Remember, no PBP in these threads and keep the chatter on topic (if it is about something other than this series, talk about it in another thread). 6-1 Aaron Cook, RHP (3-2, 4.82) vs. Roy Oswalt, RHP (1-2, 4.62) 7:05 on FSN 6-2 Ubaldo Jimenez, RHP (3-6, 4.37) vs. Felipe Paulino, RHP (1-4, 6.75) 7:05 on FSN 6-3 Jason Marquis, RHP (7-3, 3.93) vs. Brian Moehler, RHP (2-3, 6.43) 7:05 on FSN 6-4 Jason Hammel, RHP (1-3, 4.83) vs. Wandy Rodriguez, LHP (5-4, 2.26) 7:05 on FSN
Hopefully, Roy gets back on track. This is about the point last season where he started to turn back into the Roy O of old. This should truly be Paulino's last chance to stay in the rotation. Yorman Bozardo pitched a complete game shutout yesterday for Round Rock, making him 6-2 with a 2.59 era. Backe is probably who they'll go with should they decide to demote Paulino...especially if Geary is close to being ready to come off the DL.
at this point, i'd say bozardo has earned a shot in the big league rotation, no matter how paulino does.
picked him up as a minor league free agent this off season, he's bounced around a bit. he seems to be putting it together at the right time for the stros.
"Over the first 24 home games last season, the Astros averaged 34,570 fans per game. They finished the season with an average attendance of 34,744 ... This season the Astros average 29,970 per game at home, a drop of 4,601 from last year's average over the same amount of games." — Jesus Ortiz, Houston Chronicle.
Who else thinks Pence is due for some HRs? He's only hit 1 in the last 34 games. At the same time, if the lack of power is related to his improved plate discipline, no need to start hacking. The power will come. Dude has a .416 OBP with 24 BBs and only 25 SOs.
Yeah that's definitely surprising for Pence. He wasn't an enormous HR guy in the minors, but he did crank out 30-40 consistently. At the same time, being slightly less aggressive but getting on base more - I'll take that too. The HR's should come
Right now he is learning to look for his pitch, not swing at the sliders away, and to take the pitch back up the middle and to right field. When he gets comfortable with all that, he'll start turning on the inside pitch again, that's when the homer runs will pick up. I love that he is getting base hits to center and right fields, it means he is really learning the "art" of hitting.
I wouldn't mind seeing Pence hit 1st or 2nd. I know you don't want to mess with a good thing but maybe something like this is worth considering: Bourn Pence Tejada Lee Berkman or this... Pence Berkman Tejada Lee Pudge Berkman isn't hitting for average but he still walks a lot. Despite his .230 AVG, he has a .361 OBP. Tejada is hot right now so maybe he'll knock in more runs if Pence and Berkman are getting on base in front of him. Lee will start driving in runs again sooner or later.
I agree we "don't want to mess with a good thing." Putting Pence in the 2 hole means he needs to take strikes while letting Bourn try to steal a base. It also means he has to sell himself out to move Bourn over when he gets on base. I'd rather have Pence in a position to drive in runs than in the 2 hole. the 3-6 spots in the batting order are where I would want him. I like 5 or 6 best, keeps the pressure off him and allows him to keep improving.
I guess you're right, especially with Bourn and Tejada hitting well. My concern would be if Bourn continues to hit the way he has since being promoted to leadoff and Tejada regresses to his norm, which involves not getting on base enough. If Tejada isn't hitting for a super high average, his OBP ends up being very poor since he rarely walks. You still want a guy that gets on base at a good clip in the 2-hole, right? As of now, Bourn will get plenty more chances to get it going as our leadoff hitter and Tejada is hitting for a great average, so you're right, no need to change anything. What do you do if Bourn goes into a funk though and Tejada stops hitting well above .300? Would you consider moving Pence up in the order at that point?
