Ranger, Bills, and the Aggies. Kindred sports spirits. Just not meant to ever be.

How easy and fun it must be to be a Bama fan, an Astros fan, or a Chiefs fan.

JWinTX said:

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Ranger, Bills, and the Aggies. Kindred sports spirits. Just not meant to ever be.

How easy and fun it must be to be a Bama fan, an Astros fan, or a Chiefs fan.

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Or GSW / Chicago bulls fan

DallasAg 94 said:

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Grapesoda2525 said:

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How many walks have the Astros got and then seen them come around to score at our park over the last 3 games?

Probably accounts for at least 10 of their runs,

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The broadcast last night said there were 10BB+2HBP in G3+G4 and 7 of them scored. So, out of the 18Rs... 7.

Game 4:
T4: Maldonado and Altuve walked to start the inning. Both scored.

T7: Abreu led off with a W. Scored.

Game 5... Bregman and Singleton were 2 of the 4 BBs and both of them scored.

So, for the 3 games, of the 16 free passes (BB+HBP) they accounted for 9 of the 23 Runs.

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This is absolutely killing us. Like I said, we waste too many pitches that Houston WILL NOT swing at. Hell…..there's been a lot of pitches that have been very close to being strikes, but aren't strikes, that the vast majority of hitters swing at with 2 strikes, but Houston just doesn't.

I think a lot of the blame for this has to fall on the coaches. Did the coaches not watch games 1 and 2? Hardly any walks were issued or came around to score against us.

I'm not going to go back and look at it, but probably half of the 16 free passes had either an 0-2 or 1-2 count before the balls starting coming in.

MrCoachEricTaylor said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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Singleton was batting .165 ON THE SEASON. And we walked him.

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This is honestly what pissed me off about losing last night, the guy can hit it out from anywhere, but again.. look at his average. I would've 100 out of 100 times made him try to earn his way on base over facing Altuve with 2 guys on.

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What about all the walks to Maldonado? All the walks Bregman has received while hitting in front of probably the most dangerous hitter in the world. Yes…..Bregman is scary too, but I'd rather take my chances going after Bregman / abreu.

The only hitters in the entire lineup that you could possibly justify walking are probably Altuve and Alvarez.

This is an epic failure and it has been something that has hurt us ever since the Cincinnati reds series where we had 3 late game bullpen collapses in a row mainly due to walks.

Grapesoda2525 said:

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MrCoachEricTaylor said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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Singleton was batting .165 ON THE SEASON. And we walked him.

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This is honestly what pissed me off about losing last night, the guy can hit it out from anywhere, but again.. look at his average. I would've 100 out of 100 times made him try to earn his way on base over facing Altuve with 2 guys on.

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What about all the walks to Maldonado? All the walks Bregman has received while hitting in front of probably the most dangerous hitter in the world. Yes…..Bregman is scary too, but I'd rather take my chances going after Bregman / abreu.

The only hitters in the entire lineup that you could possibly justify walking are probably Altuve and Alvarez.

This is an epic failure and it has been something that has hurt us ever since the Cincinnati reds series where we had 3 late game bullpen collapses in a row mainly due to walks.

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Don't get me wrong, those pissed me off too! Especially walking Moldy. I was just talking specifically in that situation. You get singleton to ground out or fly out, Altuve still comes up and maybe hits his bomb, it's still a tie game and maybe the team can mount a comeback. Who knows if their mentality changed after the lead was given up.

Also it cracks me up with all the HOU fans calling Garcia a punk after that one HR. It's probably the same people calling Semi a punk and a terrible person after mind effing Framber earlier in the season after he was hit.

Correct. Our ****ty bullpen struck again. Walks walks walks.

Umpire Marvin Hudson (ranked 51 of 92) called the 2nd worst game of the playoffs, just a day after Doug Eddings called the 2nd worst game.

He missed 16 calls in #ALCS game 5 and 11 went against the Astros.

He also incorrectly called 2 strikeouts and 3 walks.#Astros #Rangers pic.twitter.com/1cXf0CTNpn

— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) October 21, 2023

Proposition Joe said:

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Quincey P. Morris said:

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I keep hearing it makes no sense too. And yet, it fired up a team that had gone completely fat and then made the comeback. It's annoying that Garcia fell into it and I think it's plenty telling that he turned around and went straight at Maldonado.

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Eh - "fired up a team that had gone completely flat" is kind of reading too much into things after the fact.

