bad lineup = bad result

sheer incompetence to continue stacking the lineup with .600 OPS hitters

trying to draw to an inside straight every game (except last night)

F YOU MIKE FRIERS…..and F you Crain for thinking Dusty knows what's he's doing.

Still laughing that Yordan had to sit there in the on deck circle without getting a chance to bat in the 9th

Dusty Baker is such a POS idiot

Can the marlins please beat the rangers…

tjack16 said:

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If we don't split this series, inexcusable

This is the worst Yankees team since 2016

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and Judge has been a non-factor this weekend

someone needs to explain again why batting order doesn't matter

lol

As much as I can't stand Dusty ( can't wait till he's gone) His lineup really had nothing to do with today's loss.
1 for 18....batters 1-6. Five of our top six hitters were in that order.
Gotta do better than that to win on the road, in NY. Just saying.

redline248 said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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redline248 said:

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Urquidy pitching tomorrow? If so that means Maldy, again. Good chance we see Julks. Who else needs a day off?

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Really and truly Peña does.

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Yes, he does. I guess Dubon filling in for a game isn't exactly a downgrade at the plate.

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"Grae had some good at bats yesterday, we're gonna give him another shot" - Dusty, probably tomorrow

aggie813 said:

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As much as I can't stand Dusty ( can't wait till he's gone) His lineup really had nothing to do with today's loss.
1 for 18....batters 1-6. Five of our top six hitters were in that order.
Gotta do better than that to win on the road, in NY. Just saying.

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The problem is you never know

He left off Diaz and Abreu, both of which are improvements over who he started today

The @astros' Justin Verlander now has a 0.84 career WHIP with Houston, the lowest by any pitcher with a single team in MLB history (min. 100 starts). pic.twitter.com/i3atz49Qf2

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 5, 2023

My biggest issue the entire time we've had Dusty Baker as our manager is that he shows ZERO urgency to win a series. Today's lineup construction and choices are a prime example of this. Time and time again he trots out guys who shouldn't be out there or shifts the lineup around for seemingly no reason and doesn't allow the struggling players to have any consistency.

You're 1-1 in this series going into today. You're offense was hot last night. You KNEW this would likely be a bullpen game knowing that the Yankees starter was going to be on a pitch limit. You had a prime chance to demoralize that team and fan base with another win while JV makes his return.

Maldy and Kessinger had NO business being in the lineup at all today. Diaz is a top 5 hitter on our team, he's much better defensively than Maldy, and he hit a 3-run HR yesterday. I cannot possibly fathom how anybody could think that Maldy batting in the 8th was a good idea after we just got our second hit of the day and with only one out. Abreu should've gotten that AB. And Kessinger…I have absolutely no idea why this guy is even with the club. With what we've seen from him, he would struggle in Sugar Land.

Pena is a prime example of the lack of consistency contributing to his struggles. He went 0-4 in game 1 out of the 2-spot. Slide him down to the 8-spot and he goes 2-3. Infield singles or not…sometimes guys just need to see something good happen. So what do you do? Move him back to the 2-spot, and he goes 0-3. All of this in a matter of three days. That inconsistency is not easy on any player, but it is especially difficult on a young and struggling player. It actually makes me appreciate even more what Diaz has been able to do. He's thriving in spite of the inconsistency.

We've been able to afford this foolishness the last few years because we've been relatively healthy and the big name guys have carried us. We CANNOT afford that when we are sitting in second place and fighting for a wild card spot. After the game tomorrow with NY, this is what the rest of the schedule looks like:
O's
Angels
Marlins
Mariners
Red Sox
Tigers
Red Sox
Yankees
Rangers
Padres
A's
Royals
O's
Royals
Mariners
D-Backs
We are where we are this season because, even with so many injuries, we still have GREAT players who have carried us through bad managerial decisions. With JV back, and with Altuve and Yordan healthy, there's definitely hope that we can close strong and stay in the wild card or possibly even catch the Rangers. Our team is flat out that talented even with foolish decisions like today. Urgency to win EVERY SINGLE DAY NO MATTER WHAT…that's what I need/want to see from Dusty Baker down the stretch.

With Dusty continuing to manage like this, we aren't catching the Rangers. Just get healthy I guess and stay in the WC playoffs

Abreu has played most of the season, so I don't blame today on the fact that he had an off day.

