If the pitchers preferred Diaz there would be a mutiny in the locker room. Mandy is probably one of the most liked players in the clubhouse.
How do you know Maldy isn't the best chance for us to win the series? Every game he catches he is learning hitter tendencies and setting them up for pitch calls in game 5/6/7. Diaz has no experience using batter's heads against them. It's all strategy/mind games.
If the astros win games 5, 6 and 7 while giving up a combined 30 runs where they score 33 and maldonado goes 0-15 they will still use it as definitive proof that Maldonado was the reason why.
That's like Bob McNair saying all the rest of the NFL front offices admire the Texans so we MUST BE ON THE RIGHT PATH.
I'd say the difference is that "God of the gaps" depends on a gap. The Astros for the most part perform how one would expect with Maldy (or possibly worse). For Maldy to be great like some people say, there would have to be something else happening that counteracts Maldy's greatness that occurs mostly when Maldy is catching. For example, Maldy could be the greatest catcher ever at calling games, but something would have to be undoing this value like pitchers not executing pitches as they've become overreliant on Maldy (i.e., nullifying his pitch calling). On a side note: I think there is value at catching that we don't know. There should be evidence of this occuring if it is a big help such as thinking it is big enough to overcome the difference in their hitting.
6 IP 12 1 H 13 2 BB 3 7 K 13 0 R 7 0 ER 6 (really 7 since it was the Pitchers error) Pitchers with Diaz catching these last two games. If Brown has any balls he tells Dusty to get Javier and Urguidy on the same page as Diaz because Diaz is starting these next two games. Tell JV to start getting comfortable with the idea of pitching to someone else.
