7/4 Thread

JULY 4, 2005 (39-42)
San Diego-1 Houston-4
W- Roy Oswalt
L- Brian Lawrence

PADRES MVP- Geoff Blum
ASTROS MVP- Roy Oswalt

PADRES LVP- Brian Lawrence
ASTROS LVP- Jason Lane

What Wen't RIGHT- Roy had another dominant performance, allowing just 1 run on 5 hits, striking out 6. Craig Biggio hit a clutch 2 out 3 run homerun that proved to be the difference in the game.

What Wen't WRONG- Lane wen't 0-4 with 2 K's and a GIDP. He was the only player who didnt reach base today.

ANALYSIS-

Roy took care of business again today. He had a similar start to one a couple of weeks ago against Toronto when he whipped through the game in less than 2 hours. This one took 2 hours and 10 minutes, plus he allowed a run, 5 hits, and 2 walks. The offense gave him 4 runs and that was enough. Jason Lane is slumping I guess. Of course Morgan Ensberg is still swinging the bat well. He was 2-4 with an RBI double today. Willy T has been hot these last few games, he had a base hit and a double and he stole 2 bases and scored 2 runs. That is exactly what you ask from him. If he did that consistently this offense would really benefit.

Brian Lawrence was throwing an 85 MPH fastball... Brown said he averaged the slowest fastball in the majors. I'm surprised he has been as successful as he is. All he does is throw fastballs and sliders and when he leaves one out over the plate it gets hammered.

It amazes me how similar Richard Hidalgo and Jason Lane play... They both have high slugging percentages, they strike out a lot, they swing and miss a lot, they don't draw many walks, they both hit for power, not average. Hidalgo was one of the streakiest players I've ever seen and Lane is the same way. I guess the big difference is Hidalgo's 2000 season where he was actually a great player and his track record. He may be slump a lot but he has been slumping a lot for years. And of course Jason Lane is a little worse fielder and he has about half the arm Hidalgo did.

So now we are only 3 games under .500. I think we were 18 games under .500 at one point. It would really be something impressive if this club had a winning record at the break... Backe takes on Dennys Reyes tommorrow in what seems like an easy one. We'll see...