Roger Clemens pitched today and won. As usual. When I go to a game at the juicebox, about 10% of the fans are wearing jerseys and over half of them are Clemens jerseys. (I never see Oswalt jerseys even though he has been our ace for 3 years.)
I’ve noticed that usually Roger has a tougher time finding the strike zone during the first 3 innings, goes to more full counts and throws 15 – 20 pitches an inning. He’s lucky that so many hitters swing at stuff that looks to me as if it’s out of the strike zone. Then he settles down and really throws lots of strikes.
I know Roger’s good, and keeps us in the national news, but I still like Roy-O better. I love his motion. Fluid with no jerks. I also hafta root for the little guy. (cuz I’m small too). If he had ever told people that he is 5-10 or 11, they probably wouldn’t have given him a chance. I get so tired of hearing that you have to be over 6 feet to pitch. Roy throws a FB at 96-97 and there are lots of bigger guys who can’t throw that fast.
It seems that whenever Roy pitches, our hitters sure do strand a lot of runners. A few weeks ago, we left the bases loaded with less than 2 outs 3 times when Roy was pitching. I wonder if the hitters think they can let up because Roy is so good he won’t give up runs? He is better than 2-3 and I hope things will get better. Because Joe Morgan isn’t the only one who judges a pitcher by W/L.
My new favorite pitcher is reliever Chad Harville. He SEZ he’s 5-9 and is right handed. Like, I have to root for a guy who has the cojones to tell the truth when telling the truth will generally get you not picked. How did he get around the system? Did he used to lie and decided to come out of the closet (height closet) when he got called up?
I’ve listened to fans, sportswriters and stat geeks say that a pitcher is better because he is taller. They say that Jeff Nieman should be taken before Philip Humber in the draft BECAUSE Nieman is 6-9. And no other reason. They’ve got some splainin to do. How does being taller give you better mechanics, give you better control or even a faster ball? Or a better work ethic? Or “want to win” more? Or be more “aggressive” Or less likely to be injured?
How cool is it that Adam Everett is the top guy for NL SS on the all-star ballot? He really has a great glove. I haven’t seen a really good shortstop play for us before and he is a real thrill because he is always making incredible plays. To mis-quote Barry, “there’s no secret, he’s just good.” (I know i’m supposed to put range factor or defensive ratings or uzr here to prove my point but I don’t know how to calculate them in the first place so I’m not gonna. ) Anyway, Adam was on web gems every night the first week in May. So lots of fans got to see the same great action we do every game. So hopefully that helped.
Tags: Houston Astros, MLB
Harville was drafted by A’s. They don’t hold shortness of stature against a pitching prospect. Neither do the Astros. Townsend will be taken before Nieman or Humber because has the good face.