Pitching Matchups: 9-27 -- Woody Williams (11-7, 3.86) vs. Roy Oswalt (18-10, 3.59) 7:05 on 9-28 -- Danny haren (3-2, 4.36) vs. Brandon Backe (3-3, 4.48) 7:05 on 9-29 -- Jeff Suppan (16-8, 4.03) vs. Roger Clemens (18-4, 2.89) 7:05 on
Looking at that Game 2 pitching matchup: Some 24 year old pitcher that I've never heard of ... With an ERA approaching 5.00 ... We're toast. (Yet somehow we'll drop 7 runs on Williams on Suppan.)
We're not toast, cause we actually have faced Danny Haren on numerous occasions... and we've beat him before. These are the Cardinal's three worst starters. We're not seeing Morris, Carpenter or Marquis. We, on the other hand, we have our best (and perhaps only) two starters going. (and, the best 3rd option available right now in Backe). There are no excuses... I legitimately want to see a WWW!
Thanks for making me feel better, but I didn't mean it literally. Thus the smiley. It was just a joke about the perceived pattern of the Stros bats going silent against no-name guys. (Key word: "perceived" because one tends to remember the games where we went silent and not the ones where we roughed up the no-names.)
F A T Chance Still a disapointing season. Breaking your heart once is never enough. The Astros are like the fine looking girl in High School who enjoys teasing you and making you think you got a shot, all the while she's just toying with you.
Yea... I figured you were kidding. That was primarily for the rest of the people who thought we were facing a "no-name". Of course, we'd faced Wes "freaking" Obermuller before, and we seem to be the only team he ever beats every year. Honestly... if it weren't for that guy, we'd had made the playoffs last year, and probably would be tied for it this year.
I really wish people would take their negativity elsewhere. WWW with a share of the wild card lead come Friday.
*sigh* it's hard for me to believe we're going to do this (especially against the Cards): WWW but we have no choice. I just hope Cox plays to win vs. Cubs and not rest'em. The Cubs have to lose 3.
We need to win them all, but two of three would be nice...We got such a tough last week, but you never know...Still holding out hope... Go Stros!!!
But, I didn't know we had faced Haren before. So that really did make me feel better! I'm now ready to predict: WWW Look, we're up against the Cubs for the wild card spot. We've got their bad karma working for us!
OK ... We have Oswalt, Backe, then Clemens in this series We then have a day off. After that I honestly believe we need to go Oswalt, Backe, and Clemens again. They would each be pitching on 3 days rest which is to be expected of pitchers in do or die games at the end of the season. We just can't afford to throw Hernandez or Munro out there again. The question this brings up though is who would we have throw the tie-breaker game if it got to that point.
Astros must best the best St. Louis (103-52) at Houston (86-70); 7:05 p.m. CT By Alyson Footer / MLB.com The Houston Astros beat the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday to move within 1 1/2 games of the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card race. With six games remaining in the regular season, the Astros need to win at least two of their next three games and they will have to do it against the best team in baseball -- the St. Louis Cardinals. The Astros took two of three in St. Louis Sept. 14-16. The Cardinals have had the division title and the best record in baseball locked up for nearly a week, and the Astros could catch a break if manager Tony La Russa decides to rest some of his starters in preparation for the playoffs. "St. Louis is not going to have the urgency that we're going to have, obviously," manager Phil Garner sad. "They probably won't go to the bullpen in situations that he normally would. He might be setting up his rotation. If that is the case, he might not let one or two of his starters go like he normally would go. He probably would go to the bullpen sooner in that case." The Astros have lost five of six to the Cardinals at Minute Maid Park this year, but the team hardly resembles the one that was swept in a three-game series in Houston in April. Now, the Astros have an acute sense of urgency to play well against the NL Central champions with less than a week of games remaining. "The Cardinals and Astros are playing for different reasons," Jeff Kent said. "The Cardinals are trying to get themselves ready for the playoffs. We're playing for our lives -- to get into the playoffs. The atmosphere will be a little different in each dugout. We were able to play well against them at their home, in their park, so hopefully we'll be able to do that at our place." Pitching matchup HOU: RHP Roy Oswalt # 18-10, 3.59 ERA in 2004 # 1-0, 2.08 ERA in 2004 vs. STL # 3-2, 3.31 ERA lifetime vs. STL STL: RHP Woody Williams # 11-7, 3.86 ERA in 2004 # 1-0, 5.25 ERA in 2004 vs. HOU # 9-3, 3.39 ERA lifetime vs. HOU Players to watch Against Oswalt, Marlon Anderson is 1-for-3, Roger Cedeno is 1-for-4, Jim Edmonds is 7-for-24, Ray Lankford is 1-for-6, John Mabry is 1-for-2, Mike Matheny is 1-for-13, Cody McKay is 1-for-2, Albert Pujols is 10-for-30, Edgar Renteria is 6-for-22, Scott Rolen is 4-for-20, Reggie Sanders is 0-for-6, Larry Walker is 2-for-9 and Tony Womack is 1-for-6. Against Williams, Brad Ausmus is 7-for-32, Jeff Bagwell is 15-for-44, Carlos Beltran is 0-for-8, Lance Berkman is 7-for-33, Craig Biggio is 13-for-46, Morgan Ensberg is 3-for-13, Jeff Kent is 11-for-33, Mike Lamb is 2-for-5, Orlando Palmeiro is 3-for-6 and Jose Vizcaino is 3-for-14. Quotable "We can only worry about ourselves. We can't do anything about anybody else. We watch with great interest, but there's absolutely nothing we can do about that. We take care of our business here, and we'll see what happens." -- Garner on his team's mindset in the final week of the season
I would say they have an outside chance if they go 5-1 the rest of the way in... and thinking they have a chance even if they lose one vs the Cards (which is a lot more believable than sweeping the Cards). Just need a lot of help...
Look at this way, all the cubs have to do is lose to put us in. We don't even have to win any games. It's like taking candy from a baby. Shoot, if back in May someone told me the Cubs controlled our destiny with 6 games to go I'd say "Hell ya!"
sweep! This such a walk in park, I think we'll have time to pick on some squirrels and yell at some skaters too.