wwww, this is where it all gets turned around. * *this is what i'll keep telling myself until training camp
Tejada better keep hitting like this, otherwise we won't get anything for him when we trade him. but seriously, tejada won't keep hitting this way, and i don't like him in the 2 hole at all, b/c he swings early in the count and hits into a lot of double plays, let alone the fact that he never walks. He is the perfect 6 hole hitter at this point, less power but good average, he can knock guys in if the 5 hole guy doesn't. For me the perfect lineup would be Bourn Matsui(if he were ever healthy, and was hitting like last year) Berkman(he has to get it going at some point, doesn't he?) Lee Pence(hitting as he currently is) Tejada(hitting to his norm-not .350 like right now) Rodriguez Keppinger with Matsui out i'm ok with just replacing him with Maysonet for the time being, especially with him hitting .450.
I like what Bourn, Pence, and Tejada have been able to do so far given the amount of times they've had to move in the line-up. The one thing about having Tejada bat near the top is that no matter how fast Bourn is, if he gets on and Tejada comes up next, he's still likely to be erased in a GIDP. With Berkman's slump, I wouldn't mind seeing Coop trot out the Bourn/Pence/Tejada/Lee/Berkman lineup. I keep thinking back to a quote Lance had (when Baggy was here) about not wanting to hit 3rd because that's Baggy's spot (which I can appreciate) and that he's more comfortable hitting in the 4-hole. I can't remember where I read the Baggy part of it, but here's a link to his stating he prefers hitting fourth (but doesn't mind hitting third). Dropping him to fourth might do him some good - Coop, were you not listening when your big guns speak?!?
arif, Do you think they should use Keppinger more often even when Blum is healthy? Keppinger's career numbers aren't very good against RHPs but how much better is Blum? Here are their career numbers against RHPs... Blum: .255 AVG, .314 OBP, .390 SLG Keppinger: .260 AVG, .312 OBP, .345 SLG Blum is a slightly better slugger against RHPs but Keppinger is 7 years younger. Blum's numbers will likely keep going down, esp. his power numbers. So far, his SLG is at a career low, other than 2005 which was ironically the year he won the WS with the White Sox. Here are their 2009 numbers against RHPs... Blum: .257 AVG, .331 OBP, .310 SLG (130 PA) Keppinger: .280 AVG, .357 OBP, .460 SLG (57 PA) I don't see much justification in Blum starting over Keppinger given the minor difference historically in their slugging percentages against RHPs, esp. given the numbers so far this season, unless the argument is that Blum is just that much better defensively.
Keppinger has shown a solid glove at third and has hit surprisingly well. Blum has a solid glove but has no business being a starting 3rd baseman at this point in his career(at least in my view). I'm all for giving Kepp the job and seeing what he does with it. The 2009 numbers against RHP is way too small of a sample size to say Keppinger is improving against RHP but, at worst, as you showed, he's the equivalent of Blum against RHP. Stick Kepp at the 7 or 8 hole and just let him do his thing. To be honest, i really think this team has a lot of talent offensively, and could go on a nice run as soon as Berkman turns it around. If the pitching were to be decent(at least better than the terrible it has been so far), this team could go on a bit of a run.
Yup, pitching is a big problem. After that, it's the fact that collectively we don't walk nearly enough. Our team OBP is about league average right now but it won't stay that way if we continue to be 2nd to last in walks. Last season, we were below average or near the bottom of the league in walks at every single position other than 1st base. So far, not hitting w/ RISP has been a problem but I expect that to naturally fix itself while the lack of walks will likely continue to be a problem. We just have too many free swingers in our lineup for that to change even if Pence and Bourn maintain their improved walk rates. Keppinger getting more ABs would only help marginally. We've also been caught stealing more than any other team (19 times). I'm tired of seeing runners get thrown out so often. Bourn and Matsui, when healthy, are the only guys that should be stealing bases EVER, in my opinion. I wouldn't even let Pence try to steal. He has stolen 27 and been caught 19 times in his career. Despite his speed, he just isn't good at it and I don't see the value in letting him try to improve. I read an interesting fact that all of our basestealing efforts last season produced a net gain of zero. Plus, all we need at this point is to get one of our big guys injured pointlessly trying to steal a bag given the current rash of injuries.