The opposing team gets a ton of bloop hits when Roy doesn't have his awesome stuff early... even though that would normally be good for most pitchers (causing the batter to make poor contact). Also, Mark Grace is a serious alcoholic.
Willy is on a 7 game hitting streak and has actually been getting some key RBIs, oddly enough. Burke batted 0.220 or so in July - he's basically come back to reality.
Bloop, bloop, dink, doink, batters just looking to make contact (of any kind), and the ball finds a spot. Roy needs to put a pitch in one of their ears... make them so damn uncomfortable... until he gets his good fastball back (sometimes, pitchers don't have the good stuff to start the game).
fair enough Major. Now can you please explain why brad ausmus plays everyday. I'll hang up and listen.
Because the alternative is Munson, who is a terrible defensive catcher, and Ausmus has the trust of the pitching staff. Plus, Munson has been substantially worse than Adam Everett offensively the last two months, and is not going to make any real impact on the offense.
So, Burke has one bad month, after a great June, and is benched.. but Willy bats around .250 for May, June AND July, with nearly ZERO extra base pop, and he's the automatic leadoff hitter? Burke is the better hitter... there should be no question about it. If its a defense issue, that's fine (even though Willy's defense is overrated).... but don't tell me that Willy is a better overall hitter. In fact, Willy HAS to succeed at some point, more than the average player it seems, simply because the guy gets so many damn at bats. Also, its become sort of like when the pitcher gets a big rbi hit... you remember it because it rarely happens. But when Willy fails, there's not that much outburst (as there would be for Ausmus/Everett), because we've grown accustomed to our little leadoff man not swinging a big stick... just as if he was the pitcher.
fair enough major. just one last question. why have the astros not even considered acquiring a new catcher through trade? why was there so much talk around the trade deadline about trying to improve this team any way possible, without even thought or mention to replacing our worst player? here's some fun for all you rocketfat haters....ausmus gets 2 hits tonight and i dont post here for remainder of series.
I'm not saying its the right move - just saying why it probably has happened. Burke is something like 4 for his last 40 or something terrible like that. So he's getting a bit of a rest, I imagine, to regroup.
No idea what the thought process of management is. My guess would be that they didn't feel an average bat at catcher would really fix the problems with the offense, and weren't worth the downgrade they would get in terms of trust of the pitchers, etc. Multiple pitchers over the last two years have said they trust Ausmus far more than any other catcher, so maybe that weighed into it. The Astros were interested in a true "heart-of-the-order" bat like Tejada, Soriano, or Carlos Lee, so I suspect they felt that to fix the offense it needed something more substantial. I also don't really know what catchers were out there and available (outside of Javy Lopez, who's been a DH for much of the last two years, and can't really play everyday at catcher anymore. No idea what Boston is planning there).
I don't think so... players can get out of a funk with just one random good day (that you can never predict)... I don't think they get 5 games out of the lineup if they're just trying to regroup (hell, Preston only had to sit one game... then he was back for 2... now he's out again). I really think this is a case of Garner wanting Willy T to be an everyday player. And, if he's going to play, he apparently is locked in at his spot in the order since Garner said "for some reason, Willy hits better in the leadoff spot when he plays". Just looking at his numbers, do I mean to understand that he'd actually be WORSE anywhere else in the lineup?!? That isn't the sign of a special player that just needs to find his niche... that's the sign of a hitter who the league has figured out, and isn't ready for MLB pitching. And Roy helps to prove my argument... bat him leadoff, and you could see similiar willy t-like results.
There's also the Curse of Benching Ausmus to consider. When we traded him away last time, we sucked soon after. Each pitcher who has been caught exclusively by Munson this season has sucked and been shipped to AAA (Wandy, then Buchholz, now possibly Albers).
