Both teams bullpen sux. So the Astros need to out slug the Red Birds and play better defense b/c our pitchers can't hold lead with exception of B. Lidge.
Another example is the Diamondbacks with Schilling and Johnson. We reallly need to win tomorrow..... DD
And you critisized Garner for that (see your locked thread)! Thats your problem. You rant without knowing the facts. Depends on how you look at it. It worked out well since Roy was able to come back on 3 days rest and pitch effectively to get us the win. Perhaps that was part of Garner's thought process. I don't think you want a rookie start to "learn" during the post season. Garner is making the right decisions with him IMO. The Cardinals weren't resting players in that series. Rolen was out with an injury. And while Backe wasn't getting hammered, he was hardly shutting them down. And again, YOU DON"T KNOW WHAT BACKE HAD LEFT IN THE TANK. I trust that Garner and/or Ausmus did. They make the call in that situation, not Backe. Backe is not Clemens or Oswalt. Based on what? Oswalt's game 2 against the Braves, I can possibly understand. However, he was close to 100 pitches and Garner might have anticipated needing him on 3 days rest. Your rants probably don't help bud.
BTW, .......Larry Walker is the X factor in this series IMO. If he keeps hitting like he did tonight, then they are devastating 2-7. Many analysts weren't even mentioning him when talking about the potent lineup of the Cardinals. I mean ..who do you pitch around? Walker?? nope ..Pujols is next Pitch around Pujols?? nope...MVP Scott Rolen is next Pitch around Rolen?? nope...Astro killer and 40 HR guy Jim Edmonds is next Pitch around Edmonds?? maybe...you still have two 20 HR guys in Sanders and Renteria next. Walker really completes that lineup.
yeah and what did they give up to get him again? at the time i thought the move was nothing but i didn't know walker had so much left in the tank. damn you colorado!!!
I think Colorado was more anxious to dump his big salary. Walker has been injured alot the last 2-3 years, but hes still put up great #s when he has played. He hit 17 HRs this year in only 72 games. Not bad.
I really liked reading codell's and DaDakota's posts. I respect y'alls opinions more then most on this board, so can you both please shut up with your feud!? I say that with much respect. Let's talk about how good the Astros bats are and how worthless guys like....a player who's initials are CHAD QUALLS!
all three of our pitchers who have gone on 3 days rest have said their legs were gone going into the 5th inning....... its not like Garner has a choice to take our starters out in our last 3 games...... "I was pretty beat, to tell you the truth," Backe said. "I'm sure that Phil saw it. He threw 93 pitches and admitted he was out of wind by the fifth.
I have to disagree, obviously. They are VERY hitable. Look what the 'Stros did to them in the late innings and prior meetings. This games will be high scoring games. Just agree the Cards suk!
I'll say my piece and then move on to the new thread. It was just game one. I think this series has a long way to go. Qualls did not do a great job but he did not get hammered either. He gave up a double on a sawed off broken bat cheapy, then gave up a few infield hits. The Cardinals did not tatoo him, they just got some fortunate breaks. i thought Backe did a good job and that Garner should have given him a chance to get Rolen. We showed that we could hit St. Louis pitching and we were the ones pounding the ball. I will not be worried unless we get down 3-0. Bring on game 2.
This is why I'm not big on pitching guys on 3-days rest. Why I was hoping for rain yesterday. And why I wish Munro would have been pitching last night. Had we lost Game 1 with Munro on the mound, but had a fresh Backe for Game 2, that would be a far better position than the one we're in right now. Seriously...enough with the 3 days rest stuff. We can't afford to pitch our best pitchers at only 5 innings when our bullpen is this shaky. I'd rather pitch a Munro and then have my solid guys at their full strength...otherwise, we're handicapping our strengths. But clearly the Astros can beat this team. The law of averages says those little seeing-eye ground balls they hit will play against them later in the series. Let's hope it does tonight. GO 'STROS!!!
I heard a stat that the team that loses the first game loses the series for the last several series. We will have to change that trend. As far as this game, I think Garner kind of screwed up in that he left Qualls in even after it was evident Qualls was not getting the job done. If he would have pulled him earlier, then we might have had a better chance to limit their run scoring in that inning. Then again...we might not have as we don't have a truly reliable arm in middle relief apparently. It's possible we could have won that game if we pulled Qualls earlier when they had the 7 spot on the board. I don't want to get into what could have been but I was disappointed that Garner hung Qualls out to dry for so long. He obviously wasn't getting it done so you put someone else in. Garner didn't do that for whatever reason. Qualls just isn't getting the job done so why is he our first option out of the bullpen in middle relief?
Qualls got weak ground balls that got through the infield. The inning should have been over before it exploded. I'm not a big Qualls fan...but they weren't exactly hitting him hard all over the place. Edmonds hit was obviously the back-breaker..but the other hits were mostly soft grounders that found a way through. I can't fault a pitcher for that. That's just bad luck.
I agree...Qualls had some bad luck last night. But, even so, a pitching change can sometimes turn the tide. How long do you stand by and let Qualls try to get out of the inning regardless? I thought Garner waited too long to do something about it.
