Astros Live Game Feed: Should Carlos Gomez have been benched?

Astros vs. Rangers Game 3 Live Game Feed

Last night, the Houston Astros lost their 10th game in the first 15 games overall, in a close 2-1 loss to the Texas Rangers. The fact that the Astros lost a close game is not why Astros’ fans are upset, it’s how they lost. The Astros stranded 21 runners on base last night, several times having the bases loaded with no outs without scoring. Part of the reason for the poor start by the Astros is the sloppy play all over the diamond and last night’s game is no exception. Let’s start this tale of shame at the top of the second inning versus Cole Hamels.

Colby Rasmus leads off the inning with a single out to right field, followed by an Evan Gattis single, and then Carlos Gomez gets down a beautiful bunt to load the bases with no outs. The Astros had Hamels wavering, now finish him Mortal Combat style. Marwin Gonzalez is in the game instead of Luis Valbuena facing the left-handed Hamels. Gonzalez hits a medium fly ball to right fielder Nomar Mazara, who makes the catch.

Rasmus then makes a quick fake dash to home plate to try to draw a bad throw by the 20-year-old rookie but puts on the brakes and returns to third base. Mazara makes a throw to the catcher at home plate, but when Bryan Holaday got the ball, he noticed runners were on the move. Gattis and Gomez both tagged and ran to the next base, to try to help out, Rasmus headed home to distract the play.

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Rasmus was indeed thrown out at home plate, becoming the scape goat for the poor running decisions by Gattis and Gomez. Gattis and Gomez were either unaware of the situation or were not even aware of the depth of the fly ball. Gomez might have been following the lead runner in Gattis, but he has enough experience on the base paths to know better. It was a sign of what is wrong with this team this year, and they need someone who can make the other players be held accountable for their mistakes.

The Rangers have a veteran leader on the team in Adrian Beltre, but the Astros have are a very young group of players. The leader on the team is typically a position player who has been on the team for a while, and the Astros candidates are probably Jose Altuve and Jason Castro. The Astros need someone, even if it’s tongue and cheek, to get with people who made mistakes on the field.

With that being said, Gattis is out of the lineup against a right-handed pitcher, but we can call this him getting benched. Should A.J. Hinch have let Gomez know that he wants him to play smarter ball by benching him for tonights game? It didn’t happen, but the team needs to know that it is not okay to make base running mistakes so frequently.

Next: Astros: A Spark is Needed

What are your thoughts, respond in the Disqus section below? We can also discuss tonight’s game, hopefully, Dallas Keuchel can dominate, we need something to go right. I am hoping Gomez heats up because the Astros are really counting on his bat.