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I have zero faith in Kazmir tomorrow. In fact, he is the last starter I wanna see right now

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My last post for the night was going to be along these lines. Zero faith in him. Hope he proves us wrong and throws a gem but........ his recent history is saying otherwise.

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We are 2-8 in his last 10 starts.

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Whoo hoo

Being a Astros fan is damn sure not for sissy's.

Takes everything you've got not to get up and throw a chair or something against the wall.

We all know this so we will just have to deal with it.

Good night

The Hinch'ings are so many and so terrible in September that I think we're all spinning.

You've got a 5-run lead in the 9th on Saturday, go ahead and bring your closer in to throw 30 pitches. I mean, closers NEVER look shaky in non-save situations.

Lots of close games in September? Keep going to Pat Neshek and his ERA near 9 (not just guessing) for the month.

Will Harris strikes out 3 and gets 1 pitch/1 out to open the 8th...you put the gun to your head to play some Russian Roulette.

The guy is lost and is as effective a manager as Charlie Strong is a football coach.

Does anyone know when the last time was we weren't holding a playoff spot? Serious question

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Does anyone know when the last time was we weren't holding a playoff spot? Serious question

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You've gotta go back to the last day of last season.

Yeah, but we participated this year...we should all applaud AJ's valiant effort! In the end, he just got victimized by changing pitchers enough to find a gas can and running mind ****ing lineups out there.

Poor guy! Maybe he'll have better luck next year.

Hinched and Nesheked.

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The inconsistent lineups and bullpen use are what should do AJ in.

No hitter can ever get into a rhythm if they don't know where they are hitting, or if they are even playing on a day to day basis.

The use of the bullpen is horrifying. I still can't believe we used 6 pitchers last night, and still let neshek stay in to lose the game in the 8th. It's like we were playing chess and just said **** it.

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I had the realization when he went to Neshek that we were in a tie game in the 8th inning and had already blown through that many pitchers in what could become an extra inning game.

Just no feel for the game whatsoever...it's horrifying.

I just hate it b/c I have a terrible feeling that we're going to be excited about next season and Hinch will drive this team into the ground out of the gate next season and be fired around the All Star break. I hope he is able to review the season and there's a shift in philosophy that allows him to see all of the mistakes he has made time-and-time again down the stretch, but I'm not holding my breath.

Nothing would make me happier than to be wrong b/c it kills me to think about them sucking out of the gate next season, but they're below .500 over the last 5 months and that's a reflection of the manager.

Like I said last night, the dude could push any button with the bullpen for the first 6 weeks of the season and they were shutting it down, but then the bullpen started to regress to the mean. When it became a situation where he had to be strategic about who he was using and the spots he was using them in, he utilized the same methodology over-and-over again to worse and worse results.

Neshek has lost at least 4 games in the past month all by his lonesome, that i can think of off the top of my head. Including 3 against the craptastic Mariners.

The AL West graph is depressing...

Tonight is a must win. Kazmir and the offense need to show up tonight. A loss, and post season chances are practically over. However, we're catching a break considering Seattle doesn't have a starter tonight. Instead, they're throwing their bullpen. If we can jump on them early, they'll be in trouble

April 18th

I really hope the Angels choke on a big fat washed up Barry Zito dong tonight

Can't lose another game.

Hinch sort of seems like a "yes man" manager who's willing to take orders from the front office on day-to-day managerial decisions (kind of like McHale with the Rockets). For the Astros to take the next step, I hope they consider bringing in a proven winner/baseball mind to manage the club, even if he doesn't buy into all the stats and propositions that Luhnow throws his way.

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I really hope the Angels choke on a big fat washed up Barry Zito dong tonight

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And that is some BS they get Zito and not Gray.

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I really hope the Angels choke on a big fat washed up Barry Zito song tonight

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Truthfully, if the Astros win tonight and are only 1/2 game back going into tomorrow night's Angels/Rangers game...they're in pretty good shape.

I think a lot of us are reacting to the point that we've seen this (road series) loss so many times since May and I think we're just ready for what seems to be the norm. To our credit, a win tonight would be only the 2nd time they've picked-up a win on the road to secure a series win since May.

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Hinch sort of seems like a "yes man" manager who's willing to take orders from the front office on day-to-day managerial decisions (kind of like McHale with the Rockets). For the Astros to take the next step, I hope they consider bringing in a proven winner/baseball mind to manage the club, even if he doesn't buy into all the stats and propositions that Luhnow throws his way.

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This is what my former front office contact believes, but even the front office isn't pleased with some of the decisions he is making when he has autonomy.

In pressure situations you can find Hinch making notes on his list.

My guess is that he's keeping balls, strikes, outs, runner position, etc and he has a playcall sheet of defensive positioning based on the batter and the situation. He updates his list and then alters the players based on nothing more than pregame stats. Everything is else is left completely up to lefty and righty matchups.

Seriously, I've never seen a worse gameday manager. This guy was terrible in Arizona when he actually had to manage based on instincts and ability. Now he manages purely on stats, and most of his success has come from either the talent overcoming his terrible management or the starting pitching being lights out.

