We were tied for 2nd with the Red Sox with 48 GIDP. 4 more tonight plus the GITP would put us with the Angels at 1st place.

Jesus Eloy Jimenez looks like a stud

Thank God we don't play them much because him and Moncado could be future Astro killers

Harry Dunne said:

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bullard21k said:

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Ags #1 said:

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You thought Brantley should have caught that? He isn't known for his defense

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I think he doesn't run down baseballs aggressively yes.

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What do you think of Tucker's defense? (serious question, not just a cheap shot)

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About the same. At times they play like tentative bitc#es in the OF.

But hey if they can swing the lumber whatever but they both occasionally have the mosesy around attitude getting to baseballs that aggravate me.

Not showing mom after that pitch wound up in the pen.

Well I'm out. I can't bear another DP and given we have 6 more outs we all know its coming.

bullard21k said:

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Harry Dunne said:

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bullard21k said:

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Ags #1 said:

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You thought Brantley should have caught that? He isn't known for his defense

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I think he doesn't run down baseballs aggressively yes.

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What do you think of Tucker's defense? (serious question, not just a cheap shot)

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About the same. At times they play like tentative bitc#es in the OF.

But hey if they can swing the lumber whatever but they both occasionally have the mosesy around attitude getting to baseballs that aggravate me.

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Unfortunately that is the correct answer, so I can't accuse you of being racist.

ComebackSZN

ComebackSZN is the regime

Brantley can make up for his outfield loafing right here... turn on one and put it in the 2nd deck.

Jake about to end this game on another GIDP

AstroAggie15 said:

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Honestly sometimes I wonder if y'all are closet rangers fans. Can't take a loss like a ****ing adult

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WE ARE SUPPOSE TO WIN EVERY GAME!!!!

Kemp still grinding ABs.

All we need is a reddick walk, Bregman HBP and a Correa granny

Lost 2 of the last 4. Not a good streak. Might miss the playoffs if we merely play .500 ball.

We outhit them

I consider that a W

On to the next one. Goodnight!

one small thing with Bregman...he's still below .200 w/RISP. Sitting at .189 for the season.

been very HR or bust lately. It's okay to mix in some singles & doubles in RBI situations

But what's his OBP?

I feel like teams are seriously pitching around Bregman. Kinda like what we saw last year during the ALCS where they want no piece of him.

Nevermind...His OBP w RISP is .308 (lowest of his career) so my theory of him getting walked a bunch is nixed.

W said:

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one small thing with Bregman...he's still below .200 w/RISP. Sitting at .189 for the season.

been very HR or bust lately. It's okay to mix in some singles & doubles in RBI situations

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Interesting observation. I didn't realize Bregman only has 6 doubles this year after 51 last year. Looks like he's on pace to hit more HRs than last year but have considerably less extra base hits.

W said:

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one small thing with Bregman...he's still below .200 w/RISP. Sitting at .189 for the season.

been very HR or bust lately. It's okay to mix in some singles & doubles in RBI situations

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Good for you for having a Bregman take other than "balls in the wheelbarrow", and not to distract from your good point that it would be smart to shrink he strike zone and be willing to go up the middle or opposite field instead of just trying to pull...but 37 ABs is such a small sample.

It is interesting to see that over his career he has hit only .228 in late & close (all PAs from the 7th inning on with a score difference of one run or less, or with the tying run on base, at bat or on deck) and that he's only 1 for 15 (.067) late & close this year. Overall that's < 200 ABs, but still interesting.

Big picture, the numbers say that "clutch" hitting is really a mirage. That over the long run, hitters tend to be who they are regardless of circumstance. It's silly to argue that some hitters (Jeter, Tony Gwynn, etc) weren't "clutch", but they were also damn good hitters in the first place. On the flip side, Jake isn't "not clutch" - he's just a $h1tty hitter. Alex is .322 with a .989 OPS over his career w RISP and even better than that with RISP & 2 outs. I would bet that over time his late & close numbers normalize, but maybe not so much wheelbarrow as we thought.

W said:

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one small thing with Bregman...he's still below .200 w/RISP. Sitting at .189 for the season.

been very HR or bust lately. It's okay to mix in some singles & doubles in RBI situations

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But it looks like he's just missed a bunch of balls. His hard% is down and his med% is up. His fly ball% is through the roof. Maybe he's swinging for the fences and not squaring it up. His Babip .107. That aint going to stay like that with a hard hit% in the mid 30s (even if its down from his norm).

Take avg out of it and his OPS is still over .800. Again, while its not his norm, its still really good.

dshedd14 said:

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That lineup looks so different that it's hard to tell it's the Astros.

Dumb question but what does the red ink vs black ink indicate?

expresswrittenconsent said:

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Dumb question but what does the red ink vs black ink indicate?

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Red are lefties and black means righties

John E said:

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expresswrittenconsent said:

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Dumb question but what does the red ink vs black ink indicate?

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Red are lefties and black means righties

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And Marwin used to be in blue as a switch-hitter

General question: do teams value switch hitting much, these days?

redline248 said:

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General question: do teams value switch hitting much, these days?

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This is an interesting topic. I don't hear as much about this these days. Seems like a dying art.

Edit: found this from last year...

Quote:

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The art of batting from both sides of the plate would figure to be at a premium in this age of shifting defenses and advanced analytics. But in a sport of constant change, the amount remains remarkably steady.

The number of switch hitters with 300 or more major league at-bats per season has been at least 30 but no more than 42 since expansion to 30 teams in 1998, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. There were 33 switch hitters on pace to reach that figure at the quarter mark of this season.

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Switch hitters

Marvin said:

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redline248 said:

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General question: do teams value switch hitting much, these days?

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This is an interesting topic. I don't hear as much about this these days. Seems like a dying art.

Edit: found this from last year...

Quote:

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The art of batting from both sides of the plate would figure to be at a premium in this age of shifting defenses and advanced analytics. But in a sport of constant change, the amount remains remarkably steady.

The number of switch hitters with 300 or more major league at-bats per season has been at least 30 but no more than 42 since expansion to 30 teams in 1998, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. There were 33 switch hitters on pace to reach that figure at the quarter mark of this season.

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Switch hitters

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What the MLB cares about more than anything is production. And it makes sense that the amount of people with the ability and coordination to effectively hit from both sides of the plate has not increased. It's not easy, and batting .290 as a lefty and .175 as a righty doesn't get you anything, you simply platoon if the matchups are that awful.

Even accounting for population change, you have to account for more people pursuing more (different) sports accounting for the lack of an increase.

Here's the career split for a pretty decent switch hitter.

Hitting lefty: 5028 PA, .300/.421//.565, wRC+ 155, 261 HR

Hitting righty: 1575 PA, .259/.369/.417, wRC+ 105, 46 HR.