The Importance of Starting Pitching

After starting the season 10-30, the Astros are 14-14 in their last 28 games. That's .500 baseball, folks. And if you want to know why, look no further than the Astros starting pitching during that stretch:

	Opponent	W/L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	QS
Keuchel	5/15 @ Detroit	ND	5 2/3	7	5	4	2	3
Lyles	5/17 @ Pittsburgh	ND	5	4	2	1	2	4
Bedard	5/18 @ Pittsburgh	ND	6	7	2	2	0	3	Y
Harrell	5/19 @ Pittsburgh	L	7	4	1	1	1	3	Y
Keuchel	5/20 vs Kansas City	W	6 2/3	9	4	4	4	6
Norris	5/21 vs Kansas City	ND	6	5	0	0	2	2	Y
Lyles	5/22 vs Kansas City	W	6	6	1	1	1	3	Y
Bedard	5/24 vs Oakland	ND	5	4	2	2	5	4
Harrell	5/25 vs Oakland	L	1 2/3	6	6	6	3	1
Keuchel	5/26 vs Oakland	L	6	10	6	6	1	4
Norris	5/27 vs Colorado	ND	7	8	2	2	3	3	Y
Lyles	5/28 vs Colorado	ND	7	6	1	1	3	3	Y
Bedard	5/29 @ Colorado	ND	6	7	2	2	3	4	Y
Harrell	5/30 @ Colorado	W	5 2/3	8	4	3	4	2
Keuchel	5/31 @ LA Angels	W	7	6	2	2	0	4	Y
Norris	6/1 @ LA Angels	W	6	4	0	0	3	6	Y
Lyles	6/2 @ LA Angels	W	5 2/3	6	2	2	1	5
Bedard	6/3 @ LA Angels	W	7	5	1	1	1	2	Y
Harrell	6/4 vs Baltimore	L	7	5	2	1	0	6	Y
Keuchel	6/5 vs Baltimore	W	6	5	1	1	2	3	Y
Norris	6/6 vs Baltimore	L	7	9	3	3	1	7	Y
Lyles	6/7 @ Kansas City	ND	7	6	2	2	1	3	Y
Bedard	6/8 @ Kansas City	L	4 2/3	8	6	6	3	2
Harrell	6/9 @ Kansas City	ND	7	2	0	0	3	1	Y
Keuchel	6/10 @ Seattle	L	6	7	2	1	0	6	Y
Norris	6/11 @ Seattle	L	7	5	3	3	1	6	Y
Lyles	6/12 @ Seattle	ND	7	3	0	0	2	10	Y
Bedard	6/14 vs ChiSox	W	6	3	1	0	3	6	Y

In summary, over the last 28 games, the Astros rotation - much maligned in the early part of the season - is 9-8 with an ERA of 3.00, a WHIP of 1.29, and 19 quality starts. Compare that to just 10 quality starts in Houston's first 40 games. Only 5 times has a Houston starter allowed more than 3 earned runs in a game, and three of those starts were by Dallas Keuchel, two of which the Astros won anyways. Here's a breakdown of each pitcher over the recent stretch:

Pitcher Starts/Quality W/L IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP Lyles 6/4 2-0 37 2/3 31 8 7 10 28 1.67 1.09 Norris 5/5 1-2 33 31 8 8 10 24 2.18 1.24 Bedard 6/4 2-1 34 2/3 34 14 13 15 21 3.38 1.41 Harrell 5/3 1-3 28 1/3 25 13 11 11 13 3.49 1.27 Keuchel 6/3 3-2 37 1/3 44 20 18 9 26 4.34 1.42

Every single pitcher is pitching better. Want to see ERA's before this recent stretch of good pitching?

