Been sitting here speechless for 20 minutes. Hard to be optimistic about this year with stuff like this going on

Huell Babineaux said:

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Been sitting here speechless for 20 minutes. Hard to be optimistic about this year with stuff like this going on

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It was a s****y series for sure but no reason to be too worried just yet.

Scored 5 runs, 3 runs and 6 runs without a win.

Pitching sucking a$$ so far.

If this is the way pitching is going to be, its going to be a long season

Doesn't help that we play Oakland next. Seriously.

jtstanley4621 said:

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"It's a little early to reconsider things"
-Jeff Bannister, a man with a closer that has a 72.00 ERA

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To be fair having two s****y innings as a closer to start the year will tend to make your ERA look truly terrible.

When we're a distant 3rd by next month maybe he'll reconsider then.

One thing that's getting buried in all of this is how great Mazara has been at the plate.

I feel good about the bats.

Our best 3 guys and best 'pen arms just threw and we couldn't win a game. Do we blame the game of baseball and "**** happens"? When can we start blaming Brocail?

"It is how he runs the team" isn't an excuse any more than "it is how he drives" would be an excuse an excuse if Banniater were to be pulled over for speeding down I-30 tonight.

jtstanley4621 said:

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One thing that's getting buried in all of this is how great Mazara has been at the plate.

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I've been happy with the offense.

Elvis, Maz, Roogie looking good.

Gomez hit a couple balls hard last night. Average isn't there yet, but he's seeing a ton more pitches and staying within himself I feel like.

Choo on base three times tonight. Also got a base hit oppo against the shift last night, AND at least attempted to bunt against it.

Gallo doesn't look nearly as lost at the plate this year. Numbers might not be there yet, but he's competing in his at bats. Not a lot of "good morning, good afternoon, good night", like we saw last year.

Also, it's not like the defending AL champs came in and wiped the floor with us. We were ahead in the late innings in two of the games, and had the tying run at second in the 9th with nobody out in the other. Obviously some things to work on, but the compete was there. Yeah, yeah, moral victories. Trying to find the positive.

Huell Babineaux said:

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I feel good about the bats.

Our best 3 guys and best 'pen arms just threw and we couldn't win a game. Do we blame the game of baseball and "**** happens"? When can we start blaming Brocail?

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I don't know if any of it is Brocail's fault or not, but I was never a fan of getting rid of Maddux.

The strikeouts could be killer. 35 in this three game series.

Bannister's lineup card remains painfully cliche. DeShields had no business taking his first at bats of the season at the leadoff spot and Napoli had no business back at cleanup unless you're convinced the centerfielder-type, especially if he's a speedy black one, must hit 1st and the 1st baseman must hit cleanup.

The Indians announcers made fun of our field tonight. The field definitely looks like crap.

I pay for the MLB "at bat" app. I can't watch the games when they're live because of work. I can watch the Rangers about an hour after the game is over which is about when I finish up. The app lets me choose which broadcasting crew and I always pick the other team. The Indians guys were really good I thought.

TXAggie2011 said:

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The strikeouts could be killer. 35 in this three game series.

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This what concerns me. Too many 150+ strikeout guys in the order. Also just not very fun to watch this style of ball.

Some versions of the app allow you to sync up Nadel with the TV broadcast.

TV Casualty said:

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Some versions of the app allow you to sync up Nadel with the TV broadcast.

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I think even the basic version of the app lets you choose which radio broadcast you want. That, along with all the video highlights of every single other game and articles is worth the $3/month

SheriffBarclay said:

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jtstanley4621 said:

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One thing that's getting buried in all of this is how great Mazara has been at the plate.

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True, but boneheaded fielding mistakes make him a net zero.

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Nah. Mazara will be the face of the franchise pretty soon, IMO. He's got defensive issues, but he's 21 and that bat is lethal already.

Yeah, I'm living out of state so I'm paying for mlb.tv to watch the games. The mlb.tv app is different on every device. The PS4 one allows you to sync up the radio broadcast of your choosing to the live TV stream.

TXAggie2011 said:

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"It is how he runs the team" isn't an excuse any more than "it is how he drives" would be an excuse an excuse if Banniater were to be pulled over for speeding down I-30 tonight.

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Except with that analogy the speeding has no long-term potential benefit.

