Don't get me wrong, I'm not rooting against Dotel. I think he can do the job and would like him to be the closer the Astros seemingly thought he could be. So far though he hasn't been the stopper that he needs to be.
Yeah....we won! we have lost 7 of our last 10 games. I hope we can turn that around. Great game by Redding, he has really turned it around. I admit, i didn't have the patience Jimmy had with Redding. I was frustrated with the guy, and was to the point of wanting to send him down for a bit. But he has been great in his last couple of starts. Go Stros!
Yep, and I think the same patience is needed from Astros fans for Dotel. He'll come around and be a successful closer.
Good article on Redding from the Chronicle. -------------------------------------------------------------- May 31, 2004, 1:09AM No. 51 earns confidence of Williams By RICHARD JUSTICE Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle His slider buckled knees, his fastball shattered bats, and Tim Redding again reminded the Astros of what he can be instead of what he frequently is. After stuffing one of the National League's best offensive teams in his pocket for 7 1/3 innings, he received a standing ovation, a highlight in a career that has tested the Astros on a variety of levels over the years. Redding's 19th career victory was his most impressive. Also his most important. The Astros had barely finished shaking Redding's hand Sunday after a 7-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals when Andy Pettitte stood a couple of feet away and pointed to that worrisome spot on his left elbow. Pettitte had been unable to complete a scheduled throwing session, and the frustration on his face and in his voice spoke volumes. "I just want to be part of this," he said, gesturing around the clubhouse. The Astros have no idea when Pettitte will pitch again, and they have no idea how effective he'll be once he returns. Dancing with Mr. DL Pettitte's absence changes this season's math yet again. Not that it should matter. Injuries are a test, not an excuse. The Chicago Cubs have remained competitive even without Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Sammy Sosa and others. Virtually no playoff team gets through a season unscathed. The Astros have been through enough of these things to know that Octavio Dotel's rough transition to closer would not be their only test. Good teams find a way to win and keep going. Last week, Cubs manager Dusty Baker spoke proudly of his own team, which thinks winning without so many stars is no big deal. "We just keep going," Baker said, shrugging. Pettitte's injury has been the only real test for a team that has all kinds of other problems. First, there are the offensive brownouts. The Astros lead the National League in runs but have been held to three or fewer in nine of the last 19 games. They have little lineup flexibility, so why not end the Richard Hidalgo/Orlando Palmeiro platoon in right field and give Jason Lane a chance to play? Then there's a bullpen that has the NL's 12th-best ERA. In defense of the bullpen, it was not constructed to pitch as many innings as it has. Wanted: workhorses With the additions of Roger Clemens and Pettitte, the Astros thought their starters would get them into the seventh inning with some consistency. At the moment, nine teams have gotten more innings from their starters. So Redding's best game came at an important time. If you judged him strictly on this one, you'd put him on the short list of the game's most impressive pitchers. The Astros probably can't make the playoffs unless Redding is the pitcher they hoped he'd be. On Sunday, he was. He threw that 92 mph fastball on the corner. He mixed in some decent curveballs. And most of all, he threw an 87 mph slider that was close to unhittable. "I kind of know how Brad Lidge feels," Redding said, referring to a teammate with one of the game's premier sliders. "The hitter would swing at the pitch, and it wouldn't be there." Redding rose through the minors ranked alongside Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller as the Astros' best pitching prospects. These final steps have been the toughest of all. He arrived unable to trust his stuff, thinking the 92 mph fastball that had gotten him to the big leagues now had to be 95 mph. He threw it that hard a few times, but those were the ones that sometimes ended up in the middle of the strike zone. Sammy Sosa deposited one of the harder ones off a light tower a few years ago, and Redding began to learn that location and movement were more important than velocity. He added a cut fastball that has less velocity but more movement. And he learned to throw both the slider and curveball in the strike zone. By last season, he was close to being what the Astros always hoped he'd be. Then came an 0-3 start this season. Give Astros manager Jimy Williams credit for staying with Redding. Give Redding credit for persevering. "I threw the ball about as well as I could," he said Sunday. "Maybe a complete game would be better, but that's about it." He opened the season as the No. 5 starter, but with Pettitte's injury and Wade Miller's baffling inconsistency, Redding could be the difference between a bad rotation and a decent one. "This feels good," he said. "When the season started, I went through a tough stretch. The other four guys were throwing well, and when I'd pitch, people were thinking, 'How many relievers will we need today?' " They don't say that kind of thing anymore. Redding has allowed six earned runs in his last five starts, and four of those came in one game. When the Astros give the ball to Redding now, it's almost like giving it to Oswalt or Clemens. It's a chance to win. richard.justice@chron.com
