Wow, what a shocker. I wonder how many times this season we'll beable to say: "We have scored 1 run in the last 18 innings. Pathetic. "
Buck you are tellimg me that you would not have preferred another hitter up there in that situation other than Ausmus? I understand your point, because what happens if Quinetero gets hurt, but that being said sometimes you just have to take chances.
Berkman might need to sit down for a couple of games. He is in a offensive and defensive slump right now. Maybe a lil break could help him out.
guys, have a drink and chill out. we're facing 4 really tough pitchers in a row. noah has our number, big time. it's not gonna be much better tonight...or the next night...or the next night, frankly.
The Astros have scored 2 or fewer runs in 8 of our last 20 games. (all this month) The Astros have lost 7 of 8 of those games. We have scored 3 or less in 50% (10-20) of our games this month. The Astros scored 3 or less in 10 games the entire month of April. Come on Lance! Gotta get those bats going! GO STROS!
Can anyone report on how Hunter looked at the plate last night? I'm curious because, unless I'm mistaken, this is the first time he's seen a starting pitcher twice. And the results are interesting: 4-4 last week and 0-4 last night. Makes me wonder if Lowry made any major adjustments that Hunter couldn't handle last night and how that bodes during his second trip through the league. (Yeah, I know - it's just one game.)
Wake me up when this dow jones team is on the upswing again. Down to last place...up to first place....down to last place, up to 2nd place, on the way back down again. Unbelivable... DD
Lowry didn't throw him the Change up this time around. (it's what Pence nailed for that HR last time.) Also, IIRC....Lowry is known for his changup. (his best pitch). Pence kept hitting slow rollers to 3rd base. Easy outs. The breaking pitch kept getting him, not sure what pitch it was.
Awesome report -- that's exactly what I was wondering. Lowry's comments after the last game made it clear he was going to rethink his approach to Pence: It'll be interesting to see how Hunter adjusts if a "book" gets out on him.
Yep. Lowry was pitching him in quite a bit, with both FB & curve. Pence did not seem to be expecting it, and he handles the inner half of the plate well usually. Lowry was doing the expected & pitching everybody else away with the FB & change, and nobody really seemed to want to go the other way with it, hence the ridiculous amount of groundballs to the left side. The book on Pence, coming straight from the Stros since last season and confirmed early in his short stint with the big club, is breaking balls away will get him out with regularity. For awhile he was pulling off & rolling over everything outside. He's done a very good job adjusting the past week or so & laying off the crap out of the strike zone, and taking it the other way if it's more over the plate. Now the other teams will change things up on him, and he gets to adjust some more. Very interesting to watch him learn on the job.
No the fact is this team will have a hard time vs. left handed pitchers. Those stats while accurate were misleading that is all.
Ah...where would we be without Astros baseball? Their play defies description. It really does. You don't want to say good things because, when you do, then they go South. You don't want to pile on the bad things because, when you do, then they stay South. It's only when you expect them to suck is when they play better. When you throw your hands in there and say "screw this team", then they play better just to keep you arond until their next rollercoaster in the next few games. At least, that has been my experience. Their either consistenly bad or consistently good. I just have to laugh a lot. Who needs Prozac when you have the Astros?