2018 Houston Astros Season Thread

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

Obviously the bats have sucked, but this is troubling too. 

[Mez2 4024]

 

3 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Wish we had Tony Kemp on the team instead of Tony Sipp right now.

i would be happy with Tony Gwynn, and he's dead

[MAROON 445]

3 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

I know the players have to make plays (and pitches), but I can't come up with any excuse for that idiocy by Hinch. This one's on him more than anyone else.

he will have a spreadsheet full of stats to spout off in post-game as to why that was the calculated move to make.  His feel for the game is sometimes not so sharp.

[Gut Wagon 8083]

1 minute ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Still in complete shock and disbelief that he pulled Devo.  I mean what in the fucking fuck was he thinking?

Probably, "Everyone else would leave that pitcher in there for the ninth. But I'm going to go full Mensa here and show that I'm a 4-D chess master."

All good until we see the results of that stunt, which shocked none of us at home.  

[Pablo 494]

shake this shit up, Jeff.

can't keep this roster in tact at this point, if this wasn't a wake up call, what the fuck is.

4-6 homestand, 28 straight scoreless innings

[Fudge Nuggets 19208]

Hinch owes the team and fans an apology for that bullshit.

[David Dennison 18937]

2 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

Obviously the bats have sucked, but this is troubling too. 

It's without question this team's biggest issue.

Our bullpen is a mess.

[Fudge Nuggets 19208]

3 minutes ago, Mez2 said:

 

i would be happy with Tony Gwynn, and he's dead

I would take Tony Eusebio.

[Gut Wagon 8083]

1 minute ago, David Dennison said:

It's without question this team's biggest issue.

Our bullpen is a mess.

After this homestand, I'm thinking coaching acumen (or lack thereof) might be as big an issue as any. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19208]

This isn’t fun.  I want to have fun.

[David Dennison 18937]

1 minute ago, Gut Wagon said:

After this homestand, I'm thinking coaching acumen (or lack thereof) might be as big an issue as any. 

It's no different from last year. Second guessing A.J. Hinch was a theme.

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

I'm supposed to be at work for another hour and a half. I'm so fucking pissed I can't do shit. 

[David Dennison 18937]

Just now, Seasick Sailor said:

I'm supposed to be at work for another hour and a half. I'm so fucking pissed I can't do shit. 

Take a deep breath and remember this team is:

A. In first place

B. Two games off of the pace from last year while not playing all that well

C. The defending world champs

[Gut Wagon 8083]

3 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

It's no different from last year. Second guessing A.J. Hinch was a theme.

Well, he certainly doesn't seem to have improved any from last year. One might imagine that winning a WS title would teach a manager a few things, but perhaps it only confirmed to him that he has a Midas touch. After some of what we've seen this season, I beg to differ with that conclusion. 

[Pablo 494]

1 minute ago, David Dennison said:

Take a deep breath and remember this team is:

A. In first place

B. Two games off of the pace from last year while not playing all that well

C. The defending world champs

You're way too positive for this place.  You'll learn, hah!

[David Dennison 18937]

2 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

Well, he certainly doesn't seem to have improved any from last year. One might imagine that winning a WS title would teach a manager a few things, but perhaps it only confirmed to him that he has a Midas touch. After some of what we've seen this season, I beg to differ with that conclusion. 

He guided this team to a championship without a closer.

I thought he should have been fired in August of last year.

He's earned my trust. I can't speak for anyone else.

[Pablo 494]

1 minute ago, Gut Wagon said:

Well, he certainly doesn't seem to have improved any from last year. One might imagine that winning a WS title would teach a manager a few things, but perhaps it only confirmed to him that he has a Midas touch. After some of what we've seen this season, I beg to differ with that conclusion. 

The bullpen is trash, but it seemed obvious that he should have left Devo in who had just gone through the most high leverage situation successfully in this series.  Additionally because the starters have been going so deep in games, almost everyone is underused, so they should be able to do their job, but they continue to suck in pressure situations.

Sipp - worthless

Smith - just above worthless

Harris - 1-2 outs maybe

Rondon - 1-2 outs maybe

McHugh - long reliever, garbage time, inexperienced with high leverage

Peacock - good for an inning maybe

Devo - Hinch approved-lefty specialist

Giles - inconsistent, unreliable, headcase

 

 

[Gut Wagon 8083]

5 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

He guided this team to a championship without a closer.

I thought he should have been fired in August of last year.

He's earned my trust. I can't speak for anyone else.

I think the team bailed him out last year, to be honest. Now, you can poke around any season for any team and find stupid decisions, comical errors, etc. But when a solid team is gasping to find itself, you don't add to its challenges by asking too much of second-tier players. He just did that, and paid the price. The whole team did.  

[David Dennison 18937]

BTW, I agree that he should have left Devo in. 

He said post game that he put Harris in because he matched up well with the guys coming up in the ninth.

That is A.J. Hinch. That's who he is. Doing that won us a championship, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Gut Wagon 8083]

2 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

He said post game that he put Harris in because he matched up well with the guys coming up in the ninth.

 

Hmmm. I seem to remember that we signed Smith specifically to pitch to Judge and Stanton in high-leverage situations. Wonder why that guy wasn't in when those guys came up in the 8th? Not saying I wanted him in there, just that this was put forth as the rationale for the signing.  

[Fozzz 152]

8 minutes ago, Pablo said:

The bullpen is trash, but it seemed obvious that he should have left Devo in who had just gone through the most high leverage situation successfully in this series.  Additionally because the starters have been going so deep in games, almost everyone is underused, so they should be able to do their job, but they continue to suck in pressure situations.

Sipp - worthless

Smith - just above worthless

Harris - 1-2 outs maybe

Rondon - 1-2 outs maybe

McHugh - long reliever, garbage time, inexperienced with high leverage

Peacock - good for an inning maybe

Devo - Hinch approved-lefty specialist

Giles - inconsistent, unreliable, headcase

 

 

lol

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

I had to listen to radio stream today. Did Bregman fuck up by not going to third to try to get Hicks on the botched DP by Altuve?

[David Dennison 18937]

1 minute ago, Gut Wagon said:

Hmmm. I seem to remember that we signed Smith specifically to pitch to Judge and Stanton in high-leverage situations. Wonder why that guy wasn't in when those guys came up in the 8th? Not saying I wanted him in there, just that this was put forth as the rationale for the signing.  

Because he's been horrible so far this year.

[HtownHorn 14746]

1 minute ago, David Dennison said:

BTW, I agree that he should have left Devo in. 

He said post game that he put Harris in because he matched up well with the guys coming up in the ninth.

That is A.J. Hinch. That's who he is. Doing that won us a championship, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

He won a championship by not pitching his bullpen in important roles in both game 7's, and having his offense hit 15 HRs in the World Series. He can't pitch his starters in relief during the regular season and the offense so far isn't hitting HRs.

[David Dennison 18937]

Just now, Seasick Sailor said:

I had to listen to radio stream today. Did Bregman fuck up by not going to third to try to get Hicks on the botched DP by Altuve?

It would have been close. Altuve didn't botch it. Bregman did. He bobbled the ball fielding it.

[Mo Horn 8852]

 We had closer issues last year and I thought it was going to be our undoing in the playoffs. Somehow they made it work, and as much as some want to hate on Hinch a lot of the credit goes to him. Not sure we can find the same magic this year, Jeff went and got JV last year and Cole before the season this year. Now he needs to get a legit closer, and I think he will. At worst were should have split this series, and really should have taken it 3-1.

[David Dennison 18937]

Just now, HtownHorn said:

He won a championship by not pitching his bullpen in important roles in both game 7's, and having his offense hit 15 HRs in the World Series. He can't pitch his starters in relief during the regular season and the offense so far isn't hitting HRs.

Exactly. He's trying to figure out who can do what in his currently underachieving bullpen.

 

[HtownHorn 14746]

1 minute ago, David Dennison said:

Exactly. He's trying to figure out who can do what in his currently underachieving bullpen.

 

He should know enough to not use Harris as the closer, as he has failed multiple times in the past in that role. The fact is he can't trust Giles and stuff wise, Giles is your best relief pitcher. So he really doesn't have a closer like other teams do. There were a couple on the market and Luhnow signed Smith and Rondon instead.

[Fudge Nuggets 19208]

24 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Take a deep breath and remember this team is:

A. In first place

B. Two games off of the pace from last year while not playing all that well

C. The defending world champs

Last year’s team had an unmatched killer instinct in clutch situations.  This year’s constantly shits the bed when the pressure is on.

[David Dennison 18937]

Just now, HtownHorn said:

He should know enough to not use Harris as the closer, as he has failed multiple times in the past in that role. The fact is he can't trust Giles and stuff wise, Giles is your best relief pitcher. So he really doesn't have a closer like other teams do. There were a couple on the market and Luhnow signed Smith and Rondon instead.

Hopefully we can poach one relatively cheaply from a shitty team at the deadline.