Lyles - Before: 8.36, After: 3.48
Norris - Before: 4.32, After: 3.47
Bedard - Before: 6.67, After: 4.82
Harrell - Before: 5.11, After: 4.52
Keuchel - Before: 4.43, After: 4.37

With a little more help from the bullpen and some more support from the offense, that's a pretty respectable rotation. Don't believe me? The Oakland A's are 41-28 on the year. Here are the ERAs and records of their top 5 starters:

Tommy Milone - 6-6, 3.61
Jarrod Parker - 5-6, 4.45
A.J. Griffin - 5-5, 3.78
Bartolo Colon - 8-2, 2.92
Dan Straily - 4-2, 4.45

Believe it or not, the Astros are getting on the right track.

One Third of the Way Done

Well, we're at the one third mark of the 2013 season and the Astros find themselves coming off a 3-1 series win over the Rockies bringing their record on the year to 17-37. That puts them on pace to go 51-111 on the year, which doesn't sound great, but it at least isn't going to set any records for futility outside of Houston. Some projections based the first third:

C - Jason Castro .286, 45 2B, 18 HR, 48 RBI, 45 BB, 141 K

1B - Carlos Pena .231, 27 2B, 12 HR, 42 RBI, 87 BB, 165 K

2B - Jose Altuve .302, 33 2B, 6 HR, 63 RBI, 42 BB, 75 K, 24 SB

3B - Matt Dominguez .238, 24 2B, 24 HR, 78 RBI, 18 BB, 96 K

SS - Marwin Gonzalez .237, 21 2B, 9 HR, 33 RBI, 15 BB, 75 K, 12 SB

LF - J.D. Martinez .282, 30 2B, 15 HR, 60 RBI, 15 BB, 99 K

CF - Brandon Barnes .295, 12 2B, 6 HR, 36 RBI, 21 BB, 78 K, 12 SB

RF - Jimmy Paredes .237, 12 2B, 3 HR, 21 RBI, 12 BB, 57 K

DH - Chris Carter .218, 12 2B, 30 HR, 84 RBI, 60 BB, 231 K

BN - Carlos Corporan .311, 9 2B, 9 HR, 24 RBI, 15 BB, 48 K

BN - Ronny Cedeno .288, 12 2B, 3 HR, 27 RBI, 9 BB, 54 K

BN - Trevor Crowe .243, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 9 BB, 24 K

SP - Bud Norris 12-12, 3.71 ERA, 189 IP, 114 K

SP - Lucas Harrell 12-18, 5.37 ERA, 191 IP, 105 K

SP - Erik Bedard 0-6, 5.32 ERA, 132 IP, 126 K

SP - Jordan Lyles 6-3, 4.50 ERA, 96 IP, 69 K

SP - Dallas Keuchel 3-6, 5.53 ERA, 122 IP, 84 K

RP - Hector Ambriz 3-6, 4.68 ERA, 75 IP, 63 K, 27 HLD

RP - Travis Blackley 0-0, 3.66 ERA, 59 IP, 54 K, 21 HLD

RP - Wesley Wright 0-3, 4.22 ERA, 64 IP, 54 K, 12 HLD

RP - Paul Clemens 9-6, 4.13 ERA, 98 IP, 72 K, 15 HLD

RP - Jose Cisnero 3-0, 3.13 ERA, 69 IP, 57 K

RP - Brad Peacock 3-9, 8.51 ERA, 73 IP, 63 K, 3 HLD

CL - Jose Veras 0-12, 4.70 ERA, 69 IP, 72 K, 24 SV

Some of the highlights for the first half as far as numbers go:

*Paul Clemens and Jose Cisnero each earned their first Major League wins.

*Jose Veras already has a career high 8 saves

*Hector Ambriz already has a carer high 9 holds and recorded his first Major League save.

*Carlos Corporan is just one homer shy of tying his career high of 4 set last year.

*Jason Castro's 15 doubles and 6 homers have tied career highs set last year.

*Marwin Gonzalez already has set career highs in homers and steals and needs just 1 more rbi to match last year's total.

*Trevor Crowe's home run was his first at the Major League Level since 2010.

*Erik Bedard is on pace to make 27 starts this year, the most for him since 2007 when he made 28.

