When all else fails, blame the umpire!

[Noe]

Tried and true method for whining about losing in baseball. Everybody does it and it gets amp'ed in the playoffs.

WFW!

[Noe]

BTW - they mentioned that Brian McCann complained the most. Certainly did it when he got a strike called on him that previously, his own pitcher Tanaka, benefited from. So what may have influenced Eric Cooper, the home plate umpire?

Buster Onley thinks he knows the answer to that. Hold on to your seats, yet another Jason Castro FYOWA moment in three... two... one...

[ferret]

Tried and true method for whining about losing in baseball. Everybody does it and it gets amp'ed in the playoffs.

WFW!

they spent some time highlighting how Keuchel wasnt really throwing strikes during the game.

[Noe]

they spent some time highlighting how Keuchel wasnt really throwing strikes during the game.

Want to see how ironic irony can be. ESPN (the Magazine)... yes, THAT ESPN... had an article published about "Framing" as the new art form that will allow teams to win more games (up to and including claiming that "framing" will contribute to wins... a metric they use for value of offensive players... WAR). Guess who the article called "a smart team that has included this in their arsenal" and who they highlighted? If you said "New York Yankees" and "Brian McCann", you'd be dead spot on.

Maybe ESPN should read their own magazine every once and awhile and understand that the Houston Astros and their forlorn offensively challenged receiver out-Yankee'd the very team they applaud!

[toddthebod]

Another reason to hold onto Castro for next season. 

[juliogotay]

Another reason to hold onto Castro for next season.

Maybe I haven't paid close enough attention to it but I thought Castro did a really good job last night behind the dish.
 I also thought the ump called a good game.

[doyce7]

Maybe I haven't paid close enough attention to it but I thought Castro did a really good job last night behind the dish.
 I also thought the ump called a good game.

Ump was pretty consistent and that's all you can ask for. Keuchel hit his spots, yanks should just tip the cap and stop bitching

[Reuben]

Maybe I haven't paid close enough attention to it but I thought Castro did a really good job last night behind the dish.
 I also thought the ump called a good game.

I hate hate hate the strike-zone box they superimpose over the screen for every single pitch. I actually have come to like the use of it in occasional replays (like the Astros' broadcast uses), but it is so f'ing distracting to have it up there during the live action. Hello, ESPN? We have eyes, we can see the width of the plate, we can see where the player's knees and armpits are. We can get a pretty good idea of which pitches are in the strike zone and which aren't, without your little box turning it into a video game type thing.

[doyce7]

I hate hate hate the strike-zone box they superimpose over the screen for every single pitch. I actually have come to like the use of it in occasional replays (like the Astros' broadcast uses), but it is so f'ing distracting to have it up there during the live action. Hello, ESPN? We have eyes, we can see the width of the plate, we can see where the player's knees and armpits are. We can get a pretty good idea of which pitches are in the strike zone and which aren't, without your little box turning it into a video game type thing.

This, so much this.

[JimR]

Fuck the crybaby Yankees.

[Travis]

This seems to be a pretty logical explanation of the strike zone, with a ton of credit to Castro: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-the-astros-wound-up-with-a-bigger-zone/

[Jacksonian]

This seems to be a pretty logical explanation of the strike zone, with a ton of credit to Castro: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-the-astros-wound-up-with-a-bigger-zone/

It completely ignores the fact that lefties throw from a different location than righties and that that difference could account for everything.

[Noe]

This seems to be a pretty logical explanation of the strike zone, with a ton of credit to Castro: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-the-astros-wound-up-with-a-bigger-zone/

Another thing that is being ignored by those prone to try and do a post mortem for the Yankee failure is that of their own doing. What I mean by that is for years now we've been treated to the "Yankee way" of hitting approach. By that I mean, the Yankee-way is to make the pitcher work by being very patient at the plate and spitting on close pitches. Supposedly this is taught in the minors in their organization and every Yankee is supposed to make the pitcher earn their strike calls on borderline pitches. In this night, with this umpire, this pitcher, and this catcher (all key components) the "Yankee-way" wasn't necessarily the best approach to hitting. Keichel paints corners and is known as a low ball pitcher who has command of the strikezone. Castro "presents" the ball well. The umpire, Eric Cooper, is known as a low ball umpire. All ingredients that should have been taken into account by the Yankees to have a plan of attack against their playoff opponent. In the critical AB by Alex Rodriquez in the sixth inning, when Keichel seemed to be running out of gas, you saw the approach A-Rod took to the plate... swing at the first strike/fastball you get. Luckily, the four seamer was just high enough to create the lazy fly ball to centerfield. What A-Rod did in that AB that he didn't do in previous ABs was to eschew the Yankee-way of taking so many pitches and going up their looking for pitch to hit no matter the count. The count is alluded to in this article and is the point that helps when you factor in the key ingredients mentioned previously.

