GAME 6 - April 11: Phillies 2, Astros 1
GAME 7 - April 12: Cardinals 5, Astros 0
The last time that the Astros opened a season with such a dismal string of losses was 1983 - the summer that I moved away from Texas with my husband and two sons, ages 4 and 10 months. Those two sons are now married men, an architect and lawyer respectively, who live in NY, cheer for the Yankees*, and pity me for my loyalty to the Astros. After starting with 9 consecutive losses, the Astros went on to eke out a pretty nice 1983 season, with an 85-77 record, third in the NL Western Division.
Fast forward to 2010, and here we are just 3 losses away from passing that landmark of terrible season starts. Not that I'm wishing for more losses - they are disheartening to watch live, and I just can't force myself to watch a loss after the fact on the mlb.tv archive. Especially a shutout like yesterday's 5-0 loss to our erstwhile foe, the Cardinals. But if we're going to lose 9, then let's break through '83, lose a nice round 10 to start the season, and then ... go on to win the pennant. Kind of a condensed version of 2005's 15-30 season start.
On the other hand, 10 consecutive losses would mean digging out from 10 games under .500. It's a deep hole. Although the 1983 Astros ended up with a winning record, they didn't end up in the playoffs. That first couple of weeks killed their chances. Had the Astros started the season strongly in '83 - say 6-3, instead of 0-9 -- they would have tied the division leading Dodgers.
I just want to clarify that I am not advocating going all-out for record breaking in this statistical category. We aren't looking to top the 1988 Orioles' 21 losses to start the season. In fact, even imagining such a thing has made me change my mind - let's rest up today (an off day) and go start a winning streak tomorrow.
I have to find something to like in the most recent embarrassments. If nothing else this year, that will be the purpose of my blog, as everyone else is busy trashing the Astros. So what to like...?
In Sunday's finale against the Phillies, Ray Oswalt pitched a valiant battle. After giving up a lead off homer, he was pretty much vintage, alternating his 96 MPH fastball with a curve that was clocked as low as 64. Nice to see that he's got that curve this year, after such a bad start last year. Not that it's kept him from being on the wrong side of the loss - he's got an 0-2 record to start the year. But he's pitched really well. It probably goes without saying that the other Roy - Halladay - also pitched pretty well, all the way to a one run complete game.
It's hard to find much to like in a shutout - the Astros' third already in the first week of the season - but I'll have to stretch. The starting pitching isn't worth bragging on - Wandy came out on the wrong side of the battle with Pujols, whose 4 RBI all came off his pitches. I guess Michael Bourn is my man for this game - he got the Astros first steal of the season, and hit two singles, driving his BA up to .346. On a team with several other starters who are batting under .120, that's kind of nice. Bourn also got up close and personal with the Cards' outfield wall, hitting it hard and falling onto the field, but he doesn't seem to be injured.
I also liked the bullpen work in these two games - in 7 innings, the Astros relievers only gave up one run (by Wilton Lopez, up from Round Rock to fill in for Sammy Sidearm).
Don't get me started on what I didn't like about a shutout. I don't even want to look at the team stats, for fear that the Nats have left us in their dust. The off day today is a welcome break. Unfortunately, most of this week will be afternoon games, meaning that I won't get to see them until I get home from work. But I'm promising now: I'm not going to watch any shutouts, unless we've broken into the W column.
In other interesting news: Andy Pettitte (who the Astros did not want to give a 2 year contract to, some years back, since he was getting kind of old) pitched enough shutout innings in the Yankee's home opener to get the win. To the best of my knowledge, Clemens is still in the process of retiring.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
GAMES 4-5: How Deep a Hole is Needed for a Good Foundation?
GAME 4 - April 9: Phillies 8, Astros 0
GAME 5 - April 10: Phillies 9, Astros 6
When Elizabeth and I were down in Florida for Spring Training, we took advantage of an off day to go to the beach. It was a little cool for swimming, but just fine for making the peculiar form of sand castle that we devised in our childhood Sundays at Galveston beach -- the drip castle. Here's how to make one: You start by digging a hole in the sand. Pile up the sand you dig out on the land side of the hole, as a base for your structure. (That way the hole becomes a moat when the tide comes in.) When you get down to water in the bottom of the hole, you can start dripping the watery sand on your structure to create turrets and buttresses and all kind of other sandy gingerbread. It results in a very organic kind of a structure - more like a mountain range than a castle.
Like everything in the real estate business, it's all about location, location, location. You need to dig far enough from the waterline so that your structure doesn't get washed away, but close enough that you'll get water in the bottom of the hole without having to dig too deeply. I didn't gauge the location decision quite right down in Florida - our first attempt was too far up and we had to dig down a couple of feet before we got enough water in the hole to start making drips. If I'd realized how far it would be, I probably would have changed the plans earlier, but I kept thinking we were on the verge of hitting water any minute. We weren't. Eventually we abandoned the site, and started over closer to the water. There we hit water quickly and succeeded in creating a nice little drippy castle before the incoming tide caused it to collapse - the problem with being too close to the water.
