Thanks, now everybody make sure that every game you always do what you were doing at the very moment when Lamb hit the grand slam.
It also looked like a ploy to get Springer all the warm-up time. I'm pretty sure that they were going to take out Oswalt anyways. As long as its not his groin or ribcage, it look ok... especially if it is just some foot/ankle problem.
Umm...wow. I went away from the tv for a minute fully expecting those 2 runs to score when Oswalt left the game. How the heck did Springer keep those runs from scoring?
I've been saying for a long time that Lamb needs to be a starter for this team. He was a starter last year when we went on the big stretch run. Start him in left until Berkman comes back, then make Lamb the starter at 3rd. Put Ensberg on the bench. Expecially with this team, offensive capabilities have got to come before defense.
I posted this exact thing before the season, but many here believed that Lamb would never accept an everyday role at LF because he "didn't like it", or something like that... Obviously, he's willing to play the outfield if it guarantees him an everyday job.
He also had 636 plate appearances. Over the last 2 years, one in high A ball and one in AA ball, Willy would've projected to 77 and 75 steals in that amount. Anderson had a notable drop off in production when he had his call up to Lexington - including an OBP under .320. In fact, if you project his SB rate in Lexington (high A) to that 636 plate appearances, it drops down to 64 (only 64 steals?!?!?! ). Most people who I've heard have seen them both have said Willy's faster- not to say Josh Anderson isn't blindingly fast, but that Willy is that ridiculous. He's certainly off to a good start in AA though. It's just my thought a guy like him is insurance in the case Taveras is more Brian Hunter than Kenny Lofton, and the organization would much prefer to surround Willy in the OF with power potential guys. Einertson, the HS player who tied the rookie league HR record is not off to a great start, but Hunter Pence, our #1 pick, is lighting up in Lexington, hitting .356 with 6 HRs and a .480 OBP with a .685 SLG 20 games into the season. Unless the rest of your lineup is filled with mashers, you can't really afford to have 3 guys (I'm including Everett and/or Burke) who are not really extra base threats. Even the Marlins- they have Pierre and Castillo, but in their OF are 2 30 HR guys in Cabrera and Encarnacion (used to be Floyd), their shortstop is a 20 HR guy, they have a plus offensive catcher (Lo Duca, used to be Pudge), and Lowell and Delgado can mash. We can't afford to have Taveras and Anderson out there if Burke/Everett is our DP combo and/or our catcher is at best an average offensive threat.
That was definitely a good series and very close to a sweep. I guess the mystery is why are we so much better at home than on the road? Maybe this is a wake up call? I hope so.
Couple of good wins. We're gonna have to put together a string of wins here soon, or I'm afraid the Cardinals are gonna run away with the division again.
