Not that I’m just blaming the pitchers, mind. Bourn, Tejada, Keppinger, Berkman and Pence were ALL of em ofer ELEVEN innings.
grrrrrrrrrr
The Royals crappy pitcher threw 93 pitches over 7 innings. Roy threw 106 pitches over 6 innings. The Astros hitters won’t take pitches, swing at first pitches, swing at pitches out of the strike zone (and, by the way – this is true from the AAA club all the way down to Rookie League) and essentially can’t seem to drive in runs.
grrrrrrrrrrr
I didn’t like watching Roy pace out there last night – he used to be the epitome of – throw strikes, work quickly. Not any more. I wonder how much he likes throwing to Pudge. Who, by the way, is everything everyone hated about Brad Ausmus for years.
and don’t get me started on Coop again with his insistence on pulling Carlos Lee for one of our banjo hitters EVERY FREAKING GAME. And WHY is Tejada not hitting in the 2-hole, where he hit like crazy? I notice fewer and fewer people in the stands – I wonder if Drayton has. I wonder if it has hit him yet that we’re not the Cubs and he isn’t going to fill the stands with a team like this. Yeah, the 05 team didn’t hit much – basically Mo Ensberg was the ONLY guy who hit with MOB, walked and hit for power every single month. Not these guys.
sigh
Not sure how much worse this team is going to have to get before Drayton takes action, as he did in September 07.
Tags: Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals
lisa you are somthing. It was berkman’s error that blew the win for the astros and roy and the save for valverde. Right threw his legs for which would have been out no. 2 with no body on base;and i doubt seriously if they would have ever scored to tie the game. also berkman went 0 for 5 and is definitely a super star on the decline.
also don’t even start to compare Pudge with ausmus , pudge is a HOF and heads over fist better than ausmus ever was.
so put up all the arguments you want to but they sure won’t hold water to me, you are bias and always have been.
berkman’s error was only ONE of many plays not made. and valverde didn’t exactly slam the door after that error, which left a man at first, one out. NOT letting a run score
as for pudge,
i was only referring to his performance THIS YEAR with the astros. of COURSE he has had a HOF career. every single HOFer got old and finally lost it. just like willie mays age 40something with the mets in 73…
as for bradley awesomeness,
my bias ONLY applies to his brainz/hotness. as for his handling of pitchers, i go by what the pitchers THEMSELVES say about him.
you know very well i have never held him up as a sterling example of a Great Hitter
But berkmans error was by far the biggest and you didnt even care to mention it in your write-up, just how valverde blew it. i will also say that had it been tejada, matsui or pence that made that big of an error in the last inning that cost us the chance of closing the door and winning you would of chastised them, and everyone knows it, thou they may not want to admit it.
Keppinger’s error made Roy throw 13 high stress pitches in the fourth, blowing up his pitch count when he had been cruising. Note this comment from Cooper:
“Roy pitched well, but they really taxed him and got his pitch count up, but he still pitched six solid innings and gave us a chance to win,” Cooper said.
Well, without that error, Roy pitches deeper into the game and perhaps more effectively, and the Royals don’t score their first run.
Our defense lost this game.
disagree that berkman’s error was THE biggest.
it allowed a man to reach first base with ONE out. a man who isn’t a great runner/basestealer. no reason valverde couldn’t have pitched out of something like that
that is not NEAR as bad as keppinger’s error. and you note i didn’t mention that neither. or plays not made by any OTHER fielder.
cooper’s mismanaging, in my opinion, was the biggest problem…
More than any other team in interleague play I’ve been following the Red Sox and Francona takes out David Ortiz when he starts at first base after basically six innings if they have the lead. He did it last night when Ortiz homered and had another hit. I had no beef with the move because Ortiz is a full time DH.
Seriously though if you take out Carlos Lee a full-time outfielder you are just asking for it. Someone else has to get taken out other than your best threat to end things with one hack.
Lisa’s right. She gave few details of individual performances in this game. I didn’t see this as her picking on someone while leaving someone else’s mistakes ignored.
As for the ohfers…at least Keppinger and Pence managed to draw walks. Absolutely pathetic night by Berkman, Bourne and Tejada. Tejada is now batting .185 since the move to third in the lineup. His BA is down 16 points and his OPS is down 39 points. His OPS for June is .691, when his SLUGGING ALONE was .648 in May.
