Anyone still terrified when Lidge takes the mound? Gave up a home run today...and that lowered his era for the spring. Not sure what it is, but I really dont want that guy anywhere near the mound. He stresses me out.
Nick, or anyone else who has been to Spring Training, I'm planning on heading down to Orlando on Friday to catch the Stros play the Yanks. What's the best way to get tickets? I heard that you can't just show up and buy tickets.
They had signs up everywhere saying that game was sold out... but I would call some ticket brokers in the area. Also, we were propositioned more than once by scalpers in the parking lot before the Mets game (and that game was sold out)... but you probably wouldn't want to wait till the day of the game, given the amount of Yankees fans in the area.
I would pay more attention to the end of spring training, I think he is trying new pitches and working on things rather than trying to lock it down. If he is still giving up taters in the last week of spring training, I will join you on the worry wagon. DD
Damn Yankees !!! How did Luke Scott look? With Pence blowing up and Lane having a fine spring, Luke needs to get busy. DD
Scott's doing fine... average .294, OBP of .400 and SLG of .529. While I think it's unlikely, if anyone needs to worry it's Chris Burke, considering that the Astros organization has repeatedly referred to Pence as a CF, and Burke is hitting .080. Of course, all of these numbers are at 25 AB and under, so they're pretty meaningless.
I agree, Scott has the edge over Burke if Pence makes the opening day lineup. Burke isn't a great outfielder yet and he has to prove he can stay healthy a whole year which he has yet to do. Also remember the more playing time Burke has been giving over the years, the less production you get from him.
Thanks Nick. I looked on ebay and there's a few options there. Will I still have a decent view of the game if I get tickets on the second level of one of the lines? That's pretty much all that's left on ebay that fits under my budget.
I see the Astros have already given up on Holdzkom, the Rule V draft pick from the Cubs. http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/...d=1837058&vkey=spt2007news&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou That opens a roster spot back up that I wasn't expecting to be there. Pence, perhaps?
Dude... spring training is like watching a little league game. You'll be AMAZED at how small/intimate the stadium is (and how you're literally hearing conversations amongst the players/coaches). IOW, there's not a bad seat in the house, even if the game is sold out (otherwise I would recommend moving down and finding a seat behind the dugout, as the old people tend to stay under the shaded seats towards the back). That was the best part about seeing the Mets game (sold out) vs. the Nationals game... the Nats game was almost like attending a major league fantasy camp (from watching Oswalt warm up in the bullpen RIGHT NEXT to him, sitting behind the dugout, hearing the ump have conversations with Ausmus, having players toss you the ball after the end of innings... it was awesome).
Woody is rehabbing a sore elbow: Link Astros' Williams says elbow is improving Moehler looks good as team beats Devil Rays in St. Petersburg By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Astros righthander Woody Williams, who is making progress with the elbow tenderness he has had this spring, threw four scoreless innings against Astros minor leaguers Sunday at Osceola County Stadium. "I felt better, getting there," Williams said. "It's not obviously right where I want to be yet. I still have a few more outings. Every time is better and better." He and catcher Brad Ausmus benefited from working together. "The big thing for Woody and I was to get acquainted with each other in a game situation, get our signals straight," Ausmus said. "I need to get an understanding how he likes to pitch, how he likes to attack hitters. So we accomplished that." Williams struck out four and walked one while giving up only one hit. He also had an RBI single. He would like to work on throwing his cutters to righthanded hitters. "I'm still not reaching out and finishing it like I need to," he said of his cutter to righthanders. "I'm just kind of leaving it in the middle of the plate instead of in the corner. I think I'm getting real close with arm strength. I haven't seen any numbers. As far as (that) the hitters will let you know." In Sunday's spring training game, righthander Brian Moehler threw four scoreless innings against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla. Moehler gave up one hit and a walk and struck out three in the 5-3 victory. Mike Lamb was 2-for-2 with three RBIs. Charlton Jimerson was 2-for-2 with two doubles. Mike Rodriguez was 2-for-4. Hunter Pence went 0-for-2. Paul Estrada gave up three unearned runs. Trever Miller (one inning), Ezequiel Astacio (two innings) and Jimmy Barthmaier (one inning) pitched scoreless innings. Astacio has thrown four scoreless innings this spring.
Wow, Burke is really hurting. 0 for 4 today and batting .065 for the spring. I really hope he finds his bat. Maybe he is pressing so hard because of all this talk about Pence.
Or maybe spring sample sizes are way too small to make a decision about a player one way or the other... Burke shouldn't have to press right now, the organization is having him in CF to START the season no matter what else happens. If he (and the team) is struggling with offense by the end of April/May... changes will be made. We all know that its never too late in baseball.
There are just so many hits in a bat. It's always a shame to waste them in March. Baseball is the quintessential law of averages game.
Except it's not a law-of-averages game in the sense you're thinking. A hot streak doesn't mean you'll have a counteracting slump. Past performance has no impact on future performance. It's just that over a large sample size, you're going to regress to the mean because your future performance will be average. For example, if you're a 0.300 batter, and you bat 0.400 for a month, it doesn't mean you're going to bat under 0.300 down the line to get to 0.300. It means you'll still be projected to bat 0.300 in the future, and as that becomes a bigger part of your season, you'll regress back towards 0.300. That's not to say you won't have slumps, but they aren't correlated in any way to the hot streak. If you have a slump in May, you would have had that slump whether you bat 0.400 in April or 0.200.