[David Dennison 18937]

Just now, Fudge Nuggets said:

Last year’s team had an unmatched killer instinct in clutch situations.  This year’s constantly shits the bed when the pressure is on.

Which is odd because it's the exact same team.

Maybe it's luck.

[Helobious 9463]

I'll be back to talk shit again at the end of the month. It was a hard fought series for the most part, don't beat yourselves up over it. 

[Rimbo 25992]

[Fozzz 152]

Tough loss.  At least Martin's debut in CC tonight should be interesting.  

[Gut Wagon 8083]

27 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Because he's been horrible so far this year.

I know. But I’m trying to figure out why he recognized that but blindly decided to pull Devo for Harris because he “liked the matchups.”

[David Dennison 18937]

Just now, Gut Wagon said:

I know. But I’m trying to figure out why he recognized that but blindly decided to pull Devo for Harris because he “liked the matchups.”

Because it's game 33 of a 162 game season and I don't think he liked the match ups so much as the numbers said put Harris in. 

[UTexasFight 9512]

This thread way overacts, but I get it.

I also know it’s time for a bit of early season “put up or shut up”

yes this team is not far behind last year’s pace at this point, but that team also won 9 out of 10 around games 30 through 40.

the rest of May’s schedule is not going to do us any favors.

7 vs Indians
3 vs yanks

1 vs Red Sox
3 vs dbacks 
3 vs angels

 

 

[Ldogg53 514]

17 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Because it's game 33 of a 162 game season and I don't think he liked the match ups so much as the numbers said put Harris in. 

Man that’s BS.   The leadoff guy was their shittiest hitter with a .171 avg.  And Harris’ spare ass walked him.  Was Hinch really afraid Devo couldn’t get that slappy out? 

Send him out. Get the first out. And if you really believe in the matchup arguments then fine.  But Harris got beat by the worst part of their lineup. 

[Ldogg53 514]

42 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Last year’s team had an unmatched killer instinct in clutch situations.  This year’s constantly shits the bed when the pressure is on.

Doesn’t feel like we’ve had nearly any clutch hitting this year. Or really power hitting either. 

[ckhorn 208]

51 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Which is odd because it's the exact same team.

Maybe it's luck.

Our maybe we are not hungry yet. Early in the season and somewhat of a WS hangover is pretty much expected. Except for the starting pitching in which most are veterans. I think will start kicking it in high gear in the next month or so.

 

Hinch needs to roll Gattis out there every day for a week or so to see if he can't get his head out of his ass. If he can't, he needs to be optioned down for White or someone else who is hot at AAA.

Edited May 3, 2018 by ckhorn
FU

[UTexasFight 9512]

7 minutes ago, Ldogg53 said:

Doesn’t feel like we’ve had nearly any clutch hitting this year. Or really power hitting either. 

The lack of power is what I keep coming back to as well.

curious if the stats show it, but seems like XBHs are almost non-existent 

[elguapo 4586]

Sometimes baseball is magical, other times it's a repeated kick in the balls.  We have talent and a front office that knows what it's doing, we'll be ok.

[Ldogg53 514]

1 hour ago, UTexasFight said:

The lack of power is what I keep coming back to as well.

curious if the stats show it, but seems like XBHs are almost non-existent 

A few of us at the game today were even discussing how we don’t even seem to hit balls hard that go foul. It’s just a lot of slappy contact and easy pop outs. 

[Sleepygrad 1029]

until the 7th inning, our 1-5 batters were 0-16 I think

[HtownHorn 14746]

1 hour ago, UTexasFight said:

The lack of power is what I keep coming back to as well.

curious if the stats show it, but seems like XBHs are almost non-existent 

13th in the AL in slugging. 6th in average and 5th in OBP, boasted by being #2 in walks. When contact is made it's singles for the most part. 

[TexArcher 37988]

2 hours ago, Helobious said:

I'll be back to talk shit again at the end of the month. It was a hard fought series for the most part, don't beat yourselves up over it. 

Thanks.

Don't beat yourself up over it when the Astros end the Yankees season again.

[David Dennison 18937]

28 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

13th in the AL in slugging. 6th in average and 5th in OBP, boasted by being #2 in walks. When contact is made it's singles for the most part. 

That's better than I thought it would be.

The hitting will be fine.

[runthebone 8020]

I thought about it for a while.  Shit fuck cunt damn fuck shit.

[Mez2 4024]

The more I think about it, I might be the jinx. I'll post again when we win

 

 

[Yarbr 123]

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