Somewhere in this beach story, there's a metaphor for the Astros losing their first 5 games of the season, digging themselves a hole that's getting deeper and deeper. It's not time for doom and gloom - it is highly unlikely that they can sustain their perfect record for a whole season. It is, after all, still the first week of the season. On the other hand, these games do count just as much as the ones in September. At some point a little before the All Star game, we'll all be thinking about what it will take to get back up to .500 -- a preliminary step before we can count on our traditional strong finish to get us into the playoffs. And each one of these first-week losses is another game under .500 to dig out of.
I'm not sure what lesson the Astros could take from my castle building. It's not as if they have been stubbornly clinging to the same losing pattern, game after game. Each game has featured different lineups, as well as rotating pitchers. But each game has also had the same result - not even close to a winning outcome. The early games featured solid pitching - quality starts from the top of our rotation and good relief pitching. The later games showed less and less solid pitching from both starters and bullpen.
But all of the games were notable for ineffective offense. Even Saturday night's 5-run third inning was kind of lucky - the pitcher hit a two-out double to start a rally that included 2 homers and gave the Astros their first lead of the season. They eked out another run in the ninth. But aside from that, there were 7 goose eggs to add to the 9 from Friday night's shutout. Very similar pattern to the first two games against the Giants when the Astros didn't score in 17 of their 18 innings.
Another odd pattern: In their first 5 games, the Astros have a total of 5 BBs. The next lowest team in the walk category has more than double that number, and the Phillies have over 30. Does this mean that the Astros are being directed to be aggressive at the plate? Are they just trying too hard? Somehow it doesn't seem like a GOOD thing - a walk is just as good as a single for getting a runner to first base. Berkman would likely have had more than 5 BBs all by himself, but he's going to be on the DL until after the upcoming road trip.
I don't know why the BB stat bugs me so much. There are other distressing offensive stats: The Astros are in the league cellar for on base percent (.249) -- 20 points below the next worst Padres (.269), in part a reflection of that lack of walks. The Astros are in last place in the NL in slugging (.320), compared to the next worst Brewers (.356) and best in league Phillies (.540). They did not get their first home runs until yesterday's pair of dingers from Michaels and Pence, 5 games into the season. They are the only team in the NL with no stolen bases, in part a reflection of the lack of opportunity. Oddly, in the team stats, the top three batting averages are held by Houston starting pitchers (Wandy, Paulino, and Myers), who each got a hit and ended up batting .500. Maybe they thought if they didn't hit, no one else would either.
On the pitching side, the Astros are tied with the Nationals for giving up the most runs (35). No Astros starting pitcher has a WHIP under 1.50. Opposing batters are hitting .350 against Astros pitchers, compared to .315 for the Nats, and .190 for the Braves. On base percent against our pitchers is .411, with only the Nats at .419 worse. Our starting pitchers are averaging just over 5 innings per start; again only the Nats are worse. As a Washington-area resident, I can tell you that being categorized with the Nationals for anything this season is not a good place to be. But even the Nats have a couple of wins so far. Why not us? Are we digging our hole too deep in the wrong place?
The only bright spot in the stats seems to be in our improved infield defense. The Astros 9 double plays so far are next to the best in the league, and probably account for why we aren't absolute bottom in some of those pitching categories. As a team, we only have 3 errors, and 2 of those were misplays by pitchers. I have to look for a bright spot somewhere.
I'm not going to bother looking for something to like in Friday night's shutout. I didn't bother to go back and watch it after the Sabbath ended. I really hate being on the wrong end of a shutout. Saturday's game had some likable moments - especially the five-run blitz in the third, which happened before I turned on the computer after the Sabbath ended. Michaels, who got a start in center field, hit the first Astros homer of the season, followed shortly after by a long ball from Pence. But all the fun was initially kicked off by a 2-out double by Paulino - I always like it when a pitcher helps himself at the plate.
It was more than Paulino did for himself on the mound, though - he gave up 4 ER on 4 hits and 4 walks, in 5 innings. That was not the worst performance by an pitcher wearing the Astros '65 retro jersey last night: Honors go to Brandon Lyon, whose 3-run seventh inning blew the Astros' tenuous lead and earned him the loss. He got 2 quick outs, then walked Utley on a 3-2 pitch, and it was downhill from there - a home run and 3 singles put the Astros behind for good. There are a lot of people who wonder how it is that Lyon is worth the $15M deal he got, and yesterday's game didn't buy him much good will in those circles. The Astros other off-season pitching deal, Matt Lindstrom, didn't fare much better, giving up a two-run home in the ninth. But the damage was already done. The Astros had a little rally in the bottom of the ninth, with Bourn's pinch-hit double, scoring on Michaels' single, but it fizzled when Pence struck out swinging.
While I'm on the theme of hole-digging and implosions, here's a bit of nostalgia for Texas sports fans: The demolition of Texas Stadium early this morning. (You can watch the video here.) I wasn't ever in this stadium, and I'm not a Cowboys fan (although I used to fib that Bob Lilly was my cousin when I lived in Texas), but it was still kind of sad to watch the stadium go down. That ugly domed profile reminded me a bit of the Astrodome, which may eventually have a similar poignant and dusty moment of its own. I see that there's a petition on the web to save the Astrodome, but I'm not sure that the expense of keeping it around for the occasional hurricane housing justifies the cost. Perhaps they'll blow it up as part of the Astros 50 year anniversary party in 2012. I'd sure go down to Houston to watch that!
Oswalt on the mound at 2 my time. Time for a bit of gardening, before I come in to watch Houston win its first game of the season. Ever the optimist. Didn't you hear? We're going to win the pennant!
GAME 5 - April 10: Phillies 9, Astros 6
When Elizabeth and I were down in Florida for Spring Training, we took advantage of an off day to go to the beach. It was a little cool for swimming, but just fine for making the peculiar form of sand castle that we devised in our childhood Sundays at Galveston beach -- the drip castle. Here's how to make one: You start by digging a hole in the sand. Pile up the sand you dig out on the land side of the hole, as a base for your structure. (That way the hole becomes a moat when the tide comes in.) When you get down to water in the bottom of the hole, you can start dripping the watery sand on your structure to create turrets and buttresses and all kind of other sandy gingerbread. It results in a very organic kind of a structure - more like a mountain range than a castle.
Like everything in the real estate business, it's all about location, location, location. You need to dig far enough from the waterline so that your structure doesn't get washed away, but close enough that you'll get water in the bottom of the hole without having to dig too deeply. I didn't gauge the location decision quite right down in Florida - our first attempt was too far up and we had to dig down a couple of feet before we got enough water in the hole to start making drips. If I'd realized how far it would be, I probably would have changed the plans earlier, but I kept thinking we were on the verge of hitting water any minute. We weren't. Eventually we abandoned the site, and started over closer to the water. There we hit water quickly and succeeded in creating a nice little drippy castle before the incoming tide caused it to collapse - the problem with being too close to the water.
Somewhere in this beach story, there's a metaphor for the Astros losing their first 5 games of the season, digging themselves a hole that's getting deeper and deeper. It's not time for doom and gloom - it is highly unlikely that they can sustain their perfect record for a whole season. It is, after all, still the first week of the season. On the other hand, these games do count just as much as the ones in September. At some point a little before the All Star game, we'll all be thinking about what it will take to get back up to .500 -- a preliminary step before we can count on our traditional strong finish to get us into the playoffs. And each one of these first-week losses is another game under .500 to dig out of.
I'm not sure what lesson the Astros could take from my castle building. It's not as if they have been stubbornly clinging to the same losing pattern, game after game. Each game has featured different lineups, as well as rotating pitchers. But each game has also had the same result - not even close to a winning outcome. The early games featured solid pitching - quality starts from the top of our rotation and good relief pitching. The later games showed less and less solid pitching from both starters and bullpen.
But all of the games were notable for ineffective offense. Even Saturday night's 5-run third inning was kind of lucky - the pitcher hit a two-out double to start a rally that included 2 homers and gave the Astros their first lead of the season. They eked out another run in the ninth. But aside from that, there were 7 goose eggs to add to the 9 from Friday night's shutout. Very similar pattern to the first two games against the Giants when the Astros didn't score in 17 of their 18 innings.
Another odd pattern: In their first 5 games, the Astros have a total of 5 BBs. The next lowest team in the walk category has more than double that number, and the Phillies have over 30. Does this mean that the Astros are being directed to be aggressive at the plate? Are they just trying too hard? Somehow it doesn't seem like a GOOD thing - a walk is just as good as a single for getting a runner to first base. Berkman would likely have had more than 5 BBs all by himself, but he's going to be on the DL until after the upcoming road trip.
I don't know why the BB stat bugs me so much. There are other distressing offensive stats: The Astros are in the league cellar for on base percent (.249) -- 20 points below the next worst Padres (.269), in part a reflection of that lack of walks. The Astros are in last place in the NL in slugging (.320), compared to the next worst Brewers (.356) and best in league Phillies (.540). They did not get their first home runs until yesterday's pair of dingers from Michaels and Pence, 5 games into the season. They are the only team in the NL with no stolen bases, in part a reflection of the lack of opportunity. Oddly, in the team stats, the top three batting averages are held by Houston starting pitchers (Wandy, Paulino, and Myers), who each got a hit and ended up batting .500. Maybe they thought if they didn't hit, no one else would either.
On the pitching side, the Astros are tied with the Nationals for giving up the most runs (35). No Astros starting pitcher has a WHIP under 1.50. Opposing batters are hitting .350 against Astros pitchers, compared to .315 for the Nats, and .190 for the Braves. On base percent against our pitchers is .411, with only the Nats at .419 worse. Our starting pitchers are averaging just over 5 innings per start; again only the Nats are worse. As a Washington-area resident, I can tell you that being categorized with the Nationals for anything this season is not a good place to be. But even the Nats have a couple of wins so far. Why not us? Are we digging our hole too deep in the wrong place?
The only bright spot in the stats seems to be in our improved infield defense. The Astros 9 double plays so far are next to the best in the league, and probably account for why we aren't absolute bottom in some of those pitching categories. As a team, we only have 3 errors, and 2 of those were misplays by pitchers. I have to look for a bright spot somewhere.
I'm not going to bother looking for something to like in Friday night's shutout. I didn't bother to go back and watch it after the Sabbath ended. I really hate being on the wrong end of a shutout. Saturday's game had some likable moments - especially the five-run blitz in the third, which happened before I turned on the computer after the Sabbath ended. Michaels, who got a start in center field, hit the first Astros homer of the season, followed shortly after by a long ball from Pence. But all the fun was initially kicked off by a 2-out double by Paulino - I always like it when a pitcher helps himself at the plate.
