And not a moment too soon. One earned over seven frames; solid. Struggled a little bit in the first, but he really got into a rhythm later-on. Great job in the eighth by Wesley Wright striking out the heart of the best line-up in the league on twelve pitches. Brocail looked solid too.
Pence still looks lost, but it was good to see Bourn get on base a couple times and win a game when our offense was shut down. 6-9 at this point is sort of depressing... If we hadn't blown that save last night I'd be very content with 7-8 at this point though, especially considering that Kaz, Wiggington, and Towles are all injured, and Pence is playing like crap. But it's a step closer to .500, and we just need to hang around there until we get some of our injured guys back. Once Pence gets it going, I think the wins will start pouring in.
Interesting call tonight to use Brocail in the ninth though. I'd have bet my life that Garner would have gone with Valverde there. I don't think making it'll work out for the long-term though. Hopefully we'll give Valverde the Lidge treatment and get him some work in garbage time until he gets his confidence back. We really need him to be able to pitch tight games, because I don't trust Villarreal as far as I can throw him, and Brocail and Wright are the only two other reliable arms in the bullpen.
I was left speechless after last night. I needed this win almost as much as Roy did. Hopefully 500 ball is in our near future. The cellar is not what I envisioned to start the year. Go Stros !
Valverde was great in Arizona, dunno what the deal is now, He's blown 3 saves already? I think he blew like 6 last season... oh well this is only the first 15 games... hopefully they get into the swing of things and this doesn't continue.
Thank god Roy Oswalt came to play tonight. I was hoping he wasn't starting some sort of early season slide. I'm glad he's rebounded but I wont count this as truly "back" until he has another good game like tonight. Go 'stros.
Valverde really wasn't that good last year, the D'Backs just played so many close games that he had a bunch of opportunities. I don't think his ERA was all that good last year. I knew from the instant the Astros made the trade for him and Tejada that this was going to be a bad season for the Astros. Especially now that Tejada has come out and said that he two years older than what he really was, so now he is 33. The Astros mortgaged the future of the team to win this year when they didn't get any pitching to help out. If Roy pitches like he did in his first three starts then, this could be a historically bad Astros team. Backe has never pitched a full season, Wandy can't pitch on the road which I still can't figure out, and there is a reason Chacon wasn't even a full time starter for the Pirates last year. Unfortunately this is going to be a long summer for the Astros.
I have to say that you are sadly mistaken about Jose Valverde. He was the best relief pitcher in the league last year and did VERY well in relief.
<table width="100%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0">
<tbody>
<tr valign="middle" height="15" align="right" class="bg3">
<td align="left"> As Reliever</td>
<td align="right"> 1</td>
<td align="right"> 4</td>
<td align="right"> 2.66</td>
<td align="right"> 65</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 47</td>
<td align="right"> 54</td>
<td align="right"> 64.1</td>
<td align="right"> 46</td>
<td align="right"> 21</td>
<td align="right"> 19</td>
<td align="right"> 7</td>
<td align="right"> 3</td>
<td align="right"> 26</td>
<td align="right"> 1</td>
<td align="right"> 78</td>
<td align="right"> 4</td>
<td align="right"> 2</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 1</td>
<td align="right"> .196</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="middle" height="15" align="right" class="bg2">
<td align="left"> vs. Lefthanded Batter</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 2.67</td>
<td align="right"> 62</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 33.2</td>
<td align="right"> 25</td>
<td align="right"> 10</td>
<td align="right"> 10</td>
<td align="right"> 4</td>
<td align="right"> 2</td>
<td align="right"> 13</td>
<td align="right"> 1</td>
<td align="right"> 32</td>
<td align="right"> 2</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 1</td>
<td align="right"> .202</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="middle" height="15" align="right" class="bg3">
<td align="left"> vs. Righthanded Batter</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 2.64</td>
<td align="right"> 60</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 30.2</td>
<td align="right"> 21</td>
<td align="right"> 11</td>
<td align="right"> 9</td>
<td align="right"> 3</td>
<td align="right"> 1</td>
<td align="right"> 13</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 46</td>
<td align="right"> 2</td>
<td align="right"> 2</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> 0</td>
<td align="right"> .189</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
How about those stats? Care to question any more, and if you were wondering, the 2.66 is his ERA and the last column is opponents BA. So anything else you'd like to comment on? Backe will be fine, Roy - O is nasty, Wandy will do fine on the road, and Chacon is a good starter and was just on a bad team last year.
I think the biggest difference between the Astros, and our other Houston team the Texans, is the GM on the Texans can spot talent and potential from a mile a way, and the Astros GMs of old have been quite blind to it, even when it's right in front of them.
woops, sorry about that. Well what I was showing you was that Jose Valverde was the best reliever in the MLB last year. He had opponents BA at an average of under .200 and his ERA was 2.5. I can't say that that is bad. Sorry pal.
How about those stats? Care to question any more, and if you were wondering, the 2.66 is his ERA and the last column is opponents BA. So anything else you'd like to comment on? Backe will be fine, Roy - O is nasty, Wandy will do fine on the road, and Chacon is a good starter and was just on a bad team last year.
I think the biggest difference between the Astros, and our other Houston team the Texans, is the GM on the Texans can spot talent and potential from a mile a way, and the Astros GMs of old have been quite blind to it, even when it's right in front of them.
I hope you've regained your faith in Roy now that he's bumped his record up to 2-3 with tonight's 7 IP performance. 10-3... now THIS is the way I envisioned our Oswalt starts this season back in the winter... this is what I dreamed of.
Looks like Valverde might be getting it together too. Sort of sucks that he was tagged with a blown save the other night for giving up a sac-fly after Brocail gave up three and put a man on 3rd, but he looked solid today. So, after a five-game winning streak the 'stros are back up to 11-12.
Now let's take home two more and get over .500. The Cubs are bound to cool down eventually and let us catch up to them.
Cubbies have to even up their road games. They got a ton of early home cookin.
Nice to see the boys back on track and well out of the cellar. The lineup will be fun all year. We will get good winning streaks when the pitching is 4.25 ERA or better.
A good outcome for this year is to develop 1-2 starting pitchers, see a full, healthy season from Backe and look to the off season for one more starter.
Yeah, that ONE blown save was actually undeserved. Got called into the 8th inning after 3 runs had already scored, men were still on base... not the typical situation for a classic 9th inning closer these days. Still did well, and Hunter Pence's throw ALMOST saved the save, too....
If we want over .500, we gotta take care of the Cards this time.
