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2021 Houston Astros Thread

Planet Houston

By Planet Houston
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henrygandorf
henrygandorf

there's so much to unpack from today, so i'll just start listing them. tuesday was devastating for oakland, today was twice as devastating for the yankees.  they had just started to play better. 

Brisketexan
Brisketexan

The boy and I were at the last ALCS clincher - we were walking on air for days after Altuve’s walkoff. Today, the boy is 5,000 miles and 7 hours away, with no way to watch. So we did a video chat, w

Helobious
Helobious

Enjoy it. Old Altuve, no more Correa means this is the very end of the road for your tainted dynasty. 

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clapclapclap

clapclapclap 9000

Posted
Posted

This should be the defining game of the season so far that prompts much needed changes.  Not sure that it will, though. 

And I don't want to hear bullcrap about, "But it's the defending world champs."  We just got swept by the craptastic Rangers.

Pitching wins titles.  Are we aiming for the WS or just being a playoff contender in Sept?

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WBT

WBT 20422

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Shaggy3.0 said:

Would rather see Harris, Devoe and James over these bullpen clowns. Hell throw in Osuna just for entertainment 

No shit?  What are your thoughts on a BJ vs a kick in the balls?

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Chuckie Finster

Chuckie Finster 22600

Posted
Posted
This should be the defining game of the season so far that prompts much needed changes.  Not sure that it will, though. 
And I don't want to hear bullcrap about, "But it's the defending world champs."  We just got swept by the craptastic Rangers.
Pitching wins titles.  Are we aiming for the WS or just being a playoff contender in Sept?

We aren’t even contending for the playoffs with the roster as currently constructed.
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Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, Gourmand said:

Reminder to all y'all:

It's May 25th

Indeed.  Still plenty of runway for an amazing crash.

This team is destined for destruction, and I don't mean towards the opponent.  The last 4 games have been a big shit sandwich, and the Astros can't muster a wimper against a Division rival and a WS contender at the Juice Box.  

Fucking embarrassing...

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Tylerocks

Tylerocks 2551

Posted
Posted

I'm not going to go all "the sky is falling" yet.  You have to give them a little credit.

Kershaw was vintage Kershaw last night.

Dodgers are one of, if not, the hottest team in baseball (8 straight, and 12 out of 13)

NOW, that being said.  This bullpen is utter garbage.  

I mean, I guess Framber and Odrizzi coming back could help?

 

Figger it ooot, Dusty.  Ya, fuggin bum.

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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 14487

Posted
Posted
58 minutes ago, Tylerocks said:

I'm not going to go all "the sky is falling" yet.  You have to give them a little credit.

Kershaw was vintage Kershaw last night.

Dodgers are one of, if not, the hottest team in baseball (8 straight, and 12 out of 13)

NOW, that being said.  This bullpen is utter garbage.  

I mean, I guess Framber and Odrizzi coming back could help?

 

Figger it ooot, Dusty.  Ya, fuggin bum.

It's not just the bullpen. We are carrying 4 guys on the roster, 3 that play significantly, that are not MLB baseball players at this point in time.  3 of those 4 comprised the final 3 spots of the lineup last night.

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Gourmand

Gourmand 7774

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, HtownHorn said:

It's not just the bullpen. We are carrying 4 guys on the roster, 3 that play significantly, that are not MLB baseball players at this point in time.  3 of those 4 comprised the final 3 spots of the lineup last night.

Yet the Astros are 2nd in MLB in OPS at .757 and 3rd in OBP at .332 so it's not that much of an issue. Not having Brantley last night was a surprise and I really hope that was just a case of Dusty being overly cautious or just stupid because that's a bat we can't afford to lose for any extended period. 

 

 

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Tylerocks

Tylerocks 2551

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

It's not just the bullpen. We are carrying 4 guys on the roster, 3 that play significantly, that are not MLB baseball players at this point in time.  3 of those 4 comprised the final 3 spots of the lineup last night.