IOW - if you are going to keep the bat on your shoulders, don't blame the umpire for calling strikes on you that are corner pitches. You are taught early on in baseball, never leave the calls to the umpire to make... you'll be disappointed every time. You have a bat in your hands, you better damn well use it. That particular approach of looking for the first good pitch to hit happened to work well for the Astros to get just enough offense to win.

Go figure.

[Limey]

It completely ignores the fact that lefties throw from a different location than righties and that that difference could account for everything.

It also completely ignores pitch movement, that can fool Umps as well as hitters.

[HudsonHawk]

I hate hate hate the strike-zone box they superimpose over the screen for every single pitch. I actually have come to like the use of it in occasional replays (like the Astros' broadcast uses), but it is so f'ing distracting to have it up there during the live action. Hello, ESPN? We have eyes, we can see the width of the plate, we can see where the player's knees and armpits are. We can get a pretty good idea of which pitches are in the strike zone and which aren't, without your little box turning it into a video game type thing.

I fucking hate that little box. Are you going to change the call based on the box?  No?  Then don't fucking clog up my screen with it.

[NeilT]

Didn't one of the commentators compare Keuchel to Glavine. It's pretty apt.

[BlownRanger]

Didn't one of the commentators compare Keuchel to Glavine. It's pretty apt.

Kruk said something like "I compare him to Glavine, with a better breaking ball".  I'm pretty sure he meant Keuchel had the better breaking ball.

[JimR]

Kruk said something like "I compare him to Glavine, with a better breaking ball".  I'm pretty sure he meant Keuchel had the better breaking ball.

ARod said he was Maddux from the left side with a better slider.

[das]

ARod said he was Maddux from the left side with a better slider.

This is high praise from someone that knows.

[juliogotay]

Didn't one of the commentators compare Keuchel to Glavine. It's pretty apt.

Glavine worked outside constantly. Keuchel does a better job of moving the ball around.

[Waldo]

I fucking hate that little box. Are you going to change the call based on the box?  No?  Then don't fucking clog up my screen with it.

I guess I'm one of the only ones that likes it.  I wish we had the ability to turn on or off an extra screen layer with the strike zone and all of the Statcast stuff.

[Noe]

It also completely ignores pitch movement, that can fool Umps as well as hitters.

Or as Milo used to say (RIP) "Typical lefty pitcher, everything they throw has a little wrinkle in it"

[Noe]

ARod said he was Maddux from the left side with a better slider.

Which is very interesting of him to say that. I remember oh so well the conversations I'd hear from players as to what would be the best approach against Maddux. Would it be to spit on certain locations? Would the best approach be to spit on certain pitches? Would it be the combination of both? Would the best approach be to swing at the first pitch you see that is hittable? Didn't really matter with Maddux, he was always one step ahead of the batter. I heard Jeff Bagwell say this about Maddux (paraphrase) "It isn't easy to face him, because once you think you have the right approach to getting your swings against him, he just changes everything and he baffles you again." Any wonder they called Maddux "The Professor"?

[Knoxbanedoodle]

This is high praise from someone that knows.

I was struck by this, thinking: how much would ARod have faced Maddux? According to Baseball Reference, exactly four times. He went 2 for 4. I guess there might have been some All Star games, too, and Spring Training. I don't know how much to make of it, just thought I'd share the fruits of my researches.

[NeilT]

I was wondering if Rodriguez would have batted against them.  Kruk would have seen Maddux and Glavine a lot.

[chuck]

Kuechel's comment about pitching to Rodriguez was very Madduxesque.

[Ebby Calvin]

Kuechel's comment about pitching to Rodriguez was very Madduxesque.

I missed that.  What'd he say?

[chuck]

I missed that.  What'd he say?

Something like he thought that if he came up and in with a cutter he could get him to fly out. Maddux always had specific outcomes in mind for particular pitches and locations.