2019 ALDS - Rays vs. Astros - Gamethread

Plympton91

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Oct 19, 2008
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Jeez. If Houston blows this I may actually end up rooting for the Yankees next round. That’ll be weird. Amazing how 4 World Series in 15 years changes things.
 

VORP Speed

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That is Rays baseball right there. Bunch of nobody pitchers who happen to have the best ERA in the league totally shut down the big bad Astros offense in a total team pitching effort.
 

jon abbey

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That is Rays baseball right there. Bunch of nobody pitchers who happen to have the best ERA in the league totally shut down the big bad Astros offense in a total team pitching effort.
We're just one game away from a hot Saturday night date. OK, maybe not so hot, but I'm psyched.
 

StuckOnYouk

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Congrats to Vorp but we all know what will happen if Tb upsets Houston. Yankees in 5. I'd love to see tampa win it and respect the hell out of what they are doing but let's be realistic.
There is a reason yankees fans are so giddy now.
Getting the Twins first round followed by Tampa and a non Dodgers team is their dream scenario.
 

E5 Yaz

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Congrats to Vorp but we all know what will happen if Tb upsets Houston. Yankees in 5. I'd love to see tampa win it and respect the hell out of what they are doing but let's be realistic.
There is a reason yankees fans are so giddy now.
Getting the Twins first round followed by Tampa and a non Dodgers team is their dream scenario.
Backing into a title
 

Plympton91

bubble burster
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Oct 19, 2008
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Congrats to Vorp but we all know what will happen if Tb upsets Houston. Yankees in 5. I'd love to see tampa win it and respect the hell out of what they are doing but let's be realistic.
There is a reason yankees fans are so giddy now.
Getting the Twins first round followed by Tampa and a non Dodgers team is their dream scenario.
The Red Sox dismantled the Dodgers last year. Having pitchers in the lineup makes NL pitching staffs soft. Won’t matter who the teams are, the AL team should be big favorites in any World Series matchup.
 

jon abbey

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I hope abbey is ready to rumble. Maybe he can bring his épée.
Yeah, I wanted to say I'd have your back but I am old and fat now. One time back in the day I had to defend my Boston friend fan at a Jets game in the middle of the 86 World Series because he got sick of hearing 'let's go Mets', thankfully that stopped short of a brawl.
 

jon abbey

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AL East teams the only ones with heart:

Under current 2-2-1 LDS format, only 3 teams have won the series after losing the first 2 games on the road:

2017 Yankees vs Indians
2003 Red Sox vs A's
1999 Red Sox vs Indians
 

bankshot1

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Congrats to Vorp but we all know what will happen if Tb upsets Houston. Yankees in 5. I'd love to see tampa win it and respect the hell out of what they are doing but let's be realistic.
There is a reason yankees fans are so giddy now.
Getting the Twins first round followed by Tampa and a non Dodgers team is their dream scenario.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5pESPQpXxE
 

Murderer's Crow

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Jul 15, 2005
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Congrats to Vorp but we all know what will happen if Tb upsets Houston. Yankees in 5. I'd love to see tampa win it and respect the hell out of what they are doing but let's be realistic.
There is a reason yankees fans are so giddy now.
Getting the Twins first round followed by Tampa and a non Dodgers team is their dream scenario.
Yea, I'm not giddy because we might play Tampa instead of Houston. I'm giddy because 1) Fuck Justin Verlander 2) Home field advantage 3) I hate how everyone sucks off Houston and it's fun to watch them collapse against a team who is reimagining how to build and utilize a roster.
 

Marciano490

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Nov 4, 2007
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Nah. But one of my boys did go on a couple of dates with her circa 2014ish. He likes to show their picture to everyone.
He should start a thread in P&G.

Are baseball stadiums raucous during playoff games? Would’ve thought all the fighter types were priced out these days.
 

Marciano490

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Nov 4, 2007
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Now I don't know for sure that crow isn't Marciano
Pfft. He’s married and I have a better watch collection. We’re definitely two distinct humans.

My closest Kate Upton connection is someone who rode horses with her.

That’s not a euphemism.
 

jon abbey

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Whoa, nice to see one of our own get a shout-out!!

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays never doubted themselves, even with Justin Verlander looking to end their season.

Willy Adames homered and made a sensational relay throw from shortstop, and the Rays chased Verlander early in beating the Houston Astros 4-1 Tuesday night to even their AL Division Series at two games apiece.

Tommy Pham also went deep and Ryan Yarbrough combined with five other pitchers on a six-hitter for Tampa Bay. Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell came out of the bullpen for his first career relief appearance, holding off Houston in the ninth inning to earn the save.

Verlander, starting on short rest after dominating the wild-card Rays in Game 1, looked uncomfortable on the mound at Tropicana Field and was pulled in the fourth after giving up four runs.

The series shifts back to Houston for a deciding Game 5 on Thursday night. Astros star Gerrit Cole is scheduled to pitch for the heavily favored AL West champs, who led the majors with 107 wins this season and have one more chance to close out the feisty Rays.

