I think the guy deserves how own blog entry, don’t yall? Getting 9 outs on 34 pitches is excellent.
Of course, like the old song goes – but it’s a lil too late to do the right thing now….
Hampton pitched 4 innings before his lil finger owie, but he gave up 3 walks and a hit to left, which, given the fact that Clank is there, meant a double and a run scored, and then smash to center, which meant another run.
And because the Astros left bases loaded twice and men on first and second and 0 or 1 outs twice, there wasn’t real too much chance of victory.
And also because Astros pinch hitters are, to be nice about it, teh sukc. Coop with his lefty righty obsession, which is even worse than Phil, refuses to use Keppinger against ANY righty, even though he is outhitting Erstad and Smith combined.
sigh
I mean, I’ve only said this stuff a zillion times and I sure wish I could have something different to write.
Today, it’s the battle of the aces – Wandy (yall ever think you’d hear Wandy being called an ace???) vs Yovani Gallardo, who has absolutely shut DOWN the Astros in all 3 starts, and threw a 5 hit, 1 run CG against us in April.
Unless there are unearned runs given up by the Crew, Wandy is gonna get tagged with a loss or ND. And since Gallardo is a righty – you won’t see Keppinger.
Actually, Coop should use Hampton or Ortiz as pinch hitters. Unlike the limp noodle “bats” he is now using to no effect, those 2 guys can actually, you know, like, HIT.
And Wandy best be careful with Corey Hart, who is 10/23 with 2 doubles, a homer and 4 walks. Hope the curve is working and the changeup changin, is all I have to say. Well, that and at least there is no Angel Hernandez behind the plate.
Tags: Houston Astros
Keppinger is first on the team in OBP. Tied for third in slugging, behind only Pence and Lee. And third in batting average, again, behind only Lee and Pence. Yet he is NINTH in at-bats, with a full 55 fewer than Geoff Blum, who has a lower OPS than Michaels, HAMPTON AND ORTIZ!
A couple of other notes that are just funny. Despite having a third as many at-bats, Keppinger has more walks than Tejada. And he has almost as many as Pudge in half as many at-bats.
I love defense as much as anyone, and I know Keppinger has a lead glove, but on a team always struggling to find offense, can anyone say anything that’ll make sense to the fact that he’s not the regular third baseman?
Sorry, one more note on the lefty-righty thing…
Keppinger has drastically lower numbers against rightys. But his OPS against them is .690. Higher than Blum’s overall OPS of .337, and MUCH higher than Blum’s OPS of .591 against lefties. He only bats Blum against lefties, even though he’s worse against them than his overall numbers, and MUCH worse than Keppinger against righties. That Blum is still the regular third baseman is just idiotic. Stranded six runners last night, right in front of Pudge, who stranded 5. Completely absurd.
Sorry, I typed that wrong. Blum’s overall OPS is .637, not .337. And his OPS against lefties is .601. Keppinger deserves a shot. It’s time, Coop. It’s time.
LOL…I got that all wrong. I apologize. I need to recheck my comments before I post them. Blums OPS against RIGHTIES is .601, even though those are the only ones Coop wants him playing against. So, he wants Keppinger against lefties even though he still hits righties (so far) much better than Blum does. Now I’ve got it straight. lol