Harang is really a good pitcher. He gets alot of people to swing at his high stuff. He is a solid number 2.
Sure is nice to have an offense to fall back on these days.....Sampson pitched really well I thought. I hope Roger is watching...
uh yeah, weathers and closer just doesn't sound right. he owns the astros though so that's a little bonus. funny how he pitches so well against us but completely bombed when he was actually here.
Well I am at the point where I belive if we get Clemens back at a high level (2004-2006) plus we go out and add a player (one impact player or two pieces to the puzzle) we have a good shot at the playoffs/division title. Ok here is why I am still concerned, I am very weary of our rotation holding up (I know others are shakey but I am focused on us) the pen is ok, not great but good enough. Now the lineup has potential to score runs (not 2004 but much better than 2005-2006) the problem is we don't have good team speed also why we are pretty solid in the infield I really don't feel great about Burke and two average corner outfielders in big games. Like I said before the season the Astros with Roy O, Berkman and Lee have pieces but they also have lots of holes. Some holes can be covered up from guys stepping up within but others still need to be addressed. But no my entire time till football starts will not be tied up just with the Rockets because this Astros team has a chance to make noise.
1. I hear ya on all that. I just don't think you can discount the competition and their holes. It's looking at the 'stros in a bubble, not in the context of the division they're playing in. And the Cards showed us last season that getting to the playoffs is the hard part... 2. I don't think we need to add another impact bat to win this division. If the pitching holds up to anything close to what it is right now, we'll win this division by about 8 games or so. 3. Every team has holes. Seriously...in the NL especially there isn't one team that doesn't have significant holes. 4. Team speed doesn't worry me in the least. There are teams that have all kinds of team speed that finish last. The Yankees have little to no team speed...they'll do just fine. 5. Glad to hear that you've at least come to the conclusion that they might be worth paying attention to this summer!
I watch every game no matter how good or bad they are, Are you telling me you would not take Crawford in a heartbeat plug him into center and not worry about giving up Lidge/Burke/Patton
of course i would!!! but the d-rays aren't gonna give up crawford...he's too good and too cheap. and just because i'd take him doesn't mean i think we need him to win this division.
I sort of like the way Lidge is settling into his 7th inning role...and Qualls has been lights out...right now, it aint broken
Watching Saturday's Phillies game, I saw Lidge throw the best sliders he's thrown in 2 years... the whole point of getting him out of the closers role is to get him more regular work so he can get the feel of that pitch back to where it was in 2003-04. Once he's able to throw that pitch effectively again, everything falls into place. Batters can't lay off of it, and when they're keeping that in mind... they can no longer catchup to the 96mph fastball (which will always be straight... he needs to execute the good slider to avoid getting beat with the fastball).
I had a feeling it was a bad signing. I'd rather go with Nieve to be honest. I hope Woody can at least win 10 or 11 games this season.