It was more than Paulino did for himself on the mound, though - he gave up 4 ER on 4 hits and 4 walks, in 5 innings. That was not the worst performance by an pitcher wearing the Astros '65 retro jersey last night: Honors go to Brandon Lyon, whose 3-run seventh inning blew the Astros' tenuous lead and earned him the loss. He got 2 quick outs, then walked Utley on a 3-2 pitch, and it was downhill from there - a home run and 3 singles put the Astros behind for good. There are a lot of people who wonder how it is that Lyon is worth the $15M deal he got, and yesterday's game didn't buy him much good will in those circles. The Astros other off-season pitching deal, Matt Lindstrom, didn't fare much better, giving up a two-run home in the ninth. But the damage was already done. The Astros had a little rally in the bottom of the ninth, with Bourn's pinch-hit double, scoring on Michaels' single, but it fizzled when Pence struck out swinging.
While I'm on the theme of hole-digging and implosions, here's a bit of nostalgia for Texas sports fans: The demolition of Texas Stadium early this morning. (You can watch the video here.) I wasn't ever in this stadium, and I'm not a Cowboys fan (although I used to fib that Bob Lilly was my cousin when I lived in Texas), but it was still kind of sad to watch the stadium go down. That ugly domed profile reminded me a bit of the Astrodome, which may eventually have a similar poignant and dusty moment of its own. I see that there's a petition on the web to save the Astrodome, but I'm not sure that the expense of keeping it around for the occasional hurricane housing justifies the cost. Perhaps they'll blow it up as part of the Astros 50 year anniversary party in 2012. I'd sure go down to Houston to watch that!
Oswalt on the mound at 2 my time. Time for a bit of gardening, before I come in to watch Houston win its first game of the season. Ever the optimist. Didn't you hear? We're going to win the pennant!
Friday, April 9, 2010
GAME 3: There's Only One Thing to Conclude...
GAME 3 - April 7: Giants 10, Astros 4
The Astros have a PERFECT record: Five days into the season, they are the only team in the whole MLB without a win. How beautiful is that? There is only one possible thing to conclude:
***** We are going to win the pennant. *****
I'll have to give some thought to how I can really justify this prediction. Right now it's just a hunch.
I regularly say that there is always something to like in a game, and if I stretch I can probably find something in this miserable loss to clinch the series anti-sweep. How about this: The Astros did not actually spend the whole game behind. There was a brief moment, at the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Astros scored 3 runs and tied up the game 4-4. It's a stretch, but I kind of liked that. I liked Cory Sullivan's pinch-hit 2-RBI triple too. And two more double plays.
What I didn't like could fill up a few pages, starting with the meltdown of the bullpen in the rest of the game. And sadly, it was my current favorite reliever, Sammy Gervacio, who turned up the heat to start the melting. He only threw 9 pitches, but managed to give up 2 runs on 2 hits, made a throwing error, earned the loss, and (by far the worst thing) came out of the game with an injured shoulder. He's diagnosed with a rotator cuff inflammation and on the 15 day DL.
Sampson finished up his inning without any further damage. But Fulchino was tagged for ER in the ninth (Moehler taking over for him and allowing one of his runners to score). Okay, some days are worse than others, but my favorite thing in the previous losses was how good the bullpen was. Bummer.
Nothing much to say about Brett Myers in his first start as an Astro. He pitched 6 innings, gave up 12 of the Giants' 19 hits, allowed 4 ER. Not quite good enough to get into the range of "quality" start. I'm not really crazy about him to begin with, but I will hold my nose and cheer this season, as long as he's wearing our uni. Like Wandy, he did manage to get a hit - I do like when a pitcher helps himself.
The next thing I don't like in this game - and in this series - is the lack of walks. So far this season, the Astros have accumulated a total of 2 BBs, both by Keppinger in Game 2. I guess that an expert might diagnose this as the batters being aggressive, but given the dismal offensive performance in the series, perhaps it's worth being a little picky about what to swing at. Maybe I'll ask Morgan Ensberg about this in his Baseball IQ blog. (If you haven't seen this blog, RUN-DON'T-WALK to it. It's totally terrific.)
I can't end this blog so dismally, especially as I'm about to shut down my computer for my usual baseball-free Sabbath. So here's one more thing to like: My video of Gervacio pitching at Spring Training is now over 9300 views. Even the video of him picking off the runner is almost to 3000 views. I have no idea who are all these folks watching my baseball videos, but I sure hope they're cheering for the Astros this weekend. We need all the help we can get. It's a long way to that pennant!!!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
GAMES 1-2: It's a tradition (to start the season with a loss)
GAME 1 - April 5: Giants 5, Astros 2
GAME 2 - April 6: Giants 3, Astros 0
For the eighth consecutive year, Roy Oswalt took the mound on Opening Day, and for the fourth consecutive year, the Astros lost their season opener. I'm thinking that there's a message in there somewhere, but I'm not sure what it is. Oswalt didn't pitch badly - he gave up 3 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings, with all 3 runs scored in one shaky second inning. But he didn't get any help from his teammates at the plate - they didn't manage to score any runs until the ninth inning when they eked out a pair. Too little too late. I think I saw this movie before...