*Carlos Pena's .231 average is his highest since he hit .247 in 2008 for the Rays.

The following Astros have made their Major League Debuts this season:

Paul Clemens

Brett Oberholtzer

Jose Cisnero

Robbie Grossman

Josh Fields

Starting Pitcher the Key to Recent Turnaround

The Astros are playing some of their best baseball of the season going 4-4 in their last 8 games. Those 4 losses include the Jimmy Paredes game, a 1-0 loss, the Bud Norris injury/bullpen meltdown game, and last night's 3-run homer to Astro-killer Chris Young. A couple of balls bounce differently, and maybe Houston's 7-1, but that's not really what I want to talk about. Over the past 8 games, every Astros starter has made it at least 5 innings, and the only Astros starter to give up more than 2 runs was Dallas Keuchel, and Houston won both of those games. Houston's Starting Pitching has an ERA of 2.85 over the past 8 and a big part of that has been the improved play from Jordan Lyles and Erik Bedard. If Houston can continue to get this type of pitching up and down the rotation, there's no way this team doesn't win 60 games. The bullpen's going to need to continue to come along, but let's face it: we've got a long of young guys out there, and there are going to be growing pains. Here's a rundown of our starting pitching as of late:

Date	Opp	Result	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
5/15/13	@Tigers	W 7-5	Keuchel	5 2/3	7	5	4	2	3
5/17/13	@Pirates	L 5-4	Lyles	5	4	2	1	2	4
5/18/13	@Pirates	W 4-2 (11)	Bedard	6	7	2	2	0	3
5/19/13	@Pirates	L 1-0	Harrell	7	4	1	1	1	3
5/20/13	vsRoyals	W 6-5	Keuchel	6 2/3	9	4	4	4	6
5/21/13	vsRoyals	L 7-3	Norris	6	5	0	0	2	2
5/22/13	vsRoyals	W 3-1	Lyles	6	6	1	1	1	3
5/24/13	vsAthletics	L 6-5	Bedard	5	4	2	2	5	4
TOTAL		4-4		47 1/3	46	17	15	17	28
				ERA	2.85
				WHIP	1.33

Humber Out, Edgar Back In

After last night's Philip Humber meltdown, you kinda saw this move coming. After starting the season 0-8 with a 9.59 ERA in 9 appearances, Humber was designated for assignment today. The Astros didn't waste any time filling his roster spot either as they signed free agent Edgar Gonzalez who was recently released by Toronto. If the name sounds familiar, it's because Gonzalez made the Astros out of Spring Training, but was designated for assignment before appearing in a game this season to make room for Travis Blackley. Now he's back and will help out in long relief for the Astros. How long he stays on the roster remains to be seen as Josh Fields is getting closer to returning from injury. Gonzalez made 4 starts for AAA Buffalo going 1-0 with a 5.49 ERA, and 3 relief appearances for the Jays in which he posted a 7.88 ERA (7 runs in 8 innings). Gonzalez made 6 starts for the Astros a year ago, going 3-1 with a 5.04 ERA. He beat the Pirates, Reds and Brewers. Is he "the answer" to our problems? Probably not. But, he buys us some more time so we don't have to rush the kids (Cosart, Wojo, etc.)

Some other notes from last night:

1) I really like Trevor Crowe. He did three things last night that stood out for me:

*A two-strike base hit off of closer Joe Nathan in the 9th inning to drive in a run
*Threw out Ian Kinsler at home on a would-be sacrifice fly
*Went from 1st to 3rd on a wild pitch in the 9th inning to set up a run

A switch hitter with good speed, Crowe present us with some interesting possibilities moving forward. A former first round pick, it'd be great if he finally put things together.

