So here's what we know. When it doesn't count, the Yankees have a winning record against the Astros. Regular season play we win a lot of our series' against them now. This season the Astros lost their first series against the Yankees back in April. Admittedly that was when we still had Aaron Judge but it's okay now because Heliot Ramos and his negative batting average is here.
It is now late August, and both teams have playoff considerations. One team is on a relatively strong run right now, and the other team has been shakily bobbing back and forth between 1st and 2nd on a sub-.500 record. One team is getting stronger as more people come back, and one team just fired their GM and traded away a starting pitcher in a year they really needed starting pitching.
What I'm saying is I'm worried.
Tonight, the Astros are starting a rookie named Ethan Pecko, a guy from Upper Darby who, between him and Adam Macko, ensure that Texas will now lead the union in names I cannot take seriously. ETHAN PECKO. Sounds like a side character in an Animaniacs sub-character segment. The Goodfeathers take on Ethan Pecko in Breakfast: Impossible. He did fine in his debut last week, but gave up the sole two runs of the game against the Angels, meaning the bullpen, which has been snakebitten but improving, had to save the day. Considering that Peter Lambert and Hayden Wesneski are playing big roles for this rotation, why not Ethan Pecko? I'll remind you that Cristian Javier is struggling to stay unhit, Ronel Blanco's chilling in the minors after an 8 ERA, Kai-Wei Teng and Tatsuya Imai aren't allowed to start anymore and Spencer Arrighetti's now helping a team I don't hate make a playoff run. And that these rotations used to be so packed that Jose Urquidy and Luis Garcia would barely make the cut. But sure, Ethan Pecko.
I feel similarly about Cam Smith, one of the go-to outfield bats for the Astros now. He's been here all season and he's hitting .215 with a .671 OPS, despite 17 homers and 48 RBIs. This outfield has seen George Springer, Michael Brantley, Josh Reddick and Kyle Tucker, and now it's basically down to Cam Smith to keep things moving, and...he's a sharp enough player but right now he doesn't compare. And the team desperately needs him to. At least Jeremy Pena has covered for Carlos Correa excellently, and is having a terrific year despite missing time. At least Yordan Alvarez is probably winning an MVP as a rare returning Astro who can actually do what he's supposed to. If there's no support, and a lot of okay options rather than strong ones at multiple spots, there's no point.
There's still a chance the Astros can win the division, because the Rangers are similarly noncommittal and the Mariners seem to have decided to punt. But I really think it's an uphill battle with this specific squad. I'm still very worried they can outdo the Yankees this week and get rolling, but I just don't see the vision with this team going deep.
Coming Tonight: He was given the ninth in a huge market last season, and he struggled. So they got someone else. Then that someone else shat the bed big time and now the other guy's a great closer again.
No comments:
Post a Comment