After scoring just 9 runs in their previous 6 games, the Astros offense erupted matching that total in the first two innings of their game with Seattle last night. When the dust had finally settled, Houston had scored 16 runs, banged out 22 hits, homered 5 times and walked away with a 16-9 win that wasn't as close as the score would suggest. Some notes on last night's contest:
1) Chris Carter finally started to look like the player Houston thought they were trading for last night. Carter crushed a pair of home runs and finished with 4 hits. He's now gotten a hit in 3 straight games and his average is now above .200 after starting the season 1 for 19. If he hits like this I won't even really mind that fact that he's still striking out at a ridiculous rate (15 times in 8 starts).
2) I'm a believer in Brett Wallace, but with that being said, I think he's gotta get sent down to figure things out. He's all up in his head right now and even last night, when every other Astros starter had at least one hit, Wallace struck out in all 4 of his plate appearances. He's not even hitting hard foul balls, he's just got a horrible approach at the plate right now. I'd almost say send him all the way back to A-Ball just to get his confidence back. I mean the guy's 1 for 21 with 17 strikeouts. He hasn't struck out fewer than two times in any one game that he's played in this year. He's basically turned into the offensive equivalent of Chuck Knoblauch. Brandon Laird is still crushing the ball in AAA, BUT he's not on the 40-man roster so it's not as simple as just brining him up. Jake Elmore is certainly an option though. The utility infielder is 9 for his last 13 in AAA and hitting .478 through 6 games. Pena could always shift over to first and split time there with Chris Carter. And then Elmore or Marwin could spell Dominguez at third. I dunno, I just don't see Wallace snapping out of this funk he's in any time soon so something's got to be done.
3) Speaking of Marwin Gonzalez, I'd like to see Bo Porter hand him the starting shortstop gig. Marwin's solid defensively whereas Cedeno has had some issues, and Marwin's swinging the hot bat right now. He's also tied for the team-lead in walks which is something we could use more of. When you consider that Ronny Cedeno doesn't factor into the team's long term plans, whereas Marwin might, I think he should be getting a longer look instead of alternating starts with the veteran Cedeno. At the very least, let him keep playing until he cools off.
4) Erik Bedard turned in another solid, if abbreviated, outing tossing 4 scoreless innings and allowing just 1 hit. Bedard retired the first 10 Seattle hitters he faced and looked sharp once again. Granted, it's a lot easier to pitch when you're up six runs before you ever toe the rubber, but it's good to see him doing well and staying healthy.
5) Paul Clemens made his major league debut last night and was credited with the win since starter Erik Bedard didn't come out for the 5th inning. Clemens wasn't GREAT, allowing 5 runs in 4 innings - including three home runs (Jason Bay, Raul Ibanez, Michael Morse), but you can chalk some of that up to jitters given that it was his debut. We'll see how he does his next time out.
6) Who had J.D. Martinez in the pool for which Astro is going to steal a base first in 2013? Anybody? Bueller?
7) Some fun numbers stuff comparing last night's game with the previous seven:
Games 1-7 Game 8
Runs 17 16
Hits 46 22
XBH 10 8
Home Runs 2 5
Stolen Bases 0 1
Walks 10 6
Average .201 .468
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