Astros: Foot on the throat time

This may seem like a Debbie Downer post,  but despite the Astros wonderful, dominant 8-2 bookend wins over the Boston Red Sox, they have a lot of work to do.

It is critical that the Astros step on their opponent’s throats right away. They don’t need to give the Sox any life in this series. They don’t need to bobble game three and/or four and hobble into the next round tired or out of sorts. And they really don’t need to start the next series with anyone, but Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel as their Game 1 and 2 starters.

Think back to 2005 when the Pujols home run forced the Astros to use Roy Oswalt to finish off the Cards rather than start the World Series against the White Sox. Did it change the ultimate outcome? We will never know.

There is praise to be handed out after two solid home wins by the good guys.

  • Alex Bregman made his first playoff swing of the bat count as he gave the team a 1-0 lead two batters into the first game.
  • Jose Altuve was not Jose Altuve when the Astros played the Royals in the 2015 ALDS. His 3 for 22 performance stuck in his craw for a long time. This time his unbelievable 3 HR first game and 5 for 7 performance through the first two games should have cleared that craw.
  • Verlander and Keuchel were good, not great through their first games. However, looking around at the starting pitching carnage throughout the playoff teams, they had the best two teammate starts to date.
  • Carlos Correa and George Springer played outside the festivities of the first game, but came back strong in the second game to help salt that game away.
  • Marwin Gonzalez‘s 2 run double may have been the biggest hit in the opening win and Evan Gattis has continued his late season solid hitting.
  • Josh Reddick continues to go contrary to his career numbers and is hitting left handed pitchers in the playoffs as he did during the season.
  • The bullpen gave up a single run in a solid 6.1 IP of work.
  • A.J. Hinch did a masterful job of getting a bunch of his playoff newbies game time and the team should be rested and ready going forward.

So, bottomline, the Astros need to go to Boston, whip a dog who is down and move on to the next round of the playoffs.

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213 responses to “Astros: Foot on the throat time”

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  1. I must have missed something I went back and read most posts all I saw was some disagreement on how the game was managed and sibling love

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  2. MLB Trade Rumors has predicted arbitration salaries this winter.

    Marwin Gonzalez (5.133) – $7.7MM (Astros have $5.125MM club option).
    Dallas Keuchel (5.089) – $12.6MM
    Evan Gattis (5.000) – $6.6MM
    Mike Fiers (4.085) – $5.7MM
    Collin McHugh (4.085) – $4.8MM
    George Springer (3.166) – $8.9MM
    Brad Peacock (3.165) – $2.9MM
    Jake Marisnick (3.145) – $2.0MM
    Ken Giles (3.113) – $5.0MM
    Lance McCullers (2.140) – $2.6MM

    Other than Fiers, this seems reasonable, because it’s not my money.

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  3. 1-1 after 1
    Astros turned Springer double, 2 walks and a HBP into 1 run due to Altuve double play.
    Red Sox scored on a Bogaerts HR.
    I’m at work “watching” on mlb.com – is rain moving in?

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  4. Nice pick me up as Yuli leads off with a triple, Gattis and McCann both strike out but Big George drives in Yuli with a single. 2-1

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  7. In 2 innings the Astros have converted 4 hits, 3 walks and a HBP into 2 runs only. Porcello is already up to 56 pitches – not sure if that is good news based on how we hit the bullpen yesterday, but I can’t imagine we will see Price again.
    And can we hire a sniper to take out Hanley Ramirez? The guy gets a hit every time up.

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  10. I thought we’d get crisp outings from Peacock and Morton. If we win this series, I think McHugh finds a way on to the next roster.

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  11. And after having two called strike outs with the bases loaded and two out – Manager John Farrell gets tossed from the game.

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    • Farrell’s players, especially Pedroia, owe him a steak dinner or something for that. Those pitches were clearly strikes.

      Also, these announcers stink.

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  13. That was the turning point of this game. Turning them away with the bases loaded, just took away the wind in the Red Sox sail. Sale is warming up……let’s DO THIS!

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  20. Verlander is warming up…….I wouldn’t put him in, unless Charlie starts to wobble again. His last inning was like the Charlie we saw in the regular season. I hope they let him go another inning.

