Yessiree, Roy Oswalt has 15 hits this year – more than Backe, believe it or not, and not only has his BA greater than his weight, but over the Mendoza line.
And he pitched well too, except for the FB right down the middle of the plate that Corey Patterson, of all people, sent like 500′ to almost straightaway center – the left wall of the 3 Amigos bar. I remembered Corey hitting a lot of homers when he first came up with the Cubs, just not that hard.
(By the way, Dusty Baker had to issue a statement, after being asked by more than a few Astros players, that Corey, who is SMOKING hot, is definitely NOT dating Dusty’s 28 year old daughter. As one clever internet wag said – gee, he can’t even hit THAT.)
Roy had a tough time getting used to the ump’s postage stamp strike zone in the first 2 innings, but after Michael Bourn drove in 3 with bases loaded, 2 out, to give the Astros the go-ahead runs, he cruised. 6 innings, 2 hits, 1 HR, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 SB. And on 3 days rest, too. He’s now 24-1 vs the Reds. Duuuudddddddddddeeeeeeeeee.
Wesley came on to start the 7th, struck out the first 2, only Brad missed the strike 3 and the runner got to first as Brad didn’t make a good throw (I luuuuvvvv the boy, but he ain’t what he used to be), then Wesley hit the next guy, and Geary came on and shut it down. Byrdak pitched an easy 1,2,3 8th.
Then with the Astros leading 8-1, Coop sent in Arias to mopup. It wasn’t SUPPOSED to get, um, interesting. But Arias didn’t have that great snappy FB he had in the first 3 innings of his first ML start. FB midplate, mid thigh get hit. And here we go: double, 6-3, RB single, (out comes Dewey, sez “throw strikes” does NOT mean mid plate) advance to second on DI, single to R on FB down the middle (NOTE: Arias has only thrown FB since the second batter) RBI single (at least that pitch was outside). Out goes Arias, leaving 2 on, 1 out.
In comes Nieve, and immediately gives up a 3 run homer – remember what I was saying about mid-plate, mid thigh meatballs?
So now it’s 8-6 and Valverde has to come in and get the last 2 outs, which he does, giving up only a single to right. Interesting – he threw all FB, and almost every one of them was waist high or just a little higher.
Milo sure dislikes Michael Bourn, wants him to turn into Willy Taveras, bunting his way on, getting IF chops (like has anyone checked out Willy’s stats lately? The Rockies won’t even play him full time). He says it at least twice every time Bourn comes up to hit. In the first, Bourn managed to make the pitcher throw 7 pitches before grounding out. Milo was, um, not nice about it. You didn’t hear him say a THING when Blum grounded out on the first pitch to the same place. You don’t hear him say a thing about it when Tejada does the same thing. Just Bourn. It’s about the BA, baby. But he drove in the first 3 runs with a double into the LF corner to shut up Milo. So much for infield hits. And he singled to center to drive home another run – and the ball was NOT in the IF. Shut up Milo.
Actually, you never hear him criticize Tejada for leaving so many men on base, hitting into so many DPs and seldom having ABs of more than 3 pitches. Yeah, I know – it’s all about the BA, baby.
But back on the IF hits thing – Milo and his drones keep mentioning repeatedly that Pence has 37 IF hits. See how good speed is??? they squawk!!! What they ignore is that he ALSO has 33 doubles, 4 triples and 24 homers. Therefore, the fielders are NOT going to always play in to get the bunt/IF chop they way they do with Willy Freaking Taveras who has 15 doubles and 1 homer AND a .251 BA/.308 OBP/.259 SLG/.605 OPS – oh yeah, now THAT’S something Michael should aim for. I just do NOT get all the Willy Worship still goin on.
Matsui has been on fire since he came off the DL – too bad he’s such a total China doll. He’s been a LOT better with the bat than I expected, both home AND away. Tonight, he went 3 fer 3 with 2 walks, scored 2 and drove in 3.
Lance still had a few bad swings, but he draw a walk, singled up the middle and stole his 17th base without even drawing a throw.
Wiggy seems to be getting back on track. Swings have been a lot better since he got robbed of that homer yesterday – sent a ball to the warning track, hit 2 singles and struck out on a pitch that was a ball every other pitch.
So tonight, Mets beat the Cubs, Milwaukee beat Pittsburgh (Braun hit a walkoff granny in the 10th) so the WC possibility is looking kind of dim, you know what I’m sayin.
Fun fact – Reds pitcher Danny Ray Herrera, who is from Odessa, is not lying about his size – he SAYS he’s 5-7″ and 145 lbs. How cool is that??? My new favorite non-Astros player.
Tags: Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros
“You don
Funny how in the year that he starts off terrible, and everybody was saying “what’s wrong with him” and people were calling for his head, Roy had his best year since ’05. He was amazing basically since June. He gave up only 199 hits, the first time in three years he gave up 10 fewer hits than IP. He had a 1.18 WHIP, which for him was a dramatic increase over the last two years. His 165 K’s would’ve been close to 180 had he not gotten hurt. He ended with only 47 BB and only 23 HR after giving up like a billion in April and May.
I still will never know or understand what happened to him in the first two months. Its kinda like Lance last year. He was so bad the first two months, people didn’t realize that he was very good the last four, same thing with Roy. I really hope he can keep this Roy going in ’09.
bruce -
actually you ARE right about milo talking about miggy having all those GIDP. but he sure as heck has not said that miggy has a tough time hitting the ball out of the IF or that he drives in so few of the RISP.
daniel,
i haven’t never heard anything bout why roy had SUCH incredible trouble early this year. and he really did – coule NOT command the FB, could NOT throw either the curve or slider for strikes
and yeh, he DID get his walks way down.
actually, a lot of the mainstream media have talked about how roy is the best second half pitcher in baseball this century.
i don’t know why he often starts so badly
Roy is the best Second Hlaf pitcher this century. He’s also probably the best pitcher this century. He is the winningest, has the third best ERA, has gone 4-0 in the playoffs including an NLCS MVP, and has all-time records in the seconld-half. He may not have been the best in any single year, and Santana and Peavy probably have been better the last five, but he has been the most consistent best pitcher the last 8 years. At least to me, and let me unabashed love for my favorite Astro not get in the way, he was the best pitcher of the 21st century.
Daniel
i totally agree with you on this, I also think roy o has been the best and most consistant pitcher of this century