7 innings, 2 hits, 1 HR, 1 single, 3 walks, 2 GIDP, 8 K.
It helped that he had the curve REALLY working today. He threw 114 pitches, 78 strikes, 12 swinging. 30 of the 114 pitches were curves, 18 were strikes and he got 6 outs on a curve. He only threw 5 changeups and both of the hits he gave up were on changes.
One thing that I did notice was that this game, Wandy varied the speed on his fastball more than usual, varying from 88-92 in the same AB. He got a LOT of foul balls – 36 of em, to be exact, and except for a few times, it was because he had changed the speed of the FB.
It also helped that Tony Randazzo, the HP ump only made one bad call – pitch #3 to Joe Mauer in the 6th was a no argument about it strike 3. But fortunately, it only cost Wandy 1 pitch extra to get him out. The ump was very consistant with both pitchers, gotta tip my hat and he called the borderline calls very well at all 4 corners.
Everyone got on base at least once except Carlos, still slumping, but he did drive in a run, so that is OK.
And the umps only made one serious error – calling Pence out in the 3rd – Tolbert’s foot was CLEARLY not on the bag at second.
Not bad. I’ll take it.
A blessed day off tomorrow, and I’ll try to finish my eval of the last couple of Astros drafts.
Tags: Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins
Tejada now 2-for-19 since moving to the three hole. His BA is down 17 points and his OPS is down 39 points.
He is just gonna keep playing Michaels until he hits, isn’t he? Man, I’m tired of seeing his name in the lineup.
Berkman, despite his woes, is still second on the team in OPS. Just thought I’d mention that. He
s first in BBs (and it’s not even close…he has 17 more than second place Pence), first in homers and tied for second in RBIs. Just another example of people reading too much into batting average and presuming that a low BA means you’re not producing.
GREAT performance by Wandy. Finally put one together in an away game. In interleague play, no less. And a very nice game by Keppinger. Hope this means his slump that got his batting average down to .257 is over.
And I guess I should give up on the idea of Sampson ever starting again for this organization.
austin
an 8th inning guy is MUCH more valuable than any starter. i just can’t understand why on earth they don’t turn peavy and santana into 8th inning guys too
sampson has decided not to fight them over the relief business. we both know they NEVER wanted sampson to start and did everything they could to put him in relief.
it isn’t just cooper, it was gar too.
shrug
what can i say
and dude, wandy is NOT a 5th starter by ANY definition of the term and he hasn’t been since 06!!!!!!!!!!
His overall numbers don’t put him that low. But, I’d put him 3rd, at the highest, on most clubs. The issues I have with him that make me not want him as a #1 or #2:
1) Inconsistency. This year he was lights out for two months, and this month is ERA is almost 8.00. Last year, he was phenomenal in April, June and September, injured in May, Lousy in July and not very good in August.
2) Home/Away splits. Since 2007, he is 14-10 with a 2.79 ERA at home. He is 9-16 with a 5.41 ERA on the road. I can have a guy who’s virtually a guaranteed loss on the road at a #1 or 2 guy.
3) High pitch counts lead to too many short outings. Again, not the stuff you want from your first two.
4) Sceptor made a good point about struggling with runners on. I have to see more composure in pressure situations.
I like Wandy, and totally agree with you that he’s been unfairly thrown under the bus. I just think that, despite having the numbers of a #1 or 2 guy on the surface, he has too many other problems upon closer examination that force him into #3 or 4. I’ll agree, though, that saying a guy who has a 3.97 ERA over the last three years is a #5 pitcher is just crazy. Especially when he’s the only guy pitching well at home on a team that’s 16-18 at home.
what is your definition of a #2 starter? of a #3 starter?
Wandy is 17th in the entire NL in IP, tied with Zambrano and Ohlendorf for 20th in WHIP, tied for 19th in BAA with jair jurrgens and adam wainwright, averages 6 IP/GS, is 9th in the NL in K, has 11/15 QS.
in fact, he has the best numbers for any SP on the entire astros roster, except for IP/GS and Roy has 6.1 – 6.2 (not counting the 1 inning he pitched in the rain delay game in atlanta)
only 3 NL teams by my count have 2 SP who have started at least 14 games who are clearly better than Wandy
You are talking about this year. So far this year, he has certainly looked like a #1 starter (in overall numbers…not if you look at home/away splits). But I want to see what he can do for an entire season, because as I pointed out, he has a tendency to have astounding months and then really, really bad months. Oddly enough, his worst month ERA-wise was his best month for wins-losses. Go figure.
What I want from my #1 and 2 is consistency. Not just someone who puts up good numbers, but someone who gives me the best chance to win every time out. If Wandy is able to iron out that inconsistency, I can justify a bump up in the rotation. But I want to see that first.
also last year. when he wasn’t injured.
07 was the first year he was virtually unhittable at home
and yeah i do know he has a wider split in home/away numbers than pitchers usually do.
wandy did look super good yesteday and it was on the road where i finally think that he is over that hurdle this season. It was a good team effort with the stros doing some timely hitting in the first inning and staking wandy to a nice 3 run cushion which is all he needed. There also was several nice defensive plays and a good job in relief by sampson and valverde to preserve the victory for the team and wandy.