I guess any win is a good win but we were real close to blowing that game. I'm glad we hung on. Valverde doing his Lidge impersonation there in the 9th? It sucks Sampson blew his win chance after having pitched so well.
Valverde did not do a Lidge impersonation. Valverde is much tougher mentally. He gave up a HR but didn't let it get to him. Crazy V is a huge upgrade over Lidge. Half of being a closer is mental and Valverde has got that part down.
With what we saw from Lidge...as much as i liked him...that's exactly right. If Lidge gives up that leadoff homer, he can't find himself and we lose that game.
Joo got it, meng! Valverde has that killer instinct that Lidge had lost years ago. Valverde will give up a dinger and have a bad game here or there, but it won't be because of a weak mentality. He will be good for us.
Where are all the "Astros don't have any pitching' naysayers now? The pitching is better than the hitting WTF!
I don't know if I'm in that category. I love the 'stros, but I doubted the pitching. I still do. One roll through the rotation isn't going to tell the story. It's one start for each pitcher. I really want to be wrong, though. I really hope that what we've seen is a strong indicator of what we'll see. But drawing conclusions on 5 games? Ummm...probably not the best idea.
No kidding, man! Oswalt Backe Rodriguez Chacon Sampson Valverde, Brocail, Villareal, Geary, Wright It's way too early to draw any conclusions but this group may just be barely good enough to keep us in contention. Our bats will come around. We also have Byrdak as another left-handed option and a few others (Nieve, Paulino, James, Hernandez, etc...) that may be able to help if anybody above starts stuggling. I'd take Byrdak over Borkowski today without even having seen the guy pitch this season.
Nice! Did you see this? Nice of Alou to wait 5 years. Everything cub just has to be so hilariously pathetic. They can't help it.
The thing about this game that should have probably happened differently is when there were runners on first and second a trip to the mound should have been made...at the very least.I don't care how they got there.Without a doubt when it was 2nd and 3rd Sampson should have been pulled.He was leaving his pitches up despite having thrown a very compact game....Chris isn't a proven veteran.Anyway the signs were there.I can see both sides but we had a fresh and ready pen.... Good stuff to watch though.These are the kind of games that good teams come back and still win at a high percentage. Sampson was extraordinary today.If he pitches anywhere close to this level with some kind of consistency,then color me surprised and impressed. I still think we need a #2 quality inning eater. Watching Towles today was really an epiphany too.I see him cranking it out on a consistent basis over the course of the season...say 24 - 34 dingers.It's nice knowing you have a future manager in Brad to help this guy with the rest of the position....calling games,working a staff,defense,imparting the book on hitters, taking charge when needed and being a leader,etc.
Just curious, when he started to not pitch so well - do you fall in the camp that says he was fatigued? Hitters figured him out? He missed Adam? ... Some smart people say he was figured out - I'm hoping it was just fatigue but that he can pitch a little deeper into the season this time out.
Sampson doesn't surprise me. I wouldn't be surprised if he was our 3rd best starter by the end of the season. I think he has potential to be most improved.
It's the beginning of the season. Pitchers are always ahead of the hitters at this point in the year.
The second hit in the inning was a bleeder that Matsui would have scooped up with little problem. As the Cubs announcers said, it looked like Loretta was running in quicksand to get to that ball. No reason to visit him with runners on 1st and 2nd, especially considering he got the next guy out. He just made a poor pitch on the tying single.
Let's get it done! Go Roy! Go Stros! I love watching us play the Cubbies, especially when Roy is on the mound.
