M's 5 Astros 7 - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
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THE BAD AND THE UGLY
Blissedj consoled all of us with his comment that this has been the most viscerally painful week in M's history. He should feel better this morning, since the M's followed up their suffering --- > by assigning Mitch Haniger the key game-losing flub in right field. Next up, some random Astro hits a double Wednesday, causing an enraged Edgar to charge out of the dugout, Woody Hayes style, to clothesline the hapless batter and get himself banned from baseball. He and Pete Rose then set up an offshore poker site and are later killed by pirates.
Who was the guy who said "there's no such thing as a moral victory"? Was that Bill "Tuna" Parcells, or George C. Patton slapping down a cowardly soldier, or Lloyd McClendon watching an Erasmo start, or what?
It wasn't ALL bad luck. The Astros had like 18 total bases to our 11. We will grant that some question exists whether the M's have a JUGGERNAUT. But they're clearly more talented than last year's 86-win version. Hey, James Paxton by himself is more talented than last year's 86-win team.
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THE ARIEL MIRANDA
One of my fave 2 or 3 Miranda starts. He was sticking 93-94 MPH fastballs on the corners, taking charge of counts with authority. He used his new "foshball" to generate 7 swings and misses out of 30 attempts. His split was way plus, considering it was his third not second weapon.
Miranda had been throwing a "changeup" that veered the same 9" armside as his fastball. Today he was apparently applying the third finger, not the second, because the ball was twisting back in gloveside. The results were more than we could have hoped for. Considering his CTL ratio is 9:1 in 10 innings, and that he's got 3 homers allowed, he's stylistically the right Scrub to put in front of this OF.
The M's may be 2 and 7, but their second string rotation could kick the stuffing out of Korea. MLB first, baby.
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THE MANIGER
Buhner and Blowers have a cool rapport in the booth. When Mitch Haniger doubled in Dyson, to make the score 1-2, they were both like "HOW did you LIKE the way he hung IN on that SLIDER!" If you're truly planning to appreciate the M's new 5-WAR right fielder, don't miss the way that he sticks his teeth into 90-MPH breakers on the outside corner.
When his double went high off the wall, though, it lowered his OPS to 3 ticks short of 1,000 so he's got some work to do.
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WEDNESDAY NIGHT
PYTHAG UPDATE the M's have 33 runs for, 39 runs against. That's not desirable but of course it's not 2-7, either. Dr. D hereby predicts that their club will not finish the season batting .197 with a .299 SLG, either. If you're scoring almost 4 a game despite a .299 SLG, I guess you're running some bases. Small favors.
We'll lecture the Denizens once again. Didn't that Paxton tsunami feel all the better for the fact that you haven't bailed on this team? Tonight we see Mike Fiers, whatever that might be, and have scored 9-6-5 runs our last three. Here's to another 7 or so, and a .500 record on Jack Billingham Day.
If our Jack Billingham strategy doesn't pan out, it's still only three more games until we win!
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Enjoy,
Dr D