Let’s just say it was ugly.
I hardly know where to start, but I guess it begins with Bud. The boy either can’t find the strike zone at all, throws hittable strikes or throws unhittable strikes. I mean that’s sort of like duh, but Bud is like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. He started off great – 13 pitches, 9 strikes – 2 swinging Ks and 1 flyout. I thought – this is gonna be GREAT.
wrong -o
Stros scored first when Michael Bourn got on base, stole second, went to 3rd on the bad throw and came home on a groundout. Sound familiar? It should, and Michael is an All-Star. But then Clank singled and the damm fool tried to steal second and it was a strike em out (Berkman wore the sombrero tonight) throw em out.
And that was bout the story of Astros on the bases tonight.
But back to Bud – not that I wanna, but it’s gotta be done. He just takes too many pitches to get what outs he does get and throws too many pitches that are WAY out of the zone. It wasn’t the ump neither – the balls were WAY out of the zone.
Take the second inning – took him 24 pitches – he hit Rolen with the first pitch, then an 8 pitch walk, then a 2 pitch single, then a 6 pitch staring K on the same pitch he’d fouled off 3 times before, then a 2 RBI single on a juicy FB down the middle, then a 4 pitch swinging K of the pitcher.
He had at least 1 runner on base every inning. By the 6th, the only strike he could get over was his FB, and he gave up 3 straight singles, left with no outs, 1 run in, 2 on base, then got Francoed by Fulchino. It wasn’t that he couldn’t throw first pitch strikes, because he did. It was that he went to an 0-2 count on exactly 1 hitter. He gave up FOUR walks and a HBP, 6 singles, no SB and 5 runs. Uck. Even if Fulchino had prevented the runs from scoring, it would still be an ugly line.
He wasn’t so walkerrific in AAA – and it isn’t that he makes borderline pitches, neither, so I don’t know why he has such control problems, and it is a problem for all of his pitches, too.
And yeah, I know that the Pirates had even more hits Sunday than the Reds had today (including walks) but The Reds managed to get guys home and the Astros just didn’t. The Clank getting caught stealing thing was disgraceful – Hanigan’s arm is waaay better than Doumit – heck, he even threw out Michael!!! Berkman Kd with 2 on in the 3rd, too. Norris grounded out with 2 on 2 out in the 4th, but hey – these things happen and I don’t really blame Mills for not pinch hitting as it was somewhat reasonable to expect that we could come back against an 0-3 starter with an 8+ ERA.
But I sure nuff DO blame Mills for sending Cory Sullivan and his .100 BA up there to pinch hit in the bottom of the 9th with 2 out. What, he’s saving Michaels and/or Feliz for???? This pinch hitting Cory Sullivan has GOT to come to an end SOMEtime. It’s not as if he has this incredible track record and is slumping. It’s reminding me of the last year of Orlando Palmeiro or the Gritmeister, take your pick. Jason Bourgeois is tearing up AAA – maybe it is time to give HIM a chance?
Keppinger grounded out 3 times and Kd. Clank had 2 singles and that *()^*($%#! caught stealing. Berkman wore the sombrero, and got one of those bloop doubles that fell juuuust inside the line and bounced up into the stands. But it was an UGLY swing – late – and his timing looks off. Lots of checked swings, which isn’t like him. Pence just grounded out. Blum did well – hit a couple of singles. Towles hit a double (off Coco Cordero, yet!!!), hit a sac fly which drove in the second run, and walked. Tommy Manzella went 1 fer 4 with a single.
Oh – you wanna know what is REALLY sorry? The “setup” guy with a 12+ ERA getting 3 quick outs on Clank (swinging K), Lance (swinging K) and Pence (popup on ball 4.)
Byrdak did great – a flyout, a swinging K of the righty and a popup.
