[Official] Rockies @ Astros

[Refman]

Originally Posted by Pete Chilcutt Realistically, do you really think this team has enough to win at all? Man i miss the Jeff Kent, Pettite, the new kill b days just 4-5 years ago...Astros really are in a hole with al lthis money locked up to 3 or 4 players... Chilcutt

Look at the lineup. We have three guys batting over .340. Our CF bats around .290 and our LF bats around .315. This team should be scoring runs in bunches, but they aren't. It defies logic.

[Pete Chilcutt]

Originally Posted by Refman Look at the lineup. We have three guys batting over .340. Our CF bats around .290 and our LF bats around .315. This team should be scoring runs in bunches, but they aren't. It defies logic.

Wow that is pretty strange, I don't know, I just wish the Stros were relevant again

Chilcutt

[Kam]

went to the game.


wow that **** sucked ass.

[arif1127]

Originally Posted by Refman Look at the lineup. We have three guys batting over .340. Our CF bats around .290 and our LF bats around .315. This team should be scoring runs in bunches, but they aren't. It defies logic.

its been discussed a couple times around here. i think there are two main reasons for it; first, the team really has not hit well with runner in scoring position, the situational hitting has been pretty terrible(evidence by all the bunts that have gone awry in the last few weeks), second, the team hits well but doesn't get on base that well b/c of the lack of walks the team takes. Brooksball has laid out the stats showing that other than Pence and Berkman the team is below average in walks for every position, so no matter how well you hit you don't get enough guys on base to score a lot of runs.

what really sucks is that as soon as the rest of the pitching staff starts looking good, wandy goes into the crapper.

[TheRealist137]

Pence can't be our #3 hitter, it has to be Berkman but he's been so awful with RISP this year Coop had to demote him. Pence is too young and too wild to be a #3 hitter. He strikes out too much and is not nearly as patient at the plate a #3 hitter needs to be. Our best lineup should be.

Bourn
Tejada
Berkman
Lee
Pence
Blum
Rodriguez
Kaz???

I would even consider batting Kaz 9th so he acts as another lead off man, since is not a powerful hitter.

[Major]

Originally Posted by TheRealist137 Pence can't be our #3 hitter, it has to be Berkman but he's been so awful with RISP this year Coop had to demote him. Pence is too young and too wild to be a #3 hitter. He strikes out too much and is not nearly as patient at the plate a #3 hitter needs to be. Our best lineup should be.

Too young? Is there an age limit for #3 hitters?

Strikes out too much? He's had very few strikeouts this year - far fewer than Berkman.

Not patient enough? He leads the team in OBP.

[BrooksBall]

My two long-term concerns with Tejada hitting 2nd are his tendency to hit into double plays and his lack of speed. If he can avoid hitting into a lot of double plays as the season progresses, he would be fine in the 2 hole. Last season, he led all of baseball in GIDPs and I believe he even set a new major league record.

Ideally, Matsui hits second when he isn't sucking or hurting. I know... unfortunately, that doesn't occur very often. He is the closest thing we have to a prototypical 2 hole hitter. He's not perfect but he is a lefty, a contact hitter and has speed.

If everybody is playing at least to their norms (with guys like Bourn and Pence continuing to progress), I think this is what our lineup should ultimately look like:

Bourn
Matsui
Berkman
Lee
Pence
Tejada
Pudge
Blum/Kepp

In future seasons, Pence could end up hitting 3rd if he continues to play this way. For now, Berkman is still our best overall hitter and I believe his numbers will start reflecting that sooner than later. As far as why I put Tejada so low in the order, I'm basing that on him returning closer to his norm for the past couple of years. He is not usually a high OBP guy so I don't see him hitting in the top 3 spots over the long run. Lee and Pence shouldn't be hitting any lower than 4th or 5th so that bumps Tejada down. The 6th batter is ideally a guy that can still drive in runs and Tejada can do that. Of course, all this depends on everybody hitting to their norms, which isn't currently the case. Most notably, Berkman is underproducing and Tejada is overproducing while Matsui isn't even playing. It's up to the manager to deal with this stuff and put together lineups that makes sense until everybody is performing like themselves.

[juicystream]

Originally Posted by BrooksBall My two long-term concerns with Tejada hitting 2nd are his tendency to hit into double plays and his lack of speed. If he can avoid hitting into a lot of double plays as the season progresses, he would be fine in the 2 hole. Last season, he led all of baseball in GIDPs and I believe he even set a new major league record.

3rd most GIDPs all-time according to an SI article I read yesterday when I was at the eye doctors. Thats an amazing fact.

Originally Posted by BrooksBall Of course, all this depends on everybody hitting to their norms, which isn't currently the case. Most notably, Berkman is underproducing and Tejada is overproducing while Matsui isn't even playing.

That is his norm.

[BrooksBall]

I hear you but the truth is that this season is even worse than his norm. The injury stuff is more or less status quo but he was posting career lows (by a wide margin) in most major offensive categories over 38 games and well over 150 PAs. I'm not sure how much you saw him play this year, but he got to the point where he looked completely lost at the plate. He was never a great hitter but he was at least decent. It may have just been the injury/injuries. Actually, it must have been. I can't see any other explanation for just how bad he looked.

[BrooksBall]

Yea, I guess it was the Astros record for GIDPs in a single-season that Tejada broke. It was formerly held by Ausmus.

Like you said, Tejada is tied for 3rd all-time (32). Pudge is tied for 7th all-time (31) and Ausmus is tied for 11th (30).

I believe I heard during a recent telecast that Tejada also holds the record for most interleague errors.

[juicystream]

Originally Posted by BrooksBall I hear you but the truth is that this season is even worse than his norm. The injury stuff is more or less status quo but he was posting career lows (by a wide margin) in most major offensive categories over 30 games and well over 150 PAs. I'm not sure how much you saw him play this year, but he got to the point where he looked completely lost at the plate. He was never a great hitter but he was at least decent. It may have just been the injury/injuries. Actually, it must have been. I can't see any other explanation for just how bad he looked.

I don't know. Remember when he was with the Mets? He stunk it up so bad that they were desperate to get rid of him. Last season was the best of his career.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/player...&type=batting3

Playing in Coors & Minute Maid has helped his career.

[BrooksBall]

Yea, I remember reading up on how much he struggled there, including defensively, but did he ever have a stretch as bad as the current one?

He may have but I never watched him closely pre-Astros. All I've seen is how bad he's looked this season as well as this: http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...atsuka01.shtml

[BrooksBall]

juicystream,

I see what you mean now. Amazingly, he was even worse the first half of 2006 than he is now. That must have been painful to watch.

[Major]

Originally Posted by BrooksBall I believe I heard during a recent telecast that Tejada also holds the record for most interleague errors.

Without knowing the facts, I'd guess this is simply a product of volume. Shortstop is the highest error position, and I can't imagine there are all that many shortstops that have been playing full time in the 10 years or whatever that we've had interleague play.

[BrooksBall]

Originally Posted by Major Without knowing the facts, I'd guess this is simply a product of volume. Shortstop is the highest error position, and I can't imagine there are all that many shortstops that have been playing full time in the 10 years or whatever that we've had interleague play.

Good points. I thought about the SS factor when they said it. I didn't consider that he has probably played more than most other SSs during that stretch as well.

[juicystream]

Originally Posted by Major Without knowing the facts, I'd guess this is simply a product of volume. Shortstop is the highest error position, and I can't imagine there are all that many shortstops that have been playing full time in the 10 years or whatever that we've had interleague play.

Add in that he had the longest active consecutive game streak for a while. The guy flat out did not miss games until he got hurt in 2007.