gigemJTH12 said:

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SquirrellyDan said:

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gigemJTH12 said:

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Ag_07 said:

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You've got to let this go.

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why?

if we win its not a huge deal. But if you lose first round with a 107 win team then its a really big, organization altering chain of events.

I think we win Thursday. But its worth bringing up. And its definitely not so dumb to use that emoji.

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It's not an organization altering chain of events. This isn't like football. The best team in the league can easily lose a 5 game series to ANYONE.

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thats not the point.

we traded away 4 of our very top prospects and arent going to be able to resign the best pitcher in the sport because of it. And if it happens, our best team ever lost in the first round because of it.

yeah, thats organization altering.

but we will win thursday 3-0. Cole is going complete game 3 hitter.

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Best teams lose in the playoffs all the time. Only 12 teams with the best record in baseball ended up winning the world series since 1969.

Quote:

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arent going to be able to resign the best pitcher in the sport because of it.

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There is nothing stopping them from signing Cole. If they want to pay him they will. If he wants to take the money from us and stay he will. The Grienke trade is not stopping this. It is not a hard salary cap.

Addon: If Cole is not here next year it was because of his choice, nothing that the Astros could do about it.

I want Brantley out of the top half of the lineup. I know it's probably not a good idea to majorly tamper with the lineup you've had all season but he just looks like he can't handle the pressure.

If we win tomorrow we get hot, beat the Yanks in 6 and whoever the NL trots out in 5.

willie wonka said:

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I'm not optimistic about a win tonight. Flame away.

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I'm not either, because we play tomorrow night.

Frok said:

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I want Brantley out of the top half of the lineup. I know it's probably not a good idea to majorly tamper with the lineup you've had all season but he just looks like he can't handle the pressure.

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Uncle Mike has a 0.328 career playoff ops. Only 44 plate appearances but what he's doing right now is on par with his track record.

Hitting is a lot harder for Uncle Mike when he's consistently facing pitchers who can start sliders over the middle of the plate and end up on his back foot.

Cromagnum said:

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willie wonka said:

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I'm not optimistic about a win tonight. Flame away.

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I'm not either, because we play tomorrow night.

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I was being sarcastic, ding dong.

gigemJTH12 said:

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SquirrellyDan said:

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gigemJTH12 said:

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Ag_07 said:

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You've got to let this go.

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why?

if we win its not a huge deal. But if you lose first round with a 107 win team then its a really big, organization altering chain of events.

I think we win Thursday. But its worth bringing up. And its definitely not so dumb to use that emoji.

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It's not an organization altering chain of events. This isn't like football. The best team in the league can easily lose a 5 game series to ANYONE.

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thats not the point.

we traded away 4 of our very top prospects and arent going to be able to resign the best pitcher in the sport because of it. And if it happens, our best team ever lost in the first round because of it.

yeah, thats organization altering.

but we will win thursday 3-0. Cole is going complete game 3 hitter.

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Unless you tell me they are all singles, I'm still nervous.

I saw that on a CBS article last night. Don't like those odds.

suburban cowboy said:

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If we win tomorrow we get hot

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I do agree with this.

We just have to get out of this matchup and use the momentum of winning a Gm 5.

Ag_07 said:

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suburban cowboy said:

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If we win tomorrow we get hot

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I do agree with this.

We just have to get out of this matchup and use the momentum of winning a Gm 5.

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Sometimes teams with the most rest get cold too.

Boiling Denim said:

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Aggie95 said:

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Home teams are 56-58 in winner take all games in MLB playoff history.

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Makes you wonder what the point of grinding out 162 games is if it's just a coin flip at this point

Was it Lebron that said why grind out 82 games for home court when you can lose it in 48 minutes

Could some of these guys used some rest during the dog days of summer? Miley, Brantley, Springer, Reddick, half our bullpen all look cooked

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In order for it to be fun for the greatest amount of people, the end needs to be climactic and everyone needs to have a fighting chance. Home field is a huge advantage. We had the chance to go to TB and win 2 games to end the series. They played better with their backs against the wall. It's down to a coin flip not because of the format but because our offense $h@+ the bed. What's the alternative? How much more of an advantage do you want to give the best record?

