PatriotAg02 said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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Can someone tell Dave Raymond not to get excited when Houston does good things?

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Well he was the Astros pbp for a long time so........

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It's very apparent he'd prefer an exciting game over a Rangers win.

Had a chance to give the Astros a real gut punch with this massive comeback. DAMN IT!!

Such a cruel game. Battle all the way back only for Mr reliable to give it right back. Let's see if they can buck the trend of not being able to come back in the 9th.

Hopefully CY isn't done trying to shore up this bullpen before the deadline.

Bizarro Jerry said:

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Coppell97 said:

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Chapman probably eventually the closer for this team.

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Get it over with.
7th- Sborz
8th- Smith
9th- Chapman

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Smith and Chapman are both Lefty's... you probably want to swap Sborz and Smith... or better yet, get another solid RH Closer.

I want to will smith ***** slap baseballs version of will smith. Rag-armed chump

Now here we go expanding the zone and swinging at everything. Dude has yet to throw a strike.

Damnit. Ball hung up a little too long.

Oh well, still up 3.

On to Boston

Can't watch that pitch. Dammit.

At the end of the day, this game does highlight that we need more bullpen help and probably another starter. And Josh Smith needs to never be the DH ever again.

That one stings. Showed fight and battled back. This bullpen (minus Chapman and Bradford) was absolute dog**** this series. CY needs to make more moves asap.

Win or Lose... at the end of my day, I will sleep well knowing I'm not in Houston.

AgsWin2011 said:

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Not going to lie, giving up late inning runs to lose the game is getting old. If we want a chance to sniff the WS this year we better be proactive in acquiring some decent arms prior to the trade deadline. Chapman was a nice start, now go get Scherzer and 2 good to great relievers.

No reason to not be in win now mode.

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We'll get some arms I'd imagine. The Chapman trade came out of nowhere. More moves will be made, but I really don't want to do the rental thing this year as the window starts to open. Honestly, this feels like the reverse of 2015. Astros may take the division, but I think they're headed toward their downswing.

It is what it is. Heartbreaker of a game, but we will be alright. Fun game to attend even though we got the bad ending.

Disappointing series for sure, but to see that we played horribly to finish the month and had a down month and still gained 0.5 on the Division lead is pretty encouraging.

I know I've initiated a lot of conversation on SP... but there will be more.

Perez was disappointing today, but same could be said for Javier. There were rumblings that Javier just isn't right and could have been bumped from this start.

Here is one of the points I've been beating. I agree we likely could use a ToTR SP... maybe we need a middle-guy. The reality is... there really isn't much SP to be had... and most teams are getting close to being desperate for multiple SPs just to finish the season.

Daniel Bard
Jd Davis (RH Platoon Lowe)
Kick tires on Giolito

We visited and decided to go. Super expensive tix to see a dud of a start, an exciting middle to closing, to only see it fall apart in he 9th.

For those interested in comparing some info on SP in the AL. I've listed the Top 8 teams in AL based on SP ERA. Below that are the Top SPs that are Qualified and a couple additional guys close to Qualifying as a way to see what support they have.

The point is to capture each teams rotation needs and possibly some seller's SP that may become available:

Team ERA for SP:
3.58 Rangers - ALWest leader
3.61 Rays - ALEast leader
3.65 Twins - Central leader (T Cle)
3.71 Astros - 3GB Div. Currently in WC
3.78 Braves - NL East leader
----------------------------------------------------
3.95 Padres - 11.5 GB Div. 8 GB WC
4.01 Mariners - 8.5GB Div. 5 GB WC <- I don't think they consider themselves in the mix.
4.02 Jays - 11GB Div. 1.5 GB WC

Of note, Yanky (15th) @ 4.29 (WC) and the Dodgers (19th) @ 4.50 (WC)

Jays could stick around and they do have a solid rotation. Here are the 5 best AL teams not named Mariners.