Every year we waste with this chump at the helm is another year of young talent that will be wasted. He's already ruined the emotional and mental approach for half of our players. I'm not ready to see him lose the rest.

Hinch has been in over his head all year. It's just magnified now.

We get it...We suck on the road and the numbers just don't pan out for us. However, some of us just like to look at things in a different light to give us some hope.

Like Springer is finally mashing the ball, Carter is mashing the ball (sans last night), our starters aren't getting shelled, we're finally taking advantage of some opportunities, and we've actually shown some fire these last couple weeks.

Call it sunshine pumping, but it makes it more enjoyable to watch and discuss when you go into it thinking positive.

I do agree that if we win tonight I like our chances. If that happens I see the Angels winning the division (sounds nuts since theyvwere essentially dead in the water around the ASB) and us in the WC. Funny that that's exactly how many predicted this season ending like.

Every game is a MUST WIN situation...it's just a shame that the manager & some of the players must see it differently. I sincerely hope, but kinda doubt, that there is enough left in the tank to rise up and get this done.

To expect that the Astros would win out is absurd. 8 wins in a row is difficult enough, but to expect a team that has been miserable on the road to win the final 6 all away from home is too much. After last night's loss, a win tonight is imperative. At the worst, they'll be .5 out of the WC. However, this is the last time the Angels and rangers won't be playing each other, so this is the last chance go gain a game on both teams in 1 night

Or not lose ground to both teams.

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However, this is the last time the Angels and rangers won't be playing each other, so this is the last chance go gain a game on both teams in 1 night

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Good point

It's odd how Hinch's inability to manage a baseball game doesn't impact the team at home, where we've won at a .654 clip. I realize no one likes his in-game decision-making ability, but that's not the reason for our struggles. The fact that both our pitchers and hitters drop off so much when on the road is the reason we don't have a playoff spot already locked up. We are as bad on the road as the worst teams in baseball and as good at home as the best. If anything, blame Hinch for not being a better psychologist and pulling this team out of its road funk.

Also, the lack of production from first and third is killer. It's amazing we are where we are without getting much from two positions that are generally offensive positions.

1B .219/.318/.415
3B .217/.292/.396

To put that into perspective, here's the slash line for our pinch hitters.

PH .214/.306/.429

Yes, our corner infielders are nothing more than pinch hitters offensively. Let that sink in for a moment.

So the manager has nothing to do with his team being completely unprepared and unfocused on the road?

Then you want to argue first and third, where AJ started Carter and Valbuena the majority of the year despite terrible performance.

Everything you just said points even more to Hinch not properly managing his club.

I understand the unlikelihood of winning all remaining games on the road. What I question is the seemingly LACK OF RESOLVE & ATTITUDE the manager (and maybe some players) seem to exhibit. I would have expected more. Maybe I expect too much. Maybe some are incapable of stepping up. We will see tonight & this weekend how bad they want this.

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By any realistic standard Hinch was great this year.

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This.

Dear sweet baby Jesus, let good Kazmir come out tonight and strike out thine opponents with an unparalleled fury reminiscent of your destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Amen


Or at the very least let our bats keep us in this thing.

And also, Lord baby Jesus, please bless Barry Zito with a rejuvenation that only thou most holy powers can bless him with.

Yeah he may have lost us 5-10. I'm not arguing that. But how many did he get us in the win column?

How many wins in the first half could be attributed to him setting high expectations to start and getting these guys to play. He won these guys over during spring training and it showed to start.

To give Hinch criticism over the road record and the 2nd half slide without giving him praise for the awesome start and the best AL home record (may not be best but it's close) is short sided.

This team is simply too inexperienced and lacking talent wise to make a run. A lot of people called it early that the low BAs, lack of situational hitters/hitting, and dependency on the long ball would kill us. I didn't think it would, but sure enough it did.

Hinch did a great job of motivating this team to start the season. There is no doubt there. They played with fire, swagger, and had a ton of fun.

Fast forward to August / September. The team is squeezing hard. They play tight, unfocused, and soft.

Over the course of the season, it is absolutely realistic to say that the team has adopted the persona of their coach.. the guy who apologized for not hitting a batter, the guy who got pushed around by Fielder and Bannister, and the guy who never shows emotion or fire.

If you are going to give Hinch credit for the start (a start that included the entire pitching staff, Valbuena, Marisnick, and our entire bullpen performing lights out and well above their true ability), then don't you have to discount Hinch for sticking with guys in tight situations like Carter, Marisnick, Valbuena, Qualls, Neshek, and Gregerson? Is it not Hinch's fault that this team cant close out a game on the road, or that once they get down on the road, they play like battered puppies?

If it's the same team that lost 90 last year, then its also the same team that was top 3 in baseball for half of this year. What changed? We even added Correa since that hot start.. a player that is among the top 3 best on the team. Nobody's production changed outside of Marisnick. Gattis, Carter, Springer, Valbuena, Rasmus, Marwin, Castro, Conger have all been very consistently average all year. Altuve has gotten better as the year has gone on. How are we worse? Could it possibly be the never consistent lineups and batting orders? Can it possibly be the stubbornness to always remove hot relievers for struggling relievers based only on lefty right matchups?

Hinch is the only consistent this year, and his team in the clutch is not performing.