Damn straight he did. First off, it's almost always the response to that kind of showboating. As to not doing it in that situation....down 4-2 in the pivotal game, etc. A few things - The potential positives outweigh the negatives, at that point. -You're looking towards games 6 and 7...setting the tone. (and giving Garca plenty to thnk about for the rest of the series) - Obviously, it has the potential to take Texas out of their game. The longer the rhubarb, the colder Leclerc gets...taking him mentally and physically off his game. This isn't the Astros first rodeo. They just refockass. - There was a man on second. It sets up a DP. If they get a hit, that first runner likely scores anyway, making it pretty much insurmountable. I'll admit, I've had problems with Dusty the tactician, as well as lineups (definitely a players coach, who I would love to hang out with)...But, hats off to him, and our GREAT team. Go Astros!
Nah. It wasn't on purpose. I'm sure he threw close to give him something to think about. That's what you do with all aggressive hitters.
Bryan Abreu is terrific. So, yeah - I think there's a chance his hubris got the better of him, and the idea of putting another runner on didn't phase him, especially since Texas' line-up, 5-9, isn't as good as 1-4. But!.... If that was on purpose.... he's a moron, lol.
Here’s a comment following the column about the incident in the Athletic, one I liked, and one that Garcia ought to read (he won’t): Gary G. · 5h 1m ago Willie Mays once stepped into the batters box and dug in. Then he looked up and saw Don Drysdale. Mays forgot he was pitching. Next pitch knocked Mays down. What did Willie do? Got up, dusted off his uniform and never dug in against Big D again. To sum up: act like a man and take your base.
That was his 4th HBP this year? Yeah - it's certainly a gigantic coincidence if it wasn't on purpose. But, man - the ramifications of it if it backfires is off the charts. It's really interesting. If Baker mandated it (and he might've! - I've already declared his ejection-stall was intentional), his likely thought was: there's no way they'll *think* it was intentional, given the circumstances, and eject him - so, let 'er rip! If Garcia had just slammed the bat down, I think the Astros would've been cool with it. I think it was the stomp on home plate that pissed them off. The bat slam was for his dugout - the foot stomp was for the Astros. Whatever, I'm ****ing glad they hit him! **** that guy.
Yes, and I agree with you about the empty base. You can walk him or you can send a message at the same time. Not necessarily revenge for the home run or inside pitches earlier in the game, but something to change the momentum, if not for this game, for the next 2 potential games. It’s not 100% and the argument can definitely be made that you shouldn’t put an extra man on base, so I don’t think he should have been tossed.. but that was a direct result of the way Garcia handled the situation. If the Astros have a decent sized lead in Game 6, the Rangers will retaliate imo.. and I think the Astros will be prepared for it, therefore there won’t be a reaction. They may even hit Altuve with the 1st pitch, but that would be stupid if Eovaldii did it.. but I think Altuve will expect it to potentially happen, and since he doesn’t want to get tossed in the 1st inning, you won’t see a big reaction. Either way, Game 6 just got a whole lot juicier.. TLDR.. I said it it was on purpose when it happened and I still feel that way today.
I don’t think it was intentional. Abreu was going inside and sometimes pitches get away from you. Baseball has a lot of unwritten rules and one of them is the if you showboat you better duck the next time you’re at bat. The Stros are the most scrutinized team though so I don’t think Dusty would intentionally have Abreu do that. There is also the big risk then that the Rangers come back in the 9th and bean Altuve hard. Also putting two men on base in the 8th down 2 is a huge risk. Any emotional lift, icing LeClerc, or DP is far outweighed by that one good swing outs the game out of reach.
I said this in the other thread: MLB will almost certainly warn both teams and put the umpire crew on high alert. First HBP is going to lead to an automatic ejection. So I'd be THRILLED if Eovaldi hit Altuve with the first pitch and we got to hit off their pen for 9 innings, lol.
There was not a man on 2nd -- he was on first at the time of the HBP. Which makes the purposeful HBP exceedingly unlikely. All post-game interviews point to this. I think it was a brushback pick that got too far in. Not intentional.
One thing I noticed too during the bench cleared Yordan was calming down Garcia. Garcia acknowledged that in his post game interview. Really classy by Yordan.
Runner was on first. It moved the runner to scoring position with no outs. We will probably never know, but the HBP significantly increased the Rangers odds of scoring that inning. It took some Pressly magic to avoid it. It also forced Pressly into the game and a multi-inning outing on short notice. We were fortunate to have not needed him in game 4 and have an off day coming. He was efficient with his pitch count overall (24 pitches isn’t crazy for him), but I do get concerned when high leverage relievers get used in atypical situations.
That only works if Garcia reacts the way he did. If he just goes to first, all those benefits go away. The discussion here would be a whole lot different if someone scored in the 8th or Pressly was gassed in the 9th and the Astros score but lose 5-4 or 6-5 or something. The man was only on 2nd because of the HBP. He was on first at the time, so the DP was already in place. This made things infinitely worse for the Astros from a game management perspective and the game was in no way over at the time. That said, Abreu has a ton of control. Despite Maldy setting up outside, I'm pretty sure throwing in and risking a HBP was by design. Maybe it was more in than intended, though.
I don't think it was intentional. If you looked back as Abreu's last two outings his command wasn't always the best (lots and lots of movement).
Up and in to back him off the plate (keep him from lunging at the outside pitch) was definitely intentional and part of the game. I do not believe the HBP was intentional at that moment because of the situation. Happening the first regular season game of 2024? Yeah!
