HOU offense struggled all weekend in Oakland and it's a track meet when we come to town.

JWinTX said:

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gigem1223 said:

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Grapesoda2525 said:

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We need to face easier competition. This team stinks so bad right now.

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7-3 in their last 10 against top notch competition says otherwise

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Cleveland ain't top notch, pal

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They were leading the central and as hot as any team in baseball when we played them.

CampingAg said:

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HOU offense struggled all weekend in Oakland and it's a track meet when we come to town.

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I was optimistic coming in. It seemed like the Astros were cold at the plate, but Gray ****ting the bed all night and Chapman having his worst outing of the season was soul crushing,

The last game vs. HOU in Arlington and tonight's game. Win both of those like we absolutely should have and it's a 6-game lead.

I just don't understand why Burke didn't come out for the 8th. He threw 9 frickin pitches in the 7th. So weird how Bochy will let some guys go 2 innings but not Burke. Doesn't make sense.

We need a lot in the pitching department period right now. The ability to shut a team down when you need to is still one of if not the most important things in this sport, and we are not good at it at all.

Tksymm7 said:

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We need a lot in the pitching department period right now. The ability to shut a team down when you need to is still one of if not the most important things in this sport, and we are not good at it at all.

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We had a 2+ run lead three different times.

Bochy said Burke couldn't go 2 innings. "We ask them," he said. "Believe me."

— Stefan Stevenson (@StefanVersusTex) July 25, 2023

So they asked Burke if he could go out and he said he couldn't pitch another inning after only throwing 9 pitches? That's the implication.

If that's true, what a weird, non-competitive mentality from Burke.

That's concerning. Burke has been handled with kid gloves all season. What are they not telling us about him?

Water is wet and the Astros still have our number. Fortunately we have 50+ games vs other teams left.

I like seeing leclerq and speas get chances. Bochy seeing what we have now so he's prepared in Sept/Oct.

Do we trust these guys or not?

Do we trust Bochy or not?

And who is "them"? Trainers? Did he actually say we "asked them" and it was misheard?

Pitching is just a big bag of doo-doo right now. Until that gets sorted out, this is gonna be how our games go. Need help yesterday.

gigem1223 said:

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Grapesoda2525 said:

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We need to face easier competition. This team stinks so bad right now.

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7-3 in their last 10 against top notch competition says otherwise

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Rangers pitching laughs at your prognostication.

I mean I hope the Rangers win, but the pitching is so frail and so inconsistent, they can beat anyone and lose to anyone.

AggieRob93 said:

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gigem1223 said:

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Grapesoda2525 said:

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We need to face easier competition. This team stinks so bad right now.

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7-3 in their last 10 against top notch competition says otherwise

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Rangers pitching laughs at your prognostication.

I mean I hope the Rangers win, but the pitching is so frail and so inconsistent, they can beat anyone and lose to anyone.

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I honestly think facing non-playoff teams should help. The dodgers, Braves, Astros, and rays seem to have this innate ability to just lay off anything close to being a strike, but not a strike and our pitchers can't seem to adjust or get good lineups out consistently.

Every game matters. Stop waiting so long to get help. Bullpen should be the highest priority

6 of the Astros 10 runs got on base by walking. We have been beating ourselves lately.

The previous 4 games against Oakland the Astros scored 13 runs total. One game against us gives them 10.

Walks definitely killed us last night, the guys just need to flush that performance and come in tonight ready to be competitive.

Proposition Joe said:

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I think what we all need now is a refreshing DA94 post where he assures us the rotation really isn't smoke and mirrors.

I kid, I kid.

But what I think the last 4 games have shown to me is that all the talk of Ohtani has been cart before the horse. This isn't a WS caliber team that you trade the farm for a player (Ohtani) to put you over the top.

This is a good team that needs some reinforcements simply to win the division.

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yeah, if Eovaldi misses more than one start this staff (as currently constructed) is going to have issues. Speas is a great story, but he's got to be able to throw strikes... may need to move on from him. Chapman had been nails until last night, so he gets a pass.

We desperately need a good outing on the mound tonight, and it's pretty much a bullpen game with Bradford and White leading the way. So likely need the bats to deliver again if we are going to get a win tonight.

Whether it is SP or RP, Young needs to bring in some help. And you are correct, the price for Ohtani will be too step and we need more than one pitcher. We need to pass on Ohtani unless it gets down to the wire and asking price dwindles, but that's not going to happen. Angels likely wouldn't trade him within the division anyway.

I think I'd rather get multiple arms (starters AND relievers) than get Ohtani only. I'd obviously still be fired up if we get Ohtani, but quantity is needed right now.

gigem1223 said:

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Hope they give White the start tonight. Need to see what we have with him. Be nice to see him come out and shove.

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I'm hoping for the best for White tonight, but TBH I'm not sure he's quite ready. He's only pitched just over 200 innings in the minors and probably needs a bit more work down there to be ready to be a consistent performer at the MLB level. He's really, really good, but he's not a Kershaw or deGrom-type generational pitcher and I'm afraid he's being rushed a bit due to need. Fingers crossed for tonight, but even if he gets shelled, it's not an indictment on his ability and shouldn't be viewed as such. The BBQ just isn't ready to come off the pit yet.

Heard something the other day that I meant to mention on here re: the Rangers (in)ability to develop pitching. Can't remember if it was Jeff Wilson, Michael Tepid, or who exactly said it, but they pointed out that if you take an objective look around baseball, there's about 25-26 teams in the same boat as the Rangers. The Dodgers, Astros, Rays, and a few others have done a good job developing pitching....the other teams, not so much.

This isn't to excuse the Rangers pitiful results with pitching development, it needs to get much much better. But it was enlightening to learn that a lot of teams/fanbases can realistically have the same complaint we do.