2) Erik Bedard was terrific yesterday and deserved to win that game. He left with a 3-1 lead in the 6th after fanning 7 and allowing just 4 hits in 5+ innings. His most impressive inning was the 5th in which he worked out of a 1st and 3rd no out jam without allowing a run. That's the Bedard we thought we were getting when we signed him. He's had an interesting season so far. Let me break it down for you in three parts:

Part 1 (Apps 1-2): 7 1/3 IP 2 H 0 ER 2 BB 5 K - 0.00 ERA 0.55 WHIP
Part 2 (Apps 3-6): 11 1/3 IP 21 H 17 ER 10 BB 16 K - 13.50 ERA 2.74 WHIP
Part 3 (Apps 7-8): 8 1/3 IP 6 H 3 ER 3 BB 10 K - 3.24 ERA 1.08 WHIP

Now if we could just harness parts 1 and 3 and keep THAT guy going forward...

3) Nice to see Sweet Matty D go yard twice against Darvish yesterday getting his first 2 home runs of the year and notching his first career multi-homer game.

4) Jose Cisnero pitched well in relief of Humber allowing a Lance Berkman home run in 3 1/3 innings of work. While Cisnero has pitched well for the most part during his brief tenure in Houston, I think he's the likely guy to get sent back down when Josh Fields returns. It's not a knock on Cisnero's performance at all, but being a young guy, it's more important for him to get work than it is for him to sit on the bench in Houston.

Another Series Slips Away - Changes on the Horizon

The Astros overcame an early 4-0 deficit, but fell short in the end, losing to the Yankees 5-4. As the Astros now prepare for Detroit, they'll do it with some new, albeit familiar faces, as Jordan Lyles and Dallas Keuchel are back up, and Brad Peacock and Rhiner Cruz are bound for Oklahoma City (no real surprises there). Some more thoughts on the loss:

1) Jason Castro is really getting things going at the plate. With two more doubles last night, he now has 10, and if you take away that 0/11 in the Rangers series, he's hitting .325 (25/77) on the year. He's really taken to the 3-hole too which is only going to help the guy hitting ahead of him (Jose Altuve). Speaking of Altuve, he's just a machine. The Pocket Jesus is hitting .336 now and has 38 hits to go along with a team high 14 runs batted in.

2) Over his last 4 games, Carlos Pena is 7 for 14 with 3 of his team high 16 walks. Could he be starting to get things going? His average is still a pedestrian .234, but that's a heck of a lot better than the .180 range he was living in last week. I'd still like to see more power from him though. Two homers in 28 games just isn't going to cut it.

3) Brandon Barnes continues to do little things that are going to keep him in the lineup. He beat out a double play ball to drive in a run, got a bunt down, and even started a failed 9th inning rally with a leadoff single off of Mariano Rivera. This kid is making it really hard on Bo Porter which is every manager's dream.

4) Speaking of the failed 9th inning rally, how many games are we going to endure just ZERO luck at all. Barnes gets a big jump, Dominguez hits into a line drive double play. We're going to lose enough games just on talent, we don't need any help from the baseball Gods.

5) Erik Bedard endured another subpar start lasting just 4 innings and allowing 4 runs on 6 hits to go along with 4 walks. He also gave up a home run to Ben Francisco (former Astro) who with the home run is now hitting .133 on the year. It's getting harder to defend the guy, so hopefully he figures it out soon. With 4 long relievers on the Astros roster right now (Keuchel, Clemens, Cisnero, Blackley) and Josh Fields on the mend, Bedard has to be next in line to get sent down or let go. I really want the guy to succeed and he's shown glimpses of what he can do, it's just got to be more consistent and more efficient. That said, time is running out for him to prove himself.

6) Big time pitching from Hector Ambriz last night who pitched his way out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the 8th without allowing a run to keep Houston in the game. That very easily could have turned into a big inning, and it was nice to see one of our relievers pitch their way out of trouble and getting some big strikeouts when they needed to.

7) Wesley Wright has really turned into a nice find. A Rule 5 Draft Pick back in 2008, it was touch and go for a while, but he's followed a solid 2012 and a good start to 2013. After last night's outing, Wright has now put together 7 straight scoreless outings spanning 9 innings.