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    • I think so too……but there’s plenty of time to win this. I just hope Hinch hasn’t burned Verlander. This would have been Verlander’s, bullpen day anyway. Think positive folks…..think positive.

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    • This was the one decision I thought was a mistake by Hinch. It’s a good thing the Astros rallied because A.J. would’ve been roasted for bringing in Verlander during the inning with a runner on base. I was fine having him start the 6th inning if we had the lead, but I think he panicked there. Oh well, ALCS, baby!

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  25. I know ill be in the minority Hinch 0-2 so far in Boston, that’s what happens when you try and get to cute and smart. Man I Hope this isn’t 2015 all over, we had that series also. feeling down some one talk me in off the ledge please

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  27. Yeah, today was Verlanders pen day. But he’s never relieved before. Never. Morton gets lefthanders out almost as well as anyone does. So does Harris. And Harris was standing there in the pen ready to go too. Why this move? Is Verlander still the game five starter? I just don’t understand the need for today’s mechanisms. Tim, I fully expect to hear from you.

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      • Tim, the one great game we had against Cleveland this year was a complete game win by Keuchel. And that leaves Verlander to pitch game 2.
        On the other hand, Keuchel has pitched very, very well against the Yankees in his career, so there is that, too!
        Either way, Keuchel has had success against both.

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      • Keuchel should start game 1. This sets him up to pitch Game 5 at home (assuming we play Cleveland) where he is much better. Verlander can handle the pressure of pitching on the road in the ALCS as he has done it many more times than Keuchel.

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  29. I don’t like when the manager winning the series, who won 101 games during the season, starts managing a completely new way – like he’s the one losing the series. If we lose today – it means we burn Keuchel in the 5th game. Not feeling great about any of this.
    Please, Lord. First take care of Billy C. Second please give our team a break, which will make Billy C feel better too.

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  32. Yeah Billy, prayers to you. You might be better off not watching any baseball until we can report a series win. I just don’t understand why we just burned Verlander from starting a potential game 5. Which means that even if we win game 5, neither of our Cy Young’s can start game 1 of the ALCS.

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    • Verlander could’ve still started game 1 of the ALCS, if we had to win it in 5 games, as it isn’t until Friday. He would be on 3 days rest and only pitching 2 2/3 innings. It was a bad decision by Hinch and, luckily, it didn’t matter in the long run.

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  33. Gameday said Gattis doubled – then they changed it to a single due to fan interference. Anybody see what happened and how their fan helped them?

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    • It was a broken bat grounder down the line. It hopped over the bag and the ballgirl thought it was foul, so she knocked it down. Bogarts was in position to field it off the wall and probably throw to second, so I don’t think it impacted the play. Gattis thought it was interference and kind of jogged to second. They sent him back to first. Ground rules vary by park.

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  37. We will either see the boys spraying champagne everywhere today, or pack up and go home to play game 5. I personally want to see goggles and champagne!!
    Don’t you?!!!

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  42. CT scan negative. Keeping me overnight, waiting on mri.

    We won? Oh hell yeah ! It was touch and go there so this brought a smile to my face

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  43. I’m a whimp. When Giles came in for his six out save, I headed to the ocean for a swim. Not only did I miss the grizzled veteran provide the essential insurance run, but of course then missed an inside the park homer that must have teased the Fenway faithful almost to death. We just beat the AL East Champs 6 out of 8.

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  46. I want to be gracious in the win, but those announcers were brutal until Beltran’s double. Said nice things about the Astros in the ninth.

    So apparently the greatest team in the history of baseball just lost the playoffs 3-1 in games.

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    • I thought AJ Piersynski was very complimentary of the Astros quite often the rest not so much . Also hats of to Giles, a 6 out huge pressure close , I have to honest did not give that a lot of hope

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  48. Isn’t baseball awesome!?! I ran the full gamut of emotions in this game today and no other sport brings out the passion and nerves like baseball. You have got to love this game!

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  49. Beltran earned his money. Bregman comes up huge. Reddick does what he has done all year. Gurriel finally has the nation’s attention. And Ken Giles does a fabulous job in a setting Craig Kimbrel could not handle today.
    Congratulations Astros.
    I know Verlander gave up the home run, but he stepped up and stopped the Red Sox cold after that and got the victory in his first ever major league appearance in relief.

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