Oh for sure.

I had originally included them in my post but deleted it.

Having 3-4 guys in the lineup that can't hit isn't ideal.

 

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HtownHorn

HtownHorn 14487

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Gourmand said:

Yet the Astros are 2nd in MLB in OPS at .757 and 3rd in OBP at .332 so it's not that much of an issue. Not having Brantley last night was a surprise and I really hope that was just a case of Dusty being overly cautious or just stupid because that's a bat we can't afford to lose for any extended period. 

Yes because of the exceptional efforts of the other 6-7 guys in the lineup, but once you remove any of those guys the cliff is steep, and you have a lot of pressure from those 6/7 guys to perform every night. Guess what, half of those are currently in some bad slumps.

During the 4 game losing streak.

Gurriel has lost 60 points on his OPS.

Alvarez has lost 71.

Altuve has lost 41.

So now you are talking about 6 guys in the lineup that are providing almost no offense right now. No wonder Kershaw was able to obliterate the offense last night.

Slumps happen, but when you are forced to play 3 guys routinely that are so far below even league average, the offense is going to suffer.

 

Edited by HtownHorn
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Gourmand

Gourmand 7774

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Yes because of the exceptional efforts of the other 6-7 guys in the lineup, but once you remove any of those guys the cliff is steep, and you have a lot of pressure from those 6/7 guys to perform every night. Guess what, half of those are currently in some bad slumps.

During the 4 game losing streak.

Gurriel has lost 60 points on his OPS.

Alvarez has lost 71.

Altuve has lost 41.

So now you are talking about 6 guys in the lineup that are providing almost no offense right now. No wonder Kershaw was able to obliterate the offense last night.

Slumps happen, but when you are forced to play 3 guys routinely that are so far below even league average, the offense is going to suffer.

 

I get it, we're spoiled by previous years lineups, but not many teams have hitters 1-9 all above league average.

It's kinda silly to zero in on Straw's complete lack of power or Maldonado's low offensive production when Alvarez is whiffing constantly and the top and middle of the lineup isn't hitting for power right now, either. Those are our run producers, they have to hit. The offense is not the problem, it's very obviously the bullpen, and all the gnashing of teeth about Straw's low OPS is stating the obvious and a waste of words. We know who he is, Click knows who he is, and his purpose is to get on base and put pressure on the pitcher with his speed. He hasn't lived up to that latter expectation, but he has upped his OBP in May (.318) versus March/April (.289). Not great, but definitely not far below league average. We would all love for him to be a worthy successor to George Springer, but it's not as if the Astros aren't aware of this either. My main issue with Straw isn't his bat but his untrustworthy play in CF. Maldonado is obviously there for his defensive value and he's top five in defensive WAR for C despite a few glaring fuckups earlier this season that may have cost us a game iirc. If he continues to suck, we have Castro to plug in and hopefully get more offensive production.

Fix the bullpen and this team will get back to winning streaks. 

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Gourmand

Gourmand 7774

Posted
Posted
Just now, slorch said:

I can live with Maldonado for what he does on defense/ game management.

Straw is a pinch runner playing CF and burning ABs.

The AB he had the other night where he battled for 13 pitches or whatever and fouled off a bunch of two strike pitches before drawing a walk was a positive sign. The problem is the team doesn't have the luxury of using the entire season to play out the experiment with him at CF and his instincts are terrible.  

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WBT

WBT 20422

Posted
Posted
36 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

Maldonado is obviously there for his defensive value and he's top five in defensive WAR for C despite a few glaring fuckups earlier this season that may have cost us a game iirc. If he continues to suck, we have Castro to plug in and hopefully get more offensive production.

You would think so but then I would think Castro would already be playing twice a week now.

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Gourmand

Gourmand 7774

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, WBT said:

You would think so but then I would think Castro would already be playing twice a week now.

Or the team looks at Maldy's .720+ OPS from the past two years and sees his .581 OPS as a small sample size that will improve as the season goes along. 

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