1
Part of the decision about Karns includes who you replace him with in the roatation.
If it's Montgomery I might be in.
Not with LeBlanc.
Not in this lifetime.
Diderot quipz,
.
1) Was the Karns move more about fixing the bullpen than fixing him?
2) Anyone other than me still convinced the Astros finish ahead of the Rangers?
3) Does it make me a bad person because I REALLY miss slamming a phone down in anger?
.
Heh!
Taking 3) first ... some things just pay off in measures far, far broader than any sense of proportion might predict. If you could flatten the palm with good follow-though, the little rrrriinnnggggg that echoed gave you a sense that all was right with the world. Mashing a little circle target on a hand-held display? There went the 20th century, slowly crumbling.
.
Tonight vs Tomorrow
If you wallow in Bill James Online - and if you don't, what could possibly be your excuse - you've heard Bill speak on one day (usually Mondays) about the need to invest sagely in your prized assets, to do what's right for his 3-year prognosis as oppose to doing what is right for that ballgame incoming at 7 p.m. And you've heard him speak on another day (usually Fridays) about the fact that fans don't really grok the $10,000/pitch value of tonight's proceedings. Ah, the sweet smell of intensity in the morning, neh?
Even if this weren't Nate Karns, who is a One-Specimen-Per-Year [club controlled starter] who is reliably delivering 9+ K per game, you'd have to think 90% or more in terms of that project, wouldn't you?
In the smaller picture, KKKarns is going through growing pains - quite a bit more growing pains than we'd suspected for 'im. Karns weaves those 5-IP tapestries in exceptionally vivid colors . In the bigger picture, you can't afford to botch this one.
....
HERE IS A VIDEO and article of Karns' debut relief appaearance - 2 IP, 1 h, 0 r, 0 er, 1 bb, 6 K. When I see these kinda top-shelf bridge stints, I always think of Steve Karsay. No idea why. One thing's for sure: Karns' curve ball was in hyperdrive. It was routinely 84 MPH, just about the top of his (or anybody's) range, and rolling off the table with a drop up to 8" past vacuum. Nice separation on this chart:
.
Karns
.
Bill Bavasi used to love the idea of home-brewed bullpens of the Percival-Shield-KRod magnitude. Edwin Diaz, Nathan Karns and Mike Montgomery look quite mouthwatering, one game in. You go Bat571 :- )
.
Houston vs Tejas
Dr. D shares Diderot's sentiment that the 2016 Astros drip dynamism off the stalactites hanging from the Minute Maid sun canopy. They were built on absolute fearlessness towards Strike Three, and now even that is tempering off a little bit.
Doug Fister is at 8-4, 3.36 behind their Big Three, 5.9 strikeouts (fringe for him), 2.7 walks, 1.3 homers ... rather a microcosm of the way their season hangs from a thread, about which he and they seem unconcerned.
The Lastros were 17-28 a month ago. Since, they're 25-9.
.
Taijuan vs Chris Tillman
Taijuan is ranked at #72 (up from 95 this March), Paxton at #172 and Wade LeBlanc at #192 among 214 ranked SP's at Bill James Online. But most of us will take them over Chacin, Nicaro and Francis ... as I see it, the M's are firmly going in the right direction. That direction being DYNAMISM.
Let's see Taijuan drive some 95 heaters through and then come back with some splits dropping out of the zone. See you in the Shout Box tonight?
Go baby,
Dr D
Comments
2
I'm skeptical that LeBlanc is actually as good as he appeared in his first outing but he deserves another start or two to prove himself. Felix will be back after the ASB, so *someone* will be going then. And Karns needs some time away from the MLB rotation - that 7.33 June ERA and 17 walks in 23 innings was no minor bump in the road. The April/May Karns was an asset but the June Karns was a dumpster fire.
3
Called the ascent of Houston when they were -10. They need to be buried deeper than the Ringwraiths". Or somesuch.
To which an Anonymous smugly replied: "They won't come from 10 back."
Hah. Show yourself.
Three questions