Josh Hader has the worst mentality on Astros 'nitpicking' after another tough outing

Houston Astros closer Josh Hader had an afternoon to forget on Sunday when he allowed a walk-off home run to Logan O'Hoppe. Houston fell to the Los Angeles Angels by a final score of 9-7.

Houston had put Justin Verlander in position to earn his 261st career win, but the bullpen let the lead slip. Ryan Pressly blew the save in the eighth inning, which set up O'Hoppe's walk-off homer in the ninth off Hader.

After the game, Hader spoke with the media and discussed his rough outing, and he had some very questionable comments about the way things went and what he could have done differently.

"I feel like I was executing pitches," the Astros' closer said. "It was a 0-0 pitch, a slider. He might have been sitting slider and he just caught me. It sucks. No one wants to lose in walk-off fashon, but at the end of the day, that was what my gut told me. If you want to nitpick, I probably could have thrown it more arm side and down, but what are you going to do?

Hader makes questionable comments after loss to Halos

Hader was clearly frustrated about giving up the home run to O'Hoppe. However, for him to suggest any nitpicking is a bit of an odd approach.

The 30-year-old left-hander has struggled in his first season with the Astros. In 27 games, he owns a record of 3-4 and a 4.08 ERA. Clearly, he didn't execute his pitches well enough to avoid a heartbreaking loss for the Astros, which missed a chance to sweep the Angels and ultimately lost ground in the AL West and the Wild Card race.

The former All-Star acknowledged that he could have thrown his slider better, but his mistakes are ultimately what caused Houston to take a tough loss, and the idea that anybody is nitpicking him isn't true. It's also the wrong mentality given the sub-par numbers Hader has posted in 2024 with his new team.

The Astros fell to six games below the .500 mark and 6.5 games back of first place in the AL West, while also dropping to 4.5 games back in the AL Wild Card race. If they're going to make it back to the postseason and return to the ALCS, they are going to need more out of Hader, both in terms of performance and mentality, especially after losses such as Sunday's.

Hader's mentality about his performance on Sunday isn't the right approach, and he may need to adjust his attitude a little bit.