Sammy Gervacio returned – and he looked bad right off. LOTS of pitches out of the strike zone – he walked Orlando Cabrera, the first hitter on 5 pitches – the “strike” was a gimmee, who then went to second on a groundout. Then, Sammy actually would have had O-Cab picked off second – somehow, after he looked, he forgot to step off, threw the pitch, and Cabrera stole third. I was like – WHAT????? And then, of course, he got rattled, balked, and Cabrera trotted home. The run didn’t matter, the game was already long since lost, but after Sam walked the next guy on 4 straight pitches, NONE of which were ANYWHERES near the plate, Arnesberg trotted out to the mound and said – Sam, look boy, if you WANNA go back to AAA, all you have to do is ask – it’s NOOOOO problem - I mean, it’s not like Wilton Lopez wouldn’t want to return, you know what I’m sayin – like THROW STRIKES AND STOP WITH THE ****!!!! So then he got 2 quick outs.
This looks like the first 8 games Astros, you know what I’m talkin about. The Reds ain’t the Phils/Giants, but they ain’t the Pirates neither and the guys best get their stuff together cuz the Box wasn’t even half full tonight and yes I know it is Tuesday.
Tomorrow, it’s Paulino vs Mike Leake, the guy they drafted last year and didn’t think he needed any minor league time. I just hope that Mills pulls Paulino WHEN he loses it instead of waiting until he LOSES.
Tags: Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, MLB, Reds
Time for Norris to miss a start, and work VERY hard with Arnsberg. He has
GOOD stuff, but absolutly NO control. First inning he was lights out……..then
came the next four innings, with CRAP! He needs to study this outing for a while,
and let Moehler take his turn. Not that Moehler is that great, but he knows his
stuff.
It ain’t the time to have Bud miss starts or get pulled out of the rotation. He’s a rookie, and any time you have a rookie in the rotation, you’re gonna have to deal with a learning curve. He’ll get plenty of work between starts and he’ll make his next one with a little more knowledge than he had for this one.
I didn’t expect Keppinger to keep hitting .370, and I’m not ready to kick him to the curb now. He’s still better than Kaz. I don’t think it would hurt any to start mixing Blum in at 2B some against righties.
Ever occur to anybody that they sent Carlos on that 3-2 count to try and stay out of a ground in to a DP. Would have helped if Berkman could have got some wood on the ball.
becky,
i don’t think any young starter should miss a turn unless he is hurt in some way – all missing a turn does is get him out of any sort of rhythm he had. this is certainly not going to be any sort of championship team and i hate to completely give up on a pitcher after a couple of starts like this. it’s what we have done with young guy after young guy (see nieve, for one)
trouble is that we all got spoilt with roy and wade miller – and they are the exception and not the rule
i just hope that drayton will not force yet another trade
actually, bud reminds me a lot of brandon backe – same kinds of trouble, same kind of good n lousy. same intense nervous energy.
jr caught him last year, and not sure what they did to channel that energy, but maybe they need to tire him out a bit before starts.
i’m not kicking kepp to the curb neither and he is bettern kaz with the bat. at least so far.
did occur to me.
of course, i was watching on tv BUT my mama was watching at the Box and had a good view and she said it was a straight steal and he got a late jump and didn’t bust it down the basepath…
carlos isn’t the guy you send on a hitnrun AND it wasn’t a hitnrun count
I am still not convinced just cause Mama said. It doesn’t mean on a 3-2 count that it is necessarily a hit and run other then you could be sending him as i have to stay out of ground into DP, but the hitter has the option to take the walk if it is not in the strike zone. The main culprit was Berkman for not putting the bat on the ball. He Struckout 3 times swinging which is becoming an often reoccurring thing with Lance.
and they need to send pence back down to RR or get a much better hitting coach that can help the guy and some of the others. as much as i don;t like michaels they need to put him into right for pence for maybe 6 or 7 games.
I made reference to him getting Francoed. Giving credit where it’s due, of course. Fulchino showed a good line even though he didn’t do his job at all. You’re right – it wouldn’t have been a good line, anyway, but it was just the last in the theme of the night of Norris getting hung out to dry by his teammates.
Did you see Lance’s comments on the two strike calls in that at-bat? He’s right – strikes one and two were both ball four. Miller WAY widened the zone on those calls. And, although you’re right that Carlos isn’t the guy you send in a hit and run, he’s also not the guy you send on a steal. But I’m more convinced by the fact that it’s not a hit and run count, and that this was his third steal attempt in four games. Someone’s got it in their head that Lee stealing is a good idea. Hope that dies soon.