The trend continued when Wandy took the mound in Game 2. His line looked very similar to Oswalt's - 3 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings, with all 3 runs scored in his shaky sixth inning. And like Oswalt, Wandy got no help from Astros batters. Although he did his best - hitting a single on his first at bat - the rest of the team managed to escape scoring for the full nine innings.
I seem to recall having seen this pattern before, and it doesn't necessarily mean gloom and doom is certain. But it does mean that watching the Astros games lacks that certain je ne sais quoi. Actually, I do know what - the fun of WINNING. Or even just base running. I'm not going to bother with the excuses about what great pitching the Giants have - sure they do, and sure do lots of other teams. That gets to be a dull refrain pretty quickly. Having griped about the lousy outcomes of these games, I have to point out that there's almost always something to like in a game, even a loss. So I'll finish this blog posting up with a few of my favorite things...
I actually didn't get to watch the first game, since it was played during the end-of-Passover holiday and I forego using the computer as part of my religious observance. I did go back to watch just one half-inning of the game on the mlb.tv archive after the holiday ended. It was the top of the ninth when Sammy Gervacio pitched. I even, uncharacteristically, watched it on the other team's broadcast, because I wanted to hear what their commentators had to say about Gervacio's odd set up. The Giants broadcasters weren't quite as hilarious (and insulting) as the Mets guys were during Spring Training, but they did find him to be a bit unusual. However, after his 1-2-3 inning, striking out 2 of his 3 batters, they admitted that his strange approach was effective. I am really getting a kick out of watching Gervacio pitch - he was terrific at Spring Training, and hopefully will continue to be effective as batters get used to his routine and his sidearm delivery. (On a related note, my You Tube video of Gervacio pitching at Spring Training now has 6700 views - and rising. Click here to see it now.)
My thing to like in Game 2 (which I did get to watch most of, live, once the holiday ended) was Jeff Keppinger. Although the Giants limited the Astros to only 4 hits in the game, Kepp hit 2 doubles, and walked in his other 2 at bats. One of the doubles looked a whole lot like a homer - it seemed to bounce off the railing above the yellow line into the Crawford Box in left field. But the umps, after a replay review, called it a double, and Keppinger was stranded on base. (I agree with the admittedly biased fans in the Crawford Box who swore up and down the ball bounced off the railing - it should have been a homer.)
My third thing to like was the defense - in particular, the 5 double plays in the first two games. We've got an upgraded infield this year, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out over the season. Mills used two different infields in these two games. In Game 1, against righty Tim Lincecum, it was Blum at first, Matsui at second, and Feliz at third, with Manzella at short and Towles behind the plate. In Game 2, against lefty Zito, Mills started Feliz at first, Keppinger at second, and Chris Johnson at third, with Manzella at short and Quintero catching.
There are a whole lot of things not to like much about these first two games, pretty much starting and ending with the offense. The Astros only managed to score in one out of 18 innings. Pence hasn't had a hit yet, and Bourn and Feliz are 1 for 8. No homers yet. And perhaps, more worrisome, only 2 BBs so far - both Keppinger's. (That would probably be higher if Puma were in the lineup, but he's on the DL for now.)
But the pitching (my bigger concern this year) was not bad. The starting pitching for both games was at least solid - both Oswalt and Wandy had "quality" (albeit losing) starts. And 4 of the 6 relief pitchers used in these two games threw scoreless innings (only 1 hit and no BBs between them).
I'm hoping for a better outcome to salvage this opening series in tomorrow afternoon's game. I'll be back at work, now that the Passover holiday is over, but it sure would be nice to watch a win when I get home after a hard day at the office. Maybe even some home runs. Am I being too greedy?
GAME 2 - April 6: Giants 3, Astros 0
For the eighth consecutive year, Roy Oswalt took the mound on Opening Day, and for the fourth consecutive year, the Astros lost their season opener. I'm thinking that there's a message in there somewhere, but I'm not sure what it is. Oswalt didn't pitch badly - he gave up 3 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings, with all 3 runs scored in one shaky second inning. But he didn't get any help from his teammates at the plate - they didn't manage to score any runs until the ninth inning when they eked out a pair. Too little too late. I think I saw this movie before...
The trend continued when Wandy took the mound in Game 2. His line looked very similar to Oswalt's - 3 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings, with all 3 runs scored in his shaky sixth inning. And like Oswalt, Wandy got no help from Astros batters. Although he did his best - hitting a single on his first at bat - the rest of the team managed to escape scoring for the full nine innings.
I seem to recall having seen this pattern before, and it doesn't necessarily mean gloom and doom is certain. But it does mean that watching the Astros games lacks that certain je ne sais quoi. Actually, I do know what - the fun of WINNING. Or even just base running. I'm not going to bother with the excuses about what great pitching the Giants have - sure they do, and sure do lots of other teams. That gets to be a dull refrain pretty quickly. Having griped about the lousy outcomes of these games, I have to point out that there's almost always something to like in a game, even a loss. So I'll finish this blog posting up with a few of my favorite things...
