i don't care what he's trying to do...if he's capable of playing like this...and can play like this consistently...then we don't have a better option at 1B any time soon.
There's three versions of Roy: 1.) Awesome Roy... the one who's in the "zone", and each pitch is a strike that the hitters flail away at. Amazingly, this is the Roy that we've seen for most of his career (and pretty much his entire rookie season in 2001). 2.) Awful Roy... nothing goes right, he gives up HR's, he hits batters on purpose, it normally starts with one awful inning that he probably doesn't get out of. He's made appearences a few times this year. 3.) Average Roy... which is still better than most pitchers out there. That's the one we're seeing today, and the one we saw his last time out in Chicago. He still eats up innings for you, and gives up 2-4 runs in the mean time. Not much control, but at the same time he isn't getting shelled, and he's giving you a chance to win the game.
I think one of the reasons our pitching has picked it up recently is that the entire team is playing with the confidence that it had at the start of the season. The pitchers don't have the pressure that any mistake will cost them the game because they know the offense will score some runs. Maybe they're just a bit more relaxed and have confidence to pitch well now. Or maybe they realize these games might mean something so they're putting out the effort needed to pitch effectively. Not sure, but our pitching, especially middle relief has picked it up a lot recently.
holy crap. this is getting ridiculous!!! the cubs made a HUGE mistake by pissing this team off. same mistake they made against the freaking Cahdnals. go 'stros!
Man, when we get guys on base, our guys SMELL BLOOD. I've never seen such clutch hitting from this team. This is the way it is supposed to work. Thank you Gary Gaetti. Good riddance Harry Spillman.
Did anybody else hear Richard Justice on 610 this morning? (with john and lance). He said they had taped an Outside the Lines segment on the "Astros collapse", and it was supposed to air tonight. They obviously pointed out how it would be strange to air something like that in the middle of this hot streak (especially if they win today), but Justice said something dumb like "Hey... I hope they do air it... I think I did a good job." Then I hit the snooze and went back to sleep...