Bottom of Sox Order Buries Astros

When you think about all the powerful hitters in the Boston lineup, there's some names that don't usually come up: David Ross, Will Middlebrooks and Pedro Ciriaco for example. Last night, Boston's 7, 8 and 9 hitters went 8 for 12 with a triple, three home runs, four runs scored, and 3 runs batted in. By contrast, Houston's 4, 5, and 6 hitters were 1 for 10 with 8 strikeouts. Hard to win when you put up numbers like that. More thoughts on last night's loss:

1) Brandon Laird went 0 for 4 in the cleanup spot striking out in all 4 appearances. He did not look comfortable at the plate at all, and as a result, the Astros missed some opportunities. Houston has yet to really identify a solid option as the cleanup hitter this year. If you're looking for more evidence, look no farther than the fact that Jose Altuve is now tied for the team lead in rbis.

2) It was nice to see the Astros actually bring home some runners with productive outs for a change. Despite going 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position, and not homering, the Astros scored 3 times. This was a result of an rbi ground out from Robbie Grossman (his first Major League rbi) and two sacrifice flies from Jose Altuve. The Astros had just 2 sacrifice flies in their first 22 games. Obviously you want hits, but just getting the runs in was a good first step.

3) Erik Bedard was roughed up last night for 7 extra base hits in just 3+ innings of work in which he threw 91 pitches. This is what the Redsox have been doing for years. They wear pitchers out. Every hitter up and down the lineup seems can work counts. And while Astros pitchers didn't issue any walks last night, they eventually made mistakes (4 homers - albeit all solo shots), 4 doubles and a triple. On the whole, Astro pitchers needed 186 pitches to get through 8 innings. Houston hitters could certainly learn from the Boston hitters' approaches.

4) Paul Clemens was once again sharp in long relief going 3 innings and allowed just a David Ortiz blast while striking out 4. Clemens has pitched REALLY well when the Astros have been trailing, so much so that I think he's earned an opportunity to get some more meaningful innings. I know there's a lot of grumbling about how he should be getting an opportunity to start, but I don't see Bedard or Humber losing their jobs any time soon, mainly because they're both potential trade pieces, and it's in our best interest to let them work out the kinks so we can get more in return for them. As the saying goes, what's the worst that could happen? We gonna fall out of last place? Clemens has a live arm and I think he could help out in the 7th or 8th innings. Heck, he might even be able to close if we move Veras at the deadline. Anyhow, lots of options for him, the big thing right now is that he's performing.

5) Rhiner Cruz's struggles continue. He didn't exactly get lit up last night, but he did give up 4 more hits, and he's not hitting his spots when he pitches. I maintain what I've been saying that he needs to head down to Oklahoma City when Josh Fields gets back to work out some of the finer points of pitching. A gifted reliever with a big arm, he shouldn't be allowing so many baserunners.

6) The Astros banged out 5 doubles last night which was nice to see. Their 14 strikeouts really prevented them from making more of those opportunities though. We touched on it already the importance of productive outs. A weak grounder to the right side will get a runner from 2nd to 3rd, and a fly ball into the outfield can score a runner from third. We need out hitters to do a better job of putting the ball in play. Everybody who's played the game knows you're supposed to shorten up your swing with 2 strikes and put it in play. Hard to force the opposition into making a mistake if you never make them make any plays.

7) As bad as last night seemed to go at times, Houston still had their chances. Jonny Gomes made a diving grab in left to rob Jason Castro of extra bases and save a run in the 5th, and Brandon Laird actually represented the tying run when he came up with two men on against Junichi Tazawa in the 7th. So we're in these games. And whether you want to admit it or not, we are improving. More hitters are squaring up baseballs, we're drawing more walks, and with a little bit better efforts from our starting pitching, we're a decent team. Not a GOOD team, but we're decent.

I Hate Losing...