I actually didn't get to watch the first game, since it was played during the end-of-Passover holiday and I forego using the computer as part of my religious observance. I did go back to watch just one half-inning of the game on the mlb.tv archive after the holiday ended. It was the top of the ninth when Sammy Gervacio pitched. I even, uncharacteristically, watched it on the other team's broadcast, because I wanted to hear what their commentators had to say about Gervacio's odd set up. The Giants broadcasters weren't quite as hilarious (and insulting) as the Mets guys were during Spring Training, but they did find him to be a bit unusual. However, after his 1-2-3 inning, striking out 2 of his 3 batters, they admitted that his strange approach was effective. I am really getting a kick out of watching Gervacio pitch - he was terrific at Spring Training, and hopefully will continue to be effective as batters get used to his routine and his sidearm delivery. (On a related note, my You Tube video of Gervacio pitching at Spring Training now has 6700 views - and rising. Click here to see it now.)
My thing to like in Game 2 (which I did get to watch most of, live, once the holiday ended) was Jeff Keppinger. Although the Giants limited the Astros to only 4 hits in the game, Kepp hit 2 doubles, and walked in his other 2 at bats. One of the doubles looked a whole lot like a homer - it seemed to bounce off the railing above the yellow line into the Crawford Box in left field. But the umps, after a replay review, called it a double, and Keppinger was stranded on base. (I agree with the admittedly biased fans in the Crawford Box who swore up and down the ball bounced off the railing - it should have been a homer.)
My third thing to like was the defense - in particular, the 5 double plays in the first two games. We've got an upgraded infield this year, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out over the season. Mills used two different infields in these two games. In Game 1, against righty Tim Lincecum, it was Blum at first, Matsui at second, and Feliz at third, with Manzella at short and Towles behind the plate. In Game 2, against lefty Zito, Mills started Feliz at first, Keppinger at second, and Chris Johnson at third, with Manzella at short and Quintero catching.
There are a whole lot of things not to like much about these first two games, pretty much starting and ending with the offense. The Astros only managed to score in one out of 18 innings. Pence hasn't had a hit yet, and Bourn and Feliz are 1 for 8. No homers yet. And perhaps, more worrisome, only 2 BBs so far - both Keppinger's. (That would probably be higher if Puma were in the lineup, but he's on the DL for now.)
But the pitching (my bigger concern this year) was not bad. The starting pitching for both games was at least solid - both Oswalt and Wandy had "quality" (albeit losing) starts. And 4 of the 6 relief pitchers used in these two games threw scoreless innings (only 1 hit and no BBs between them).
I'm hoping for a better outcome to salvage this opening series in tomorrow afternoon's game. I'll be back at work, now that the Passover holiday is over, but it sure would be nice to watch a win when I get home after a hard day at the office. Maybe even some home runs. Am I being too greedy?
Sunday, April 4, 2010
So Close You Can Almost Taste It
I'm talking about matzah, of course. Boxes and boxes of matzah, shmura matzah, matzah balls, matzah farfel kugel, matzah cookies... That's the thing about Passover - wherever you look there's matzah. It actually tastes pretty good, especially slathered in zhug (Yemenite chile paste). And of course, matzah balls... Okay, I'm joking - it's Astros Opening Day that's SOOOOOO close. Play Ball!
After weeks of no-account Kissimmee games, tomorrow night the Astros will be suiting up for the real thing. Roy O will, of course, be on the mound for his eighth consecutive opening day start. After all the rainouts and the pulled body parts, his total IP for all of Spring Training only hit 10 innings - 4 of them in the March 16 game I attended. With so little game time this Spring, his back injection last week, and his disappointing season last year, it's hard to predict how Oswalt will do this year. I'd like to be predicting 7 fast innings for him for tomorrow night's opener against the Giants, but I'm not sure he's up for much of a pitch count yet.
I won't actually find out until Tuesday night. Right about the time Roy takes the mound tomorrow night, I'll be breaking bread - I mean matzah - with long-time friends, at a holiday meal celebrating the last night of Passover. That means, of course, no TV, radio, or mlb.tv broadcast for me until the holiday ends at 8:17 Tuesday night. If my curiosity gets the best of me, I just may have to go to a neighbor on Tuesday morning to borrow a newspaper to check the box scores.
With only a day to go before the season starts, I should use this blog posting to make some kind of prophetic remarks about the 2010 season. Last year, the Astros frankly sucked. They haven't made any earthshaking changes in the off-season, and they had a losing record in Spring Training. All of the serious professional prognosticators are predicting gloom and doom for the Astros - somewhere close to the bottom of a mediocre division. I was very impressed by the bullpen at the Spring Training games I attended, and the offensive stats for the final roster guys weren't bad at all. But I'll admit that there are some pretty heavy concerns about the rotation.
Happily, I'm a fan, so I'm allowed to indulge in outrageous optimism in the face of not-quite-ideal evidence. I don't have to worry about ruining my professional reputation by predicting a playoff spot for a team that, by all accounts, is likely to be on the shady side of .500. I can blithely profess my faith that we're going all the way in 2010 - just like we almost did in 2005. To be honest - I did NOT have an epiphany at Spring Training this year, as I did in 2005, when I clearly "saw" Bagwell and Biggio on the team that won the pennant. So for now, I'm going to punt on predictions, hope for the best, and cheer for my guys.
If anyone is reading this, look for me on Twitter on or about 8:18 Tuesday night. I'll be back! Meanwhile, happy Passover, and PLAY BALL - matzah ball!