Houston threatened all night with runners on. This time they got the big hit.

Texas bullpen had sucked all season long. In their 3rd inning of work it finally happened again.

Singleton didn't get a walk because he was "fired up".

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Completely agree. I don't buy into Adolis' reaction being the difference or turning point. The Rangers bullpen are (once again) 100% the reason they lost this game. All this talk about those shenanigans firing up the Astros… if anything, the RANGERS should have been fired up and more focused on closing things out to get their revenge.

And further, as others have stated, our best hitters couldn't muster any form of comeback in the bottom of the 9th.

I don't blame Adolis one bit for being pissed after getting absolutely drilled by a 99mph fastball. All of this "act like you've been there before" talk is total bullsh.

I think the announcers talking up Leclerc, combined with him being our most reliable bullpen arm caused many to forget he's still basically the "least unreliable arm".

In 8 playoff appearances he's had 2 "clean" outings -- and one was in a non-closing situation (7-1 game).

In fact, the last time he faced the Astros in a close game he walked 2 in a row in a 5-4 game before retiring Chas McCormick. Only different last night was it was Altuve AB instead of McCormick.


14 outings in September -- 5 "clean" ones (no walks or hits).

That's not bad, but it shows he rarely takes care of things easy.

Here's the deal. LeClerc would probably be equal to Montero in their bullpen. There are easily 4 bullpen arms they have that are MUCH better than our best arm. Add in that LeCkerc looks as scared as me trying to block Micah Parsons and the Astros lineup feels absolutely no worry about facing him. And he's the best we got…

But the bullpen is about the hardest thing to get right. You gotta find the right arms, who have the right mentality, and the manager/pitching coach who can lead them. It's just freaking tough and the bullpen seems to be a year-to-year proposition, with the exception of us, who have two straight years of the worst bullpen in the league.

beagle2009 said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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Quincey P. Morris said:

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I keep hearing it makes no sense too. And yet, it fired up a team that had gone completely fat and then made the comeback. It's annoying that Garcia fell into it and I think it's plenty telling that he turned around and went straight at Maldonado.

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Eh - "fired up a team that had gone completely flat" is kind of reading too much into things after the fact.

Houston threatened all night with runners on. This time they got the big hit.

Texas bullpen had sucked all season long. In their 3rd inning of work it finally happened again.

Singleton didn't get a walk because he was "fired up".

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Completely agree. I don't buy into Adolis' reaction being the difference or turning point. The Rangers bullpen are (once again) 100% the reason they lost this game. All this talk about those shenanigans firing up the Astros… if anything, the RANGERS should have been fired up and more focused on closing things out to get their revenge.

And further, as others have stated, our best hitters couldn't muster any form of comeback in the bottom of the 9th.

I don't blame Adolis one bit for being pissed after getting absolutely drilled by a 99mph fastball. All of this "act like you've been there before" talk is total bullsh.

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Even this isn't correct. If Semien's liner is a foot higher, Grossman scores from first, and we walk it off with three consecutive lasers. If Grossman stops at third, Seager gets walked or hits a 380' SF and we walk it off. This whole "Astros were fired up" narrative that fatso spews after the game is after-the-fact bravado.

For being a Ranger fan you sure do compliment the Astros a lot.

Proposition Joe said:

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14 outings in September -- 5 "clean" ones (no walks or hits).

That's not bad, but it shows he rarely takes care of things easy.

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For frame of reference.
Leclerc (Tex): 14 outings - 5 "clean"
Pressley (Hou): 8 outings - 2 "clean"

Texas Season:
Jo Leclerc: 57G, 2.68 ERA, 57.0 IP, 67 SO, 4 Saves, 1.14 WHIP
Wil Smith: 60G, 4.40 ERA, 57.1 IP, 55 SO, 22 Saves, 1.06 WHIP
Chapman: 30G, 3.72 ERA, 29.0 IP, 50SO, 4 Saves, 1.28 WHIP

Others in AL:
Clase (Cle): 75G, 3.22 ERA, 72.2 IP, 64 SO, 44 Saves, 1.16 WHIP
Romano (To): 59G, 2.90 ERA, 59.0 IP, 72 SO, 36 Saves, 1.22 WHIP
Bautista (Ba): 56G, 1.48 ERA, 61.0 IP, 110 SO, 33 Saves, 0.92 WHIP

Duran (Minn): 59G, 2.45 ERA, 62.1 IP, 84 SO, 27 Saves, 1.14 WHIP

Leclerc was still recovering from TJ to start the season, but who are your Top 3 in the AL that you'd put ahead of him? Bautista (whom I believe has had to have TJ) and whom else?

