Wandy wasn’t absolutely ICE, as he was in his last 8 inning shut-outing against the Braves last month, but he was decent, considering he had just returned from the DL. He threw 6 innings, giving up 2 hits and 4 walks, no runs.
He loaded the bases in the first, with a leadoff double and 2 walks – really lousy control, and he had a tough time throwing any pitch for strikes. He got control of the curve before the FB – yeah, I know it sounds strange, but it’s true. By the 4th inning, he had GOOD movement and control of the FB – in spite of having more than a few strikes called as balls. He looked tired in the 6th, had a tough time with command of the FB again, and it took him 23 pitches to get his 1,2,3 out.
I was impressed – it’s tough to keep getting outs when you aren’t really in command of your stuff.
Ah LUUUUUUVVVS mah Wand-man.
Wilton Lopez pitched the 7th, gave up a double, but got his 1,2,3 outs. Sergio Escalona, looking better n better, pitched the 8th, giving up a single while getting his 1,2,3 out.
Lyon came on for the 9th, got 2 outs on 2 pitches, and I was thinkin – well, maybe I wuz wrong about him not being ready for prime time. Then he gave up a double down the LF line – it was a GR double because a fan leaned over a touched it. Then an 11 pitch walk to Hinske, then a juicy FB right down the exact middle and it got deposited in the RF bullpen for a 3 run homer.
3 appearances, 3 games 3 homers. This is not good, you know what I’m sayin here. If I’m a starting pitcher, this is NOT the guy I want to see in high leverage situations, or closing. Uck-say, I believe, is the word.
Lowe wasn’t as good as he was last appearance – took him 17 pitches to get through the first, and 24 to get through the second, then in the 3rd Barmes singled and Pence hit an opposite field job into the RF bullpen for a 2 run lead and the Wand Man nevah looked back. Of course, given the bullpen, he had to be prayin for a few more runs there.
Stros broke it open in the 6th – Kepp singled, then Brett Wallace hit an RBI opposite field double to the LF bullpen, then CJ ground out and JR Towles singled. Lowe got pulled and Ex-Stro Scott Linebrink (from back in 03) came in to face Matt Downs who came in to PH for Wandy (not Jason Michaels, thank God) and he doubled in Brett. Bourn took the count to 3-1, then got IBB.
Barmes sent a sac-fly to the Hill, scoring JR, but Matt Downs is no Michael Bourn and didn’t score from 3rd. Remember Michael scoring from second on a sac-fly to the Hill by Berkman? That was absolutely teh KEWL!!! Pence singled in Downs and Bourn, Clank walked (can you believe the guy has NINE walks in June? I keep checking to make sure is ain’t a typo) and Kepp, who started the inning, grounded out for the last out.
And the Astros led 6-0.
They got another run in the 7th on a Towles sac-fly – and it had to be deep for Brett Wallace, who runs slowern Clank, to score. Then Bourn GIDP 6-4-3. He’s already had 4 GIDP and we aren’t even at the ASB yet.
Makes you really respect Biggio, who had ZERO GIDP in 97 over 744 PA – really a remarkable feat.
Every hitter in the lineup except Clank and Wandy, who is still hitting over his weight, got at least 1 hit.
OH – and check this out – Someone else besides us Astros fans thinks Bourgeois should be playing – maybe if we can dump Clank, he will.
The Pirates come in tomorrow for a mid-week series – wonder if the attendance thru the gate will even break 10K.
Bud Norris will face Jeff Karstens, RHP, who is pitching very well this year. 10 GS, 4 relief appearances with 2 ER/7.2 IP (2.34 ERA) and an overall ERA ov 2.94 ERA/1.15 WHIP and a .214 BAA (you betcha the Yankees wish now that they hadn’t discarded him when he didn’t come up and pitch like a supa dupa ace. Same with Ian Kennedy, ya think?) We beat him last August, bet he’s been pitching better this year.
His last 2 appearances were against the Dbax and Phils – went 7 IP against each, gave up 4 hits, no walks against each, no runs at the Arizona and 1 run at Philly and got 2 ND for his trouble. He’s only had 1 bad outing this year, giving up 5 ER/4 IP at Cincy.
Let’s give it up for Bud Norris – he’s got a 3.67 ERA (lower than the average NL starter ERA – minimum 10 GS, 65 IP, <6 IP in relief – of 3.89) has averaged 6.1 IP/GS, has 7 QS/13 GS. Not real too many fans thought he’s have numbers like this before the ASB, that’s fer SHER.
I guess I shouldn’t mention that he was one of Tim Purpura’s draftees…
Tags: Atlanta Braves, Braves, Houston Astros, MLB
Lisa, Mills HAS TO PLAY CARLOS! Ed Wade would have Mills fired, if he benched Lee. It’s ALL about the money. Always has, always will. Speaking of
Brandon Lyon, he’s hurt and does NOT want to have surgery, It will be a career
ending operation, I guarantee you, he’s doing some fast talking trying to stay
in the bull pen. BUT…….I think we’ve all seen enough of him this year. Becky
I’m going to the game on Thursday, I want to *see* Lyles in person!! Can’t wait!
He definitely needs surgery; don’t know if it will be career ending but it will certainly knock him out for a year or two.
WTF dumping Arnsberg? That’s just weird. I guess he’s done with baseball for a few years. It’s no fun being on the worst team in the League, and I guess he’s had enough. My guess is that he was trying to keep guys loose and having fun and mgmt thought he should be bearing down and be serious. Or sumthin’ like that. Oh well.
Hey Lisa, Biggio was amazing at avoiding DPs. Even in 2007, he only hit into 5 in 555 PAs. And only 2 in 1991 in 609 PAs. Incredible. Course he did have a .618 post-season OPS
Let’s hear it for Hitter Pence! Fourth in average, 13th in OPS — a nice third of a season. Let’s see if he can keep it going on this dog of a team…
Yeah Lyon with his double-digit ERA deserves to be the closer on this team, enough said…
I agree that Pence, Bourn & Wandy won’t be wearing the Astros uniform much longer. Really too bad since there are plenty of guys I really like: Bourn, Bourgeois, Pence, Sanchez, Johnson, Wandy, Norris, Melancon etc and I was hoping this team would be more or less competitive so we may keep Bourn & Pence a bit longer since an outfield of Bourgeois, Bourn & Pence would be fun to watch for years to come.
I was also hoping Myers would be traded last season when he had a lights out year, but his trade value at the moment is probably zero. I’ll root for him and hope he’ll put himself together and toss several shutouts so we may get something in return (if Wade does trade him).
It’s really bad to see Arnsberg go and he should not take the blame for the mess this team is going through. He’s someone the pitchers can easily cooperate with and he’s loved and appreciated by the players. I wish him all the best and hope Brocail will be successful as the new pitching coach.