No doubt. IIRC, Wood was inches, or a fraction of an inch, away from a perfect game that day. Gutierrez, I think, hit a grounder that could've been played, but bounced off the 2B glove & was ruled a hit.
Heres the new line-up from 790 : Bourn Loretta Berkman Lee Tejada Blum Pence Towles Roy Maybe this change will get something started .
I'd still prefer Pence in front of Blum, but he was clearly uncomfortable hitting #2 with a real live leadoff guy ahead of him.
Matsui's chronic back spasms already flaring up, before he's even played a game. Out tonight when he was supposed to be making his rehab start in CC. Thank goodness for Loretta -- have a feeling he'll be getting a majority of the starts at second this year.
what about it are you not too sure about? oswalt has gotten demolished with ausmus behind the plate for his first 2 games anyway, and ausmus significantly hurts roys chances of run support. call me crazy, but with us regaining quintero, house playing well, and us signing that other catcher last week, i have a sneaking suspicion that ausmus gets cut or cut and moved into a coaching position before the midway point in the season. the guy just doesnt have it anymore, and, with cooper already shaking up the lineup like this, he seems like he's gonna have a low tolerance for poor performance.
Everytime JD says "this one should be over"... when Roy is pitching and the Astros put up a crooked number... it never seems to be the case (or the game doesn't end up as easy as it seems to be right now).
Clearly, its obvious... judging from the rest of your reply. Also, when Oswalt is on, run support from the #8 spot is the last thing on my mind (especially with the amount of $$$$ we're paying our 3-5). But, Oswalt calls his own game anyways... and maybe not working with a net (Ausmus) will start getting him to re-focus on grasping his curveball (which has been terribly inconsistent the last 3 years).
Another "non-fluke" year... if you ask Ric. In all honesty, I think Oswalt simply needs to get the "edge" back... start pushing people off the plate, make people feel uncomfortable. Also, regaining the pin-point control on the fastball as well as getting the consistent curve would be helpful as well.
