). Has a football team ever lost when scoring in all three phases like that? I'm more interested in that than sifting through the GARM-like responses here, spouting off 3 inning ERA's and 2 game hitless streaks as "advanced analytical analysis".
yeah the whole point of getting Greinke is so that hou has that 3rd pitcher that is able to go that min 5 innings in the playoffs. obviously, preferably more but if he can't even give you 5, he's pretty much a waste. I'll chalk this one up to being such a long layoff and TB being in such desperation but he does need a significantly better showing if hou is going to survive the yankees Greinke at this stage of his career would make me very uncomfortable if he has to be a #1 or #2 on this team, but as a #3 he should be able to still be good enough to handle that role. his next outing will be very telling
Kind of like when Roberts pitched Kershaw in game 7. If he was going to pitch anyway, it seems it would have been better for him to start.
The thought of losing Cole and keeping Greinke is.... ugh. I'd much prefer a rotation of JV, Cole, McCullers (fill in with Urquidy/Whitely/Sanchez/FA).
A little different on 2 days rest vs 3 days rest. Velander could definitely go deep in the game on 3 days rest if the pitch count is manageable. Kershaw, on 2 days rest after throwing 100+ pitches in a game 5 that the Astros eventually got to him wasn't necessarily a slam-dunk option. He still pitched masterfully in game 7 though when he got in.
well Greinke is essentially the backup plan in the event of losing cole as of now. LMC has never been much of a reliable starter either. he's very up and down also but just plays with a more visible fire. ever year hou has waiting for him to make that leap. either way there's still a ton of postseason left. hopefully Grienke has a much better outing next time against the yankees. We'll definitely need it. he isn't the only starter to struggle and he won't be the last
I did not see that coming (JV moving up). Interesting. Might as well put all our chips on the table at this point and go for the jugular!
I think the offense will wake up. They’ve faced some great pitching and have left a lot of men on base. One hit here or there makes a difference and they won’t strike out 13 times again (particularly when Morton isn’t pitching).
JV is going to be on a pitch count. 3 days rest...80 pitches maybe? 4 innings. JV has only done this 3 times, one was a rain out. In 2017 he pitched 2.2 innings backing up Morton in the Alcs. I’ve never been a big fan of 3 days rest, most of the time the starter isn’t as sharp and Verlander is a creature of habit. I don’t see Verlander pitching 6 innings of high level pitching Urquidy has a rested arm and has had solid results in his last 35 innings. Let him pitch 4 innings, if he has a lead then Hand it to Verlander for 2, then Harris, Pressly, osuna for the W. If Urquidy falters like Greinke did today, break out the bullpen to close the game and save Verlander for game 5. You will have a fully rested Cole and Verlander for game 5 if needed. If we aren’t comfortable starting Urquidy for game 4, I wouldn’t be comfortable subbing Urquidy for Verlander in game 4 either. Hope I’m wrong and Verlander looks amazing on three days rest Does anyone have stats on pitchers starting on 3 days rest? I know pitchers have been successful doing 2 innings of work on their bullpen day between starts.
tbh at the end of the day if someone like JV says he wants the ball to possibly end this because he has so much confidence in Cole who will be right behind him against whichever team TB/NY next, you're just not going to deny him that. At this point, I don't see how anyone questions his judgement until he proves otherwise