"To be honest, our season has been mostly driven by the condescending remarks made all season online by someone calling themselves @SemperFidelisSox. We talked a lot in spring training about not really bothering trying this year, and just waiting for the next wave of kids to come and take our jobs so we could go elsewhere and get paid, but then we saw these posts, on and on, just writing us off with no reasoning. Anyway, this person's comments really fueled us and brought us together and now here we are." Tampa Bay center fielder Kevin Kiermaier said.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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uh? lol I see some of the words above but not all, am I missing some sarcasm here from jon abbey? https://www.apnews.com/35d5e45a93144a208c4627ab9c76b955
Nope. Kiermaier, Pham and a bunch of other Rays have blocked @SemperFidelisSox on pretty much every social media platform - that poster is singlehandedly responsible for the Rays making the playoffs and taking this series to a deciding game. And here I am posting that nothing we say on this backwater of the internet can impact sporting events.
 

jon abbey

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So TB just shut down maybe the best offense in the game with a nine inning/one run bullpen game, and they didn't burn a single pitcher for game 5 doing it. Castillo threw the most pitches for them with just 29, they should have everyone on Thursday. HOU presumably doesn't have Verlander (84 pitches) and Urquidy (47 pitches) but even they might be available for a few batters with the off day and the do or die game.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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So TB just shut down maybe the best offense in the game with a nine inning/one run bullpen game, and they didn't burn a single pitcher for game 5 doing it. Castillo threw the most pitches for them with just 29, they should have everyone on Thursday. HOU presumably doesn't have Verlander (84 pitches) and Urquidy (47 pitches) but even they might be available for a few batters with the off day and the do or die game.
Yeah, I see no reason Verlander can't go an inning and maybe an extra or two batter if he does it cleanly.
 

BaseballJones

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Cole, at home, on full rest, will be no picnic for Tampa. That said, they've got momentum (I know, only as good as the next game's starting pitcher) and I could see them scrapping out a 2-1 win. Someone walks and then a two-run jack while the Rays' pitchers continue to get Astro hitters - who will be tightening up with each successive inning - out.
 

jon abbey

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Another reason I haven't seen mentioned why HOU made the right move IMO in starting Verlander: if you start someone else and lose, then you have both Verlander and Cole on full rest, and you have to make the decision which of them to start in game 5. That would almost certainly have been Verlander with the extra day rest, but Cole has never come out of the bullpen in his career. So you run the chance of being eliminated while not ever giving Cole a followup to his 15 K masterpiece in game 2.
 

VORP Speed

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So TB just shut down maybe the best offense in the game with a nine inning/one run bullpen game, and they didn't burn a single pitcher for game 5 doing it. Castillo threw the most pitches for them with just 29, they should have everyone on Thursday. HOU presumably doesn't have Verlander (84 pitches) and Urquidy (47 pitches) but even they might be available for a few batters with the off day and the do or die game.
Rays style pitching works even better in the playoffs with all the off days.
 

sean1562

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the astros havent lost a game Cole started since July 12. They lost 4 he started in April, and then went 24-3 in games started by Cole from May until now.
 

jon abbey

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Road teams are now 20-11 in game 5s of division series, go Rays.
 

jon abbey

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"Since the Astros beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS in Houston, the following 11 MLB playoff series have been clinched on the road. The Astros will try to halt that streak tonight."
 

VORP Speed

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The Rays have had their backs against the wall for over a month now. They've come up big time after time after time. Comebacks, 1 run games, extra-inning games. Improbable heroes, tremendous pitching up and down the staff, openers, bullpen games, a gazillion pitching changes, rotating lineups. Whatever it takes. They've won 3 elimination games in the past 8 days. They are loose and confident.

Houston has just cruised all season. They're getting punched in the nose now. Their crowd got awfully quiet in game 2 when the Rays mounted a comeback. If the Rays can scratch out an early run tonight, that crowd is going to go silent and the pressure is going to mount.
 

E5 Yaz

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Ale Xander

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1. Austin Meadows (L) LF
2. Tommy Pham (R) DH
3. Ji-Man Choi (L) 1B
4. Travis d'Arnaud (R) C
5. Eric Sogard (L) 2B
6. Avisail Garcia (R) RF
7. Joey Wendle (L) 3B
8. Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF
9. Willy Adames (R) SS

1. George Springer (R) CF
2. Michael Brantley (L) LF
3. Jose Altuve (R) 2B
4. Alex Bregman (R) 3B
5. Yordan Alvarez (L) DH
6. Yuli Gurriel (R) 1B
7. Carlos Correa (R) SS
8. Josh Reddick (L) RF
9. Martin Maldonado (R) C
Has Correa been hitting 7th much of the season?
 

Brand Name

make hers mark
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127/252. That’s not some bullshit BvP number. Cole genuinely has nearly a 50% K rate of all batters faced in this timespan. This includes tonight.