The Astros record for hits/9 inning game is 25, and they came up 1 short last night, probably because of the insertion of Jason Smith into the game. I mean, he faced Glendon Rusch and he STILL couldn’t get a hit.
Anyway, Lance reached base all 5 times last night – 4 singles and a walk. Hopefully, it wasn’t just because he was facing Jason Marquis on one of his really bad days as well as Glendon Rusch. We’ll see this afternoon.
Mike Hampton won giving up 7 hits (1 HR) 2 walks and 5 ER over 6 IP. Pitcher wins are all about the run support, baby.
I am, however, seriously worried about Geoff Geary. Sent in to mopup with a 9 run lead, he gave up, over 0.2 IP, 2 walks, 3 hits (one of them another granny to Chris Ianetta, the catcher who was hitting like .215 before the Astros came to town). Maybe the boy needs to go on the DL because when you are pitching worse than Russ Ortiz, you have a SERIOUS problem. La Troy Hawkins, who should have been able to nap through this thing, had to come in and get the last out. And mind, they got these 5 runs AFTER the Rox took out their 3 best hitters.
sigh
This afternoon, it’s Wandy vs Jason Hummel.
Wandy has had all KINDS of adventures at Coors, from throwing 7 innings with 2 hits and 1 ER to a Geoff Geary mess. Let’s hope the change works because who knows if the curve will work Up There.
Astros will face righty Jason Hammel for the first time. He’s been a swingman for the Rays as well as the Rox and this year has thrown 20 innings, giving up 28 H, 4 HR, 8 BB and 12 K for a 5.40 ERA/1.80 WHIP/.333 BAA.
Tags: Houston Astros
Iannetta I can forgive, because he’s actually a good hitter and was bound to break out eventually. Kind of like Lance and Lee both have. But Ian Stewart…game 1 marked just the second time all year he’s had more than one hit in a game. He was 1 for his previous 19 coming into the series. He’s gone 3-for-9 to raise his average to .211. 17 points in 2 games is ridiculous. Oh, and that’s right – his homeruns in the last two games exceeds his HITS in the previous 10. Ugh.
Also noteworthy – Quintero broke his streak of suckiness. Too bad Michaels is like Quintero on suckroids at the plate.
Ian Stewart’s first appearance at Spring Training several years back was marked by a 500 foot home run, at which his teammates turned to Todd Helton and said, “Behold your replacement”. I think he may have some break-out potential, as well.
ian stewart is one of the rox top prospects, originally a 3B who was shifted to second bcause todd helton appears to be healthy and garrett atkins can’t play second.
how nice of the astros pitchers to help mr stewart break out, dontchu think???