Based on social media hysteria, I guess I will need to post another Quick Bite Astros Game Recap for the 3-2 loss against the Phillies last night.
Now we have fans mad at Espada that he did NOT pull Blanco after
5.0 IP
78 pitches
4 hits
1 ER
They are pissed that Espada did not trust the guy who just cleared WAIVERS to start the sixth inning.
Well, let me give you the batter-by-batter xwOBA matchups, first Blanco and then Neris.
Harper 0.391 / 0.390
Bohm 0.320 / 0.404
Castellanos 0.266 / 0.380
So, NO, Astros fans making a move which leads to a FAR WORSE matchup to the next batters when a pitcher is pitching well is frankly DUMB.
Being mad that somehow the Astros pitchers did not hold the Phillies to only ONE RUN is frankly DUMB.
The team has a six man rotation and only seven pitchers in the bullpen. Verlander is pitching the next day and only went 5 IP in his last start. One of the team’s top RPs is on the IL.
You must push starters to try to get 6 IP when they are pitching well or you will destroy the short bullpen.
It is baseball and sometimes doing the right things does not work but what no one knows is how bad doing the DUMB things would be.
I guess I will have to post this as another game recap to document that once again Espada was right.
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