After weeks of no-account Kissimmee games, tomorrow night the Astros will be suiting up for the real thing. Roy O will, of course, be on the mound for his eighth consecutive opening day start. After all the rainouts and the pulled body parts, his total IP for all of Spring Training only hit 10 innings - 4 of them in the March 16 game I attended. With so little game time this Spring, his back injection last week, and his disappointing season last year, it's hard to predict how Oswalt will do this year. I'd like to be predicting 7 fast innings for him for tomorrow night's opener against the Giants, but I'm not sure he's up for much of a pitch count yet.
I won't actually find out until Tuesday night. Right about the time Roy takes the mound tomorrow night, I'll be breaking bread - I mean matzah - with long-time friends, at a holiday meal celebrating the last night of Passover. That means, of course, no TV, radio, or mlb.tv broadcast for me until the holiday ends at 8:17 Tuesday night. If my curiosity gets the best of me, I just may have to go to a neighbor on Tuesday morning to borrow a newspaper to check the box scores.
With only a day to go before the season starts, I should use this blog posting to make some kind of prophetic remarks about the 2010 season. Last year, the Astros frankly sucked. They haven't made any earthshaking changes in the off-season, and they had a losing record in Spring Training. All of the serious professional prognosticators are predicting gloom and doom for the Astros - somewhere close to the bottom of a mediocre division. I was very impressed by the bullpen at the Spring Training games I attended, and the offensive stats for the final roster guys weren't bad at all. But I'll admit that there are some pretty heavy concerns about the rotation.
Happily, I'm a fan, so I'm allowed to indulge in outrageous optimism in the face of not-quite-ideal evidence. I don't have to worry about ruining my professional reputation by predicting a playoff spot for a team that, by all accounts, is likely to be on the shady side of .500. I can blithely profess my faith that we're going all the way in 2010 - just like we almost did in 2005. To be honest - I did NOT have an epiphany at Spring Training this year, as I did in 2005, when I clearly "saw" Bagwell and Biggio on the team that won the pennant. So for now, I'm going to punt on predictions, hope for the best, and cheer for my guys.
If anyone is reading this, look for me on Twitter on or about 8:18 Tuesday night. I'll be back! Meanwhile, happy Passover, and PLAY BALL - matzah ball!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Back to Exile...
I can't believe that my annual trek to Astros Spring Training is already over. The week went by so fast! I am so incredibly jealous of my fellow Osceola County Stadium fans who go down there for the whole month. Meanwhile, I had to go back to work. Elizabeth and I had to leave the Monday game against the Cards after the 8th inning, because we had early flights. (It didn't help that Wandy got into an endless first inning mess.) So I can honestly say that this year at Spring Training, I never saw the Astros lose a game. They ultimately did lose that Monday game, 6-4, but I wasn't there to see it. (And, egomaniac that I am, I have to think that if I'd just stayed one more inning, the Astros would have managed to eke out a win.)
Before I get too carried away reminiscing about my week in Kissimmee, I want to take a few minutes to post my Fans of the Game and a few player pix from Monday's game against the Cardinals. I have two couples as Fans of the Game. The first, Barbara and Bob from Tomball, were sitting in front of us in the first row of Section 103. (That location practically makes you honorary members of the bullpen!)
The next Fans of the Game are Jack and Patti, who were sitting next to us. Both of them were keeping score, and Jack provided some good insight on the game and the team.
I cannot overstate how fantastic it is to be surrounded at a game by great fans like Barbara, Bob, Jack, and Patti - and the others who I've featured in the past few blog posts. The few regular season games I attend in Washington - always as the fan who's cheering for the Other Team - are generally marred by the number of rude and drunk people who don't seem to care about baseball, but who show up at games and make themselves annoying.
Now a few comments about Monday's game. Wandy lost it in the first inning, giving away 5 ERs to the Cards, a deficit from which the Astros never recovered. However, on the bright side, he did manage to get his act together for the next 3 innings, and left the game without any further scoring damage. Since he didn't have a very good start, I'll forego the usual pitching picture and instead post a shot of Wandy laying down a successful sac bunt. (I love pictures with the ball in the air!)
The relievers continued to pitch well. Gervacio and Lopez each pitched a scoreless pair of innings, each striking out 3 batters. Loux gave up a solo homer in the ninth inning - only the third run allowed by the bullpen in the 5 Spring Training games I attended! Here's a picture of Gervacio; with his crazy pre-pitch poses and snappy sidearm throw, I can't take enough pictures of him!
It's funny - back in 2005, my first year at Spring Training, I mainly tried to take photos that were good closeups and in focus. I didn't get much in the way of action shots back then. I have a better camera now (a Canon SX10 - 10 mpixels, 20X optical zoom), but I also have learned to guess where the interesting play will be and to just focus there and hope for some action. My best pictures from Spring Training are definitely the ones where Something Happens. Here are a few from the March 22 game:
I posted a whole lot more pictures from this and other games on the Astros Fans in Exile Facebook group. If you're a Facebook user, you should definitely join this group! If you aren't, you might not be able to see the photos. I'll post more of them on the Astros Fan in Exile website photo album when I have a bit of free time. Hope you like these pictures. Comment on this blog if you do! I never know if anyone is out there!!!
Before I post this blog entry, I have to add one more Fan of the Game picture - this one is of Austin (author of The Bottom Line, an Astros fan blog) and me. We've been reading each other's blogs and tweeting at each other for more than a year, but never met before Spring Training this year. See you online, Austin -- and at Spring Training again next March!
