Okay.... so Abreu is a slow starter. It's become annual pattern. Worst time for an Hader injury as far as Abreu is concerned.
I know it’s April but this series is gonna come back and bite the Astros in the ass. There is no reason why the A’s should have been able to take 2 of 3.
i didn't bother to watch the post game was espada asked about meyers not wearing sunglasses or was jake himself was asked about not wearing sun glasses? pretty sure everybody was wearing sun glasses except for jake and altuve
Another series loss to the bottom feeder Athletics... Offense contiues to put up runs. But the pitching..... Abreu ....
The season is early and they need to figure out if Abreu and Javier can fix themselves. McCullers needs better command. When he is throwing strikesoke the first game, he can be dominant. I like how he got himself out of trouble in the first few innings. He just needs to be sharper. Hopefully that comes with more in game reps. Abreu just seems off. He's throwing harder than the beginning of the season but not quite to his dominant self and his command is piss poor. These guys need to throw strikes early in the count.
That was a crazy series, if you would have told me the Stros would score 10 yesterday and LOSE, I would say you're crazy. It was a fun game right up until we lost and go figure Abreu would give up a bomb to end it, the dude is awesome as a set-up man, so why the struggles as a closer? You wasted a great day of offense who kept coming back time after time. Lance was OK, Bluballs sucked, Javier looks washed up.........our SP is ok 1-3 but 4-5 are iffy at best Its early and I am not sure this offensive barrage will last, but dam there super disciplined right now, and the ABS is working to the point where pitchers who nibble at the corners can't nibble all the time because they will get called out. The A`s could have had quite a few more challenges but they used them all up early. Yordan and Walker are dialed in
Abreu really blew the game twice, just Altuve saved his ass the first time. He needs to be relegated to middle relief until he shows he can be effective.
I'll add Brice to that list. I cringe every time he comes up to the plate. It's like watching Maldonado at his worst. When he came in to pinch hit in the 9th I wanted to puke. That was ridiculous.
Yeah. That Meyers sun in the eyes fall and Allen running back to miss a popup were like watching bloopers reels. My favorite catches were by Loperfido and Cam. They are my favorite rising young stars. I'm still completely amazed at the transformation of Walker at the plate. It's so fun having two of the best hitters in baseball right now with Yordan and Walker. Now we need our pitchers to stop making it so damn hard to get a win. Losing with 10 runs bites big time.
Well Diaz was sitting at .296 before the game, with a .355 OB%. He had 6 RBI’s, from the bottom 3rd of the lineup, in only 8 games. Then yesterday went 0 for 6. He did make contact every time up, just couldn’t punch one through. Just sayin’
Takeaways: 1) What ever happened to not pitching Abreu/Hader in multiple innings? Especially with Hader, Sousa, and De Los Santos injured. Espada needs to bite the bullet and find someone else for the 10th. Especially with Abreu's first few outings and questions about his recovery/fatigue. 2) Exactly what I expected, Terrible ballpark/matchup for Javier and McCullers. Have no hope for Javier but still some for Lance to land in between the two starts and be an ok 5th starter. 3) 8+ runs in 6 of 10 games, averaging 7 on the season. The offense is for real. 4) 1 and 2 in a single road series in April is nothing to worry about. 5) How frigging overly careful can they be with Pena !!! It's not exactly an injury that screams "this may cost more games by aggravating it" 6) Munoz must go before Joe uses him again. 7) Teng has been good But can't be brought in w/ runners in scoring position. He has thrown a wild pitch to his 1st batter twice already. 8) Imai may be who we hoped he is !!! 9) Maybe the Astros are right and Blubaugh needs to be limited to one time through the order? HR, 2B, and 1B to 4 batters faced a 2nd time. 10) if Diaz catches a popup that is usually caught 499 out of 500 times and Meyers catches a flyball that is usually caught 98 times out of 100 we are talking completely differently about this series.
