Alright so in a must-win game against the high powered Boston Red Sox, we're going to go with our catcher that has an arm instead of the one that has blasted Price? And we're going to go with the outfielder that has 1 AB all postseason instead of the guy that's hitting .280 in the postseason? All for the sake of a lefty/righty matchup? Are you kidding me, Hinch? Is that it?

i actually feel good about this one, I think we win.

McCann looked worse behind the plate than Maldanado. The guy is a shell of his former self, and was trying to glove balls in the dirt. Add in the fact that he can't throw a runner out and he's a huge defensive liability. What he's done versus Price in the past is great. Unfortunately, we don't have McCann from the past to roll out there. We have McCann of today who's lost a considerable amount of bat speed. Lesser of two evils starting Maldanado.

Starting Jake is interesting. I don't expect much offense from him, but his defense could impact this game. He easily catches that ball that Springer missed last night.

Kemp over Reddick is a toss up, in my opinion. Reddick is 0-fer in his career versus Price. Kemp has been swinging it well and showing good plate discipline. He's probably hitting as well as anyone on the team, but Reddick has had good at bats, too. It will be nice to have Reddick's left handed bat on the bench to use later in the game. I doubt he watches three strikes go by with runners in scoring position.

Please let there be a ball jake has to go into right field stands to get.

Ags #1 said:

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Please let there be a ball jake has to go into right field stands to get.

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He's coming all the way over from CF? Did George fall down or something?

astros4545 said:

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aTm2004 said:

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WelchAg said:

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Maldonado...are you ****ing kidding me

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Put in Pear Body. Probably gets a hit and takes away at least a run from a passed ball.

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McCann had a pass ball last night

Didn't even try to block a curve ball

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Gamble I'm willing to take. How many runs crossed the plate because of a passed ball in the playoffs?

Lol. Good point. Maybe George falls down and Jake has the wheels to go and grab it from a fan

iBrad said:

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McCann looked worse behind the plate than Maldanado. The guy is a shell of his former self, and was trying to glove balls in the dirt. Add in the fact that he can't throw a runner out and he's a huge defensive liability. What he's done versus Price in the past is great. Unfortunately, we don't have McCann from the past to roll out there. We have McCann of today who's lost a considerable amount of bat speed. Lesser of two evils starting Maldanado.

Starting Jake is interesting. I don't expect much offense from him, but his defense could impact this game. He easily catches that ball that Springer missed last night.

Kemp over Reddick is a toss up, in my opinion. Reddick is 0-fer in his career versus Price. Kemp has been swinging it well and showing good plate discipline. He's probably hitting as well as anyone on the team, but Reddick has had good at bats, too. It will be nice to have Reddick's left handed bat on the bench to use later in the game. I doubt he watches three strikes go by with runners in scoring position.

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You must not have seen Maldy get his butt chewed out by Hinch early in the game. The guy is just lazy behind the plate. He's let way too many balls go by that shouldn't have over the past few games and McCann makes way better contact than Maldonado. He has a great arm but that's it. You have to remember that we're playing the high powered Red Sox, we need bats to match theirs. They've only attempted 1 stolen base all series so it's not like they're constantly trying that on us.

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we're going to go with our catcher that has an arm instead of the one that has blasted Price

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Lifetime performance metrics with certain guys vs certain pitchers is a fun stat but largely overstated as a predictive value.

It might have been Rockies/Brewers this year where a bunch of guys who shelled one of the match up wiffed and guys that were 0-for-a lot got hit. I remember it because all the fangraph guys trotted out the "can we get over this non-important stat now!?" all over twitter.

I'd feel better if he was wearing his 'stros hat.

The good news is we took 3 in a row from this team in their house just a few weeks ago. So it can be done.

I think we ride JV today and get this W. Hope Cole shows up and find some way to will yourselves to a win Game 6. Then anything can happen in Game 7. Those are are damn near coinflips.

rak1693 said:

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iBrad said:

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McCann looked worse behind the plate than Maldanado. The guy is a shell of his former self, and was trying to glove balls in the dirt. Add in the fact that he can't throw a runner out and he's a huge defensive liability. What he's done versus Price in the past is great. Unfortunately, we don't have McCann from the past to roll out there. We have McCann of today who's lost a considerable amount of bat speed. Lesser of two evils starting Maldanado.

Starting Jake is interesting. I don't expect much offense from him, but his defense could impact this game. He easily catches that ball that Springer missed last night.

Kemp over Reddick is a toss up, in my opinion. Reddick is 0-fer in his career versus Price. Kemp has been swinging it well and showing good plate discipline. He's probably hitting as well as anyone on the team, but Reddick has had good at bats, too. It will be nice to have Reddick's left handed bat on the bench to use later in the game. I doubt he watches three strikes go by with runners in scoring position.

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You must not have seen Maldy get his butt chewed out by Hinch early in the game. The guy is just lazy behind the plate. He's let way too many balls go by that shouldn't have over the past few games and McCann makes way better contact than Maldonado. He has a great arm but that's it. You have to remember that we're playing the high powered Red Sox, we need bats to match theirs. They've only attempted 1 stolen base all series so it's not like they're constantly trying that on us.

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Ummmm do you know why they have only attempted 1 stolen base on him? This isn't little leagues, they have a heck of a scouting report on our players.

Rudy T needs the mic tonight: "Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion!"

Diyala Nick said:

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TMACsDaMan said:

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Someone find Mario Elie to throw out first pitch!!!

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EOT!

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This thread isn't ending until next weekend at the soonest!

Goddam there are few things more badass than being a young stud pro-athlete in the era of Instagram.

Let's go get this fugging W.

Almost time. Gotta count down the wins 1 2 3

Need JV and Cole to be huge then a free for all

Lets Go!!

dlance said:

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Ag_07 said:

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I think you put that on yourself.

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Kinda like last year when he called Harvey a big nothing burger before it destroyed SE Texas.

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I don't recall saying that, but know for damned sure I didn't use the term "nothing burger". I do recall forecasters saying the storm was going to be a cat 1, maybe 2 and then it blew up , just like what Michael just did.

Pedro can go scru himself. I'm sure his ego would make himself think it's the best he ever had.

Screw that tbs panel.

eATMup-Reveille said:

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Pedro can go scru himself. I'm sure his ego would make himself think it's the best he ever had.

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Looks like he ate his ego