They did a piece on 60 minutes on the pujols, and asked Berkaman why pitchers pitch to him and he states he would never pitch to him. Why didn't the astros pitchers ever get the memo. It seems like a lifetime ago, but that year we had beltran, kent, berkman etc. we had a great chance to get WS and maybe win it all. That team was loaded if we didn't pitch to albert pujols.
We were loaded but our achilles heal was the middle relief pitchers and our 5th starter. Qualls, Chad Harville, and Dan Miceli were guys that I remember off the top of my head really blowing it in that series and IIRC we had to start Pete Munro one game as well. I dont remember how Munro did but he has no business starting a game in the National League Championship series. The Cardinals had a really good lineup as well, and if the situations were right I'm sure we pitched around him but I'm sure there were several situations where he was up to bat with men on.
Seems like every pitcher that pitches to him wants to be "that guy" that strikes him out. Just walk him.
Astros were stuck in that series in 2004.. that year they couldn't let Clemens go in game 6...he was awful on 3 days rest and also, Oswalt had an injury in those playoffs...him starting on 3 days rest would have been a disaster.
Pettitte's season-ending surgery meant that Pete Munro had to pitch Games 2 and 6 - the usual games that Pettitte made his reputation pitching for the Yankees And yeah, Edmonds robbing Ausmus of extra bases in the second inning also probably saved at least a run, and probably 2 that inning... Spoiler <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cuO00r28ymA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As I recall, Pete Munro actually pitched really well in game 6. I remember despairing before the game thinking we were screwed and didn't stand a chance, but we didn't lose that game because of Munro.
Edmonds' catch was probably the best i'd seen in my lifetime, just when he did it and how the game played out made it even more remarkable. I remember Lance Z had an incredible rant on his morning show about 3 or 4 years ago regarding pitching to Pujols. I understand some situations make it impossible but still don't get why he gets so many dam pitches to hit.
If Roy and Roger are your 1-2 punch I like my chances. When Edmond plays the astros he turn into pujols.
No, Pete pitched pretty much like crap in Game 6. If Andy had been healthy...well you saw what happened the following year. The bullpen pretty much saved our ass, especially Lidge, in that game until that who will not be named came into the game in the 12th.
Edmonds was good, but here is what albert did: 4 hr 9 rbi and 1.500 ops in 7 games. If the astros had walked him every time his ops would have been a 1.000 and he couldn't have driven in 9 runs.
That doesn't paint the whole picture. Yea we could have walked him everytime but would you walk him with 2 on and no outs? There are situations where you had to pitch to him, not throw them right down the middle and hope for the best, but try to make some pitches and not just intentionally walk him. He had Larry Walker hitting in front of him and in their primes Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds batting directly behind him. Cleanup hitter- Rolen: 3 hrs, 6 RBIs .310 BA and 1.044 ops 5 hole hitter- Edmonds: 2 hrs, 7 RBIS, .292 BA and .982 ops Those guys were on fire as well, they would have cleaned up the opportunities we would have taken away from Albert by walking him http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/2004_NLCS.shtml
Munro's lines from Game 2 and Game 6: Game 2: 4.2 IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER Game 6: 2.1 IP, 8H, 4R, 4ER Series: 7 IP, 14H, 7ER, 9.00 ERA That being said, the man referenced by rockets934life above managed to have a worse series for the 'stros
He was indeed, and was a huge part of our success that year. If Andy had been healthy, we probably would have beat the Cards, but he wasn't, and we didn't.