You can make a case that he's slow to make a change, but you can also make a case that early on he's willing to send guys out there to see if they can be counted on. Maybe he wasn't ready to cast another bullpen member aside after 1 terrible outing and the start of another one -- especially with Diekman on the DL and Kela up in the air.

We've all had similar complaints about this management style the last 2 seasons, and the last 2 seasons he's managed to put together a team that has won the division.

Maybe that's despite his management style, but I think he has earned the benefit of the doubt.


Again, I don't agree with the decision, but maybe the guy knows what he's doing in the long-term?

Corporal Punishment said:

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TXAggie2011 said:

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The strikeouts could be killer. 35 in this three game series.

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This what concerns me. Too many 150+ strikeout guys in the order. Also just not very fun to watch this style of ball.

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The strikeouts were likely going to be an issue with Gallo in the lineup anyway -- adding Napoli just threw gasoline on it.

I like Napoli, but I think it's going to continue to be painfully obvious that spending the extra $$$ on Encarnacion would have been a far better investment. I'm guessing Napoli ends up being a 0.5 WAR or worse guy by season's end.

To those griping about Bannister sticking with a guy too long, keep in mind the Old School Brother would let Dyson blow saves for three months before making a move.

Dyson is probably only one more bad outing away from handing the closer job to Bush.

Quote:

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Except with that analogy the speeding has no long-term potential benefit.

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Sure it does. He gets home earlier, his wife feels better and is happier, it creates more confidence in their relationship moving forward, yada yada yada.

And I don't think that's anymore strained than saying letting a guy stay on the mound after loading the bases and walking in a run impacts long term confidence for Dyson.

Plus, I think the show of confidence was allowing Dyson to stay in after loading the bases. If Dyson needed even more beyond that, that's a fragility issue and they've got much more to work on than Dyson getting one more hitter.


Casting aside another bullpen member? Let's not be so dramatic here. We're talking about making a pitching change. I---and most---didn't say he should have walked out with Dyson's bus ticket to Round Rock. Don't David Sandhop me.

p.s. What's really awesome for team confidence and emotions? Winning.

You do what gives you the best chance to win. It was pretty obvious Dyson didn't have it.

I wasn't implying cast aside as sending him down or demoting him to mop-up duty... But if you take your proclaimed closer and take him out of a closing/save situation in the 3rd game of the season then you are casting him aside a bit.

Yeah Dyson should be able to handle it, yeah winning is more important, etc, etc... Like I said I don't disagree that getting him out of there was the better and/or more obvious move.

I'm just saying that's the way Bannister has shown he is going to manage this roster... He'll give his guys enough rope to hang themselves, and it will cost us some games along the way. The question, which no one can really quantify, is if this style leads to a benefit to a club over a 162 game season.

It led to 95 last year -- including winning close games in a way that was previously unprecedented... Maybe that style breeds a confidence or trust in the roster that helps.

Maybe it means absolutely nothing and a loss is just a loss. Maybe Jeffress is brought in and pisses himself and gives up a slam and you then have 2 pieces of an already short-handed (Kela/Diekman) bullpen with confidence issues.

But Bannister has won the West twice -- neither time with a roster on paper that should have been dominant -- so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

I have been pleased with the development of Mazara's bat and that Rougned has started off hot. Overall, strikeouts need to come down, but pitching tends to be better in April and May until the hitters catch back up to speed.

On the other hand our pitching.... has been brutal. Our starters have been shaky with all the walks but have battled through to keep us in the game. I would love to see a little bit more domination out of them.

As for the bullpen, good gosh where to start. Bush had some issues opening night and still a lot of walks and not a slam-the-door, strength of the team like I thought they could be. But the real black eye is Dyson. Don't even know where to begin with him but we have got to get him fixed. Maybe the off day and a couple days of no use will be good for him and then slowly work him back into low pressure situations.

Still early in the year so not too concerned about the less than ideal start. It does sting that Houston started off 3-0, but if we put it together, we can turn this around real fast.

completely agree with you! Bannister has proved enough to me over the past two seasons to not freak out over the start. Sure there are some glaring issues, but I got faith we will turn it around. We are still less than 2% in the year...

Dyson did so well in the WBC. Where did that go?

MooreTrucker said:

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Dyson did so well in the WBC. Where did that go?

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The same place as Profar's good play I guess.