Dude he plays every 5 days. He isn't ever going hit for high BA. He has power and could drive in runs better than Lane and Ensberg. Also extra motivation playing the team that cut him. Did you not see his homer yesterday? That was a bomb. Verkander also kills righties so Astros should have every lefty start tomorrow.
One thing I don't like about Garner is his belief that switching guys around in the lineup can help "jump-start" them. Sure, that may be something that works in the short-term (like Lamb having a huge day when he batted in front of Berkman).... but over the long term, the constant switching around is going to prevent guys from getting into a consistent rhythm (and taking guys out of whatever rhytms they may have been in).
Nick, I completely agree with you. For some reason Gar just thinks that if he tweaks the line up enough it going to wrok out for him. The problem with this is that no one sees consistent pitches and has time to adjust accordingly. The pitches you see definately differ depending on where you are in the lineup.
They can usually get at least 3 or 4 runs when someone else pitches. Are you actually saying that they don't play worse offensively when Roger pitches?
Exactly... like today, for instance. He puts Lane and Ensberg in front of Berkman using the logic that they both will get more pitches to hit, and it will help get them out of their ruts (which is somewhat true logic... but it's never going to be 100% reliable). But, he also moves Burke behind Berkman with the logic that he's been swinging a great bat, and can drive in tons of runs when Berkman gets pitched around. (which isn't terrible logic, but it never takes into account that Burke may have been benefitting from the Berkman effect as well). What happens is Burke gets tons of RBI situations today that he isn't able to come thru on, and Ensberg and Lane remain in their slumps. Honestly, we need guys with high OBP, or high batting averages to get as many opportunities as possible in front of Lance (the only guy who drives guys is on our team). Lets worry about jump-starting Ensberg/Lane once we've been scoring consistenly, or winning consistently.
Given that the Astros have faced Liriano - one of the best pitchers in all of baseball - and Robertson (low 3's ERA) so far, I'd say it's way too early to tell.
I think you're going about this backwards. We're not going to score or win consistently until Ensberg and/or Lane are hitting.
True...that is a good point. However, it does seem (in these two games) similar to our offensive stuggles last season when he pitched.
looks like the curse of me coming back from work to see that the Astros have lost strikes again. Jesus Christ
Can we please STOP playing Jason Lane.....send him to RR to work it out and bring up Luke Scott.... DD
Ok, I said this when Clemens first pitched last week...No run support and the bullpen sucks...Same crap, different week...
The cards are in trouble. They lost 7 straight and Mulder is having shoulder problems, and I think Carpenter is too... My bold prediction... Reds win the division with the backing of my boy Harang This guy is sick(never seen him pitch)... but 3.89 BB/K ratio and he's an innings eater. My type of guy.
I'm expecting about half of you to commit suicide any day now. I always get a chuckle during an Astros loss because the responses in here are so damn predictable.
Yeah, pretty much. I keep thinking about how bad everything was last May and how everyone except for about three of us remembered that there are 162 games in a season and that the top 4 teams from each league make the playoffs. I then think about two years ago when people forgot the same thing. Now it's back to the same exact thing in 2006. And we're closer to the top than we were at this point the last two years. People are already throwing in the towel. The thing I love the most about it is that everyone loves to joke around and ridicule the Chronicle for their Tombstone article. Well, had the editors over there been from here, there's a 99% chance that tombstone would've gone up well before June 1. Not to mention there'd be another one this year already. Some people (i.e., vast majority of Astros fans) never learn.
Sorry...I don't see that at all. Which one of you threw in the towel? I see the Astros getting whipped up on by the two best teams in baseball. The Astros will go back to playing the wimpy NL teams and make a second half run to probably get the wild card again. I'm pretty much expecting that to happen. But, if we advance to the World Series and play either of these two teams, then I just hope we can win one game avoiding a sweep or another situation where "oh...every game was so close". I don't think a NL team can win the WS. I also don't think the NL can win the all-star game.
You really don't think an NL team can win a WS? Or an all-star game?? I could understand that sentiment among conferences in basketball..but in baseball, any team can beat any team on any given night. Much more so than in other sports. It's why the Royals can come to town and take 2/3 from the Astros. It's why the D-Rays can sweep the Yanks. It's why the Reds swept the A's in the 1990 WS. I agree with you that the AL has better teams right now...but that doesn't mean nearly as much in baseball as it does in other sports.
I think it's going to be the White Sox or Tigers in the WS. I don't see any team beating them in a series. I get what your saying but I don't see it happening. There may be one or two games a NL team will win but not the series.
That's fair. I agree with you entirely that the AL team will be the favorite. But in sports...never say never:
