No doubt Lidge has earned the right be in there and try to work this out, but he has definitely been less than impressive this season. He's had alot of opportunities that most other closers have not had with the Astros winning so many games and some 2 and 3 run leads that he has barely been able to hang onto so the 10 saves is definitely a skewed number. The bottom line is that he still has great stuff and his location is not Rick Ankiel style by any stretch of the imagination. He is off enough to make him look bad, but not off so much that he can't work it out.
Yep. It's actually a *good* thing that he's getting pounded sometimes. I mean, some guys are so messed up that they can't find the K zone at all. Obviously it's not really good he's getting hit hard those times that he is...but it's way better than throwing it tothe backstop and issuing 15 straight balls or somethin
ya know i never knew what really happened to the kid i mean he throws back to back perfect games and then just loses control strange to say the least.
He is saving games at an 83% clip, and the Astros have won 95% of the games that he has come in to save. Yes, he is struggling, and he has to get better than what he has been doing lately, but his stuff is filthy. I think he needs to be meaner......buzz a few people back. If they want to sit on his fastball, he needs to make them sit in the batters box....hitters are entirely too comfortable against him. There is a reason that Roger gets by with less stuff....hitters know he will deck em....same with Roy..... Lidge needs an attitude adjustment. DD
That's not going to happen anytime soon -- that thing is currently orbiting the planet. Maybe one of the shuttle crews can snag it and bring it back down with them.
Ankiel had 21 homers and 75 RBI in a little over 300 at bats last year in AAA in his attempt to get back to the majors as an outfielder.
http://users4.ev1.net/~mamolina/astros/LOLidge.avi I love how he's so f*cking pumped (no pun intended) until he slips the f bomb, then he mellows out, in a sort of "oh shoot, my mom and dad are going to see this and ground me" sort of way
I'd LOVE to see the Andy that we had at the end of the year last year show up tonight ... Lets Go Stros!
Well, a 2.75 ERA for the last 4 starts is pretty much all you can ask from him... its just been either bad luck (going against a hot starter), or bad hitting that has his record stuck where it is. Andy is the ONE pitcher I'll never be worried about... the guy is simply an awesome big-game pitcher, he uses all his pitches no matter what the count is, and he's as big (if not bigger) a competitor as Roy and Roger. Truly... the golden age of Astros baseball is now.
Ugh ... Berkman/Ensberg have come through in the 1st inning so often this year I'm not used to them failing after the first 2 get on.
We are facing a Cy young winner, who has owned us most of the last two years... runs will not be easy tonight at all. (then again, we roughed up Sheets and Marquis... and they've had success against us as well).
anyone notice Willy T getting more BBs this year? Already has eight. If he keeps up the pace, hell double his BBs from last year.
Andy had a couple good starts in there, but he's actually had a 3.96 ERA over his last 4 games. He's definitely had some bad luck with some poor run support, but he definitely has not been as good as we all know he can be. Hope he gets back to the form we all know and love tonight though!
Oh sheeet. Looks like Andy really does need his buddy Roger around. Double with the bases loaded. Still 1 out. ugh.
He is getting better... I'll admit it. If he can start driving in runs, or be able to increase his XBH total, he'll really be making some progress. His biggest improvement, however, has been his defense... he no longer takes random routes to balls, or is fooled off the bat as much as he was last year. Just looks far more confident out there.