Re: LeBron, he's a massive crybaby. Let's not forget that he got all of his Finals home court advantage by beating up on the lousy East, so it's a fair argument that he didn't deserve it anyway. Let's also not forget that he has also been the beneficiary of being able to lose that advantage in 48 minutes ('16 Finals come to mind). Didn't hear him crying about it then.

Yes some of our guys could have used some more rest. That's why AJ tries to rotate the DH. Yordan not being able to play the field probably hurt us there, but not as much as his hitting helped us. Bottom line is that the Rays also played 162 games, and did it with a roster not nearly as deep as ours. We get a game 5 at home with the best pitcher in baseball against a guy we did pretty well against in the same building a few days ago.

I'll take it.

gigemJTH12 said:

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suburban cowboy said:

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Lance Z just said if they lose tomorrow it's the biggest disappointment in Houston sports history and I don't disagree.

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It also magnifies what could have been a huge mistake by Luhnow. Luhnow is absolutely #1 on people who need us to win tomorrow.

All because of Charlie.

If you pay him the 2/30 this offseason following things happen/dont happen:

• you have arguably 1, 2, 3 on the Cy Young list on your roster
• you dont lose to the Rays first round
• you dont trade for Greinke
• ^so you dont lose a bunch of prospects to get Greinke(who failed when it mattered)
• you probably dont lose Cole because you arent paying Greinke

If you lose Thursday, all of that is a really big blemish.

Cannot lose that game.

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These are actually all really great points. Let's hope we don't have to worry about this...

I agree with all of that except the Cole part. Cole is going to get an ungodly sum - maybe 6 yrs - $200M? As good as he is, no one is worth that because of how it limits the the rest of the roster.

Should have most definitely signed CFM - at the very least made the QO. Don't think we'd be keeping Cole either way and at the price he's probably going to go for it wouldn't have been worth it anyway.

Anyway, we are where we are because we are the guys that sign CFM and Cole before their big payday. Need to find the next CFM and Cole, not get hamstrung by huge contracts that kill us on the tail end when the performance no longer matches the salary.

Doesn't help that we were a mediocre team on the road this year.

As long as the guys can set those two games aside and loosen up at home, we'll be fine.

astros4545 said:

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My conspiracy theory side felt like we must've been getting the regular season balls to pitch while TB was getting the new playoff ball. Only explanation in the hitting discrepancy.

Our guys were missing normal movement leaving balls over the plate and theirs were breaking all the way across the plate.

bobinator said:

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I'm here for any and all ball conspiracies.

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So if the home team is responsible for delivering the balls to the umpires, could they conceivably control the type of ball that gets to the pitcher...

03_Aggie said:

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bobinator said:

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I'm here for any and all ball conspiracies.

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So if the home team is responsible for delivering the balls to the umpires, could they conceivably control the type of ball that gets to the pitcher...

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I was about to firmly hop on board this conspiracy train but we actually had a lower team ERA on the road this year than at home

bearkatag15 said:

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I just read an article on The Athletic by Jayson Stark and JV was quoted at the end. The quote kind of got me fired up.

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"Hopefully, this isn't the defining moment of our journey," Verlander said. "You hope not There are so many defining moments in a championship run that need to happen, where you need to prove whatever. From the second you start the playoffs, every pitch, every out is a defining moment. It's just the whole world's eyes and attention are on you in a win-or-go-home game.

"So like I said, it's one of those atmospheres and one of those moments where you show up and hey, this is where we test ourselves. They're testing us. So we need to show up, and we need to show who we are. And if we don't, we won't win. But I like our chances. This is a hell of a freaking ballclub. And I'd go to war with these guys against anybody. So we'll see what happens."

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