Oswalt may've ran outta gas. He pitched well up until the 4th inning or so vs CHI. He would've been extra rested had the Cards series ended in 6.
Maybe its just me, but I hate so many Yankee fans. I''m not sure if its an arrogance issue, but they're the only fans I've seen that start chants at opposing ball parks. I'm cool with fans who rep their gear. Heck, I don't bat an eye w/ fans who cheer loudly. But actively trying to start a "Lets Go Yank-ees" chant in the first inning, at another stadium, is a little too much for me. Maybe it's just that I would never do it. But I think its just poor taste. The only thing it really accomplishes is pissing off fans around you.
We should've won this series, but getting the split is acceptable. McHugh was awesome. Correa is a beast. Astros can turn more heads if they beat KC. We were only 1 game behind them for best AL record a few days ago, then things flipped. Let's get closer and make them uncomfortable.
Yes, the 7th game was big, and he was going to be rested for game 1. Imagine that game 7th to be the one in game 1
It was game 6.... he was on full rest for game 3... Clemens and petite were also on full rest... so these pet theories should probably go away.
It did end in 6... And he would have had the same rest for game 1 that he ended up having for game 3.
but one less game pitched, especially high, tense game. What worse than a 7 game on the road after losing a shocking game. After that homer, a lot of energy was lost on that team. I believe everything would had been different. Clemens would had not pitched in that cold weather, and injured himself.
The shocking game lost was game 5. Had the Astros lost game 6, Clemens was in line to start game 7 in the Cardinal series. Also, Clemens stats that year across the board (except for wins) were better than Oswalt's. Considering all pitchers were on normal rest, there was essentially no difference in Clemens, Pettitte, Oswalt as Oswalt, Clemens, Pettitte over the first 3 games. Also, bear in mind that the best Astros starter in the 2005 WS was Brandon Backe.
Thanks for explaining this to everybody... I basically didn't have the energy to go into it. These game threads always take an awkard tangent at the end of the series... would be interesting to go back and look at all of those.
I have no problem with opposing fans chanting lets go "insert team their here" at MMP. It gets even better when they do it and the Astros take the lead and win. Nothing wrong with that. I do the same thing when I go to Ballpark in Arlington when we play the Rangers
Once i talked with Beltran, and told me that the pitcher he would want in a deciding game was Oswalt. Also, he mentioned that it was impressive to watch Pedro Martinez warm up in the bullpen and see he put the ball exactly where the catcher wanted it. And in a funny part, we could not remember the pitcher that hit him in the ribs, lol, later on i looked at it, and it was Juan Cruz i believe
But that's not really the prevailing theory, that one pitcher was better than the other. The theory is... IF the Astros close out game 5, then they could have pitched Oswalt in game 1 and not exposed 5,700-year old Clemens and his gimpy hamstring to a cold late October night game in Chicago. He would have instead pitched in the much-warmer confines of Houston (game 3). ETA: Oswalt-Pettitte-Clemens would have also given Clemens three extra days to rest. He had been nursing a bad hamstring, well, most of the year - but it flared back up in early September. I'd love to shoot the team full of sodium pentothal and ask what, if any, impact Game 5/6 really had on them. I have to believe there's a difference between winning a series declaratively in five games vs having to exert the extra energy to fight off *everything* that came with winning game 6 and turning that more into a "whew!" moment. But that might be my fan perspective creeping into it.
But its also presumed that Oswalt fairs better in a road/cold game 1 against the same team that he ends up giving up 5 runs (and was put in several jams throughout the game) in the climate controlled game 3, correct?
He pitched against a better team, on the road, and won When Oswalt pitched, the series was over, it was 2 and 0, back home. I believe the series was going to be different with oswalt going first
Wait....are you saying you had already given up on them when they were down 2-0 with their arguably best pitcher pitching game 3?
