Let's Watch Rangers/Astros

[Schmoeman5]

Even though the Twins are out if it, there is still playoff baseball. Tonight the Astros are hosting the Rangers for Game 1 of the ALCS. As well as the baseball I'm going to be closely watching the home plate umpires and the fake box on TV. I will closely monitor each game to see if 1 team is getting the benefit of calls over the other.  There's no way it can be completely neutral. I've taken my shoes and socks off so I can keep a running tally. Also I'm going to try too read what I can on the Astros and Rangers version of Twins daily and see how they react. I imagine it'll be no different than the reactions I see for every Twins game. I'm betting that Houston will come out clearly ahead on the scorecard. 

[Jocko87]

Rangers up 1-0 after an Evan Carter double and a ton of traffic on the bases.  The traffic is familiar against Verlander, eh?

I must admit I didn't see much in Evan Carter when I watched him for 3 AA games this season.  I saw him on the prospect lists so I was paying attention but was not impressed.  He had several negative plays, maybe he was bored with AA.  I'm not a scout by any means but we already knew that.

[Schmoeman5]

Yeah. He made a nice play in left too.  And so far the Rangers are putting the ball in play. But Verlander is making good pitches when he needs them

[Schmoeman5]

10 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

Rangers up 1-0 after an Evan Carter double and a ton of traffic on the bases.  The traffic is familiar against Verlander, eh?

I must admit I didn't see much in Evan Carter when I watched him for 3 AA games this season.  I saw him on the prospect lists so I was paying attention but was not impressed.  He had several negative plays, maybe he was bored with AA.  I'm not a scout by any means but we already knew that.

Not sure if he can sustain what he's done with the bat.  He hasn't had a ton of AB yet. But will definely be one to watch to see how he does going forward 

[Schmoeman5]

And I'd say the home plate umpire has been perfect so far. Maybe it is a Twins thing after all. 

[ashbury]

Game looks a lot like the ones our Twins played.  Rallies ending with a batter flailing at strike three in the dirt.  Less compelling TV when I don't have a dog in the fight.

I don't know a solution.

[ashbury]

10 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

And I'd say the home plate umpire has been perfect so far. Maybe it is a Twins thing after all. 

I just saw Montgomery get squeezed on an outside pitch that looked like it caught the black.  But I haven't been paying attention most of the game, just listening, until now.

[Schmoeman5]

In Alvarez 2 AB Montgomery went after him both times. Didn't give in and got him to swing at his pitches. We'll see if that continues.

[Nine of twelve]

Altuve used to be one of my favorite players. But tonight I was happy that he ****ed up on the bases by not retouching second base and got himself put out.

[Schmoeman5]

4 minutes ago, Nine of twelve said:

Altuve used to be one of my favorite players. But tonight I was happy that he ****ed up on the bases by not retouching second base and got himself put out.

Yeah. Hopefully he doesn't bounce back the way Harper did after he was doubled off in game 2 vs Atlanta 

[Parfigliano]

Hoping for TX to win this series.

[Parfigliano]

TX putting a beating on Framber Valdez in 1st inning.

[SwainZag]

Framber having an awful playoffs.  Getting knocked around again.  OF course, the Astros make zero errors and several excellent defensive plays in the 4 games against the Twins.  Meanwhile Framber makes two errors on one play to really catapult that 1st inning assaults by Texas. 

[Parfigliano]

Yordan Alvarez is locked in

[Aggies7]

And the usual outcome for a Minnesota sports fan in the postseason: watching the team who eliminated us get trounced by the next team they play. Classic

[mnfireman]

Astro's doing their best Twins impression; bases loaded, nobody out = 0 runs!!

[Dave Borton]

21 hours ago, ashbury said:

 Less compelling TV when I don't have a dog in the fight.

I don't know a solution.

Place a bet w/a bookie. Interest goes straight up.

[tony&rodney]

Texas ambushed Framber and Eovaldi had the Astros off balance early. Houston had a big chance with the bases loaded and nobody out, but failed to score. Does that sound familiar? It happens to all teams but sure makes winning difficult.

Texas is better at every position than the Twins. I believe the Twins have better pitching.

Houston and the Twins have similar pitching strengths, but are better than the Twins at all positions save shortstop and catcher.

This has been fun to watch for a baseball fan. 

[Aggies7]

47 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Texas ambushed Framber and Eovaldi had the Astros off balance early. Houston had a big chance with the bases loaded and nobody out, but failed to score. Does that sound familiar? It happens to all teams but sure makes winning difficult.

Texas is better at every position than the Twins. I believe the Twins have better pitching.

Houston and the Twins have similar pitching strengths, but are better than the Twins at all positions save shortstop and catcher.

This has been fun to watch for a baseball fan. 

Not for nothing, but Texas played like 2 games over .500 from July until the end of the season, including a 2-5 record against the twins.

There’s no reason the twins couldn’t also have beaten Houston.

[Aggies7]

Unreal how a team could play such mediocre ball for basically half the season and then do what Texas is doing. 7-0 with 6 wins on the road 

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, davidborton said:

Place a bet w/a bookie. Interest goes straight up.

True dat.  Doesn't even have to be for money.  I never paid such close attention to an NFL season as last year when I got roped into a family fantasy league.

[Parfigliano]

3 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Not for nothing, but Texas played like 2 games over .500 from July until the end of the season, including a 2-5 record against the twins.

There’s no reason the twins couldn’t also have beaten Houston.

Inability to score other then via HR.  Pretty big reason

[tony&rodney]

LeClerc was savvy, walking both Abreu and Brantley to get to a less experienced hitter.  Altuve looks different in this series thus far. We are not seeing his guided bat swings with two strikes that result in base hits and he has been fooled a number of times by breaking balls, sort of understandable though.

[Aggies7]

Someone ought to check the Phillies for buzzers and dented trash cans. Just continually launching bombs. Maybe they’ve hacked the pitch com 😂

[ashbury]

I tuned out after Schwarber's second homer.  Not a dull game, exactly, but it seemed like a good time to go do something else for a while.  I didn't come back until the last batter of the eighth.  Guess I missed a bit of action.  😊