WizzyWig
04-12-2005, 02:07 AM
Excellent article, first one I have read this year that doesn't just make assumptions based on what happened this off-season.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7468010/
Astros make pitch for postseason contention
With Clemens, Pettitte, Oswalt on mound, Houston can go far
COMMENTARY
By Mike Celizic
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 12:05 a.m. ET April 12, 2005
St. Paul said that without charity he was nothing. Clearly, the apostle formerly known as Saul of Tarsus never ran a baseball team.
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If he had, the thing you can’t be without is pitching. You can have all the offense in the world, but without it, you’re nothing. And no matter what else you lack, with it, you’ve got a shot.
This year’s case in point is the Astros. During the winter, the critics — in one of the few nanoseconds when they weren’t putting the Yankees and Red Sox under the dissecting microscope — rather blithely wrote off Houston as a serious factor in the National League. The reason was plain: The team let one of the best young offensive players in the game and the hero of last year’s playoffs, Carlos Beltran, skedaddle out of town and made no effort to replace him. It was a simple equation: no Beltran equals no hope.
While it’s early, it already appears as if that assessment is going to be as wrong as saying Bo Jackson took steroids on the basis of a one quote that was later denied. After six games, the Astros were 4-2, and no team in the game had fewer losses.
It’s not a good idea to base too much by the standings this early in the season. The Yankees aren’t going to remain in last place in the AL East, and St. Louis isn’t going to wallow near the bottom of the NL Central chasing Milwaukee all season.
On the other hand, it was amazing that after just a half-dozen games, the divisions were already sorting themselves out along predictable lines; Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Washington, the New York Mets, Colorado and Arizona are already sinking. Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles — both Dodgers and Angels — and Philadelphia are rising.
And the teams that are pitching well are doing well.
And Houston, with an early team ERA of 3.00 after six games, trails only the Marlins in pitching. The Astros may has lost Beltran from last year, but they got Andy Pettitte, who spent most of 2004 on the disabled list with a repaired elbow, back in the lineup. They also persuaded Roger Clemens, last year’s NL Cy Young winner, to give it another go. Together with Roy Oswalt, the league’s only 20-game winner from last season, that’s as good a top three as any rotation in the league.
As with every team, middle relief can be an adventure, but closer Brad Lidge already has three saves in four wins.
The Cardinals may have all the offense in the National League, but so far, their pitching has been as scarce as Tom DeLay’s shows of humility, and the Cards are fighting to get to .500.
The Yankees and Red Sox are two more illustrative cases. Neither team has pitched with distinction, and both are staggering along early in the season. The Sox should get better when Curt Schilling gets back into form, but so far, you have to worry when the ace of your staff is Tim Wakefield.
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The Yankees have gotten one good performance out of Randy Johnson and one bad one. Mariano Rivera is looking mortal, Joe Torre has no faith in his middle relief, Mike Mussina has been giving up hits at a frightening rate, Carl Pavano may or may not be as good as advertised, and the rest of the staff has yet to be sighted. Again, it’s early, but none of those are encouraging signs.
Either the Yanks or the Red Sox would probably give a lot to have Houston’s pitching. So would St. Louis. And if they wouldn’t, they should.
Struggling pitchers don’t remedy themselves as readily as struggling hitters. And good pitchers usually don’t suddenly go sour. If you have to rely on one or the other to carry you through a long season, take pitching every time.
Houston couldn’t keep together the team that nearly made it to the World Series last year. Faced with difficult choices, management swallowed hard, waved bye-bye to Beltran, and hoped to heaven that Pettitte would come back strong and Oswalt and Clemens would be as good as they were last year. With Lidge to save them, the team figured it still had as good a shot as anyone to do damage.
A lot of us dismissed that idea. But already, it looks as if the Astros made the right decision, and really the only decision they had.
They went with the surest thing in baseball — pitching. So far, it’s working just fine.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7468010/
Astros make pitch for postseason contention
With Clemens, Pettitte, Oswalt on mound, Houston can go far
COMMENTARY
By Mike Celizic
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 12:05 a.m. ET April 12, 2005
St. Paul said that without charity he was nothing. Clearly, the apostle formerly known as Saul of Tarsus never ran a baseball team.
advertisement
If he had, the thing you can’t be without is pitching. You can have all the offense in the world, but without it, you’re nothing. And no matter what else you lack, with it, you’ve got a shot.
This year’s case in point is the Astros. During the winter, the critics — in one of the few nanoseconds when they weren’t putting the Yankees and Red Sox under the dissecting microscope — rather blithely wrote off Houston as a serious factor in the National League. The reason was plain: The team let one of the best young offensive players in the game and the hero of last year’s playoffs, Carlos Beltran, skedaddle out of town and made no effort to replace him. It was a simple equation: no Beltran equals no hope.
While it’s early, it already appears as if that assessment is going to be as wrong as saying Bo Jackson took steroids on the basis of a one quote that was later denied. After six games, the Astros were 4-2, and no team in the game had fewer losses.
It’s not a good idea to base too much by the standings this early in the season. The Yankees aren’t going to remain in last place in the AL East, and St. Louis isn’t going to wallow near the bottom of the NL Central chasing Milwaukee all season.
On the other hand, it was amazing that after just a half-dozen games, the divisions were already sorting themselves out along predictable lines; Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Washington, the New York Mets, Colorado and Arizona are already sinking. Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles — both Dodgers and Angels — and Philadelphia are rising.
And the teams that are pitching well are doing well.
And Houston, with an early team ERA of 3.00 after six games, trails only the Marlins in pitching. The Astros may has lost Beltran from last year, but they got Andy Pettitte, who spent most of 2004 on the disabled list with a repaired elbow, back in the lineup. They also persuaded Roger Clemens, last year’s NL Cy Young winner, to give it another go. Together with Roy Oswalt, the league’s only 20-game winner from last season, that’s as good a top three as any rotation in the league.
As with every team, middle relief can be an adventure, but closer Brad Lidge already has three saves in four wins.
The Cardinals may have all the offense in the National League, but so far, their pitching has been as scarce as Tom DeLay’s shows of humility, and the Cards are fighting to get to .500.
The Yankees and Red Sox are two more illustrative cases. Neither team has pitched with distinction, and both are staggering along early in the season. The Sox should get better when Curt Schilling gets back into form, but so far, you have to worry when the ace of your staff is Tim Wakefield.
advertisement
The Yankees have gotten one good performance out of Randy Johnson and one bad one. Mariano Rivera is looking mortal, Joe Torre has no faith in his middle relief, Mike Mussina has been giving up hits at a frightening rate, Carl Pavano may or may not be as good as advertised, and the rest of the staff has yet to be sighted. Again, it’s early, but none of those are encouraging signs.
Either the Yanks or the Red Sox would probably give a lot to have Houston’s pitching. So would St. Louis. And if they wouldn’t, they should.
Struggling pitchers don’t remedy themselves as readily as struggling hitters. And good pitchers usually don’t suddenly go sour. If you have to rely on one or the other to carry you through a long season, take pitching every time.
Houston couldn’t keep together the team that nearly made it to the World Series last year. Faced with difficult choices, management swallowed hard, waved bye-bye to Beltran, and hoped to heaven that Pettitte would come back strong and Oswalt and Clemens would be as good as they were last year. With Lidge to save them, the team figured it still had as good a shot as anyone to do damage.
A lot of us dismissed that idea. But already, it looks as if the Astros made the right decision, and really the only decision they had.
They went with the surest thing in baseball — pitching. So far, it’s working just fine.