Before I get too carried away reminiscing about my week in Kissimmee, I want to take a few minutes to post my Fans of the Game and a few player pix from Monday's game against the Cardinals. I have two couples as Fans of the Game. The first, Barbara and Bob from Tomball, were sitting in front of us in the first row of Section 103. (That location practically makes you honorary members of the bullpen!)
The next Fans of the Game are Jack and Patti, who were sitting next to us. Both of them were keeping score, and Jack provided some good insight on the game and the team.
I cannot overstate how fantastic it is to be surrounded at a game by great fans like Barbara, Bob, Jack, and Patti - and the others who I've featured in the past few blog posts. The few regular season games I attend in Washington - always as the fan who's cheering for the Other Team - are generally marred by the number of rude and drunk people who don't seem to care about baseball, but who show up at games and make themselves annoying.
Now a few comments about Monday's game. Wandy lost it in the first inning, giving away 5 ERs to the Cards, a deficit from which the Astros never recovered. However, on the bright side, he did manage to get his act together for the next 3 innings, and left the game without any further scoring damage. Since he didn't have a very good start, I'll forego the usual pitching picture and instead post a shot of Wandy laying down a successful sac bunt. (I love pictures with the ball in the air!)
The relievers continued to pitch well. Gervacio and Lopez each pitched a scoreless pair of innings, each striking out 3 batters. Loux gave up a solo homer in the ninth inning - only the third run allowed by the bullpen in the 5 Spring Training games I attended! Here's a picture of Gervacio; with his crazy pre-pitch poses and snappy sidearm throw, I can't take enough pictures of him!
It's funny - back in 2005, my first year at Spring Training, I mainly tried to take photos that were good closeups and in focus. I didn't get much in the way of action shots back then. I have a better camera now (a Canon SX10 - 10 mpixels, 20X optical zoom), but I also have learned to guess where the interesting play will be and to just focus there and hope for some action. My best pictures from Spring Training are definitely the ones where Something Happens. Here are a few from the March 22 game:
Keppinger leaps, but can't keep Greene from stealing second base.
Feliz, the catcher, and the ump all watch the ball fly... out of the stadium.
Towles makes a heads first slide into second base.
Shelton takes a pickoff throw to first base. (I just love those ball-in-the-air pix!)
OOPS!
Lee spent the inning sitting in the bullpen - perhaps to avoid the long walk from left field to the dugout?
Before I post this blog entry, I have to add one more Fan of the Game picture - this one is of Austin (author of The Bottom Line, an Astros fan blog) and me. We've been reading each other's blogs and tweeting at each other for more than a year, but never met before Spring Training this year. See you online, Austin -- and at Spring Training again next March!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The Game That Wasn't
The weather report said light rain from 10-11 AM, and thunderstorms starting after 3. With Roy Oswalt on the mound, I felt pretty confident that we might be able to squeeze in most, if not all, of a game before getting drenched and fried. Alas, it was not to be. By the 1 PM start time, it was sprinkling and the infield was tarped. Shortly after, the stadium lights went on. The standing room only crowd that had come to see the Mets was getting restless.
Unfortunately, all of us were disappointed today, due to the rain. A Spring Training day without baseball is like, well, a day without baseball. The only bright side today was that the Astros did win their split squad game against Boston. Bud Norris, who was scratched yesterday due to illness, was the starting pitcher, but did not make it far in the game. He got hammered. Happily the Astros did some damage of their own, including homers by Matsui and Johnson, and came out on top, 10-7.
Only one more day of vacation. It's impossible that the week could have gone by so quickly!
Oddly, the Powers That Be decided to start the game just as it started to really rain. Who needs a spitball, when you can throw a snowball? Oswalt gave up a leadoff hit; then struck out the side. In the bottom of the inning, the Astros scored a run, And then it really started to pour and they put back the tarp. A little before 3 they sent us all packing.
I don't have any game pictures today, because I wasn't willing to get my camera all wet just to get my 500th picture of Oswalt on the mound. But I did manage to get a few Fans of the Game pix before the deluge. My special fans are Tracy and Austin from Odessa, Texas. Austin writes an Astros fan blog called The Bottom Line (check it out), and we've chatted online in blog comments and Twitter, but we'd never met before Spring Training this year. Here they are at the game that never happened:
Next is a real Fan in Exile - Matthew from Queens who was brave enough to come to the game and cheer against the Mets. He's originally from Houston, and still cheers for his hometown team. We met when he tried to decode the writing on my Astros hat - the one with ASTROS written in Hebrew, which I always wear for Spring Training.
The next Fan of the Game is Elizabeth, who has been working as an usher at the Spring Training games for the past 5 years. Sounds like a dream job to me, even if you have to tell people to go sit down for hours on end. She told us that she'd be glad to be on my website, and that we can't open umbrellas in the stands. (We didn't have one anyway, and we got soaked to the skin.)
My final Fan of the Game comes from a bit further away. CJ from Hanover, Germany, is a general sports fan and enjoys baseball (which is not a sport that's played in Germany). Since he agreed to cheer for the Astros at this game, I'm giving him an honoray Fan of the Game slot.
Only one more day of vacation. It's impossible that the week could have gone by so quickly!
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