is it just me, or do you guys have a lot more confidence in geary, brocail, valverde than you did with wheeler, qualls, lidge the past couple years? if geary is actually about as good as he's been so far, i really like the back-end of our bullpen.
Yeah, i am a bit concerned because they were not at a place in the lineup where a double switch makes sense. If any defensive sub would have been made you would think it would have been Erstad for Lee.
yeah it doesn't make much sense to take lance out without an injury ... its got to be something ... hopefully its just precautionary and not serious
Yeah I didn't hear them say anything. With a nice lead right now, I think it was probably as a precaution.
Love Geary, Brocail is only so-so, Valverde seems to be heating up. We'll have to say. Lidge has been lights out so far this year, but Qualls is slumping. Overall with the run support I'm fine with the bullpen.
Brocail couldn't keep us from having to use Valverde but he pitched a solid 8th. Valverde is looking much better these days.
very nice win today. This team could become special. they need to start concentrating on trying to find a quality strating pitcher via trade by the deadline.
I have to agree. This team looks close. The question is how do they acquire that pitcher? We don't want to give up any of our guns and we don't have much in terms of prospects.
Interesting stats... Only 8 teams in MLB have better winning percentages than the Astros. We are 1.5 games back of 1st in the NL Central. We are doing better than the Yankees, Tigers, Indians, Phillies, Mets, Dodgers and Brewers as we approach the quarter-season mark.
I agree, they'll probably JUST miss the playoffs and be in the race for it all year, possibly obtaining the wild card spot, but they'd be smart and just try to sign a free agent in the off season. I don't know how much money they're willing to spend though. Then again you never know... we're having killer seasons from Tejada and Berkman so far so. =\
Valverde is slowly but surely lowering his ERA which is now at 4.66. He has 8 saves in 11 chances. He has 23 Ks to 6 BBs and his opponents' BA is down to somewhere around .250.
And he had a pretty solid day at the plate despite the 0-for-4 in the box score. He had two excellent swings that were near hits in a very clutch situation. Later, he hit a deep fly ball that knocked in our final run of the game. If Bourn starts seeing the ball, the danger factor of this lineup goes up another notch. Pence looks to be back. His average is up to .273 and he is on a 9-game hitting streak. Wigginton is hacking away at the bottom of the order but if he does his usual thing over the course of a season, he will be a fine 7th hitter. We know Towles is a much better hitter than his current funk would suggest. I can't wait to see him get it going. Sure, Berkman and Tejada won't keep up this pace but their drop shouldn't be nearly as significant as the improvements coming from Pence, Wigginton, Bourn and Towles. We still haven't seen this offense at its best.
Bourn is the key to making this team amazing, which is why I feel his potential alone and the impact he could make on this team should warrant him PT even during his times of struggle. He is a threat to steal a base any time, if he can get on second base with Matsui, Tejada, Berkman, and Lee up I feel very good about him coming around to score.
Imagine if Bourn turns into a .270+ hitter. With him and KazMat at the top of the order, opposing pitchers will be really put to the test on a nightly basis. Even guys like Peavy and Webb will have to be at the top of their game to keep us down. Plus, Towles/Wigginton at the bottom of the order will eventually prove to be an upgrade over Everett/Ausmus no matter what things look like right now. The bottom line is that this is no doubt a massively improved offense compared to recent years and has the potential to be as good as any in the majors.
