moonslav59

They are not stacked this year. Many players have fallen off a cliff from last year. Astros OBP by slot: 7th- ,293 8th- .327 9th- .287 2017 Astros: 7th- .324 8th- .354 9th- .302 Huge difference.

Our 9 slot has a .304 OBP. It's the 8 slot that is killing us (.261 OBP). (7th is .296.

It's nice getting 15+ HRs from the 9 slot as well, even with Betts up #1.

I agree, but I also feel he will not go 1 for 10 of 60 for 600.

softy started with Crisp > "punch and Judy" Jacoby. I've always been fine with JBJ as our CF'er, even with poor D, and I liked him more than Ellsbury, too. I've been defending his bat a lot, which make it seem like I feel he needs to hit to keep playing, which I don't agree with, but I do feel his offense has been good enough to play despite the defense for over 3 years now. Yes, he slumps. Yes, his slumps can be long and horrific. Overall, he does good enough on offense. If anyone thinks it's 50-50 when considering his defense in the equation, his base running should tilt to playing him FT.

I've been on this page from year 1.

If ERod looks good, I think Eovaldi gets a try as our "Andrew Miller type."

Shepherd's already on the 40 man, so maybe he gets a call-up. Wright might come back, too. Walden can give innings, too. We could have a 22 man staff in September. Sale Price Porcello ERod Eovaldi Johnson Velazquez Pomeranz Wright Haley Shepherd Kimbrel Kelly Barnes Brasier Thornburg Hembree Workman Cuevas Poyner Scott Walden

Good point. There also seems to be more quality LHPs that do well vs righties and lefties.

JBJ will slump again, like all players do, but I'm hoping he's over the extended slumps for good.

Then set the robo-ump to that setting. Okay with me. Just make it consistent.

"Recently" is now up to 3 full months. His low point was May 12th at .510. He's had a couple short dipd along the way, as everyone has, but he gone up steadily every 15 days for 6 straight half month check points. He's at .694 now.

I get it. Our pen has looked bad in many a win lately, and it is only a matter of time, before it catches up with us, unless it turns itself around. Now that Pom is in the pen, and can go 3-5 innings, maybe we can rest the others more often. Once ERod comes back, we'll have another long reliever in the pen. Once Sept 1st comes around, we can rest everybody. Maybe a waiver wire deal is in the works, but I think we'll be okay as is.

Maybe you were being sarcastic. We've hardly lost at all in about a 1/4 of the season. Since June 21st, we've lost 9 games. Here are those 9 games. 1. June 23: We were down 5-0 to Seatlle before our pen came in. We lost 7-2 as we scored 2 runs in the 9th. No blown game by pen. (5 IP 2 ER) 2. June 29 @ NYY: ERod let up 5 ER in 6IP. We were down 5-1 when the pen came in. No blown game by pen. (2 IP 3 ER) 3. July1 @ NYY: Price lets up 8 ER in 3.1 IP and we lose 11-1. No blown game by pen. (4.2 IP 3 ER) 4. July 13 vs TOR: Porcello gives up 8 ER in 2+ IP, We're down 8-5 after he is removed.We lose 13-7. No blown game by pen, but they didn't help, (5 IP 0 ER by Velazquez, Thornburg & Brasier, but then Kelly and Scott let up 5 ER in 2 IP to put the game away) 5. July 21: vs DET. We lose 5-0. Johnson goes 5 IP 2 R (0 ER). The pen let's up 3 ER in 3 IP, but since we never scored, the pen did not blow this game. 6. July 26 @ BAL: We lost 7-6. Pom let's up 4 ER in 4.2 IP and leaves the game with us down 4-3.We score 3 more and the pen allows 3 more, so technically, the pen did not blow this game, but I'm okay with putting half the blame on them (3.1 IP 3 ER). 7. July 26 vs MN: we lose 2-1.Johnson goes 5.2 with o ER and leaves the game up 1-0. The pen lets up 2 ER in 3.1 IP and "blows the game." 8. July 31st: We lose 3-1 as Pom let's up 2 ER in 5 IP. The pen let's up 1 run in 4 IP. No blown game by the pen. They actually kept us in it as the one run allowed was in the 9th in a 2-1 game. 9. August 9 @ TOR: we lost 8-5 as Porcello let up 7 ER in 4 IP. The pen let up 1 ER in 4 IP. No blown game by pen. I count 1.5 blown games by the pen out of the last 9 losses in our last 42 games.

Just put up the zeros. Look at the Yankee pen... by far, the best in MLB. Even they have looked very shaky lately.

12 Ks in 5.... WOW! I love how Cora and DD have handled Sale this season. It's what I was suggesting last year, too, but I'm glad they are doing it now. We need Sale very strong for the playoffs. JD continues to be the man. Nice to see JBJ continue his consistency. Pearce still going strong. Our pen has been used a lot, but they finally showed some bounce back. I think we're 29-6 in our last 35 games and 36-9 in our last 45 games. That's an 80% winning stretch over our last 45 games and 83% over our last 35 games. Counting the 17-2 start to the season, our two stretches combined, we went 46-8 (.852) or 53-11 (.828). 46-8 is 54 games or 1/3 of the season. Between these two best streaks, we were 39-27 (.590). Overall, we have a 71% winning percentage.

How about JBJ's, more or less, steady rise with his OPS? .510 May 12 .548 May 27th .572 June 12th .612 June 27th .641 July 12th .653 July 27th .694 Aug 12th Good to see 3 straight months of consistent plus offense along with the GG quality defense.

I guess I was all over the map. I projected 101 on my first post on Part II, 97 this day, and I think on a survey I chose 92-95 with reservations.

I was a teacher and still volunteer almost full time. Getting the kids to laugh at me (not with me) is always a great ice breaker.

Excellent post, and while I do tend to focus on numbers, I also see the mental toughness and a whole lot of fire and desire in this team's heart.

The funny thing is, we're playing pretty close to perfect ball and have Sale, ERod and maybe others (Kinsler, Wright, Vaz & Swihart) coming off the DL soon. Hard to see how we can get any better, but just sayin'...

9.5 up. Nice sweep. We're 26-6 (.813) in our last 31 games and 7-3 in the 10 before that! (33-9 is .805.) Eight- oh- freakin' five in 41 games!

.930 the last 28 days. That's pretty close to his time period after week 1 with the Sox.

It's all about the last laugh.

The guy has been a great pitcher for years and years. It should never be a surprise when a great pitcher has a rough patch and then returns to form or reinvents himself as a different style of pitcher.