That's like saying Oswalt isn't a number one because he wouldn't be a #1 on the Giants or Mets. The Rays have the best staff in baseball and he would arguably be the 3rd best pitcher on the Red Sox right now, (on the Angels right now, he would probably be their #1). He is without a doubt one of the top 90 starters in baseball. Probably top 50.
I think I underestimated wandy right here. Top 30 starter in baseball? Anyone still think he's a number 4?
he's really the only thing worth watching the stros for at this point. pence and wandy the two most (and only) indispensible pieces on the team i'd say. it's a shame it took wandy till he was 30 to put it all together.
That seems to be the pattern with a lot of soft-tossing, crafty-lefty types, though. Jamie Moyer, for example.
We always knew that Wandy had the stuff to be very good. The problem was that he was inconsistent. It appears that he has found a way to be more consistent.
That bad 1st inning was all started by Tejada's awful defense. It was a hard hit ball but an average defensive SS makes that play. Sure, Wandy should have been able to regroup and that walk with two men on and no outs hurt but it's not like they were hitting him hard. Giving up a hit to Harang was also bad but the pitch was down and Harang took an awkward swing and got lucky. That later inning also got extended because of Tejada's awful defense. A likely double play turned into no outs because Tejada completely missed the bag. Once again, Wandy did not get hit hard. I'm not trying to completely let Wandy off the hook for that outing but he wasn't as bad as it might have looked for somebody that didn't watch the game. As always, my biggest concern is how Wandy handles pressure situations. He's great when things are going well but upper echelon pitchers should be able to get out of tough situations much more frequently than average pitchers. Wandy has plenty of ability. He's got to be able to do his thing when the pressure is on to live up to his potential.
But that is misleading, look at the 10 hits. However, that was his first poor start of the year and it was on the road.
but you don't get points for baserunners! man, anytime a pitcher goes out and throws scoreless innings, i'm cool with it.
But he didn't throw scoreless innings. He gave up 6 runs. They were unearned because of timely errors, but had he not been putting so many baserunners on, he wouldn't have been giving up all those runs either.
when it comes to baseball, i'm about as fairweathered as it gets, so naturally i haven't watched a game all year. those of you watching closely, is wandy legit or is it more of a case of everything going right at once? more importantly, i noticed hunter is batting .350. is he back on the expected superstar track that was projected his rookie year or closer to the 'pretty good player' track that he seemed to be on last year?
I'm no expert but this is my 2 cents: Hunter is laying off a lot of pitches that he used to hack away at. His walk rate is up and his SO rate is down. He looks really good so far this season. He's been far more impressive than Bourn, in my opinion. I guess Bourn has been getting a little more attention because of how much he struggled last season. Plus, Bourn has been in a little rut since being promoted to leadoff and his SOs and poor ABs, in general, are starting to mount up quickly. Wandy's command has been awesome all year long. His curveball has been making fools of hitters. His last outing didn't go well but Tejada's defense made things difficult and he didn't get hit hard for the most part. Then again, Cinci's top 3 hitters were all out of the lineup so even with Tejada's bloopers, he should have been able to regroup. My only question about Wandy is how he handles pressure situations. Upper echelon pitchers can work through pressure situations much better than average pitchers. I'm waiting to see how Wandy responds when things aren't going as smoothly.