And I actually have to tip my hat to the pitching staff. To be in the game against a team with twice as many hits plus having to work around two errors, forcing them to strand 12 runners, is a solid performance. They fell apart in the end, but overall, the pitching in this game was nice. This game was lost, as always, by bad managing, bad defense and poor hitting. Once again, Michaels going 0-for-2 from the cleanup spot. That is just killing me. And their only extra base hit was a pinch-hit homer by Erstad! That’s pathetic!
PS – the Royals must just LOOOOVE the Astros. They rode in here with a five game losing streak. That AT HOME in interleague play (2 of which were to the lowly D-Backs). They go on the road and lose their DH and still take the first two games from us. That’s just embarrassing.
Lisa you still keep missing the point, yes i agree keppinger made a big error, but they didn’t score that inning, but at most roy would have pitched mabey one more inning. But if berkman dosen’t make that VERY VERY HUGE ERROR WE HAVE 2 OUT AND NOBODY ON and valverde more than likely shuts the door on them for the win. After all valverde is not super human he is going give up an occassional run now and then and that was his first since coming off the DL and it was UNEARNED.Look at the almighty lidge this year , he has blown 6 saves already has been tagged for 5 HRs in about 25 innings and has an era of about 7.50
I am beginning to like that trade for bourn more and more each day.
I will argue with you till hell freezes over that Berkman made by far the biggest error.
Really? After saying Wandy should be a fourth or fifth starter because of, among other things, his inability to work around errors, you’re going to turn around and lift all accountability for letting that run score from Valverde’s shoulders? Look, we’re going to disagree, but the least you could do is be consistent. It was a big error by Berkman, but not a two-base error that let the runner get into scoring position. Valverde is the CLOSER. That doesn’t make him infallible, but you do have to work around errors from time to time. I’m in full agreement with Lisa. It was a runner on first with one out. He could have gotten out of the inning with one more pitch if he induces a double play. The only reason Berkman’s error was bigger was because Valverde didn’t close the door. I have to agree that the error that forces your starter to throw more pitches with runners in scoring position is the bigger error. Berkman’s only ended up being more costly because Valverde wasn’t able to do what Oswalt was. You are basing the gravity of the error on the result, rather than what the error actually did for the game situation. If you look at that, Keppinger’s error was bigger.
Ever since Miggy came to the Astros, I’ll bet $1 million that he has the most foul balls in the majors. Every bat he fouls away at least 3 or 4. Is he THAT slow? I know its good that he’s at least making contact pretty much all over the zone, but sheesh. And why is HE in the 3 hole for? Put him back in the 2 where he was doing fantastic. I bet that Coop thinks that sticking with a CONSISTENT lineup that was actually hitting can only get so far before teams adjust. Well hows about letting them adjust FIRST before tinkering with the lineup? Good golly Miss Molly!
no i am NOT missing the point.
even IF berkman had made that out, valverde then gave up TWO hits in a row – the hit to maier would have been a double, since with 2 out and nobody on he would have been running full out, and the next hit would have driven him in
NOBODY is super human.
including lance, who doesn’t usually go all bill buckner on easy grounders
THE difference his that valverde still only allow one run after the error and we still walked off with a 2-2 tie, wherest wandy gave away 5 or 6 runs in the first inning after the first batter got on with an error and he should have been able to minimize the damage, but he couldn’t. wandy still chokes when adversity strikes and always has.
and i knew you would come to lisa’s defense, you always do whether she is right or wrong.
lisa’s merry band of followers; 1 for all and all for one LOL>
Lisa with 2 out and nobody on that completely changes the situation and dynamics.=, and he can pitch quite differently to the hitter, and you can’t assume that under a complete different set of circumstances that he is going to give away 2 hits. You know what the word ASSUME entails, you should.
No, the difference is consistency. If you’re going to lambaste Wandy and his ability as a starter because of how he responds to errors, you have to do the same to all pitchers. Yes, Wandy reacts badly. I admitted that. But, you can’t say that it’s Wandy’s responsibility to get those guys out and then say something entirely different when it’s the closer. BOTH have a responsibility to get work around those errors.
And this is the last time I respond to your attacks on my defense of Lisa. I criticize her when I think she’s wrong and back her up when I think she’s right. I’ve done both publicly and vocally. We can have a debate without you making this personal.
Austin, you are absolutely correct and i sincerely apologize to both you and lisa, and will try much harder in the future to do better and not take this personel.