As much as it sucks being down 2 touchdowns in the second inning, losses like that are almost easier to swallow than what we endured yesterday. I mean, you lose a game 19-6, and there's no doubt that you got beat. You lose a game 5-4 where you had multiple opportunities to tie or win the game and failed to execute, and you're left wondering what might've been. Some more thoughts on yesterday's loss:

1) Erik Bedard fanned a season high 8 in just four innings of work yesterday showing that he's obviously still got it. Bo Porter's still using the kid gloves on him to make sure he's able to make it through the season, which given our current competitive state I'm fine with, so we haven't really seen him get stretched out. But other than the Oakland game in which he couldn't find the plate, he's been really good this year. If he can stay healthy, and build up the arm strength a bit, you have to figure he could at least fetch us SOMEthing at the trade deadline which really has to be the end goal with a veteran guy like him on a team like this.

2) So, per Bo after the game, Marwin's failed bunt attempt with two strikes was something Marwin took upon himself to do, and not a call from the dugout. Now I'm not mad at a young player for pressing to try and make something happen. I am, however, frustrated at our inability to get a bunt down in THREE TRIES. If you're a major league baseball player, there's no excuse for not being able to bunt a ball fair. It's not even like he was trying to bunt for a hit, he was giving himself up to sacrifice. All you do is stand there and bunt the ball. So that was disappointing; even more so when you consider that Marwin's like the only guy we ever have bunt.

3) Chris Carter is in a FUNK. He went from crushing baseballs to the moon to looking the way he did in the Texas series: Just absolutely lost at the plate. I know he has a longer leash than some other hitters in the lineup, but at some point, don't you at least have to drop him down a few spots? It's a bad sign when the bases are loaded in the 9th inning with 1 out, and your "cleanup hitter" steps up to the plate, and your reaction is NOOOOOOOOO! NOT HIM!

4) Fernando Martinez made his 2013 debut yesterday and greeted Ubaldo Jimenez with a 2-run homer in his first at bat. This is EXACTLY what we need out of F-Mart as he tries to prove himself. He's out of options, so if we try and send him down, someone else will likely take a flyer on him, so it's in everyone's best interest that he perform. Hopefully yesterday was just a sign of things to come.

5) Brett Oberholtzer made his Major League debut and surrendered a pair of solo home runs in two innings of work. Obie hadn't exactly been lighting it up in AAA, so all things considered it wasn't a TERRIBLE debut. If he can get some of his command issues worked out, there's a good chance he makes it back to the show at some point. In the meantime, he's headed back to OKC as Jose Cisnero is the next man up through the revolving door of long relievers. And on that note, someone in the starting rotation has to bear down and get us some innings. It's been over a week since someone got through 6.

6) Jose Altuve drew his first intentional walk of the season yesterday. You figure it was going to happen eventually. Why would you pitch to him when no one else in the lineup is hitting? On a semi-related note, this is how I'd like to shake up the batting order:

vs Righties                   vs Lefties

SS Marwin Gonzalez            RF Brandon Barnes

C Jason Castro                SS Marwin Gonzalez

2B Jose Altuve                2B Jose Altuve

LF Fernando Martinez          LF Chris Carter

1B Carlos Pena                CF Justin Maxwell

CF Justin Maxwell             DH Carlos Pena

DH Chris Carter               1B Brandon Laird

RF Rick Ankiel                C Jason Castro

3B Matt Dominguez             3B Matt Dominguez

Thoughts?

Week 3 in Review

Rough week for the Astros as three times they saw their starters knocked out in the first inning and they finished the week 1-5, dropping them to 5-13 on the season. On the bright side, they didn't get shutout:

Weekly Results

4/15   L Athletics 11-2
4/16   L Athletics 4-3
4/17   L Athletics 7-5
4/19   W Indians 3-2
4/20   L Indians 19-6
4/21   L Indians 5-4

