Kikuchi had a good start...but tap the brakes

did anyone actually look at Tampa's lineup tonight?

top 3 OPS hitters:

Lowe at .855
Yandy at .730
Morel at .688

everyone else is below .660

it's White Sox level bad after the trade deadline

Espada on Kikuchi: "He's intense. He's got a little bit of a red-ass in him."

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 3, 2024

Extend Breggy as the pitching coach??

Alex Bregman, the unofficial Astros pitching coach https://t.co/KIRGkNDCuA

— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) August 3, 2024

I ask jobu to come wake up the bats

His price at the Trade Deadline was hefty, but he has the stuff to be the most valuable player rest of the season amongst traded players

The Astros got a good one!

— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) August 3, 2024

Beau Holder said:

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The fault of the bats is that they were 24th in slugging and OBP in July and he got brought into a number of tie games that didn't have to be that way.

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The bats have no relevance on the performance of a high-leverage reliever. Hader gets paid to pitch in close games.

This is not 1987 Nolan getting robbed of a CYA because the bats sucked. This is a guy who has sucked in a lot of tied games.

Sure, our record would be better if the bats had been better. But that doesn't have anything to do with Hader's pitching. If our bats had been better, we'd have won those tied games he pitched in, but good offenses still have tied games and he'd still get brought into them.

It's a dumb argument to say he's been mediocre because he hasn't gotten run support.

Mariners 10, Phillies 2. Another nightmare for the Phillies, who have lost 12 of their last 16. Tyler Phillips allowed eight runs. Bryce Harper is now 1 for his last 34. The Phillies are 65-44.

— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) August 3, 2024

The yankees rubbed off on them

... and since we had the Joey watch going after he started 2 for 2...naturally, he struck out the next 3 times.

JPN06 said:

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Beau Holder said:

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The fault of the bats is that they were 24th in slugging and OBP in July and he got brought into a number of tie games that didn't have to be that way.

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The bats have no relevance on the performance of a high-leverage reliever. Hader gets paid to pitch in close games.

This is not 1987 Nolan getting robbed of a CYA because the bats sucked. This is a guy who has sucked in a lot of tied games.

Sure, our record would be better if the bats had been better. But that doesn't have anything to do with Hader's pitching. If our bats had been better, we'd have won those tied games he pitched in, but good offenses still have tied games and he'd still get brought into them.

It's a dumb argument to say he's been mediocre because he hasn't gotten run support.

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He's been disappointing for sure.

His WHIP is better than last year at 1.000 to 1.101 (before tonight), but he's already given up 13 more earned runs (8v21) and triple the amount of home runs (3v9) in 8.1 less innings. If he's perfect his next 8 outings he's still far underperforming last season and his contract.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/haderjo01.shtml

We've had worse free agent signings though recently. Hader at least has a modestly positive WAR and his ERA+ is exactly league average prior to tonight, so we've got that going for us.

redline248 said:

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... and since we had the Joey watch going after he started 2 for 2...naturally, he struck out the next 3 times.

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Meh…he is 3/10 with a triple, 2 runs scored and 5 strikeouts in 2 games. We have a couple of our OFs who would happily take those numbers compared to their own recent performances. Still striking out too much, but he is a rookie, so that isn't unexpected.

You care way more about this than I do. Let me be clear about what I said: He's converted every save after the first one; he's oddly sucked in non-save situations; we're in more close games than we should be because the offense sucks ass. One thing I never said: he sucks because the offense sucks.

I'm annoyed by the offense sucking ass. You're annoyed the most apparently about Hader. That's fine. We all want the team to win. Let's hope everyone stops sucking.

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Espada on Kikuchi: "He's intense. He's got a little bit of a red-ass in him."

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) August 3, 2024

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Here is Yusei Kikuchi's 8 straight Ks, which ties a team record. pic.twitter.com/RO3xjYb9xJ

— Michael Schwab (@michaelschwab13) August 3, 2024

Hope we hear a lot more of Lisa Loeb at home

cc10106 said:

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Yeah I don't wanna hear that after ever K.

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You will and you'll love it

Oddly fitting considering it's from a soundtrack of a 30 year old movie set in Houston.

Beau Holder said:

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EastCoastAgNc said:

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Mariners 10, Phillies 2. Another nightmare for the Phillies, who have lost 12 of their last 16. Tyler Phillips allowed eight runs. Bryce Harper is now 1 for his last 34. The Phillies are 65-44.

— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) August 3, 2024

The yankees rubbed off on them

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1 for 34 is wild.

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Those are Jose Abreu numbers....well, close.

txislandag86 said:

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cc10106 said:

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Oddly fitting considering it's from a soundtrack of a 30 year old movie set in Houston.

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It hasn't been 30 years. That came out like....2-3 years ago.

Right?

Beau Holder said:

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You care way more about this than I do. Let me be clear about what I said: He's converted every save after the first one; he's oddly sucked in non-save situations; we're in more close games than we should be because the offense sucks ass. One thing I never said: he sucks because the offense sucks.

I'm annoyed by the offense sucking ass. You're annoyed the most apparently about Hader. That's fine. We all want the team to win. Let's hope everyone stops sucking.

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True.

I'm more annoyed with Hader because of his salary and the expectations that he came in with.

I expect our offense to struggle. We are missing our best hitter and on any given night we are starting 3 or 4 guys that should not be everyday players.

Paw Patrol appearances: 1

World Series appearances: 0 https://t.co/wrs0Qzl1yN

— Bennett (@Bennett_F7) August 2, 2024

Because Zach Dezenzo exists