This time we got lucky. Over the course of the season, if you make the decision Houston did every time, it won't pay off. It's easy to point to a specific few at-bats and say: aha! Our strategy worked. But that's short-sighted. It's more important that we do what will work out over the course of 162 games. Dierker hates giving intentional walks. I understand that. But I also understand that Bonds is having the 3rd best season in history, and that Jeff Kent is a considerably lesser talent. Bonds has been remarkbly un-streaky this year (not sure if that's a word!). Furthermore, he's not reliant on the homer. With a guy who's all-or-nothing or streaky, your strategy makes sense. But Bonds is just too versatile and consistent. All in all, perhaps you're right: perhaps we shouldn't have intentionally walked him. But Miller sure as hell shouldn't have thrown him anything in the strike zone. Let him fish if he wants.
Why? We're not playing the Giants for every game for an entire season. We have to assume that our pitching will do the job...like it did this series. I hope they approach him the same way in two weeks.
As was stated earlier, it looked like Miller was trying to pitch around him, but just made a mistake.
I think it was all just a scam to make Bagwell look like a hero. Seriously, Miller was starting to pitch well after settling in, and he had 2 outs, and allowed a blooper to fall in for a hit, and then Bonds whacked a mistake. Bonds has KILLED 25 and under pitchers this year. You've got your ace on the mound, a 2 run lead, and it's still early. Kent is still the reigning NL MVP, and the best Bonds can do is tie it. Probably later in the game, they pitch around him, but it happens.
I don't like walking players during the early innings either. The pitcher gets tired doing it, it slows the game down for the defense, and it usually leads to no good. That's pure opinion, but it's all i've got today.
I love how the lead story is "Barry Bonds hits his 64th home run." How soon people forget that the objective is to win games in basebal.....not break records. Not to mention the fact that the Astros SWEPT the freaking Giants on the ROAD...... Oh yeah FYI, We have the best record in the NL..... Gotta love the props ESPN gives to H-town
If we don't get to the world series this year, I don't know that we ever will. We have the line up, we have dominating pitchers, and we have home field. Even if the Killer Bees go blank we still have Alou, hildago, and Castilla to pull them thru. This is the year. There is no reason to lose. Not to Schilling. Not to Randy Johnson. Not to anyone. We have the lineup to win this National League. Let's go and get it done boyz. The Yankees and Mariners are for real, but we'll see them when we get there.
As I was saying, it was so early in the game with two outs....the worst he could do is tie the game up... You would want Miller to have a killer instinct in the mound and not curl his tail up between his legs if he sees an intimitating hitter up there...giving into hitters is not a good mindset when you face anybody, especially great hitters....for example, did you remember when Hampy got the breakout year where he won 21 or so games? What was the difference in that year and the year before? Yep, he actually challenged every hitter no matter what the situation was, not giving in to no one... I say give them your best stuff and challenge him to hit it...If Miller pitches his best stuff to any hitter, there is a high probability he'll get him out no matter how great the hitter is...
The bottom line is, that in this game, the strategy worked. Since the Astros won, everything they did in that game ultimately led to the victory. What if they had walked Bonds and Kent hit a 3 run HR? We'll never know the answer to that question, but we do know that the Astros won. I remember a few years ago when the Astros were tied with 2 outs and Bagwell was up in the bottom of the 9th. It was during one of his incredibly hot streaks. The opposing team intentionally wlaked him. They did NOT try and get him to chase bad pitches, they simply called for an intentional walk. Bagwell stole 2nd on and the next hitter drove him in to win the game. I'm all for pitching around guys as the situation warrants, but with 2 outs in the 5th inning with a competent hitter on deck and a quality pitcher on the mound, it is hard to walk a guy intentionally. I am quite sure that Wade Miller made a mistake and as I posted earlier in this thread, the game of baseball would be no fun at all if pitcher's didn't ever make a mistake.
ESPN announcers gave us props. That guy Jason with the cheesy moustache says we are clearly the best team in the NL. The fact that we haven't lost more than 2 in a row over the last 90 games is incredible. Also, KEvin Kennedy said we were the best team in the NL also. Chris Myers responded "Houston and Seattle in the world series? Interesting."
