4/25/24 - Astros (Justin Verlander) @ Cubs (Javier Assad) - 1:20P WFT on Marquee

[abuck1220]

antonio alfonseca-ing that horsefeathers.

counsell was pretty bad with the pen to start the season in my opinion, but everything he did this series  worked perfectly.

[Rcal10]

7 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Both of these dudes are essentially split neutral and much better against lefties this year, so I withdraw part of my concern, and think there's probably some substance behind not throwing out the same reliever they saw last night (Little). Think I would have gone Leiter, but....more of a coin flip decision at that point. 

Didn’t Leiter go 2 days in a row. He probably wasn’t available.

[UMFan83]

I would have taken 5-2 on this homestand before it started.  Sucked to split the Marlins series but they recovered.

[gflore34]

Counsell will keep going with Neris as the closer until he blows a save, maybe, that confidence will be helpful to him.

[Derwood]

5 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Joe Borowski is right.  Dude gets himself in trouble and then gets out of it. SWEEP

Borowski, Marmol, Alfonseca...

[Andy]

Just now, Derwood said:

Borowski, Marmol, Alfonseca...

Alfonseca never once got himself out of trouble

[chibears55]

5 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

I miss Castro 😅

[squally1313]

1 minute ago, Rcal10 said:

Didn’t Leiter go 2 days in a row. He probably wasn’t available.

yes, good call

Just now, gflore34 said:

Counsell will keep going with Neris as the closer until he blows a save, maybe, that confidence will be helpful to him.

If you buy into the theory that you don't want to give guys multiple looks at relievers that eliminates Little. Leiter, as noted, had worked back to back. Hopefully just a little too soon for Azlolay. Brown is starting Saturday. Thompson/Brewer are clearly not in the circle of trust. That leaves Neris or Almonte, who has admittedly been really good lately (8 straight scoreless appearances), but probably a little raw/walk heavy to toss out in front of Yordan/Kyle.

[Rex Buckingham]

2 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Borowski, Marmol, Alfonseca...

Jeff Fassero, Mel Rojas, Rod Beck...

[chibears55]

Big W...

Has to be a long while since they swept the Astros,  maybe even taking a series from them.

PCA with the big bomb and more very good pitching 

[PackLandVA]

4 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

Jeff Fassero, Mel Rojas, Rod Beck...

Wild Thing

[BKHoo]

10 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Counsell will keep going with Neris as the closer until he blows a save, maybe, that confidence will be helpful to him.

Ninth innings are not great for our blood pressure. An adventure every time. 

[PackLandVA]

Player of the Game obviously PCA with his first hit, first, HR, and GW hit. But mad props (again) to Javier Assad. First and third two batters into the game and he minimizes the damage about as well as you could in that sitch.  Only went 4+ but that game could’ve gotten out of hand in the first.

How does he come out of the starting rotation???

[gflore34]

28 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Borowski, Marmol, Alfonseca...

I wouldn't put Marmol is that group, when right, Marmol was unhittable.  Can't say that Borowski or Alfonseca.

[chopsx9]

29 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

Jeff Fassero, Mel Rojas, Rod Beck...

Let's not forget LaTroy Hawkins.  Lights out as a set-up man not so much as a closer.  I remember posters insisting he was a better than average closer as he blew save after save.

[Rcal10]

18 minutes ago, PackLandVA said:

Player of the Game obviously PCA with his first hit, first, HR, and GW hit. But mad props (again) to Javier Assad. First and third two batters into the game and he minimizes the damage about as well as you could in that sitch.  Only went 4+ but that game could’ve gotten out of hand in the first.

How does he come out of the starting rotation???

He went 5 2/3. 

[CubinNY]

9 hours ago, CubinNY said:

Verlander's life is too good. He deserves to lose this game. He's not the pitcher he once was. Cubs will sweep.

Never a doubt. 

[Rcal10]

Cubs pitching is coming around. 7 of last 8 the starters have given up 2 or less. Not going deep enough, but they are keeping runs off the board. 

[CubinNY]

How about them Cubs? They just keep winning. They’re Lieutenant Dan yelling at the hurricane 

[PackLandVA]

28 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

He went 5 2/3. 

Good call. I was watching post game and they were talking about Assad’s streak of 4+ innings with giving up only 1 or 0 runs. Guess that planted the seed. But he’s just seems to be consistently solid ever time he goes out to the mound.

 

Speaking of post game, which I almost never watch, I am not ashamed to say that Dexter has an outstanding smile.  That thing would light up a dark room!

[KCCub]

 

[Bertz]

49 minutes ago, PackLandVA said:

Player of the Game obviously PCA with his first hit, first, HR, and GW hit. But mad props (again) to Javier Assad. First and third two batters into the game and he minimizes the damage about as well as you could in that sitch.  Only went 4+ but that game could’ve gotten out of hand in the first.

How does he come out of the starting rotation???

Yeah the ERA will catch up to the peripherals eventually, but even the peripherals say Assad's been a good #4 starter dating back to last August. 

I agree I don't know how you can pull him out of the rotation unless you trade him.  And with the way he's pitching and with him still being slated for a league minimum salary next year he would go a long way towards something very fun in trade.

[Bull]

1 hour ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

That's really what they brought him in for 🤷‍♂️

Yeah. That’s kinda what he does with the splitter. He doesn’t miss bats, bats pound it into the ground on him.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I think Assad staying in the rotation is a 'problem' that solves itself.  Today is a perfect illustration that's clear he's gonna take the ball every 5th day ahead of Brown and Wesneski for various reasons. So the only thing knocking him out of the rotation is the return of both Steele and Hendricks, and maybe not even then with how they've nodded towards a 6 man rotation.  And in the time until Steele and Hendricks are both ready, someone else could get hurt(including Assad), Assad's form could dip, or they could just keep him in the pen and use him like Wesneski/Brown are being used now.

Upstream of this conversation is about what it means to be 'in the rotation'.  I thought Boog had an excellent visual last night where he said that on this roster guys do not walk around with a metaphorical wrestling belt labeled "starter" that earns them 5 innings every 5 days.  Assad is clearly not going to go down, and it's clear that Counsell has trust in him to eat innings, so he'll continue doing that in some fashion even if all the other pieces get healthy and productive.

[Crusader]

3 hours ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

This didn’t age well

And I couldn’t be happier. His 66% k rate is still a bit high.