Dammit, Max, against my better judgement I just turned the radio on out in the garage to catch a little of the new morning show. First thing I hear is a caller talking about Lidge/Kotsay last night: RJ: It was an 0-2 fastball. Uh, no, Richard. 1 minute later, he's talking about Bonds: RJ: Wade Miller threw him a 94 MPH fastball on the outside corner, Bonds reached out and *pulled it*, hit it 490 feet *the other way*. Huh? That's all I could take.
I meant from the standpoint that... before Lidge was demoted this year, he was basically unable to throw his good slider with any sort of regularity at all in the 9th inning. Even in the couple of appearences after being demoted, he was still having problems with it. Last night, however, he didn't hang it because he simply had lost a feel of the pitch... he hung it because his mind told him that he's got to throw this as hard as possible, and his adrenaline gave the mind all the reassurence that he could do that... and it resulted in the hanging piece of **** that we all saw. Before last night, the other 9th inning meltdowns involved a lot more than just one bad pitch. He'd miss fastball location, he'd be throwing his slider in the dirt, he'd be forced to throw the hittable fastball right down the plate... I definitely thought it was a nice big combo of mechanical issues, compounded with a lack of confidence. Last night, the confidence... while clearly shaken... didn't get in the way of his body knowing what to ultimately do. This will definitely better serve him the next time he's asked to go out there... while he's still going to be pumped up to throw as hard as possible, he's still got to constantly remind himself to execute every pitch, no matter how much adrenaline/pressure you may have. We know he still has the stuff ("he lost it")... we know they know he still has the stuff ("they've scouted him, he's tipping pitches!")... they know its coming, and there's not a damn thing they can do about it (see Swisher swinging at the 3-0 slider, that looked EXACTLY like a fastball... that's the good slider). This may be the best blown save in the history of the franchise.
here's richard's insightful post this morning: this is why i so dismiss the idea of leadership: because it's been co-opted by cocksticks like justice, who blow it completely out of proportion to compensate for their lack of any significant knowledge. now we're supposed to believe cheering on your teammate and friend is indicitive of something super-duper special? vomit. do you honestly think justice believes this?
It's virtually impossible for us to gauge without reliable 1st hand accounts. I will say one thing: there is a noticeable difference in the Astros in the post-Bagwell era.
Blanton's numbers against righties this year... combined with Biggio's numbers against righties this year... makes for an AB just about as ugly as Craig's was right there. Then again, the choice (without Berkman or Scott) is Biggio vs. Ensberg.
There's another "first" HR of the year against the Astros... Kendall couldn't buy an extra base hit before this series (then again, neither could Ausmus).
The bullpen sure has gone to hell, hasn't it? Two strike outs to start the inning and then four straight hits? Weird.
To think that the Bullpen actually looked like it may have been the strength of this team just a couple of weeks ago. Then Wheeler decided to implode. I don't know what to think about the Astros any more. Something has to change.
