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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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Gourmand

Gourmand 7774

Posted
Posted
Castro has been clutch AF for the last month, but I never want to hear anyone bitching about Machete’s bat again.  Dusty pulling the right strings.  
This.

I've been #TeamMachete all season long--no disrespect to Castro and his clutch late bat--but it has been obvious for a long time how valuable Machete is to the pitching staff and the defense. He has Big Daddy energy with all the pitchers, especially the younger ones who are native Spanish speakers, and everyone in the organization sings his praises for his preparation and baseball intelligence. This lineup is not the 2005 Astros, it can mash 1-8 and doesn't need the #9 hitter to hit for a high obp if that player brings the huge defensive value that Machete brings. That throw last night was legendary and nearly blew the roof open.

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MirrOlure

MirrOlure 14627

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This.

I've been #TeamMachete all season long--no disrespect to Castro and his clutch late bat--but it has been obvious for a long time how valuable Machete is to the pitching staff and the defense. He has Big Daddy energy with all the pitchers, especially the younger ones who are native Spanish speakers, and everyone in the organization sings his praises for his preparation and baseball intelligence. This lineup is not the 2005 Astros, it can mash 1-8 and doesn't need the #9 hitter to hit for a high obp if that player brings the huge defensive value that Machete brings. That throw last night was legendary and nearly blew the roof open.


Agree 100% with all of this.

Question: does this change at all when playing at the NL park? Will Dusty be more apt to go with Castro earlier in a close game?
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Guadaloopy

Guadaloopy 10926

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On 10/6/2021 at 3:09 PM, Guadaloopy said:

Look… I understand the need for some of us to temper our expectations so that we don’t have to experience a full measurement of disappointment if things don’t go the way we hope.  But this team has earned your confidence.  If you aren’t willing to show it, go ahead and jump off the bandwagon now.  You don’t deserve to revel in the glory when it comes.  
 

Astros in 4 and then we get revenge on the Rays for last year in 6.     
 

Then the boys win one for Carlos, Dusty, and Greinke on the big stage against whoever comes out of the NL.  

I was wrong about the ALCS opponent. It ended up being revenge for 2018 instead of 2020.  
 

Still all in on the final prediction.  

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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 18981

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Posted (edited)

I know this is a minority opinion, but it almost doesn’t matter to me if they win or lose the World Series. Baseball is so random that best 4 out of 7 just doesn’t tell us anything important about quality of teams.  baseball is a 162 game season for a reason and the postseason is just so damn random. This collection of Astros, to people who know them, know baseball, and have followed them for the past 5/10/25/60 whatever years is just so damn special. It’s remarkable and nothing that happens in the next 10 days can change that. 
Now, all that said let’s go win the whole fucking thing and get a well deserved second ring for this special group of players. 

Edited by Wulaw Horn
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Gut Wagon

Gut Wagon 8052

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23 minutes ago, tx ind said:

i think i've watched this at least 15 times now

 

 

It's never been done better. Great pitch by Graveman, epic throw by Maldonado (he really did channel his inner Johnny Bench) and a possibly under-appreciated catch and tag by Correa. Anyone who claims to follow baseball but fails to fully appreciate that play from start to finish must have dropped out of tee ball. 

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Gourmand

Gourmand 7774

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I was lukewarm on the Dusty Baker hire but he won me over and I'm excited for the opportunity this team is giving him to set that last piece in his baseball career. His comments last night touched on some thoughts I've had about the unfair and inconsistent criticisms he's faced and what drives those critics, and I think some of it has nothing to do with baseball.

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23394

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14 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

I was lukewarm on the Dusty Baker hire but he won me over and I'm excited for the opportunity this team is giving him to set that last piece in his baseball career. His comments last night touched on some thoughts I've had about the unfair and inconsistent criticisms he's faced and what drives those critics, and I think some of it has nothing to do with baseball.

Didn't catch the post game as I putting little terrorists to bed when things wrapped. Can someone post a vid. 

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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 18981

Posted
Posted (edited)
42 minutes ago, Gourmand said:

I was lukewarm on the Dusty Baker hire but he won me over and I'm excited for the opportunity this team is giving him to set that last piece in his baseball career. His comments last night touched on some thoughts I've had about the unfair and inconsistent criticisms he's faced and what drives those critics, and I think some of it has nothing to do with baseball.

