NOT TIME TO PANIC
But it is time for Click to find some better relievers and for Baker to manage them better.
Fernando Tatis Jr. is the best thing about Major League Baseball in 2021. So, of course, the young San Diego star destroyed a baseball inside Minute Maid Park, stunned an entire stadium and pushed the Astros into extra innings for the second consecutive day.
The Padres have started a new season as the best team in MLB. They, like Tatis, are thrilling and exciting, and embrace their inner swagger. Slam Diego winning back-to-back games against the increasingly beat-up Astros isn’t surprising.
But this column has nothing to do with Tatis’ electric brilliance or the Padres’ World Series potential in late May.
Heck, at one point Saturday afternoon, I had devoted 600 words to energetic Astros rookie Chas McCormick and was ready to write something nice and upbeat for this paper.
Then the Astros’ bullpen wrecked and trashed it. Again.
Then, with the home team leading 6-1 entering the eighth inning became 11-8 Padres in 12 innings in a game that lasted 5 hours and 8 minutes and ultimately captured everything so concerning about the current state of the 2021 Astros.
Who do you want to blame? Manager Dusty Baker? General manager James Click? The relievers actually throwing the balls and failing to get essential outs?
Try all of the above, right now, since the Astros’ (27-24) pen is this unstable and back-toback winnable games against a 34-19 opponent were torched by the arms that were supposed to provide late-inning security.
Baker’s Astros and Click’s Astros wasted 51⁄3 impressive innings from a healed Jake Odorizzi. A five-run lead for the home team became 6-6 in the ninth via the inexperienced Taylor Jones falling down near the first-base line instead of catching the final out of a victory, then Tatis blasting a nodoubt monster shot instantly made for “SportsCenter” and countless social-media replays. And after an encouraging, then highly dramatic, then highly absurd game was over, the Astros fell to 1-3 during this huge homestand and the stronger, deeper Padres collected another victory.
You don’t want to overreact after just a single game, right?
They play the full 162 for a reason, right?
Your Astros host the Padres again Sunday, and No. 1 starter Zack Greinke is set to take the mound after his team suffered back-to-back depressing defeats.
Then the Boston Red Sox visit Houston, and if the Astros heat up by Memorial Day …
It can happen.
But we all know there is one serious issue affecting and holding back this team right now. And the real questions are what Click is going to do to fix it in his second year as GM and whether Baker can get a smoother grip on a problem that is clearly dragging down his ballclub.
The Astros’ bullpen gave up a ridiculous seven runs in the 11th inning Friday night, directly leading to San Diego’s 10-3 win. The pen also blew a 2-1 lead entering the eighth and allowed the Padres to score nine runs in the game’s final four innings.
Saturday, seven Astros relievers combined to give up 10 hits, 10 runs (seven earned), five walks and another loss that doubled as a stadium-wide gut punch.
Well, most of the stadium. “Let’s go Dodgers!” from earlier this week was replaced by “Let’s go Padres!” echoing on Saturday evening. By the time San Diego was celebrating again, Padres fans had proudly converged behind the opponent’s dugout and Yu Darvish’s poor start (five innings, four earned runs, three walks) had faded into baseball history.
Joe Smith wasn’t good enough. He also was asked by his manager to do too much against a team that leads MLB in run differential (plus-89).
Ryan Pressly wasn’t good enough and created much of his own trouble.
Ralph Garza Jr. wasn’t good enough. But he just joined the Astros, so it’s not all his fault. Just like blaming Jones for not catching the final out in the ninth – which set up Tatis’ monster blast that flew 448 gametying feet – would be missing the real problem.
It’s injuries. It’s bad luck and timing. Poor dugout decisions and on-field execution.
But you know it and everyone on Twitter knew it the moment that Saturday demanded extra innings. It’s the bullpen and everything about the Astros’ bullpen can’t be trusted right now.
This team is just six games behind the MLB-best Padres in the standings and in second place in the American League West.
But in the real baseball world?
When you remember that Baker’s daily lineup, when healthy, is among the best in the sport?
When you factor in that the Astros have been set up as
World Series or bust since 2017 and last year’s team went a flat 29-31, only making the playoffs because commissioner Rob Manfred expanded the postseason during a pandemic?
Of course, it’s not time to panic.
But it’s past time that Click found his manager better relievers. And it’s time for Baker to do a better job managing the bullpen that keeps blowing wins for the Astros.