Nope..... Hinch doesn't need to whistle anymore. Luhnow is having one of these bad boys installed in deep center field to relay signs to home plate.
Had a chance to beat their best pitcher when he didn't have his best stuff. This team is still showing the inability to get key hits with RISP. Can't go down 0-2.
This made me go look at the video again...a bunch of times. So, thanks for making me look closer. First, to just look at it simply, Springer is still 1/4 of the way to 3rd by the time the ball hits the cut-off man. That's AFTER lollygagging to first. It took him over 6 seconds to get to first. It should have taken 4 secs easily not even running full speed. Two extra seconds is enough to put him safe at 3rd now running at full speed. From bat contact to the ball dropping as a hit takes 6 seconds. Tucker tags at 2nd at that point and is long gone by the time Springer would have touched 2nd. The cut-off throw isn't caught until the 12-second mark. It's possible that it would have been a close play at 3rd given how everything went down. I still don't think it would have been, but that's just my interpretation. I see no reason not to be barrelling down on Tucker tagging at 2nd, though. You're either out, the ball's a homer, or a faster guy takes off ahead of you. The only problem I can see is if Tucker gets held at third, but that was extremely unlikely. And you ought to be picking up your 3rd base coach and seeing if he's waving the runner in front. Regardless, you absolutely do not run down to 1st like that. Little league mistake in the World Series. I'm glad for George's major contributions in that game, and I'm still mad at him, and there's nothing incongruent about that.
It's on me. My bad. I forgot my superstition about watching WS games. Everytime I watch them play, on tv, they lose. Imma stick to radio tonight. We got this one fam.
Hitting w/risp has not been a strength for this team. The Astros hit .268 w/risp in the regular season so we are used to the frustration. However, this is clearly a mental thing now. Our hitters are simply folding under the pressure, time and time again, this postseason. You can say whatever you want but this is text book choking on offense. Bregman looks completely lost and despondent. Altuve swung at 2 pitches last night that were easy 2 feet wide of the strike zone. Springer is just trying to launch and not swinging smart at all. Almost everyone else is struggling too. this will have to stop starting tonight if we want to win this series. Seems like a tall order for a team that has been in a complete hitting funk for basically 13 postseason games in a row. I know the Astros are the better team. I am still confident that they will win the series. If they lose again tonight, my confidence will be shot. So far this has been an incredibly frustrating postseason even though we are in the WS. Time to turn it around.
Yup, those 2-1 and 2-2 pitches he took right down the pipe are usually pitches he hammers. I have no ****ing idea what's going on with him, but he needs to get the **** out of his own head, and start balling out the way we know he can. Yordan figured his **** out to an extent. Now it's Bregman's turn.
he talks a big game. Time for him to deliver. He should meditate, chill out, focus and let his bat and glove do all the talking.
Scherzer had a better season. Better career. But I would like to remind people that Greinke was equally as good as their best and he's our number 3. My confidence is high because we still own all of the pitching matchups, the lineup, the bullpen, and experience. We could lose tonight and it won't shake me. I'd be perturbed, but there is nothing about Washington that should drive fear. Last night, Washington showed fear going to Corbin and Hudson so early. They flinched. I liked that.
So, will the Astros respond or do I need to resurrect that infamous thread? How about some CONSISTENT hitting. This All-Time offense hasn't looked it in the playoffs. Give Tucker a start. Reddick had ONE hit significant hit in 3 series so far.
We did leave some meatballs on the table. Reddick and Bregman especially. How many times can Reddick bang his bat and helmet on the ground before he realizes he's doing it all wrong. I don't mind, because well, it's Reddick. But I expect Bregman to correct at some point. I don't mind the walks. Walks are killers. But he can't be striking out.
I'm starting to believe that what makes Altuve so successful is that he's not afraid to swing at first pitches. I've always kind of thought that the mark of a truly masterful major league hitter is keeping that first pitch as much of a threat as any other pitch. And that's a very hard thing to do, but it pays. Either you take a crack at the pitcher's most grooved fastball, or you make them start pitching around you from the get go. If you can combine that with a good eye (and Jose's eye is good and bad at times, better lately), then you're going to force a lot of balls on the first pitch. Or maybe even mistakes in the strike zone. In high school, I always took until I got a strike, but you can get away with that at that level, so I made that choice, and it worked out. However, being behind to a major league pitcher is one of the worst places to be in sports. Yordan was absolutely eaten alive by it in the ALCS. When Bregman suddenly developed his super-eye a couple months into the 2018 season, I was impressed but always a little on edge that he'd take it too far and start missing opportunities to take hacks he should take, and I think that's where he is now. In a lot of ways, it seems like our batters are approaching their ABs as full-on at-bats with various potential outcomes as opposed to just approaching them as a series of pitches. Looking for outcomes ahead of time as opposed to just getting up there and taking each pitch as it comes. It honestly might be simpler and more effective to just take a more visceral approach than trying to be too cerebral. You're probably getting one good pitch to hit in an at-bat, and it's probably the first one, so maybe it's time to lock in on that first pitch as much any other one.
these arguments about how springer somehow couldn't have made it to 3rd anyway are blowing my mind. never seen such senseless stuff. guy can catch up to a runner who rounded 3rd and scored but would somehow get thrown out at third? dumb nats shouldve just thrown tucker out at 3rd instead of letting him round 3rd and run home! people are just taking springer's desperate attempt to cover his own ass and running with it. and it doesn't even sound like he was addressing not running out of the box...maybe he didn't know it when asked, and he just seemed to think they were implying that he didn't run full speed between first and second. guy would've made it to third running out of the box 10 times out of 10.
I still maintain that opponents are simply not giving Bregman many opportunities, notwithstanding the meatball he was thrown last night. They are pitching around him and would rather face Yuli, usually with a LHP. So I think AJ should insert Bregman into the 2 hole move Altuve to 3 and slot everyone else regularly below Altuve. If they pitch around Springer then they have to deal with Bregman. If Bregman is also pitched around then they have to deal with Altuve with 2 men on. Makes so much sense IMO.
I could see Tucker getting the start tonight. He was not good in the ALCS, but he got a hit last night and scored a run. That's far more than Reddick did(although he did get screwed on that non-call).
