Houston Astros 2023 Season on a daily roll

His second time up, he hits a weak pop to the pitcher and then just casually trots to first. The pitcher could’ve rolled it over there. I can’t stand watching that dude play baseball. Or attempt to.

2 Likes

This game wasn’t surprising. We’ve seen it all season. Get behind early and then face an ace type pitcher, yet can’t hit him.

3 Likes

Maldonado is in there because Dusty trusts him. Old coach trusts old player. Happens in every league and really every industry.

No offense, but if I had to choose, I would trust the decision making of a man who has won the fourth most games in baseball history than anyone posting on this board.

It’s not like CDH who has never been a champion and whose actions are not conducive to winning. Baker has won everywhere he’s been.

He didn’t win last night with all of his experience.

He didn’t win in 2021 when it mattered.

2020 was whatever, but it didn’t end with a win, either.

Let’s not pretend like the players don’t matter and Dusty only gets credit for wins. How many WS has he won?

2 Likes

In general, I’m ok with most of the decisions Dusty makes. This one I am not. If you think Maldonado gives the Astros the best chance to win, I will strongly disagree with you. Don’t even try to change my mind. Ha He won 95 and 97 games with the Nationals and was let go. He has his flaws.

1 Like

What should Dusty have done differently in 2021 to beat Atlanta? I’m all ears.

There aren’t enough intangibles in the world that a catcher has to justify starting Maldy over Diaz. Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez are professionals. They’ll pitch to whoever they need to if the manager deems it beneficial to the team.

Pablo Lopez is a fantastic pitcher and offense was more necessary than Maldy’s chemistry with Framber last night.

Additionally, I do question Dusty leaving Framber in there to face Correa. That was a high leverage situation that called for Correa seeing another pitcher after already getting 2 hits off FV. Not saying it changes the outcome of the game, but this is the playoffs and you have an off day coming up. You unload the tank and play to win when 3 run blast gets you right back in the game.

Also, the approach from the Astros hitters was awful last night. Lopez was throwing so many first pitch strikes and 70% of our lineup was taking instead of being aggressive. We got so behind in so many counts that his changeup ended up being lethal.

I can’t wait to see the umpire scorecard. He had to be below 90% on ball/strike accuracy last night…for both sides.

1 Like

Yeah, most of the lineup was in a 1-2 count all night.

He should have won. The argument is that he’s above criticism or second-guessing “because he’s won everywhere” and that his decision-making should be trusted because he’s done it forever.

I don’t care about the Atlanta series, though I’m sure you could find some nits to pick. What matters now is that Dusty is choosing not to put his best lineup out there, and he’s compounding it by not making in-game changes sooner. The number of games he’s won or years he’s been in the business doesn’t matter even a little bit.

2 Likes

lol…I really don’t know what Dusty could have done in Game 3 when our murderers row lineup failed to get one hit off of Ian freaking Anderson through 5IP.

Also, after Framber, there was just no reliable starter you could go with in the series. Nobody knew Jorge Soler was going to turn into Reggie Jackson for the fall classic. We were outplayed and overmatched in ‘21.

1 Like

Win tomorrow.

1 Like

Yeah, we didn’t have Verlander nor McCullers (as usual).

Just choked down the replay.
That there was a whuppin.

Tues should be a fun 1.
That crowd will be in a frenzy.

You may have missed it, but I don’t care about Atlanta. Feel free to type out another long response about how bad we were and that no manager could have accomplished anything more with that team. Doesn’t matter.

The Astros could still win it all, and that wouldn’t change the fact that Dusty has mismanaged them this year. Some of that has been bad luck, some has been underperformance, but his job is to minimize that kind of stuff.

This team loses focus and drive after one win in a series. They let their foot off the gas and seem to expect the other team to roll over.

Whatever. Just win the next one.

2 Likes

Then why say he lost in ‘21 when it mattered? I asked you simple question, so you shifted to, “I don’t care”.

Makes sense. 2+2 = fish.

My point is it’s fair to criticize Dusty if justified, but criticizing him for losing the ‘21 series is foolish.

The radio guys Ford and Sparks thought the reason he left Framber in was due to his ability to get a double play and Correa led the AL in hitting into double plays with 30.

1 Like

That’s a good enough reason.

If you don’t trust us would you trust every available metric?

1 Like

I didn’t criticize him. It’s a fact that his team didn’t win. That’s it. If you’re gonna credit him for his one WS win, you have to also hold him responsible for his losses.

You’re off base and trying to create something that isn’t a thing. Go harass someone else.

2 Likes

But when the guy already had two hits against you, you throw that out the window.

2 Likes