Sox lead is gone! <r>Doc T... we cant win them all my friend...I am waiting patiently for Sox to release or send down JBJ JR. They have Rusney tearing up the league in Pawtucket. <E>:roll:</E> <E>:roll:</E> You might want to check back in August!! <E>:wink:</E></r>
Do not worry, l am well aware it's a long season with lot's of up and down. I'm expecting a dog fight with the Angels and the same in the ALE.
Yankee's are the hottest team in baseball right now, have won 11 out of 12 against the best teams in the AL. Astro's only team to get a win, swept the Angels, swept the Tribe, in process of sweeping the rSox.
I don't want to "Judge" the Red Sox harshly. My only observation is that there has been an 8 1/2 game swing since April 21. That was lightning fast.
Oh what might have been....Astro's who have a great starting rotation, with the exception of former Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel, but the bullpen has been suspect to say the least. Now back in 2015 the Astros had a guy named Josh Hader in their minor league system, we got him from the Orioles. We traded him and some other guys to the Twins for Mike Fiers needing a starting pitcher at the time. So Mike Fiers is gone and was pretty average at best for the Astros. Josh Hader however has developed into one of the best relievers in baseball...man he'd look nice backing up our starters in the Astros Bullpen.
Should be a good series Stu, Kluber got your only win at Minute Maid, and you'll see Dallas Keuchel who has been up and down and our most unreliable starter so far this year. Bauer who caused a little fuss over the Astros pitchers being so successful gets Cole in the final. Indians have been surprisingly average this season so far, I thought at the end of the year last year they were the best team in the AL and was surprised they lost to the Yankee's. We didn't do well vs the Tribe last year and I feared that we wouldn't get past them in the ALCS, but didn't have to face them. Oh and if you're not driving, have a beer on me, it's my Birthday!
Dealing with some injuries in the outfield, slow start by bullpen...but Miller and Allen seem to be back on track and McCallister and Tomlin pitched well last night in the loss. Clevenger hung a curve to Bregman and it was all over. Rookie Plutko has two wins and took a no-hitter into the 7th against the Cubs. I think we'll be ok over the long haul. Certainly being in the AL Central is a plus. Not driving tonight....and Happy Birthday!
Loved that game by Verlander last night. He is really having a great start, and he's doing it with the worst run support of any of the Astros starting pitchers. He should have beaten the Yanks at home a few weeks ago but his BP gave up the win. It's happened a few times or he'd likely be undefeated. Hinch has settled into the 6-7 innings is the max for the starters. Going with the theory that by the 3rd time through the lineup they have your pitcher right where they want him. Sabermetrics, or Analytics, I guess.
The Astros are a better team than the Yankees. Especially in starting pitching. They are the team to beat.
Not so sure about that, we have a severe problem with the BP blowing games that the starters have set us up to win. Hinch and Luhnow are going to have to figure that out or a return to the WS is questionable at best. Still might win our division, but the ALCS ..don't know about that without a competent closer.
The Yankees are showing a lot of comeback potential this year. Still only have two starting pitchers they can count on and that won't get it done in the end. Man, Chapman burned the black off the plate closing out last nights game. 102 on the edges is tough to hit.
Well we've lost 5 out of 7 to the Yankee's so it's clear right now they are the better team. rSox in town for 4 games, they have the best record in baseball, I fear our starters will do well but the BP will blow at least 2 games.
Interesting stat, posted by Ken Rosenthal on Twitter: This number tells me that so far this season, the Astros have the best combination of pitching and hitting. IMO, this stat is a good predictor of the potential for season-long success.
+123 is really impressive at this point in the season. The Tribe led last year with +251. Stuck down at +31 this year (9th). But playing a little better lately. If we can just quit having guys go out with injuries.
Well Astros finish their run vs the top teams in the league, split with the Indians and the rSox and lose 2 out of 3 vs the Yankee's. I thought with Verlander and Morton going in game 3 and 4 that we'd get at least one of those, but bullpen failed to hold the lead that Verlander left with and rSox bats came alive in game 4 and hammered Charlie Morton, jumped on him early and never let up. Long season ahead, but right now Astros inspite of the numbers Sid posted look like a good team but not the best team in the league. rSox really look good to me, great offense and solid pitching.
I noticed this morning an anomaly you don't see often. The Yankees to date have played 6 less games than the Red Sox. They are 1 game behind the Sox in the W-L column but 2 percentage points ahead overall, which puts them in 1st place.
Astros sweep the Rangers and did it in a very odd way. Last night with George Stringer on 3rd and the game tied at 7-7, Hinch argued that the Texas Closer balked, and the blues agreed after not calling it when it happened, Stringer of course gets home plate and that was the wining run. It's apparently a very technical interpretation that only guys like JO'Co, Corey, Sid and Krebs probably would understand. When I watched the replay I was surprised it was called. It involved a quick pitch and not coming to a complete stop. Anyway, good sharp managing by Hinch. We also won a weird game where our starter Charlie Morton walked 6 batters and hit 4 batters and he only gave up 1 run. It was our first sweep of the Rangers in a long time. It was needed, the Mariners are pretty hot right now and it helps us stay up with them.