No doubt about it, you got Bakered! I've been there, it sucks.
****Astros at Yankees - Official Thread****
- Thread starter Big Hudge
- Start date
Me too. We have a support group that meets nightly. At The Bar.
Bad pin, shakey D, lack of timely hitting, suspect management…this team is not ready for prime time. Perhaps they can develop over the course of the year.
Rough couple of games and it won’t be easy tomorrow facing Cole.
I think it will change his fortunes, which could help the team. He’s pressing at that spot right now. And they are by far the worst leadoff team in baseball for the season, what does it hurt giving him a mental break in a new spot and trying? They literally can’t get worse at leadoff.
Yep. And zero criticism from our friendly local media. Dusty sucks right now. Maybe He turns it around. But I could achieve this nonsense.
Better check your cornbread 'cause Baker's already stolen your juice, my friend.
I agree. As Blum, among others, have said it’s only guaranteed to lead off once. And since nobody steals or bunts anymore, we don’t need Maury Wills 2021 up there (Look him up kids).
Specifically re Altuve, I’d sit him tomorrow. 0-4 with 3 Ks vs Cole ain’t helping nobody.
For me? CC. He’s the closest thing we have to George.
Yeah. Diaz is swinging the bat well. Put him at 2nd. He deserves some more at bats. I sure hope this is not a sharp declining Altuve. He came out great to start the season.
Anybody except for Straw, Martin, or Tucker. And over the past week they have 6 guys with an OPS over .725, not like a bunch are slumping. They just aren’t getting timely hits.
Our leadoff spot is getting on at a .252 clip. Nearly .030 worse than the second worst team in all of baseball. Just find anybody that can get on base at this point.
And once again, I say it more of giving Altuve the mental break more than anything. He is a former MVP for a reason but he’s pressing and chasing.
Let’s keep in mind Dusty was 29-31 last year. They got a Lotto ticket into the playoffs and had a nice run, but it was still a sub-.500 team.
But Baker ain’t going anywhere. Hopefully the talent on this team and the return of Odorizzi, Framber and Canolli keep them in the hunt.
I suspect it will.
Just for the record Altuve was 1-4 today. Basically everyone on the team was 1-4 today except for Diaz. Diaz was 2-4.
I don't care if Correa hits leadoff over Altuve. It will move Brantley, Bregman and Alvarez one slot each if Dusty does that, but that's okay. FWIW, Correa really isn't hitting a whole lot better than Altuve is, but that's okay. Perception is reality, right?
As a practical matter I would rather have Diaz playing in the OF as one of those 3 spots. Hell, why not move Tucker to CF and Diaz to RF. Dusty isn't even considering playing Diaz everyday for Altuve at 2nd. I promise you that.
I don't expect Dusty to bench Altuve and I don't expect him to move Altuve to 6 or 7 in the order either. I expect if Dusty moves Correa to leadoff then Altuve gets moved to 2 in the order, bumping Brantley, Bregman and Alvarez to 3, 4, and 5 respectively.
Visually that would be:
Correa
Altuve
Brantley
Bregman
Alvarez
Gurriel
Tucker/Diaz
Straw/McCormick
Maldonado/Castro
Somebody will say just move Altuve down to #6. Pfft, that ain't happening. Get real. Maybe if he slumps another few weeks.
Bottom line, we better hope Altuve gets his act together because this team isn't going anywhere without him.
FWIW, we're not losing games because of who's hitting leadoff. We're losing games because we are issuing way too many free passes to first base, we're not playing good defense, and the bottom 3rd of our order is atrocious.
I just answered your question. And the dismissive ‘perception is reality, right?” probably wasn’t needed. Just offered an opinion. And nobody is realistically wanting Diaz over Altuve daily at 2nd. Altuve could just as easily go 12-25 next week.
I WOULD like some sort of set lineup that didn’t include Straw at lead off. 7/8/9 are set. Find a workable order for the top 6 and roll with it.
