caulfield12

It would be pretty hilarious if Game 5 was in Houston and creative fans could again try the Johnny Cueto taunt to rattle him...alas, not to be.

I'm not sure which comeback was crazier. Seemed the Royals were simply dead this year...last season, anything seemed possible the way they played the second half. Winning games like this can carry teams a long way like it did for that stretch until they ran into the Bumgarner buzzsaw in the World Series. The Royals are just lucky. Doing it two years in a row...? Hmmm...

And please don't bet the house on Cueto at home Wednesday, haha.

I hope you didn't bet that house, Greg. If you did, don't jump off the roof. Would be Davis' first two inning save of the year. Did it four times last year. Young players on the Astros coming unhinged, throwing equipment around out of frustration. This is where you need an experienced manager with a steady hand who doesn't flinch.

The crazy thing is going from making plans for flights/tickets to Toronto or Dallas one minute...the next, you're staring playoff elimination in the face with Cueto pitching at home versus Kazmir. KC will be more jacked up than Wrigley if that happens. Swinging from Houston/Texas grudge match to KC/StL possibilities for a World Series in a matter of less than thirty minutes. Royals' starters with a 6.27 era this series in four games.

Getting a six out save isn't going to be easy. HR hitters up and down the Astros' line-up. Pretty sure nine in double figures and two more with nine homers.

Hosmer scored the winning run last year from third...against the very same Luke Gregorson, pitching for the A's, last year, in the WC game, after Lester blew that same four run lead late in the game. Baseball is some crazy s---. Should have used Fields!!! KC has batted around this inning.

If the Astros do lose this game, not going to Josh Fields there will be questioned a lot.

Shades of Tony Graffanino ten years ago against the White Sox....

Shades of the comeback late in the wild card game last year. Pretty damned improbable. Sipp hadn't given up a hit in 3 1/3 ip before this game.

Greg's house...it gawn. Haha.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 12, 2015 -> 02:06 PM) The Royals need to settle down. If they remain this emotional powerderkeg it will do them no good. Personally Sox need to man up and just start beating them. Sox's starting rotation is so much better than KC's. Royals bullpen now blows. Their window has closed with Gordon gone and Zobrist gone. They gawn. Now can the Sox beat them head to head? Probly not. And they're not going to spend any money at all this offseason? As soon as they add Cespedes, Iwakuma, etc., everyone will be giving them the division. Gordon didn't even play for over half the season, remember? They had to use Dyson and Orlando a lot as well. In the end, moves like Cueto and Zobrist didn't guarantee anything...any more than the A's moves that seemingly guaranteed a World Series appearance last year failed in the end.

MLB with some really questionable calls from NyC this postseason...calling out Gore wasn't nearly as bad as the Tejada situation, but still not clear and convincing.

The next question is why didn't Greg bet his house...? That would have wiped out the whole rolling stop thread since he would have acquired thousands of dollars to pay off his tickets with...and make additional charitable/church/Ben Carson/Kirk Cameron movie studio contributions. In the end, the White Sox are going to be facing a highly-motivated, desperate to get back to the post-season Royals team next year.

Just goes to show how much losing one cog in their bullpen machine impacted the Royals. This is the year for teams arriving "ahead of schedule." So that means the Astros, Cubs, Mets and Rangers are advancing, haha. Shades of Andruw Jones there from Carlos Correa. Rasmus would have been a cheaper pick-up than Cabrera with more upside. Oh well.

But nobody has ever hit you from behind, right? Because that will always be their fault. You can't let other people intimidate you into driving illegal just because of the "people are always impatient" excuse.

Dubious replay call there at 3b...not that Rios was likely to drive in Gore there.

The Stoops coaching tree doesn't exactly measure up to Hayden Fry's. His brother, Brett Venables, Spurrier's son, Leach, Mark Mangino, Chuck Long.... Compared to Ferentz, Bill Snyder, the Stoops brothers, Jay Norvell, Bielema, Barry Avarez, Jim Leavitt, Dan McCarney, etc.

The first four aren't. Iwakuma was very good again at the end of the season after being a top ten guy in the AL for ERA last year. Then, switching to the NL? Fister, if healthy, is a very effective fourth starter and potentially better. Latos picked up his fb velocity again and was much better after the first couple of months. Let's not forget how awful Cueto was in KC, and Shark in Chicago. Conversely, leaving the AL makes a lot of these guys better, like Brett Anderson now with the Dodgers (someone everyone laughed at signing). Heck, Chris Young would be fine, compared to $200 million for Price. By the way, the Cubs also might trade for James Shields and give up nothing much of significance.

There are all those guys like Zimmermann, Iwakuma, Latos, Fister, Beachy, Bud Norris, Colon, Shark, Kennedy, Mark Guthrie....why would they give up talent like Baez when they don't need to? Far better to trade Castro, even if it's mostly a salary dump. Signing Price or Cueto isn't even all that necessary imo. They could bring in Zobrist, Cespedes or Gordon along with any pitcher not named Price and be in a really good position in terms of roster flexibility. Betting on Zobrist as the veteran added into the youthful mix.

Two years ago, Yasiel Puig would have brought back any player in baseball other than Trout and probably Harper. Today, the Cubs would hesitate at least a bit to trade Schwarber for him...having already experienced the Sammy Show. Things change so quickly now in baseball. Once in a generation hitters are guys like Pujols, Trout, Bonds, Miggy Cabrera, Gywnn, Boggs and Harper. He's going to be better than Jose Bautista, for example? Schwarber has two tools...but can't run, field or throw exceptionally well. The jury is still out on whether guys like Bryant and him can also be high average hitters as well.

But the fact that he's been bankrupt 3-4 times (used the system to his advantage) and still has the money he does is testament to someone who knows how to negotiate...therefore, logically, putting himself in a tremendous position to bully Assad, Putin and the latest Kim in N. Korea. He probably believes that on some level even.

We need to make a list of all the "bet the house" predictions since last year and tally up how many houses we've already lost...

Robin Ventura and/or the new bench coach's tactical skills will be questioned the first week of the season. Someone else will say you can't expect champagne performance on a beer budget...that we won't be able to accurately assess Robin until the end of 2017 at the earliest. You can bet the house on that.

Schwarber struggled quite a bit down the stretch, compared to his hot start. Pretty crazy to project him among the top 15-20 hitters in the game at this point. Heck, Gordon Beckham in 2009 was similarly projected. Advanced scouts and opposing pitchers will adjust. He will have to adjust back. Look at Rizzo's young career, for example.