All of this is from Richard Justice's blog: http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/archives/2006/08/and_now_the_wal.html this guy has eaten so much crow over the last few seasons. While we're on the subject of numbers, the Astros suddenly have an offense. They were sixth in the NL in runs in August, fourth in homers and fifth in on-base percentage. And in the final week of the month, they got their mojo back. Dan Wheeler allowed his first run since the All-Star Break on Thursday. Willy Taveras entered Thursday's game second in hits in the NL this month. He was tied with Carl Crawford and Hanley Ramirez for the MLB lead in stolen bases. The Astros lead the big leagues with 35 shutouts the last three seasons. Brad Lidge hasn't allowed a run in seven straight appearances. Houston relievers have a 2.94 ERA since the All-Star Break. The Rocket has allowed two runs or less in 12 of his 14 starts. In 79 starts for the Astros, Clemens is 37-16 with a 2.41 ERA. (and my favorite) Adam Everett has made four errors in 123 games and one in his last 75. He has played 53 consecutive games without making one.
I heard one yesterday. Since Roger Clements became an Astro, the team has scored ZERO runs in 25 percent of his games. In his entire career before Houston, that happened in fewer than 10 percent of his games regardless of the team. WTF?
I hate this one. Even though he is great defensively, he's given the benefit of the doubt a lot of time, especially at MM Park. I remember one play about 15-20 games ago where the ball was hit right to him, bounced about a foot in front of him, and he failed to catch it. They did not give him an error because it was hit hard. A major leaguer should be expected to catch a ball even if it is hit hard! So while I do agree he is the best SS defensively, it seems the only way you get errors these days is on bad throws.
is AE the only beneficiary of this?? because few players are having the kind of season he is defensively as a middle infielder.
Great, now we are jinxed. Willy is going to strikeout now, AE will make 5 errors, Lidge will start hanging sliders down the middle, Wheeler will just give up homeruns...
During spring training Kevin Bass once accidently hit a deer with his car. To the amazement of all around he laid his hands on the deer and the deer sprang back to life. Kevin Bass promptly snapped its neck and said, "Kevin Bass giveth life and Kevin Bass taketh life."
