moonslav59

I agree, but getting Baez/Semien plus Schwarber & Stroman would make the need to shed salary somewhere else almost mandatory.

So, all check swings are strikes or not?

I'm thinking, if I call it something else, maybe some will buy in. Obviously, Cora thinks it matters enough with Eovaldi.

If we added those three, we'd almost certainly have to trade Bogey and or JD.

I'm not sure we know the winter spending budget (limit), but in my opinion, we only have 3-5 openings on the 40 man roster for additions. That is assuming we protect 4-5 Rule 5 eligible players. Last winter we spent about $43M on ... $10M Richards $8M Ottavino $7M Kike (x 2) $6M Perez $3M Renfroe $3M Marwin $3M Andriese $1.5M Sawamura $1.5M Santana For argument's sake, let's say we have the same winter budget. $43M into 3-5 players, not 9 like last winter, allows us to get higher paid and hopefully higher quality players by spending an average of $8-14M per player as compared to $4.5 per player, last winter. I agree, I doubt we spend $30M on 1 player, but the money could be there to spend $30M, $5M, $4M & $4M on 4 players. More likely, we'll spend something like $14M, $10M, $8M, $7M & $4M on 5 players. Even this should bring us much better quality than last winter. We could also trade for a low cost addition.

Way to stay positive. It's been a great season by a gritty team. That grit ain't going away for game 6.

Sure, some fans love screaming at umps, but they'll find someone else to scream at. Why should we cater to them? Plus, it's not like an actual metal robot will be on the field behind the plate- ruining the visual of our pastime favorite. There will still be an ump behind home plate to make calls on plays at the plate. They can even set it up where that ump has an ear piece that tells him ball or strike, and he can still "make the call" and be yelled at by dumb, drunk fans. My guess is, in time, nobody will even notice.

There are plenty of counterparts that swing our way, and with injuries to the Stros staff, they shouldn't have had a big edge on us there. We match up with them pretty closely. Game 6 we have to do better. We can do it. BTW, if you look at the Astros batters, many of them are not the model of consistency, either. Some were slumping badly, until the last 2 games. Some still are. BTW, anyone notice Maldanado is 1 for 26 but still starts almost every game. Could it be staff-handling is really valuable? Let's see how Plawecki does on Friday.

We need pitching more than anything.

Really? Robo players? We come to watch the game being played and not some bozos missing 23 calls and forcing batter and pitchers to alter their approaches.

I disagree. We are obviously polar opposites on this. Let's move on.

If Dalbec plays, it should be for Renfroe not Arroyo.

If you ever visit the game threads, you'll see there will never be a shortage of things for fans to scream at. If that's why some fans love the sport, don't worry. They'll get used to robo strikes called and move on to screaming at Bloom & Cora like the rest of us.

Max, it's not the rectangle. We all Know it's not accurate and that the ball is dropping and moving as it crosses the plate. What the rectangle exposes is the inconsistency of umps. You can see the same pitch be called a ball then a strike. It's not an illusion. Sure, one pitch might be dipping more than another one we think are identical, but for real, the umps suck. 23 missed calls are about 20 more than what is acceptable. Why should a pitcher be able to "expand the strike zone?" Why should that be a part of the game? Why not let good basketball players expand the hoop size when they shoot?

We created way more opportunities for ourselves before that HR, but couldn't get that one key hit. That's been our downfall, all year. The Stros were hardly doing anything, then bam. One swing and it's tied. The ninth was just a cluster f*** that could have ended on a strike call, but instead, the floodgates were opened. Friday is a new game. The Sox are where they have been many times, this year. Counted out and having Lost the momentum." In my lifetime, except for the 2004 ALCS, I have never seen a team fight back from adversity and loss of faith by their fans, than this year. Over 6 months of it- not one series vs the Yanks. I'm not giving up. I saw the fire in Sale's eyes, today. This team has not given up. I'm not either.

I won't be happy if we go scoreless through 5, but with Nate on the mound, if we are close enough, hell yes, I think we can win after being down 2 or 3-0 after 5. Did you watch the season? Did you see all the comeback games? Is it impossible to do that again? Can momentum change in the middle of a game? It sure seems to against us, so why can't you ever even dream of it happening for us? You are always so negative. It's really quite extreme. Maybe I'm too extreme the other way, but I just never buy into this we need to do this or that or we have no chance. We haven't done this or that, all year, and pulled many a game out of our ass, and also turned on the gas to points never seen in MLB. That can happen again, even if down 4-0 in the 6th. Of course, it might not, but why go out of your way to always expect the worst? I guess we just are two different creatures, which is fine with me. I'm not preaching or pretending to be better or smarter than anyone else, but I see things my way, and you see things your way. Winning or losing isn't going to prove either one of us was right or wrong.

No I get your point. Disagreeing does not mean not understanding. Not capitalizing on opportunities does not mean lack of effort. The effort got us opportunities the Astros didn't get until the 9th inning on Tuesday. They showed no "fire." They had no momentum. Then, in a split second, everything turned on a dime. It wasn't some slow march of momentum changing. s*** happens, and it's not always because of some easily identifiable reason. Baseball is a game of fractions of millimeters. Maybe we don't agree on what momentum is. If it is so easily lost and reversed, then it's not momentum. Momentum is a mass moving at a speed that makes it hard or impossible to stop or slow down. That hasn't happened all year in the AL. Trends are changing with the flap of butterfly wings.

This team has comeback more than all but one or two other teams, this year. They also came back from being counted out after game 3, after losing 5 straight at the deadline and "losing ground" on trades, so many thought, and after sweep by the Yanks in August, a couple more 3 game losing streaks, later and then the sweep by the Yanks in September followed by losing 2 of 3 vs BAL. This team does not need to score first. Sure, it improves their odds of winning, but scoring more is a 100% winner. Never count this team out. Day off and then Big Nate. One game at a time. You gotta believe!

"Looked tight?" I'm not watching the same game, I guess. Did they look tight Monday? Why didn't the momentum carry us, if it is so real?

If "momentum" was real, they'd have "capitalized on it." That's what momentum mean. You get in a groove and it carries you onwards. It didn't. The Astros "momentum" won't carry them in game 6. If this season proves anything, it proves momentum, trends or whatever you wanna call them are nonsense.

I never even thought about the word "effort," today. I won't on Friday, either. I think this team is special and gives it all they got as much or more than any other team. Some players just don't wear their emotions on their sleeves. Hell, someone was reading into ERod's lack of emotion as meaning he was going to s*** the bed in his next start. He just pitched 2 very good games without looking like he was giving it "extra" effort. . I'm happy with the team's effort all year and today. I don't think anyone was taking the day off. We got beat by a good pitcher and a good team, or we slumped at the worst time. Maybe, a little of both. I don't equate slumping with lack of effort. Sometimes slumping happens because you are trying too hard.

The body language was bad when we were swept by the Yanks then lost 2 of 3 to the O's before the must win Nats series, too. That was less than 3 weeks ago.

If momentum was real, we'd have been riding the momentum from game 3 all the way to the parade.

Yes. Backs against the wall is when we play our best.

I meant 4 more runs in the series. (LOL)