Ok, so I was just wondering why Mike Williams has been so much better this year than he was when he was with the Stros. He wasn't bad, mind you. But he wasn't all that and a bag of Cheesy Poofs either. It seemed like when he was with the Stros everyone would just watch him throw the first few pitches (or should I say sliders) for balls and then get ready to whack one when he tries to groove a 3-0 fastball by them at 86 mph. I can only assume he is just more accurate and gets ahead more often with his sliders in the closer role with the pressure on. Whaddya think?
My first thought was that he didn't care in Houston, and just gave 80%, or something like that. Whenever I saw his high amount of saves in Pitt., I got jealous and came up with that. But I really doubt that was the reason. Could be the same reason you had. I'm not really sure.
He just wasn't this good last year, period. His Pittsburgh ERA was 3.7; Houston 4.0. On the other hand, he was 4-0 with only 1 blown save for us last year, so he did his job pretty well. This year, he's far better than he's ever been in the past.
Ya my first thought agrees w/ RC... I think he figured he would be going back to Pitt. so he wasn't focusing with Houston because he knew he would be gone soon. I hope this isn't the case though.
It just seemed like every time I saw him last year he walked at least two people in every inning and ended up giving up a sac fly and letting the runner score. It was really disappointing for me because I knew he had a history of being a very good relief pitcher. Could be the same problem Wags has though. He doesn't get up for games unless it's a save. Usually gets shelled when he comes in a tie game or down by one.