Rangers:
4. Eovaldi: 17GS, 2.64 ERA, 112.1 IP, 106 SO
10. Gray: 15GS, 3.21 ERA, 87.0 IP, 73 SO
27. Perez: 17GS, 4.81 ERA, 91.2 IP, 60 SO
*Dunning: 10GS, 18G, 2.69, 80.1, 51 SO
*Heaney: 16GS, 4.12, 83.0, 89 SO

Rays:
3. McClanahan: 17GS, 2.53 ERA, 96.0 IP, 101 SO <- Currently on IL. Will miss 1 GS, minimum
12. Eflin: 15GS, 3.29 ERA, 90.1 IP, 91 SO
*Bradley (22): 12GS, 5.27, 56.1, 76 SO
*Chirinos: 4GS, 12G, 3.64, 54.1, 27 SO

Twins:
2. Gray: 17GS, 2.50, 93.2 IP, 96 SO
13. Ryan: 16GS, 3.44, 96.2 IP, 105 SO
23. Lopez: 17GS, 4.24, 102.0 IP, 126 SO
*Ober: 13GS, 2.70, 76.2, 74
*Varland: 10GS, 5.30, 56.0, 54

Houston:
1. Framber: 16GS, 2.49 ERA, 105.0 IP, 110 SO <- missed last GS
17. Brown: 16GS, 3.76 ERA, 91.0 IP, 103 SO
24. Javier: 17GS, 4.34 ERA, 91.1 IP, 82 SO
*France: 10GS, 3.13, 60.1, 44
*Bielak: 8GS, 9G, 4.37, 47.1, 37
*Blanco: 5GS, 14G, 4.73, 40.0, 39 SO

Jays:
7. Gausman: 18GS, 3.04 ERA
16. Berrios: 17GS, 3.74
18. Bassit: 17GS, 4.06
19. Kikuchi: 17GS, 4.08
*Manoah: 13GS, 6.36 <- Currently in minors

*Below IP to be Qualified.

As I've said, 2 things to consider:
- Do you have the rotation to make it to the playoffs.
- Do you have a playoff caliber rotation

There are 15 Qualified SP listed above and only 32 total in the AL.
Sea (3): 8. Castillo (3.14), 11. Kirby (3.21), 22. Gilbert (4.19)
Balt (3): 9. Wells (3.21), Gibson (4.66), Kremer (5.04)
KC (3): Greinke (5.15), Singer (5.52), and Lyles (6.68)
CWS (4): 15. Giolito (3.53), Kopech (4.08), Cease (4.10), Lynn (6.47)
Yanks (1): 5. Cole (2.79)
LAAA (1): 6. Ohtani (3.02)
Cle (1): 14. Bieber (3.48)
Oak (1): Sears (4.43)

A lot of good happened today and this weekend if everyone will step away from the cliff. Having Chapman with 2 good outings, the offense having a good day, some late inning runs. In 2011, the Cardinals' last game before the playoffs was blowing an 8 run 9th inning lead. Inopportune bad days for Sborz and Smith, but 162 is still 162. Time for the .400 baseball to stop, though.

By and large this entire homestand was the wettest, nastiest, stankiest, smelliest fart you could come up with.

2-2 against Detroit and it seems like the guys showed absolutely no effort in the first game striking out 17 times and people used the excuse that they just got back from a road trip. Well… that's all well and good if we dominated said road trip, but we only went 3-3 including 1 loss in New York where we lose 1-0 against a guy with an ERA over 6.

The other Detroit loss we punted by moving grey back and running the B team lineup out there. I was dry vocal about tossing grey against the tigers and taking the high win probability, but people wanted to set a trap for the Astros the way TB set a trap for us.

So now we punt 2 games against Detroit and get punched in the mouth by the Astros who we supposedly had all the advantages of being at home, ideal pitching matchups, and Astros coming had to use 2 starters who are Triple AAA quality.

Now, if the lineup really is "back" to their standard. I'm not worried, but guys have to prove day in and day out that they're not going to "get themselves out" by swinging at bad pitches. If we chase, we lose. If we don't, we put up runs like crazy.

The Astros have 1 reliable starter and that guy is an obese lord who hurts his ankle on the dugout steps so I'm not shaking in my boots at the chance of them catching us. The nationals are really bad so I still think we have a great chance to go 4-2 on this road trip and get to the break with a 2-5 game lead.

[We are not going to allow this thread to get derailed again by a few posters and we will start giving bans to posters that do not stay on topic. That is the warning. -Staff]