I think Gervacio is pitching hurt. He was all over the place last night. I can’t believe he even finished that inning.
And you’re right about Sullivan. Mills is doing that same Jimy Williams junk, giving guys a rest even from pinch-hitting in key situations. That’s lousy and indicates to me either a manager or players that aren’t willing to do everything it takes to win. He’s done that repeatedly this year – gone with a Cory Sullivan or Kaz Matsui over a resting Carlos Lee, Jeff Keppinger, Geoff Blum, Pedro Feliz or Michael Bourn. Makes NO sense. When did it become crucial for baseball players to have routine days off when not injured? I don’t understand it.
i have seen so many teams and Managers send the runner on a full count and less than 2 out to stay out of the DP. I have been watching this game of BB for 60 years and played a great deal of it and i think i know a little about it. many a runner even slower than crank have been sent in that situation.
and just a side note of interest did you know that both Berkman and Lee are 11 year veterans and Lee has stolen more bases and has a bigger success rate than Lance.
Carlos in his career has stolen going into this season 115 bases and been caught 41 times for a .737% rate while Berkman has stolen 79 bases and been caught 40 times for a .664% rate. but neither one should be attempting many steals anymore because of their old age and loss of speed.
jimbo,
i have NO idea what is wrong with pence either and this time it isn’t him swingin at outside sliders neither.i don’t know bout sending him down neither – the only guy who has an OPS over .750 at round rock is jason bourgeois,
but maybe sitting out for a couple of games will help to clear his head – worked for berkman last may…
as for clank,
he was always a master at stealing bases WHEN THE PITCHER WASN’T PAYING HIM ANY ATTENTION – he never had any sort of speed, just good jumps, good timing. and last night he had a lousy jump and if it had been a hitnrun, he should have started off a split second before the pitcher threw, and he didn’t – he was out by 10′ – and agree about age/loss of speed and not attempting to steal unless it is against a bad catcher/slow pitcher
and you are right about berkman swinging and missing and austin is right about him not getting OBVIOUS balls called and him having to swing at crappy pitches – he usually has much better strike zone judgement
I actually was aware of that. I talked about that as an underrated strength of Lee when the Astros got him and everyone was talking about him being a problem on the basepaths. But that has changed drastically since he came to Houston. Before he came here, he had a 75% success rate and stole 12 bases per year.
In his three seasons until this one with Houston, Lee has stolen 6.3 bases per year at a 68% success rate. I don’t know if it’s age, being with a different team with a different philosophy, or what. But Lee is not at all the same base stealer he was when the Astros got him four years ago.
10feet quite an exaggeration, but i seemed to have forgotten the reason i left this blog the first time. Because you lisa and austin are never wrong about anything and make me feel like i know very little of this game called baseball. Maybe i don’t cause it has change alot over the years from my time. They ought to rename this game to simply LONGBALL instead of baseball.
Anyway i won’t be wasting anymore of your time or mine in the future. so i will say goodbye once again.
Jimbo, I never have any idea what you’re so upset about. I criticized Lisa for saying Lee isn’t the guy you send in a hit and run by pointing out he’s also not the guy you send in a steal. And then I showed statistically that he doesn’t steal bases like he used to, which you even seemed like you were admitting in your post. We’re not being hostile. This isn’t even really a disagreement. Nobody here thinks Lee should be stealing bases. What’s the problem?
sorry Austin, you are right, i guess i’m just getting cranky and over sensetive in my old age.
Let’s also remember that Mills is new and is getting to know his team. So these types of things will happen while he learns what works and what doesn’t with these guys.
Insightful article and comments.
Steve, I hope you’re right, but those are the excuses we made for Cecil Cooper. He’s new, he’ll learn. I’m willing to give a guy the benefit of the doubt, but being fair, I also have to look at it like this – how long have you been around the game and how well do you know it at this level? If you’re a manager at this level, there are certain things I expect you to kind of just know.