Please keep this to talk about the series. As usual no Play-by-Play, or general Astros talk. If you need play by play see one of the many other sites that have game casts. 5-21 Matt Garza, RHP (5-1, 2.38) vs. Brett Myers, RHP (2-3, 3.67) 7:05 on FSH 5-22 Jeff Niemann, RHP (3-0, 2.54) vs. Wandy Rodriguez, LHP (2-5, 4.30) 6:05 no tv 5-23 David Price, LHP (6-1, 1.81) vs. Bud Norris, RHP (2-5, 6.75) 1:05 on FSH Sadly the 3 Ray starters have a combined era .02 less than Bud's
Rays look like a team on a mission to make the WS before they have many free agents that may leave the team next year.
I didn't realize David Price was off to such a good start. I guess our best chance for win is if Wandy pitches a shutout. Good luck seeing Astros score runs versus these guys.
yeah...i'm really hoping to get a chance to go catch a game this weekend. seen them on TV a couple of times, but would love to see them in person. really hate that i couldn't catch jimenez last night.
It's probably not a correct feeling, but everytime I look at the Rays, I think "that could have been us." Maybe Myers and Wandy can pitch a couple shutouts and the offense gets a run for them.
Amazingly, we aren't even facing their staff ace. Their 5th starter has an ERA of 3.35. Shields is the oldest at 28. Too bad they can't afford to keep that together. The Rays are also 2nd in MLB in runs scored, even though their OPS is 15th. Looking that up, I noticed that the Astros are dead last in Avg, OBP, SLG, OPS, Doubles, Hits, Walks, Intentional Walks, Extra Base hits, Plate appearances, and AB/HR. We lead the league in Ground Balls, and Ground Ball/Fly Out. It is staggering. We have a ratio of 1.20, the next highest is 0.99. Walks are even worse. We have 79, the next lowest is 115. That is 46% more walks then us. Ridiculous. Can we trade Berkman to the Rays? Pena has sucked, and his batting average has been decreasing every year, and the just DFA'd Burrell.
I'm going to the ballpark for this one. Time to see the future (hopefully) Astros vs. the dead (present) Astros.
Not going to be pretty. It doesn't even matter what our pitchers do anymore. We can't score a god damn run to save our lives out there, so here's to all our pitchers tossing shutouts and STILL losing. Jesus.
so what's sad...is that there will be more fans at MMP to watch the Rays play here vs. our last place team.....then there would be if the game were in Tampa, with their home town team being the best in baseball.
Best team in baseball vs a minor league team LLL "I knew it was over when the Rays plane landed" Signed Brett Myers Wandy Bud
I was looking at all those numbers last night, too. I figure that the explanation for the all the extra runs scored is clutch hitting and stolen bases. The Astros offensive statistics are downright embarrassing. I have to imagine that this is one of the worst 40-game stretches in the last several decades.
What made me look it up is that I've noticed a lot of Rays players putting up numbers that aren't very impressive, and some of them for multiple years. Pena .686OPS Upton .698OPS Bartlett .686OPS Navarro .494OPS Zobrist is having a very good May after an unimpressive April. Really Zobrist, Crawford, and Longoria have been their only above average players offensive players. If there ever was a fit for Berkman for need & title opportunity its the Rays. They fit like a glove except for the salary.
I was reading the latest round of postgame articles filled with references to our putrid offense so I decided to peak at our team stats. I hadn't checked them in a few weeks. Pitching still mediocre. Hitting still epic bad. That's an interesting take on Berkman. The thought never crossed my mind but it makes plenty of sense. It would be easy to root for him in that environment.
