Lance McCullers Jr. was diagnosed with a flexor pronator muscle strain, tweets Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. They found no structural problems with McCullers’ elbow.
In the strictest sense, this is good news for the Astros, as it doesn’t immediately rule him out for a potential return in the World Series. That said, there’s not a lot of news beyond that. He remains out for the League Championship Series and it would seem only an outside shot at returning this season, should the Astros advance. The Astros are now three wins away from their third World Series appearance in the last five years.
The Astros have yet to announce their game three starter, though manager Dusty Baker’s choice very well may depend on how they fare in tonight’s game two. Luis Garcia takes the bump tonight have never pitched into the fourth inning of a postseason game. After getting just 2 2/3 out of Framber Valdez yesterday, it will be interesting to see if Baker feels compelled to give Garcia more leash. Bakers used eight of his 13 rostered pitchers to get the win in game one.
Well, this sucks. That means the Astros will have to most likely rely on Odorizzi for a game. Great.
He wasn’t terrible this year. Certainly not great, but you could do worse. To be fair, Framber hasn’t looked great either, and he’s still getting the ball. Just hit more home runs than everyone, and you’ll be fine.
Odorizzi was off for most of the season since his return. Framber wasn’t better last night, but he’s better in general.
I agree, I wouldn’t want Odorizzi starting a playoff game after what he’s shown, I just don’t think he’s completely awful. Not gonna toss a shutout or anything, but he can hold it down if given some run support. I guess the real question is how long can he go?? Had to go to the ‘pen early last night…..
Maybe he can contribute by banging the trash can with his left arm.
Hopefully against the Braves since the Dodgers won’t fall for it twice.
Odorizzi is not bad for 3-4 innings.
While the Astros are certainly hated by everyone but their own fans (and they deserve it, let’s be honest), it’s hard to ignore, that this has been the best team in baseball over the last 4-5 years. You could make an argument for the LAD, and I wouldn’t argue against you, but betting against Altuve, Correa, Bregman, & Co. in the playoffs, would just be silly at this point.
what sucks is if they arent cheating this year and win no one will believe them, which may be deserved, but it would certainlt suck for Dusty and some of the new guys on the team.
Yeah, but none of the Astros or Dusty care if others think they are cheating. If they win they will celebrate just the same and know they are Champions.
Can’t win this series without McCullers.
Boston in 6, maybe 7…. Trump had a better chance of winning a second term.
Yawn.
inb4 political comment and probably wrong
They showed last night, by playing terrible and still winning, that they are a much better team.
Of course they can. McCullers is great but not an ace. Kinda early to start worrying about Trump in 24 don’t you think, let it go already.
Mortgage your home and bet on that. You may be rich by the end of the ALCS.
Odorizzi can handle it
The Red Sox pitching is not very good. I really don’t know how they got this far. Eventually your weakness gets exposed. I doubt the Red Sox pitching can handle this Astros offense
weakness is their manager
Did you call Cora a weakness?
pburns – Right you are!
Cora likes to make it all about him with over-managing and frequently going against logic.
Like starting Sale in Game 1 instead of Nate. Because he insisted on having his best pitcher start Game 2 instead, the Sox will be heading home tied 1-1 instead of up 2-0 in the series.
Both teams are gamers. TB has a heck of a squad. Devers and Martinez looked banged up and that helps. Todays game is obviously huge and I think swings the series solidly to the Astros if we win again.
Red Sox wouldn’t have been fazed if they lost today, but it’s a moot point now.
Lance McCullers has proven to be very injury prone. He has great stuff, though he does suffer from inconsistency at times. I’ve often wondered why he wasn’t a closer or multiple inning reliever rather than a starter. He doesn’t seem to handle heavy inning loads.