I see... I would think there is some way to listen online. Maybe somebody else knows. Can you pay to listen through MLB.com on a single game basis? If so, I'm not sure what feed you would be getting. I've never used it.
I guess Roy does not have the stuff to go after hitters like he did in the past. He's a tough minded guy, so perhaps he will get it together. I am just as worried about Lance Berkman.
[Bites my lip at this type of foolish arrogance] P.S. Wow, 1-6 Ian Snell vs. 1-4 Felipe Paulino tomorrow. Looking forward to this one!!
I think Roy still has the stuff to be typical Roy. I am not sure of this but I think it could be some kind of mechanical issue. His command seems to be more of a problem than velocity. I still fully believe he will get it together sooner than later. I DVR'ed the game and watched it late last night. He had a couple of bad innings and was very good beyond that. In 1 of those 2 innings where he gave up runs, even though he put himself in bad situations in the first place, he could have very easily gotten out of trouble. I think it was the 2nd inning where, with 2 outs, a ball was hit just to his left and instead of letting Maysonet play it, he tried to field it himself and slowed it down enough to prevent the 3rd out. No doubt he doesn't look right, I just don't think it's a loss of stuff. He's still throwing the ball hard. He's just either losing concentration or has some kind of mechanical issue or even possibly an undisclosed physical problem that is preventing him from being his normal dominant self. With he and Berkman, I don't think it's a matter of age or decline. I think both of them are having some kind of issues that will eventually be worked out. Berkman has actually been solid for the last few weeks, not far off from his usual production, but he still doesn't looke quite right.
I think it's the grand slam Pujols hit off him the first week of the season. Did you know that ball is still in orbit? Roy never mentally recovered from that. Trade him.
On the bright side, Miggy and Hunter are 1 and 2 in the NL in batting average. Pence also has a Pujols/Berkman-esque .422 OBP. His BB rate is way up this season while his SO is way down. As time goes on, it's becoming clear that he has made definitive improvement to his plate approach/discipline. I was hoping it wasn't a situation where he would regress into his old tendencies like Bourn seems to be doing from time to time. In Hunter's case, it looks more and more legit with each passing game.
We need Berkman and Oswalt to step it up. It seems like we have been saying this for over a month now and they still have not done it. When was the last time Berkman came up with a big hit with RISP?
These are Berkman's numbers over the last 28 days: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=berkmla01&year=2009&t=b#total 23 G 101 PA .313 AVG .436 OBP .525 SLG .961 OPS 3 HR 16 RBI 19 BB 13 SO
As we've seen over the last 7 - 10 days, this team wins when the starting pitching is solid, and loses when the starting pitching sucks. The hitting has been relatively consistent recently, there have been some games where they haven't been able to score, but every team has those games now and then. With Hampton/Moehler(whoever is in his spot)/Paulino pitching as they have for the last 2 weeks, the team is significantly better. Wandy and Roy have been the least consistent starters the last 2 times we've been through the starting 5. If Roy and Wandy were pitching well the last few times out, the team would be 8-2 or so in the last ten games instead of 6-4.
No doubt. It's commonly said but SPing is crucial. If you could have a top offense or a top pitching staff, you always take the top pitching staff. Look at the Rangers in recent years and possibly this season before it's all said and done. They have a top notch offense but still aren't threats because their pitching sucks. Heck, even the Nationals have a decent offense this season. Their pitching is just so bad that it takes away anything their offense accomplishes and then some. The year we went to the WS, we had a subpar offense. Our Big 3 SPers carried us for the most part that season.
I just love seeing him on base. You know once he gets on that the pitcher is going to have to pay attention to him.
Yup, changes the whole complexion of our offense when he's getting on base. Pence looked very much like the old Pence in that AB. Swung at two straight sliders low and away.
Yea, that's the single biggest issue, long-term. You can probably live with his lack of speed but if he hits into a ton of DPs, it really becomes a problem. He also doesn't take a lot of pitches which makes it difficult for Bourn to steal. Uh oh... looks like Paulino tweaked his groin. Another injury to Astros pitching...
