Part of me says that we should sub Burke with Bruntlett when we get leads in games, but the other part wants him to stay in and get more work at SS. Did Wandy always have that crap on his lips or did someone bust him in the mouth?
Exactly why I say that incredible defense is overated, you only get a few more balls that an average shortstop would not get to....and if you hit better I think it more than evens out. However, Everett has been batting very well this year. And what is up with Wandy's lip? He been kissing on Astacios cheeks? DD
The whole 'Burke doesn't have enough power to be a corner outfielder' argument is looking pretty lame right now. He'd probably hit twice as many doubles as Wilson would hit homeruns, and maybe bat over .300. At the pace Berkman and Ensberg are hitting them out, and if Lane can really get going we may not need another huge homerun threat. I do think it's too early to start platooning or even bench Wilson though. This team would be much more dangerous with Wilson hitting well and Burke coming off the bench playing multiple positions, and pinch hitting. I think Preston would be pretty useless as a pinch hitter.
I'd like to see Lidge come in here and finish this one off. Too bad Zeke is in. Lidge needs to get his crap together. This would be a good game to have him in since we have such a big lead. Uh oh, 2 men on no outs now back to back singles.
Man, our bullpen has really given up a lot of runs this season. Thankgod our starters have been fantastic.
That's ANOTHER series win... and another amazing homestand (9-2). I know people will point to a.) an easier schedule, and b.) many home games as a reason for the great start... but just imagine if the team was in their normal early funk, or just didn't win these games they were supposed to win (its baseball... anybody can win any day... look at the Reds). They would have really been in trouble then... but 15-6?... You've got some wiggle room. Quite a change from 15-30, isn't it?
Wilson is just frustrating to watch most of the time at the plate. He seems to swing through so many strikes. We're now 5-0 when Wandy starts. How about that? We needed a deep outing from him after we tore through our pen last night, and he delivered.
Yea... its probably because none of the good ones are used to pitching with big leads. Zeke isn't a bullpen guy... not enough control. He may be a serviceable starter, but one that will probably give up a ton of first inning runs because he needs time to get a feel for the ball and K zone. Its a good thing that Buccholz has a chance to pan out, otherwise that Wagner trade would look bad for everybody (both Philly and Houston).
it took less than half the amount of games played to reach 15 wins? WOW another one bites the dust! when will we make up the SF game that was rained out?
Yes....There is concern, but you are absolutely right. The team is not perfect, but one thing that is so enlightening is the consistency of the improved offense...I'll take that and like I said, my expectation for the series was 2 out of 3...we did it!
Zeke looks like the second coming of Redding. Solid stuff, but he just can't get it done. Is Wandy really this good? I always thought he has so-so stuff, but he looks like a young Andy Pettite out there. Hope he can keep it up.
Well, if you look at their runs scored vs. runs against (a decent measure of how good a team actually is)... they're playing a tad above what they should be, but not much. Also, when you factor that a ton of those games were blowouts that became close due to some flukish nature (and weren't just pure slugfests), the margin could be even bigger. That stat also tells you that the Reds are playing over their heads... they give up a ton of runs, and if their offense wasn't so hot... they'd be in much bigger trouble. Last year, the Nationals got out to an amazing start... but they had a ton of close games, and were actually outscored... leading many to believe that they'd soon come down to earth in a big way (and boy did they ever). We are 7-0 in one-run games, but you can factor half of those were games where we had a bigger lead, and it only became a 1 run lead in the 9th.
Wandy really has looked great in his last few starts. He suddenly has some great control, and his fast ball has lots of movement and seems to have more speed than it did in the past. He had 7K's tonight and just 2BB's. Oh...and only gave up 2 runs in 7 innings. Not a bad outing at all, when I was calling him a scrub all of last year.....(in my head).
