he looks tired. I dont think ir would hurt for him to miss a start to be fresh for september. what do you think?
If his mechanics are screwed up (which they are) because of fatigue, then missing one start could be benefitial. But then again, the extra 3-4 days off might not make much of a difference. Roy can still be somewhat effective even if he's got the "dead arm" (which has not been confirmed... see below). Tonight was his first truly bad start out of this last month of starts where he hasn't been lights out in any of them . If he can go out there and avoid the horrible innings like the 1st tonight, he can still give this team a chance to win... and that might serve the team better than possibly giving him a start off, losing a game with a AAA call up, and then hoping that the rest would have actually paid off (which never is a guarantee). Of course, if the team does make the playoffs, Roy is going to be pretty vital to this team's success, and if he's still "tired"... we're not going to win it all. Regarding why Roy has not been "lights out" this last month, he said a couple of starts ago that his arm felt fine... but that he just lost focus (it was the Pirates game... where he pitched great for 6 innings, then lost it in the 7th). I do think he's a little fatigued (at this stage of the season, that's not totally uncommon), but I also think his mechanics got really screwed up along the way. That's my diagnosis (we'll have to wait till tommorow's chronicle article with Roy's quotes on tonight's game to be fully sure of what's goin on).
I think you have to give him a start off somehow - he may get pissed, but he's not doing us much good going out there like this every week. I'd rather take a chance with getting the great Roy O back for the last 4 or so weeks of the season, rather than having this mediocre one for the next 5 weeks - we need him to be absolutely dominant to win this thing, and he's just not that right now. I'd gladly sacrifice a game with a AAA scrub to get the real Roy back. I know Roger's been pretty damn good, but I'm starting to think he needs a day off too. He's not been quite as sharp these last several starts. If nothing else, call up Carlos Hernandez on Sept 1 and have him fill in one week for Roy, one week for Roger.
I agree that we need an absoultely dominant Roy to end the season, and if I knew that resting him would guarantee that, I'd be totally for it.... the problem is, even rest is not a sure-fire guarantee (unless we're able to give him a couple of weeks off... which we're not). I do think Carlos Hernandez will be one of the September callups, though.
gonna be a long day with clemens on the mound tommorow. sadly, it won't be because of clemens... again damn what a bad time for 2 out of our top 3 starters to either not have it each start, or not get any runs every start.
1-0 loss. LOL. It's beyond sad now. You have to think that maybe the baseball Gods are evening things out for some Cy-Youngs he probably didn't deserve (over RJ last year, Garcia with NYY). The tragic irony is that it's coming in the best year of his career.
If any of you are still on the it's gonna turn around eventually bandwagon you better jump now. This is one of those times the team needs be shaken out of the slump. Only Bagwell or Griffey can do it. There is nothing wrong with adding a big bat to the lineup. It can only help. It can't hurt. The time is now. I don't know what we are waiting for.
i'm still on the bandwagon...it's just hard. i really think the stros will break out...whether it takes bagwell/griffey or not, i don't know. But regardless, i still can't believe--no matter how much it's been talked about--how Roger is getting screwed out of so many wins this year. It's uncanny
We'd prob be 5-10 games up in the Wild Card if they produced just a FEW runs for him (especially) and our other aces. Just sad. And I've been fairly supportive of management so far this season, understanding that there really is not much out there to be had in the way of a bat, but seriously, there's got to be something that can be done to inject some kind of power (however small) into this lineup...because anything is gonna be better than what we got right now. And I read I think in the paper today how Purpura had to start finalizing playoff rosters and such, and the only player he mentioned calling up right now was Chavez...no mention of Luke Scott. He may not be the answer but c'mon, you gotta try SOMETHING.
I don't agree with the way the Astros use Humberto Quintero. The last time he caught was last Saturday. I don't have a problem of him not playing but if you are no playing him a lot, why not just send him to RR where he plays everyday and could get better.
This team is what it is, which is a weak offensive team with very good (not great) pitching. I thought it was interesting when 2-3 weeks ago one person posted they expected the Astros to win the Wild Card by 5 games. It was like they expected the team to continue wining at a 70% clip for the rest of the year. Now that things are sliding, don't get too down on them. They don't "suck". Unless the Marlins go on a run the Astros will be in the chase until near the end. The bats won't stay like this forever. The Astros are a slightly above .500 team who will go on spurts and have slumps until the end of the season. We just may sneak in the playoffs and play the Braves again. We need RoyO to get it together and for Wandy and Zeke to pitch good at least every other game. On the contrary side, if Roger or Andy start to falter, this team is finished.
Have you looked at our pitching compared with the rest of the league? To say our pitching is very good (not great) is ridiculous.
I actually think this team is playing WORSE right now, than they did at the beginning of the season, because back then we didn't have Lance Berkman and we didn't think Morgan Ensberg was going to have a 40 HR 100 RBI season (which he's on pace for). Now, we have Lance back and Morgan has had his big year... and as they've gone cold, we've been awful offensively. With all the talk about getting a "bat" going on, nobody realizes that if at least one of these two guys that we already have doesn't start producing with more consistency now... it won't matter who you try to add. The key, obviously, is to start winning series again... then it will be to try to go on a winning streak. The only saving grace in all of this is that Florida, NY and Washington all lost today, and Philly is losing 6-2... this is just one unbeliveably mediocre bunch of teams right now.
Ridiculous? The last 10 games we've given up 39 runs; that's good, not great. The team ERA for the year is 3.60. Remember, we have Wandy & Zeke in our starting rotation. Our pitching was great when we were on the tear. It was NOT during the 16-31 start. My point is our real team is somewhere in between the terrible start and our hot streak. Neither was sustainable. On average (not just Clemens, Oswalt, Pettit & Lidge) our pitching is very good. On average, our hitting is bad. It all adds up to a team that should continue flirting just above .500 for the rest of the year. Maybe that's enough to slip into the playoffs.
I happen to think one of the cancers in the lineup right now is Berkman. How many times his the guy going to leave men in scoring position? He's killing the team right now....horrible. Bring up Luke Scott...give the guy a chance. 31 homers in AAA is not a fluke. He went from AA to the Majors at the beginning and was not prepared. Now he's crushing AAA pitchers...give him a chance!!! We need something!
Well, what do you expect? A bunch of singles from a bunch of singles hitters. (minus Berkman, who isn't Berkman yet....and Morgan who is in a slump) The Astros suck right now, really suck. But fortunately the other teams aren't running away with the WC. We missed a golden opportunity to take back a lot of ground today.
