GAME THREAD: 2022 World Series

Seems like I have been watching Phillies batting practise all night.

 

And save the bullpen for another day.

 

It is just Dusty Baker proving why he has never won a WS. Luis Garcia is Houston’s 5th starter. He could have come in at the 2nd inning and pitched 5. I am not sure if Jose Urquidy is on the roster or not. He is Houston’s 6th starter (they used a 6 man rotation all year) and he hasn’t pitched in weeks. Sub 4 ERA as a starter. Hunter Brown is a former starter.

Saving “the bullpen” when there are 3 starters with 1 total inning since the Seattle series isn’t smart. It is bleeping stupid.

Dusty seems like a great guy but October isn’t June… Surely he has learned that by now.

 

Pulling the starter early looks great in hindsight. I was thinking about leaving him in after the horse has left the barn

 

But the point is simple: 5 games over 6 days, 6 available starters (7 if you count Hunter Brown). You don’t need to save ANYTHING.

 

To beat an already completely dead horse, in the 18 inning game against Seattle, Houston still had an unused starter (Urquidy) meaning they had 18 more outs still unused!!!

They have a near limitless amount of outs.

Dusty better manage the remaining 4 games like there is no tomorrow because by the way, there isn’t!!!

 

Was hoping for a competitive game but Phillies BP vs McCullers put an end to that- snooze fest now. WS game should not go that way- McCullers hanging breaking pitches should for HRs, should have been pulled in the 2nd. Surprising that is now a best 3 of 5 series you would let this game slip away with a fully rested pitching staff. Odd moves by Dusty.

 

I am completely hijacking this thread with my frustration but Urquidy is tied for 20th in wins, 35th in ERA and 29th in WHIP. Hasn’t thrown an inning since bloody September. He is the 6th starter for crying out loud!!!

And per John Smoltz’ brilliant analysis, Dusty needed to save arms…

Of course all of this is completely moot given the offensive explosion that is the Stros offense. My personal favorite hitter in MLB (Yordan Alvarez) has a batting average slightly higher than me in this WS (he is 1 for 10!).

 

I totally understand your frustration, but somebody is the 6th starter for a reason compared to the third starter. Rarely would a guy that has to start a game because your rotation is frubar be a great replacement for one of your regular starters.

The guys that might have stemmed the bleeding are they guys you need tomorrow. Those arms needed to be in the bank.

So maybe it would be better to burn up a 6th starter arm and save the arm of a starter guy that was getting shelled.

 

This is the entire point!! Dusty could have used Luis Garcia OR Jose Urquidy OR Hunter Brown in the 2nd. Any of them. None had started a game since September. All have outstanding numbers and can go 5+. Dusty could have/should have pulled McCullers in the 2nd and used any of the other 3 dudes as they are all very good AND unused almost the entire postseason.

Why use McCullers, who clearly didn’t have it, when you don’t need to save any of those 3 arms? They have been superfluous all postseason.

 

I’ll say it again—I have never liked Dusty Baker—neither as a player or a manager.

 

Greg—

Dusty was probably busy changing his toothpick out when he should have noticed this.

 

Teams go hot and cold. The Phillies had the worst record of any team making the playoffs and the fewest wins of any World Series team in a long time. The Astros have been there 4 of the last 6 years and had the best record in the AL, 19 games better than Philly. But Philadelphia is playing and pitching great right now and have been the better team so far. It could turn on a dime, but Houston needs a win tonight very badly.

 

Back when the NYY were playing the Phillies in the WS (I think 2009) the story was told that Derek Jeter ordered pizza for them before a game and when it was delivered “Phillies” was spelled out across the face of the pizzas in pepperonis!……..

Gotta love baseball!

 

It seemed like just a matter of time before the Astros broke through.

But the Astros have been up 5-0 before.

 

It is important I keep the complaining going.

1. Why is Montero pitching in a non-leverage situation??? A win is all that matters. Not a no-hitter.

2. Diaz is awful. Epically awful. Mancini has been no better. Try anyone at all at DH. Local radio has said you can’t use Vazquez as DH because if Maldo gets hurt, you need Vazquez. The issue there is why not do a switch. Maldo gets hurt, then Vazquez catches meaning the DH is burned meaning Dubon, Diaz, Mancini, and Hensley PH every time the P comes up which won’t be more than 4 times in a given game. And worst case, Maldo gets hurt in the 1st inning, then the P hits for the first couple ABs. They can’t be worse than Mancini + Diaz who have 1 hit combined all postseason… DH Vazquez!!!!

Nothing else to complain about right now…

 

That was cool. 2nd no hitter in WS history.

 

GOOOO StroS!!!

 

What happens to ball players when their eyesight starts to fail them?
They become umpires! (Thanks for this one @gtj31 !)

All I can say is that Angel Hernandez must’ve been an awful ball player-because his eyes got really bad early in his life!