I’ve never complained about anything Dusty did from a results based perspective, merely from a process perspective. He did lots of stupid shit throughout the regular season, especially as it relates to bullpen, and Castro should have had way more playing time than he did.  
that said- he was completely on point this entire series. Our bench coach said he thought Lance getting hurt helped Dusty as a manager- he realized he was going to have to be more efficient and on point with his moves and then he did that. He got the right guys in at the right time and if Graveman would have given up a 3 run HR in the 7th instead of the strike Em out throw Em out DP I wouldn’t have bitched- he used his best leverage guy against the right place and however it was going to work out it was going to work out. 
Also, the constant shuffling of the lineup and change for the sake of change finally stopped. I disagree with hitting Brantley as high as he does because he’s at best our 6th most dangerous hitter and he’s been pretty bad against lefties, but at least it’s a plan, and it is known what’s going to happen. 
Dusty managed this series well. I say that not because we won,  it because he was different than he had been. And, you even heard people on his staff say the same thing 

Kudos to him as he’s shown throughout his career the ability to get good players to buy into coming to the park every day and playing hard. That’s the most important job of a manager and he’s always excelled at that- as evidenced by 5 different division champs with 5 different organizations. It would be well deserved for him to get a ring and be elected to the HOF. 

Edited by Wulaw Horn
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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 18981

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Who replaces Jake ?

another pitcher ?

It doesn’t have to be. It makes sense if you think about it for it to be a 3rd catcher or maybe Marwin as we are going to a national league park and will have more news for pinch hitting, double switches and the like and there’s not much strategic value in seeing your 13th best pitcher being handed the ball in any series. 

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Guadaloopy

Guadaloopy 10926

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

It doesn’t have to be. It makes sense if you think about it for it to be a 3rd catcher or maybe Marwin as we are going to a national league park and will have more news for pinch hitting, double switches and the like and there’s not much strategic value in seeing your 13th best pitcher being handed the ball in any series. 

Astros will not take a third catcher to the WS.  Stop with the NL “strategy” fever dreams.  
 

Go read the latest Verducci article at SI and tell me you want to pull Machete at the first opportunity for a small ball run.  

Edited by Guadaloopy
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Wulaw Horn

Wulaw Horn 18981

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

Astros will not take a third catcher to the WS.  Stop with the NL “strategy” fever dreams.  
 

Gi read the latest Verducci article at SI and tell me you want to pull Machete at the first opportunity for a small ball run.  

No- not at the first opportunity for a small ball run- but you PH for him when you are down late in the game. Full stop. We don’t need the strike Em out throw Em out DP when we are down 3 with the bases loaded and his spot due up in the 7th inning for example. 
It’s going to be a position player replacement. 
It’s marginal but at 13 pitchers you already have a guy like Blake Taylor being inessential. I cannot imagine that they add a 14th pitcher to replace Jake- it’s unnecessary and going to be a position player. Likely Marwin or Stubbs. 

Edited by Wulaw Horn
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Gourmand

Gourmand 7774

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18 minutes ago, kevwun said:

Holy shit, was that a fun game to be at.  My playoffs losing streak is over.

The last time I was at a game with the opportunity to clinch a pennant and a World Series berth Albert Pujols kicked me in the nuts. This one was a lot more enjoyable. I do regret not sticking around for the postgame celebration, I got so caught up in the euphoria of slapping hands with strangers and screaming for joy that I just headed on a long walk back to my car listening to Sparks on my phone.

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HenryJames

HenryJames 65890

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Posted
1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I know this is a minority opinion, but it almost doesn’t matter to me if they win or lose the World Series. Baseball is so random that best 4 out of 7 just doesn’t tell us anything important about quality of teams.  baseball is a 162 game season for a reason and the postseason is just so damn random. This collection of Astros, to people who know them, know baseball, and have followed them for the past 5/10/25/60 whatever years is just so damn special. It’s remarkable and nothing that happens in the next 10 days can change that. 
Now, all that said let’s go win the whole fucking thing and get a well deserved second ring for this special group of players. 

Maybe the real World Series is the friends we make along the way.

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