More of that...not that it matters news. But the Stros are up 7-0 right now, Ivan just homered......so this would be 5 wins in a row?
5 game winning streak... see we aren't that bad... perfect time to buy season tickets... lots of good seats available...
I just came back from Vegas, and I had some spirited debates with friends on the the Astros this year. The over/under for wins is now 73 and 1/2. Even though this is the most pessimistic I have been about the Astros starting a season in the last decade, I still can't see them being 13 games worse than last year. I was the only one arguing for the over, so I wanted to see what you think. Unfortunately, I was out of money by then to put anything on it.
Two of the projected starters (Hampton and Ortiz) will be damn lucky to start 20 of the 32 projected starts. It is also hard to project Moehler doing as well this year as last.. Sadly, Oswalt is a year older and past his prime. As mentioned elsewhere, the Astros outperformed their pythagorean expectation by 10 games last year. Thus 73.5 wins is not that far fetched. I like the over though.
Oswalt is past his prime? He's 31. He had what many would consider a "down season" last year...17-10 with a 3.54 era. He also tinkered a lot early in the season. Once he got back in his groove, he was the Oswalt he's always been. He won 8 of his last 10, which included a 32.1 inning scoreless streak. I'm thinking he's still in his prime and can still be penciled in for 17-20 wins and an era close to 3.
that's why you put it down the first day you're there. I got a bigger bet on the over. (last year I only put down 50 on the over) to No Worries: if you get 40 starts out of Hampton and Ortiz, that's 40 of hopefully better starts than last year's rotation. Maybe Moehler isn't as good...but maybe Wandy steps it up finally...or someone else is this year's Moehler. Not too farfetched really. Oswalt past his prime? I am certainly not prepared to say that--not for a guy who works as hard as he does and had the 2nd half he did last year.
Anybody know of a way to stream the game online? Video or Audio.. Nothing on Justin TV or 790AM radio.
link Check out the first sentence, did we trade him? JUPITER, Fla. -- Technically, Bud Norris, the Cardinals' top pitching prospect, is in the running for a bullpen job. Realistically, however, the 24-year-old right-hander is trying out for a spot in a bullpen where there are no jobs available, making it much more likely that he'll start the season at Triple-A. Norris is one of the few prospects who has done nothing to play himself off the team, which is why he is still with the big league club in the final stages of Spring Training. He's done everything expected of him since he arrived to Florida in mid-February, and other than a couple of minor stumbles here and there, he's performed well in most of his eight outings entering the Astros'
Ortiz looked really good for the most part. He started losing his command in the 5th but ended up picking off a runner and getting Pujols out for the 3rd straight time to preserve the lead. The only run he gave up was after a couple of poor fielding plays, one by our infield (Johnson/Smith) and the other by Michaels, who lost an easy fly ball in the sun. Apparently, the sun was really tough to deal with today. Speaking of that, why isn't it ruled an error when an outfielder loses an easy fly ball in the sun and doesn't make the catch? Piniero also looked really good for the Cardinals. He was getting ahead of almost every batter. Bourn had a good game stats-wise but he still misses by a mile at times when he goes after pitches. Like last year, it's as if the bat and his eye are totally out of sync. I honestly see him hitting for a similar average this season, maybe just slightly better. Hopefully he gets a few more walks though. I really don't see much change in his approach other than possibly laying off a few more pitches. He still misses badly too often when he does take a cut.
Considering he took only 29 walks in 467 ABs last year and has taken 10 in only 64 this spring, I'd say he's made a pretty big change to his approach.
Small sample size that likely includes several ABs against a different class of pitchers but hopefully you're right. I'd love to see him break through. Matsui has been awful in ST but I'm not going to assume that is what he is. My comments about Bourn had little do with statistics. I have watched about 7 or 8 ABs of his over a few games in ST and I just noticed a lot of the same issues. We'll see how it plays out when it counts.
If Bourn is not significantly better, you will see Reggie Abercrombie get a chance to show what he can do.
As much as there is concern about our starting rotation, there is only one spot in the lineup where we can count on being above average in terms of OBP - wherever Berkman hits most. I'm not saying guys like Matsui and Lee are bad when it comes to getting on base but I don't think their OBPs are above average for where they typically hit. Not sure if anybody feels like grabbing the stats to confirm or deny that assumption.
I think Pudge will have a good year. I'm excited the Astros have a lifetime .301 hitter in 18 professional seasons as their starting catcher. He's been in MLB since he was 19 and at 37 this year he could have a really nice season.
Stros win again, 6-5 over the Phillies. Tejada: 3-3, HR, 2B, 2 RBI Pence: 3-4, RBI Matsui: 3-4, 2B Blum: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI Oswalt: 6 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 10 H, 6 SO, 0 BB, 1 HR
