Before I talk Astros, I want to note that on Opening Day, Justin Verlander, a DH league pitcher, was pulled from the game after pitching 8 innings because he was in line for a W and the reason God made closers was to pitch the 9th, regardless. So The Closer, Ex-Stro Jose Valverde, came in and promptly blew the save – goodbye W for Mr. Verlander. Naturally, the manager got, um, heck (ahem) for pulling Mr. Ace and depriving him of a W. So today, Mr. Ace Person pitches 8 innings of 1 hit shutout ball, goes in to pitch the 9th, gives up a single to Ex-Stro Jeff Keppinger and before you know it, has given up 2 runs and the game is tied.
Now because it is a tie game, The Rulz say that a manager is not allowed to send in his supposedly best reliever, The Closer, to shut it down and besides, what if the team was to come back and THEN what would they do if The Closer had already been used up?
So it’s send in some other guy, who can’t get an out, so THEN you send in The Closer, ex-Stro Valverde, who promptly gives up the losing hit to Ex-Stro Ben Zobrist.
So of course, it’s blame tha manager for not sending in The Closer in the first place to start the 9th, seeing as how Jose has a history of not liking to go in AFTER there are men on base…
Back to current Astros…
First, I gotta say I am surprised and pleased to be wrong about Mary Jane Schafer and his hitting. So far, he’s hitting .348 with a .402 OBP. Not real too pleased with his fielding, however – he gets bad jumps on balls and had an actual missed catch error tonight – and it is RARE that scorers ever tag fielders with errors for failling to catch the ball.
Second, I want to point out that except for the catchers – Snyder is 1 fer 10 and Castros is 0fer11 with 3 walks – the position players are hitting very well.
Marwin Gonzalez is 6 fer 21 with 2 doubles and a walk.
Chris Johnson is 8 fer 24 with 3 doubles
Clank is 8 fer 22 with 4 walks, a double and a homer
Jose Altuve is 7 fer 19 with a triple and 3 walks
JD Martinez is 6 fer 22 with a double, 2 HR and 1 walk
Bogusevic is 2 fer 17 with a homer and 2 walks
Um, yeah, Bogu is struggling again.
Bench guys: Matt Downs has continued to look like the last days of JMike. Justin Maxwell hit a homer and has 2 K and a walk. Travis Buck is doing well so far – 3 fer 10 with 2 doubles, a triple and a walk.
And as for pitchers – well, Wandy looked better tonight than he did Opening Day – had the curve working better and he struck out 4 guys plus the pitcher. Well, not as a fielder – TWO wild pitches (Castro is NOT a good pitch blocker), a throwing error, not getting the out at home on the squeeze – and Marwin Gonzalez’ error – not getting one out let alone a DP – made Wandy have to get 2 more outs, and he didn’t before 3 runs scored.
sigh
Good was JD Martinez hiting a homer to the left center wall under the Conoco Pump. Bad was Astros leaving bases loaded 2 outs in the 4th (OK, it was Marwin Gonzalez at bat) and worse, leaving bases loaded, 1 out in the 7th (JD Martinez, then Matt Downs!!!!) and Clank striking out with the men on first and third, 2 outs in the botom of the 9th. Lots of missed opportunities.
But at least they ARE hitting – it’s not like the beginning of last year where Michael Bourn was the only guy hitting – and actually, he’s not doing very well to start this year.
And as usual, Chipper Jones is killing us. It’s not a coincidence, far as I’m concerned, that we couldn’t beat the Braves as soon as he got back in the lineup.
Day off, then it’s off to Miami where Lucas Harrell will face Ricky Nolasco, who came to the Marlins in the Derrek Lee/Juan Pierre trade – remember that? Anyway, he has a 5-1 record vs the Astros in 6 games and 1 in relief over 44.1 IP – has a 4.47 ERA, but a 1.06 WHIP and a .231 BAA – his team gets more runs for him than he gives up, sort of like Jack Morris.
Hope Lucas Harrell pitches as well against the Ozzie Guillen-less Marlins. I like how he said he loves Fidel Castro back in 08 and didn’t nobody care, because he said it in Chicago, bout the time that Bud Selig and Peter Angelos had Castro as a guest of honor at a game. But hey, say it in Miami and alienate the 500 Marlins fans, get a 5 game suspension.
(By the way, this is most certainly NOT me endorsing Castro in any way. This is me being amused that it ain’t WHAT you say, it’s WHERE you say it…)
Tags: Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros
Lisa…….you’re right about Castro, but I’m willing to give the kid a break, since he missed soooo much time in the last year and a half. I believe he will “learn” to
block pitches, but he’s still a work in progress. This is where the Astros needed Q
to help mentor him. As for Wandy…….GOOD LORD!! What is going on in his two starts? The “Keystone Cops” have shown up in his two starts. Granted, he made an error himself, but I excused that, because of the bang-bang play at first. Freddie Gonzalez called for *TWO* squeeze plays in that inning, and that rally rattled Wandy. This crap has got to stop, because the guys are causing their own
pitchers to loose games, that SHOULD have been won!
One thing about wandy, he has always easly rattled.
i thought that wandy was long past the getting rattled stuff – but he doesn’t usually make fielding or throwing errors, ESPECIALLY to first. even though really the first errror on Opening Day was really altuve’s fault for not getting to first fast enough
i DO hope castro gets better at blocking pitches – if you remember, he wasn’t any good at that back in 2010, but at least he was good at throwing out runners…
Nothing is ever wandy’s fault
cmon, did i say that?
he made TWO errors, and 2 fielding effups that were not errors in his first 2 games
and he didn’t pull his head ot of his butt and shut it down
i’m a fan, but i tell it like it is
-Big fat one, right over the plate –
Guillen was raving about Jason Castro, blindly attempting to express in English his admiration for the way the young catcher has been able to remain the darling of the Houston media and fans, after so little playing time and so few career highlights.
-Darn, fouled hard right off his ankle. Boy oh boy, must that hurt.-
Whatca gonna do with Brandon Lyon. Making $5 million to pitch like crap.Becky:(
wags…….where you been? Miss you on Chip’s blog!
Becky, I’ve posted a few items over at Chip’s lately, but . . .
I’m still trying to come to terms with the hijacking of my National League boyhood team by the greedy MLB Mafia. I’ve also been hugely busy with work and goombah, and with what looks like it could be yet another boring season (see tonight’s and recent games involving leaving huge piles of guys on base, still unable to give Zambrano what’s coming to him for that tainted Hurricane Ike no-hitter) baseball may not always be Job 1 at the wagscienda.
There was a hint of promise in the first few games, when the young fellas showed drive and excitement, and that is the best bet for the Astros’ redemption as a DH team. A new beginning (after the kidnapping of our 50-year NL history and traditions I will have a hard time uprooting) with new guys, a team showing no resemblance of its former self . . . that just might get my dauber up.
Glad they won, but you can’t count on two errors in the 9th every night.
wags…….I know how you feel, I feel the same way….BUT these kids don’t deserve
all of us fans, to bail out on them, ESPECIALLY since it’s so dang hard just to GET to the major leagues. Still…….we miss your sense of humor! You and just a few others make my day with your post! Yeah, VERY good game tonight! That little Altuuuuuuuuuve is making a statement on this team! The ninth inning would have been VERY different if he had not got on base with that double! Becky:)
altuve and julio daniel martinez are the best reason to watch this team this year.
we’re back at .500 but i am still not holding my breath…