Dana needs to send down one of the bench riders and bring a catcher back up. Fact is we need a 3rd catcher so Diaz can DH when Maldy is catching. If Maldy has to catch, then Diaz has to DH. They can figure out the playoffs when they get there.

I don't think the day to day lineup has that much effect, but when the boys get to the clubhouse and realize we're rolling with the Z squad, they don't play with as much pop.

halfastros81 said:

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Exactly. Our better hitters were just flat bad today. Hp umpire didn't help to be sure.

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They were bad yet who knows what happens if Diaz bats 5th today like he did just one f***ing day ago. Also, it would mean no Kessinger to miss a hit and run and strike out. It also would mean Pena batting at the bottom of the order, like one f***ing day ago. It also would mean Yordan getting another AB today, like one f***ing day ago.

I can almost guarantee you every Astro who saw the lineup card today was puzzled and probably frustrated save for Kessinger, who was probably just nervous (not his fault. he didn't force himself into the lineup).

We need these 6 EVERY. F***ING. GAME:
Altuve
Bregman
Yordan
Tucker
Diaz
Chas

Donkey can play with the other 3 to his heart's content but those 6 together are what we need opposing pitchers to navigate day after day.

"You're laughing? A confused elderly man living 40 years in the past is ruining our shot at the World Series and you're laughing?"

wangus12 said:

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With Dusty continuing to manage like this, we aren't catching the Rangers. Just get healthy I guess and stay in the WC playoffs

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I'm afraid you're right. Unless Crane/Dana force him to keep a consistent lineup with our BEST hitters 1-6 we're not making a run.

It has to be demoralizing for this team to see us put up 7 runs with a "new" lineup and Dusty not only going back to his crap lineup, but adding Kessinger as insult to injury with Yordonger standing on the on deck circle.

ETA - tale of two teams. Rangers big acquisition, Mad Max, craps the bed in the first inning against a crappy White Sox team (very similar to the Yankees) but because Bochy doesn't hit their worst hitter 2nd and best hitter 5th (while sitting one of their better hitters for no good f***ing reason) they are able to come back and win. JV pitches his ass off and we all know what happened, no need to rehash it once again.

Unless Dana has a major come to Jesus meeting with Donkey we'll be lucky to make a wild card.

This might be the maddest I've been after a loss all season. I was pissed when the lineup came out, pissed when JV left the game after pitching about as well as we would hope in his return, and pissed in the 9th when Peña lead off needing a base runner to get Yordan to the plate.

aggie813 said:

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As much as I can't stand Dusty ( can't wait till he's gone) His lineup really had nothing to do with today's loss.
1 for 18....batters 1-6. Five of our top six hitters were in that order.
Gotta do better than that to win on the road, in NY. Just saying.

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Clearly you dont understand why the order of the lineup matters

Dusty is 100% responsible for today and by my count thats 9 games at least he has cost us this year

Broken record, but he's still managing as if we have (or ever will have this year) a 5-10 game lead in the division.

Step #1 is removing lineup decisions from Dusty, as was clearly the case yesterday. I think we could all accept losses much more gracefully if we put our best lineup out there and lose. It's baseball. Sometimes that will happen. But it's just insulting and a disservice to the entire fan base, let alone the team itself, not to run the best hitters out there at this point.

f1ghtintexasaggie said:

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Broken record, but he's still managing as if we have (or ever will have this year) a 5-10 game lead in the division.

Step #1 is removing lineup decisions from Dusty, as was clearly the case yesterday. I think we could all accept losses much more gracefully if we put our best lineup out there and lose. It's baseball. Sometimes that will happen. But it's just insulting and a disservice to the entire fan base, let alone the team itself, not to run the best hitters out there at this point.

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What pisses me of the most are his ridiculous justifications..."Kessinger plays better defense at 1st" (when it's JV on the bump, not Framber) or "Diaz doesn't hit lefties well" but waits until the 8th to pinch hit him when he could have used him much earlier since Cortes only pitched 4 innings.

I also LOVE that Dusty know Diaz doesn't hit lefties well but somehow doesn't realize both Tucker and Yordan do hit them REALLY well but splits them up anyway like the Donkey he is.

It's obvious he plays his favorites and comes up with ridiculous justifications like "Maldy and Diaz hit about the same."