brings up a good question...i haven't heard much about any rookies tearing it up this year in the NL...any thoughts on ROY this early???
Hee Sop Choi has not been bad. His batting average is only around. .250, but his OPS is almost .900. I've not heard of any other rookies doing well so far in the NL.
Raven, Thats the thing. Relief pitchers, unless you are a closer, hardly ever get any legit consideration for ROY. They usually give that to a starting pitcher or position player. Regardless of whether he does win ROY, with him (Lidge), Ensberg, Berkman, Oswalt, Miller etc., we have a nice foundation to keep winning with even after Bidge and Bags are gone. BTW, Bags is looking awful at the plate.
Yeah, I know...but a guy can dream, can't he? What's odd about Lidge is that, despite leading the team in ERA, he has 4 blown saves. Makes me wonder if we should think twice about ever putting him in a closer position.
He is still young and this is only his 1st year. He has downright nasty stuff. Nice fastball. His slider might be better than Dotel's. I am guessing that using him as a starter is out of the questions.
I keep hearing about his slider, and what I have seen of it is pretty good...but he doesn't seem to have as good control over it as I would like. Plus, he seems to only throw it once every 7-8 pitches or so. I don't know if he just doesn't have confidence in it, his catcher doesn't have confidence in it or if he maybe is laying off it to try to avoid injury. Sometimes I get the distinct impression like he doesn't have confidence that he can control it, and he relies heavily on his fastball.
Ensberg gets a pinch hit single....I was a little worried that he had snapped out of this hitting bonanza that hes been in yesterday, but he gets another hit.
...and for some reason, Blum started. He did well, thankfully. But hasn't he been thoroughly beaten by now? Ensberg's better and younger... and it's not close.
...and for some reason, Blum started. He did well, thankfully. But hasn't he been thoroughly beaten by now? Ensberg's better and younger... and it's not close. The Astros have had the best pinch-hitting in baseball the last two years, and all the bench players attribute that to the fact that everybody on this team plays. We've won a lot of games because of that fact. Ensberg's been doing great for a couple of weeks. Blum was the best offensive 3rd baseman in the NL last year, I believe. They'll both continue getting playing time. Ensberg will get more until he goes into an inevitable slump - at which point Blum will be able to step in without missing a beat. That's why they both play.
I'm not certain, but I don't think that Blum was the best offensive 3B in the NL last season. I believe the stat was that our 3rd base production for the entire year was the best in the league. So having the strong bench was a contributor to that stat. Blum was about as good as Lowell last season and not quite as good as Rolen.
Lidge has been a starter throughout his minor league career, but injuries kept getting in the way. If he can stay healthy there is no reason he can't start in the majors. The Astros brought Elarton along by using him as a reliever at the beginningof his ML career.
Bobrek, I think Lidge is underutilized right now, and being that our 4-5 starters are suspect ( in my mind Redding is a 3), I would give Lidge a chance to start. DD
I agree, but I think the Astros are very wary of the fact he has been injured every year since they drafted him even though at least one was a fluke (broken arm from a line drive). I suspect they want to get him through this year and address the starter scenario next season.
This was the case. It only took into account when a player was playing 3rd base. The Astros' thirdbasemen did significantly better at plate when playing 3B than when not.
Do you really think he could survive as a starter in the majors when he essentially only has two pitches? One of which he tends to use as a strike out pitch (hence he doesn't throw it very often)? It just seems similar to Dotel to me. Honestly, I like Lidge in the pen right now. He hasn't looked as solid in his recent outtings (not like he was towards the beginning of the season) and I think that is because the innings are starting to pile up and he is getting slightly fatigued. Frankly, since he has been so great from the pen this season, and he has been injured almost every season he played as a startig pitcher, I just seriously worry that we might blow this nice season he is having by trying to push him too far too fast.
Ensberg named player of the week: http://astros.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/ho...nt_id=365092&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou
