7/5 Thread
JULY 5, 2005 (40-42)
San Diego-2 Houston-6
W- Brandon Backe
L- Dennys Reyes
BACKEOMETER- BC
BURKE STREAK- 10
PADRES MVP- Brian Giles
ASTROS MVP- Jason Lane
PADRES LVP- Brian Falkenborg
ASTROS LVP- Raul Chavez
What Wen't RIGHT- Brandon Backe and Jason Lane bounced back from some subpar performances. Craig Biggio hit hi second homer in 2 nights. Chris Burke extended his hitting streak to 10 games, a career high. Brad Lidge is back and he pitched a perfect inning.
What Wen't WRONG- Gallo gave up a triple and a single in 1/3 of an inning. Backe balked. When you have to go as far as a balk to describe what went wrong.
ANALYSIS-
Today's wen't about as well as possible. The hitters exposed Padres' pitcher Dennys Reyes' weaknesses. But the thing that pleased me the most about today's game was the performances of Brandon Backe and Jason Lane. Jason Lane has been slumping lately. Brandon was in the middle of the equivalent to a slump as a pitcher... Love that bat in the lineup though. Anyway, with those two struggling coming into tonight's game they played exceptionally well. Backe threw about just under 6 innings of 4 hit, 1 run baseball. Jason Lane wen't 2-4 with a 3 run homer. They both gave total redemption for any complaints you might have made about their performance lately.
Craig Biggio hit another homerun today and passed Roberto Alomar on the all time hits list. He quietly swung the bat well on the road trip and is loudly swinging the bat in this series. Brownie and Dierker were saying that you could make an arguement that Craig Biggio is being snubbed out of a spot on the all star roster. He is probably more deserving than an all star or 2 but Morgan Ensberg and Washington's Jose Guillen are the ones getting snubbed.
The bullpen really did a good job tonight. Chad Harville came in and got an important out, one that really helped Backe out. Larry Dierker is obsessed with talking about how good Harville's stuff is and that he could really be an important pitcher on this staff. That is fine but the majority of the time he pitches he struggles with his control. His 7.36 BB/9 is just too high but his 7.77 K/9 is a better number. Lidge averages nearly twice that and Russ Springer's 10.08 K/9 3.58 BB/9 might make him the better option. It seems like Garner is going to Harville more often though... Brad Lidge pitched the 7th inning coming back from a minor injury. He struck out Dave Roberts. and didn't allow a hit. Gallo kind of got roughed up but Chad Qualls came in and sort of shut down San Diego. Hopefully Gallo can get it together because as far as lefties go the system is running a little low. Now that John Franco has been released and Tom Martin opted for free agency the Astros are left with Will Cunnane as the lefthanded option at Round Rock.
Fans are doing their part and voting for Roy Oswalt for the final spot on the National League all star team. One of Roy's opponents, Josh Beckett suffered an injury today and was replaced on the ballot by Brett Myers. I think it was Myers. Also Derrek Lee aggravated his shoulder today and left the game against Atlanta in the third inning. He withdrew from the Homerun Derby. The Cubs are a much worse team without Lee and as of today share our 40-42 record.
Pettitte vs Peavy tommorrow... among the active pitchers who's names start with a P, these two are pretty far up there. Some of the hitters have hit him well... Among the hitters with a few at bats against Peavy here are the three lowest and higest batting averages.
HIGHEST
Vizcaino- .500
Biggio- .400
Ensberg- .400
LOWEST
Everett- .000
Berkman- .077
Ausmus- .100
Vizcaino is 6 for 12 against Peavy so maybe Adam will get the day off tommorrow. Also Orlando Palmeiro is 1 for 1 against Jake. Woody Williams will battle Old Wandy on Thursday. If they manage to pick off just one of these games the Astros will win another series, this one against a first place club, not the Rockies or Reds.
And finally, as is customary at Astronomics, any 10 game hitting streak is recognized and followed up top. Burke extended his to 10 tonight so good luck to him. Jeff Kent set the record at 25 last season. He is hitting .361 during his streak. the lowest batting average for a Houston hitting streak of 15 games or more is .309, during Dickie Thon's 21 game hitting streak in 1982.
San Diego-2 Houston-6
W- Brandon Backe
L- Dennys Reyes
BACKEOMETER- BC
BURKE STREAK- 10
PADRES MVP- Brian Giles
ASTROS MVP- Jason Lane
PADRES LVP- Brian Falkenborg
ASTROS LVP- Raul Chavez
What Wen't RIGHT- Brandon Backe and Jason Lane bounced back from some subpar performances. Craig Biggio hit hi second homer in 2 nights. Chris Burke extended his hitting streak to 10 games, a career high. Brad Lidge is back and he pitched a perfect inning.
What Wen't WRONG- Gallo gave up a triple and a single in 1/3 of an inning. Backe balked. When you have to go as far as a balk to describe what went wrong.
ANALYSIS-
Today's wen't about as well as possible. The hitters exposed Padres' pitcher Dennys Reyes' weaknesses. But the thing that pleased me the most about today's game was the performances of Brandon Backe and Jason Lane. Jason Lane has been slumping lately. Brandon was in the middle of the equivalent to a slump as a pitcher... Love that bat in the lineup though. Anyway, with those two struggling coming into tonight's game they played exceptionally well. Backe threw about just under 6 innings of 4 hit, 1 run baseball. Jason Lane wen't 2-4 with a 3 run homer. They both gave total redemption for any complaints you might have made about their performance lately.
Craig Biggio hit another homerun today and passed Roberto Alomar on the all time hits list. He quietly swung the bat well on the road trip and is loudly swinging the bat in this series. Brownie and Dierker were saying that you could make an arguement that Craig Biggio is being snubbed out of a spot on the all star roster. He is probably more deserving than an all star or 2 but Morgan Ensberg and Washington's Jose Guillen are the ones getting snubbed.
The bullpen really did a good job tonight. Chad Harville came in and got an important out, one that really helped Backe out. Larry Dierker is obsessed with talking about how good Harville's stuff is and that he could really be an important pitcher on this staff. That is fine but the majority of the time he pitches he struggles with his control. His 7.36 BB/9 is just too high but his 7.77 K/9 is a better number. Lidge averages nearly twice that and Russ Springer's 10.08 K/9 3.58 BB/9 might make him the better option. It seems like Garner is going to Harville more often though... Brad Lidge pitched the 7th inning coming back from a minor injury. He struck out Dave Roberts. and didn't allow a hit. Gallo kind of got roughed up but Chad Qualls came in and sort of shut down San Diego. Hopefully Gallo can get it together because as far as lefties go the system is running a little low. Now that John Franco has been released and Tom Martin opted for free agency the Astros are left with Will Cunnane as the lefthanded option at Round Rock.
Fans are doing their part and voting for Roy Oswalt for the final spot on the National League all star team. One of Roy's opponents, Josh Beckett suffered an injury today and was replaced on the ballot by Brett Myers. I think it was Myers. Also Derrek Lee aggravated his shoulder today and left the game against Atlanta in the third inning. He withdrew from the Homerun Derby. The Cubs are a much worse team without Lee and as of today share our 40-42 record.
Pettitte vs Peavy tommorrow... among the active pitchers who's names start with a P, these two are pretty far up there. Some of the hitters have hit him well... Among the hitters with a few at bats against Peavy here are the three lowest and higest batting averages.
HIGHEST
Vizcaino- .500
Biggio- .400
Ensberg- .400
LOWEST
Everett- .000
Berkman- .077
Ausmus- .100
Vizcaino is 6 for 12 against Peavy so maybe Adam will get the day off tommorrow. Also Orlando Palmeiro is 1 for 1 against Jake. Woody Williams will battle Old Wandy on Thursday. If they manage to pick off just one of these games the Astros will win another series, this one against a first place club, not the Rockies or Reds.
And finally, as is customary at Astronomics, any 10 game hitting streak is recognized and followed up top. Burke extended his to 10 tonight so good luck to him. Jeff Kent set the record at 25 last season. He is hitting .361 during his streak. the lowest batting average for a Houston hitting streak of 15 games or more is .309, during Dickie Thon's 21 game hitting streak in 1982.
posted by Senor Senior | 11:34 PM
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