I doubled my bet on the over 5.5 after the Keuchel scratch last night, finally a backdoor cover in my favor!
8-2, not acceptable. =) Before the series began i would have been beyond happy if we split the series. it holds truer now. in fact 2-2 feels like we swept them with everything that transpired. Weird super natural things happen when the stros play KC or cleveland, like the baseball gods are pressing back. Next time we play the twins in July we should "rest our bullpen" and pitch for the future to help Minny win that division. I don't want cleveland or Kc to get the wild card. Fantastic pitching, both teams. Love pitcher duels. Altuve the future hof 2b got it rolling. Someone get keuchel a waterbed so he can sleep like a baby.
Was a rather impressive win, in my eyes. Just felt like the Royals own our souls if they win that one. As it turns out, the sum total of the series was: a 4-game road split, with our two losses being a bullpen game, and a blown game of the extremely rare variety, all while still scoring 5 or more runs in every game. Tough to complain about that. Nice win.
I find it very strange that some of you are equating Devo finishing a non save after Giles pitched 2 days in a row as being the new closer.
I don't think he's the new closer. I am just becoming more convinced of my original position, which is that Giles won't close for us when the games start to really matter....(Giles is going to have to continue giving up runs and stuff, or just being inconsistent, but I guess I'm just betting that he will. That doesn't mean I don't think he can rip off another good 10 game stretch.)
Or at least hoping that Giles doesn't have some sort of non-negotiable hold on the closer position, if better options present themselves.
Hope granted. There's ZERO chance Giles' closer position is non-negotiable. Let's HOPE he performs well.
How negotiable is it though? Are we going to have to wait for a Dyson type collapse? I get that there is no need to rush to a decision, but the guy has pretty much been who he is. Too inconsistent in high leverage. Not the guy I want closing in the playoffs.
You can bet that between now and late September, a number of guys will pitch late in close games and who can handle it and who cant will be taken notice of.
I don't have an exact formula, but currently, he's too inconsistent on the road regardless of leverage. Fortunately, the team is in great position to not need to rush.
This year, Giles has 15 saves and 2 blown saves. Not too many guys in the league have had the opportunity presented to them to have 15 saves this year. Of the guys who have had more than 15 save opportunities, Giles ranks 5th. Holland is an impressive 22-0. Kimbrel is 17-1. Cody Allen from Cleveland is 14-1. Colome from Tampa Bay is 17-2. Giles is 15-2. He's part of an elite group of closers.
This is the exact rationale I'm hoping the front office avoids when deciding who to go with in the games that matter. "2 blown saves" does not make Giles an elite closer.
