AL Championship Series - Astros down 2-1

Still optimistic, still not oblivious

Cliches still apply

First: Thank you for those who responded to yesterday’s poll, positive feedback was nice. Exciting times ahead.

Yesterday I mentioned being optimistic about the Astros chances of coming back from a 2-0 deficit in the ALCS, but not oblivious to the challenge.

The same applies today, though I’m a little more optimistic.

Not splitting the atom here, but I would expect Dubon in center again, because well, it worked out pretty well yesterday and he has good numbers against Heaney as shown below.

It’s well-documented I’m not the biggest Dubon fan, but I’m also not too stubborn to admit he’s played well at times.

I do wonder what the sacrifice is, because as we all know, the playoffs are about home runs and extra-base hits, which Dubon doesn’t do often (ISO of .000 in 12 playoff PA).

I’m past ranting about it, but I will point out where I think it affects the team.

Last night it affected the team positively and I hope for the same today, assuming he starts.

Pitching Matchups

Urquidy vs. Heaney

Bullpen Usage

With two games to go before the scheduled off day, getting dicey for the leverage arms.

Abreu’s pitched in every ALCS game and on 3 of 4 days. Neris has pitched on 2 of 4 days and Presley 2 of 3.

The normal “down” days are out the window at this time of year, but effectiveness, as we perhaps witnessed with Abreu last night, could be an issue.

Playoff Batting

Astros batting for the playoffs to date.

Playoff Pitching

Astros pitching for the playoffs to date.

May not mean anything notes of the day

Bryan Abreu has appeared in 6 of the Astros 7 playoff games.

Yordan Alvarez has 6 home runs, 10 RBI, scored 11 runs, walked 5 times and has a wRC+ of 327 for the playoffs.

Mauricio Dubon is batting .500, with a 188 wRC+ and an ISO Power of .000 in 12 plate appearances.

Thanks for reading!