Weekend Commuter said:

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Great. Fine. 162 games. So on. So forth. We are playing crappy baseball whether we won tonight or lost. This is the easiest part of our schedule and we have lost two historic games in terms of regular season mismatches in the history of MLB.

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Betting mismatches, and I'm not even sure how far legal public odds go back. Such odds are put up in order to draw folks to bet on both teams It is how Sports book make money.

There were some big losers out there tonight:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=401076630

Pathetic performance by any measure.

Keeper of The Spirits said:

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12-7 with 10 games being against AAA teams. If it's not lack of caring/mental toughness what is the cause of the swoon

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More ****ing bull***** I bet every member in the Astros clubhouse cares a hell of alot more than you do about this, especially those that were apart of the really ****ty Astros clubs.

Wanna bet?

Meant a winky face. I sure hope they care more than I

To be clear I am not saying the don't care at all I am saying their head is not in the game right now and that AJ is more concerned with rest than winning that nights game. It's 162 games it's not uncommon to get bored with the grind. These guys often talk about how staying mentally engaged is the toughest part of MLB.

Just because they are pros doesn't make them immune to mental fatigue. Especially when the overall race isn't tight.

Quote:

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Just because they are pros doesn't make them immune to mental fatigue. Especially when the overall race isn't tight

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Bingo. my point all along. Just like you have distractions in your life that might affect your performance on the job especially during long tedious days especially when you are seemingly doing "busy" work, so do professional athletes during the dog days of their seasons.. For most it is not that they don't care or lack of effort, in fact Altuve's running blunder was caused by him trying to do too much.

Sorry to have offended you

Serious question not trying to be a duck although it will sound that way.Can you explain to me "The game of baseball and how it works" that causes swoons? Is it luck, physical ability or mental engagement? Something I am not considering?

I'd say I put in less effort and care less at work when it's tedious or busy work. I imagine that's the same with these guys there head isn't in it

Keeper of The Spirits said:

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Dodgers went to the series the year Rich Hill did it

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But lost. We're doomed I tell you doomed. That's it. I'm giving up on the Astros and moving on to football.

Atleast with Football most of us hopefully are seriously thinking we could win any kind of championship.

As long as the Stros get locked in for the playoffs we will be fine it's just frustrating right now whether it's bad luck, lack of mental engagement or not fielding our best lineup every night.

I think that's fair. A lot of it is just bad luck. That's the "its baseball" part. Theirs thousands of plate appearances every year and in those large sample sizes wird **** happens in bunches. Some times your hall of fame pitcher gives up 2 runs on 2 hits through 9 and your lethal lineup cant put anything together. The best of them still fail to get on base over 6 out every 10 at bats. Think about that. These are the best players in the world and they still lose to the pitcher over 6 out 10 times.

Anyway, when the best hitters in the world fail at that rate a lull can happen anywhere. Sometimes its against any ace, and you just tip your cap, and sometimes you hit the ball hard a few times and have good at bats but not enough falls just right. A few feet this way or that, more million seconds in swing rate or millimeters off the barrel can be the difference between an xbh and a flyout.

It's a round bat with a round ball and you have to hit it square, and asking the best athletes in the world to try it creates this amazing world of statistical outcomes.

And sometimes that means your stacked team loses to a team rolling in last.

I just watched the replays of the outs at 3B again. Both took perfect plays. It's rough to make the outs there but it took Detroit making the plays to get them. I still don't understand why AJ didn't question the play at 1B on Bregman. The 1B was clearly off before the catch trying to get the throw off.

Good for JD Davis. I'm definitely surprised as he didn't look very good last year.

The Mets might make the playoffs. Are they still morons? I sure thought they were at one point. Now not so much.

jkag89 said:

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bearkatag15 said:

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Meanwhile JD Davis is out there getting walk off hits in extras

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Did you complain about the trade that sent him to NY back in January? He is having a nice season with the Mets but not sure how he would be getting regular ABs if he were with the Astros.

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I actually did complain about trading JD Davis. Of course I also said Tyler White was going to have a productive MLB career, so they probably cancel each other out.

Here's my basis: I believe an extremely high AAA batting average is a nearly sure indicator of major-league success. A lot of AAA power guys can't hit a lick in the majors but it's almost always the case that if a guy is a .335 AAA hitter with power he's going to at least be a solid major leaguer.

There are obviously exceptions and Davis AAA sample was small, but it's almost unthinkable that a guy hits for such tremendous average at a level so close to the majors wouldn't be at least a guy that can hit .280 with a little pop.

jkag89 said:

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I bet every member in the Astros clubhouse cares a hell of alot more than you do about this

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So, you have never seen "Fever Pitch" then?

https://theathletic.com/1153685/2019/08/22/which-teams-are-the-most-improved-defensively-in-baseball/?source=dailyemail

Article on the Athletic about the most improved teams defensively.

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Houston Astros
You could tell another story of shift success with the Astros, who ranked fifth in the AL in Defensive Runs Saved last season but have climbed to No. 1 in 2019. The Astros are shifting at a similarly high volume as last season but are getting much better results.

They went from 5 Shift Runs Saved to 34, and with that, the infield has experienced a 52-run improvement to 40 Runs Saved this season. The addition of Michael Brantley (5 Runs Saved) has helped produce a nine-run improvement to 25 Runs Saved in the outfield.

The Astros have one other notable positive in their Runs Saved total. They have 18 Defensive Runs Saved from Good Fielding Plays. A team can attain those in a number of ways, such as robbing home runs (the Astros have four, one behind the Brewers and Yankees for the MLB lead), players throwing out runners trying to advance, and through catchers blocking potential wild pitches. Catcher Robinson Chirinos has come through in a big way in that area. He has eight Runs Saved from Good Fielding Plays, most among catchers, and ranks third in pitch-block rate at 95.5 percent.

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You know who else is named JD and had a very high career minor league BA (.332)?

He was a career .292 minor league hitter. He only had one big season in the minor avg wise and it was last year.

Farmer1906 said:

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He was a career .292 minor league hitter. He only had one big season in the minor avg wise and it was last year.

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That's true. What's also true is that Yordan was a .303 minor league hitter with a modest 34 HR in 758 ABs coming into this season until he hit .343 with 23 HR in half a season at RR. Granted he's 22 and Davis was 25, but different players "get it" at different ages but when you tear apart AAA pitching, even if it's for half a season, that's a pretty good indicator.

Astros bar Detroit writer from clubhouse after Justin Verlander loses to Tigers:
http://sports.yahoo.com/astros-bar-detroit-writer-from-clubhouse-after-justin-verlander-loses-to-tigers-140342116.html

Wonder if this is a sign of long-term Correa issues.

That's great news! He tore it up spring training but I figured starting the year at AA we wouldn't see him until September 2020.

Interesting that he also played some catcher in the minors.

So Yuli at first, Toro to third and Bregs to short, until Diaz is back

So someone Hs to get cut from the 40 man right?

Dean Deetz
Reymin Guduan
Brady Rogers

Those have to be the likely cast offs right?

Harry Dunne said:

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That's great news! He tore it up spring training but I figured starting the year at AA we wouldn't see him until September 2020.

Interesting that he also played some catcher in the minors.

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Ugh. Not gonna lie, getting tired of seeing call ups that aren't Tucker.

astros4545 said:

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So someone Hs to get cut from the 40 man right?

Dean Deetz
Reymin Guduan
Brady Rogers

Those have to be the likely cast offs right?

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Or someone currently on the 40 is placed on the 60-day IL.