Legal Custodian said:

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For being a Ranger fan you sure do compliment the Astros a lot.

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He often comes across as an Asstros fan that is too embarrassed to publicly admit it, so he hides behind his Rangers roots..

I think it was one factor. It didn't make them invincible, but I do think they were about ready to roll over for the day. That said, we still had our shot and didn't get it done.

JWinTX said:

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Here's the deal. LeClerc would probably be equal to Montero in their bullpen. There are easily 4 bullpen arms they have that are MUCH better than our best arm. Add in that LeCkerc looks as scared as me trying to block Micah Parsons and the Astros lineup feels absolutely no worry about facing him. And he's the best we got…

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I think that shows your love for the Asstros.

Montero? Do you even baseball?!

Texas Season:
Jo Leclerc: 57G, 2.68 ERA, 57.0 IP, 67 SO, 4 Saves, 1.14 WHIP
Wil Smith: 60G, 4.40 ERA, 57.1 IP, 55 SO, 22 Saves, 1.06 WHIP
Chapman: 30G, 3.72 ERA, 29.0 IP, 50SO, 4 Saves, 1.28 WHIP
Stratton: 22G, 3.41 ERA, 29.0 IP, 22 SO, 0 Saves, 1.10 WHIP

Houston Season:
Pressley: 65G, 3.58 ERA, 65.1 IP, 74 SO, 31 Save, 1.07 WHIP
Montero: 68G, 5.08 ERA, 67.1 IP, 79 SO, 1 Save, 1.53 WHIP

I'll give you Abreu and Neris. Both having a Career best year.

We've accepted that the Rangers bullpen has sucked. Dunning was slotted to be there but got moved to the Rotation. We lost deGrom, Odorizzi. We lost Chris Martin and just didn't have enough depth to fix it.

But for you to know Montero and equate anyone in our BP to him would imply you are probably an Asstros fan. Give it up. You a Rangers fan that walks with an Asstros shirt so you can root for "the winners" or you just a typical Asstros fan trolling here?!

I don't recall MLB ever doing that. I think everyone just expected it to be appealed and applied to next season.

Any history of them having a hearing within 48hrs?

I think it speaks to the danger and egregiousness.

At 98-99, do we know if Garcia will play tomorrow?

fc2112 said:

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JWinTX said:

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How easy and fun it must be to be a Bama fan, an Astros fan, or a Chiefs fan.

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But their fans were Ohio State, Dodgers and Patriots fans a few years before.

And Miami, Yankees and Packers before that.

It's easy to cheer for a team if you just pick who's been winning lately.

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Peyton Manning said many years ago that he hated losing more than he loved winning. For an athlete, that makes sense. I thought the 1991 loss to Tulsa was horrible, but I'd never get rid of that memory if I also had to get rid of Sirr Parker. The 2006 NBA Finals were awful, but winning in 2011 made it worth it times ten. I'll never get over 2011 until the Rangers win it all, and even then there will still be a little hole.

But to be a bandwaggoner, I can't even relate. To talk trash when they win and act like my life has meaning, but to not even care when they lose? I'll never see the point if the risk of being hurt isn't there. I was at the Final 4 when my Tar Heels sent home Coach K in the ultimate "get over" of all time. I wouldn't trade that memory in a million years, even if I could get rid of blowing the 15 point lead in the championship game 2 nights later.

I kind of feel sorry for people who lack those neural connections. Being a true fan is a fun part of life - tennis, cross country, hockey, whatever.

DallasAg 94 said:

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I don't recall MLB ever doing that. I think everyone just expected it to be appealed and applied to next season.

Any history of them having a hearing within 48hrs?

I think it speaks to the danger and egregiousness.

At 98-99, do we know if Garcia will play tomorrow?

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Did they suspend Clemens for throwing the bat at Piazza in the subway series? I don't recall but that popped in my head.

Carlo4 said:

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DallasAg 94 said:

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I don't recall MLB ever doing that. I think everyone just expected it to be appealed and applied to next season.

Any history of them having a hearing within 48hrs?

I think it speaks to the danger and egregiousness.

At 98-99, do we know if Garcia will play tomorrow?

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Did they suspend Clemens for throwing the bat at Piazza in the subway series? I don't recall but that popped in my head.

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No