Diaz is showing more and more he deserves a spot in the daily lineup. Especially when that starting lineup includes Straw, a slumping Tucker, and Moldanado who may not get another hit the rest of this month (being sarcastic). I want to see Diaz in RF or LF, with Tucker in CF and Brantley manning the other OF spot. Straw can come in every 3rd or 4th day for Tucker until he starts finding some better luck.
Just a reminder that there is bullpen help coming. Enoli will help and when Framber is back one of the current starters will move to the pen.
Also note got to like that jersey ;-) my 11 year old got that jersey last week for his birthday and is wearing it today at school after seeing the clips from the CC Hooks game last night.
Also note got to like that jersey ;-) my 11 year old got that jersey last week for his birthday and is wearing it today at school after seeing the clips from the CC Hooks game last night.
Lineup is all in today
Note that the two starting pitchers in their last starts combined for 17 scoreless innings.
Note that the two starting pitchers in their last starts combined for 17 scoreless innings.
Still wish Jose had been given the day off vs Cole. Of course he’ll probably get 3 knocks today.
I think we all know the reason he was a former MVP.
JK.
Trolling.
Should be a great game tonight.
Somebody does.
As for my perception is reality statement, I mean that Correa has hit leadoff what, 2 games that we won, and suddenly he's the answer at leadoff? No, I don't get that at all, sorry if that sounds dismissive. Just because I disagree with you and try to describe why, I'm being dismissive? No, I'm not. Being dismissive would be me simply saying you're wrong and I'm right and moving on. I didn't do that, I stated my case. That's the farthest thing from dismissive I could have done. I'm sure you know that to be dismissive means to act as or show that something is unworthy of consideration.
If you want to run with I'm just wrong, or Altuve's washed up, or Altuve just needs a break from leadoff, or whatever, that's fine with me. My only real point is we don't have a worthy leadoff candidate long term and I think we would be better off long term if Altuve were left at leadoff and allowed to work through this. In other words, given the Springer treatment.
We could move Correa back to leadoff. I don't think that is a long term solution, especially considering we could very well be trading him at some point and it is seeming like longer and longer odds he's back next season, but we could do that.
I just don't buy the argument we're losing because Altuve is slumping at leadoff. That's not why we're losing. We're losing because our pitchers are not attacking hitters and are giving up too many free bases, we're making bad defensive plays at critical points in games, and we're not getting "timely" hits, and because we have 2 glaring holes in our lineup representing 2/3's of our outfield that was anticipated but not addressed by our management and ownership before this season started. I do give them credit for bringing Brantley back though. Imagine how bad it could have been
Yeah, we've run into a couple of really bad umpires too, but moving Altuve doesn't fix that either.
Altuve is a streaky hitter. He's going to snap out of this, but if he doesn't that may be that one hole too many in our lineup that we just can't overcome, wherever he hits in our lineup.
FWIW, Correa's OBP is only .315. That hardly screams leadoff hitter. If we're going by stats, the best candidates are Gurriel (OBP .418), Brantley (.355), Bregman (.350) and Alvarez (.361). Those are your only real candidates based on OBP if you want somebody hitting leadoff that even approaches an OBP of .350.
I would ask again who everyone really wants at leadoff, but I get it now. Anyone but Altuve. Until our pitchers start attacking hitters, we start playing better defense, and we get some more timely hitting throughout our lineup it's not going to matter who hits leadoff though.
Today is another day though. We need this win. We knew this was going to be a tough series. We just haven't played good mental baseball the last 2 games. Doing that today would be a start. If I were Dusty Baker that would be my message to the team today. Can we play a mentally error free game today?
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I would like Diaz in LF and Tucker in CF a lot. It's not going to happen I'm afraid. THey seem all chips in on Straw in CF this season.
That mixed with Click’s failure to address the bullpen last season, should be reason enough to put Click on the hot seat with Crane. He has shown twice now, that he can’t address glaring weaknesses in the teams make up with plenty of notice. He still doesn’t have a plan B for Straw, and he will have to hope a few minor league arms (like Enoli) pan out to help shore up the bullpen. It’s pretty clear they are willing to let Correa walk and put all their Chips into Leon. Should Leon fail or not pan out, that’s 3 years in a row he would have left glaring chinks in the armor.
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