Overall Record: 5-13
Team Batting Average: .250
Runs For: 74
Runs Against: 108
Home Runs: 20
Strikeouts/Walks (Hitting): 173/47
Stolen Bases: 7
Caught Stealing: 3
Team ERA: 5.40
Team WHIP: 1.58
Starters ERA: 5.73
Bullpen ERA: 5.04
Strikeouts/Walks (Pitching): 100/73
Times Shutout: 3
Shutouts: 1

Team Leaders (Hitting):

Average: Jose Altuve .370 (27/73)
Runs: Carlos Pena 12
Hits: Jose Altuve 27
Doubles: Carlos Pena 5
Triples: Justin Maxwell 2
Home Runs: Chris Carter/Rick Ankiel 4
Runs Batted In: Chris Carter/Rick Ankiel 10
Walks: Carlos Pena 9
Stolen Bases: Justin Maxwell/Jose Altuve 2

Team Leaders (Pitching):

Games: Rhiner Cruz/Wesley Wright/Hector Ambriz 10
Innings: Lucas Harrell 21 2/3
Wins: Bud Norris 2
Saves: Erik Bedard/Jose Veras 1
Holds: Hector Ambriz 2
Strikeouts: Lucas Harrell/Brad Peacock 15
Quality Starts: Philip Humber 2
ERA:  Bud Norris 4.74
WHIP: Bud Norris 1.47

On the Farm:

Oklahoma City (AAA) - 10-7
Corpus Christi (AA) - 9-7
Lancaster (AdvA) - 11-6
Quad Cities (LoA) - 10-5

Minor League Leaders:

Runs: Nolan Fontana (AdvA) - 17
Hits: Jake Elmore (AAA) - 23
Walks: Nolan Fontana (AdvA) - 17
Home Runs: Preston Tucker (AdvA) - 5
RBIs: Marc Krauss (AAA) / Zachary Johnson (AdvA) - 18
Stolen Bases: Austin Wates - 9
Wins: 9 tied with 2
Saves: Jose Valdez (AAA) - 5
Strikeouts: Luis Cruz (AdvA) - 22

Ex-Astros Lowrie and Freiman Bury Houston

Not a whole lot of positives to take away from last night's beatdown at the hands of the Oakland Athletics. Erik Bedard, after being so good in his first two appearances, couldn't throw strikes and the Astros found themselves down 6-0 after just one inning. It was a fairly ugly game, but those happen every now and then. All you can do is take your lumps and move on. You'll always have more chances for it is, after all, a LONG season. Here's some more thoughts on last night's game:

1) I'm not going to harp too much on Bedard's performance since there's pretty much nothing good to take away from it. Instead I'll focus on rookie Paul Clemens who came out of the bullpen and fired 5 1/3 scoreless innings allowing just 1 hit and 2 walks. The kid showed some real heart out there and even gutted his way through a dislocated pinky after trying to barehand a grounder up the middle. If Clemens pitches like he did last night, it creates all kinds of possibilities for him, both in the starting rotation, or in the back of the bullpen. And hey, with the way the bullpen's been pitching, there's no reason he couldn't take just about anyone's job. The only downside to Clemens' performance last night is that we won't be able to see him pitch again for like 4 days or so.

2) I heard last night that Carlos Pena now has 26 career bunt singles. I never would have guessed that. I also would not have predicted that 13 games into the season he'd have more bunt singles than home runs... Even after last night's 2 for 4 showing, Pena is slugging just .326.

3) Jed Lowrie is absolutely killing the Astros this year. After last night's 4-rbi performance, Lowrie is now 9 for 17 with 5 runs, 2 homers and 7 runs batted in in just 4 games (all A's wins). And speaking of former Astros coming back to haunt us: remember when we opted to go with Brett Wallace over Nate Freiman? Yeah, the Rule 5 draft pick from San Diego hit an absolute moonshot off of Bedard in the first inning. All together, Lowrie and Freiman drove in 7 runs yesterday. Nice to see you too.

4) It seems like every guy in the A's lineup is a tough out. They work counts, they hit for power, they hit for average, they run the bases well... There's a reason they're 10-4 right now while Houston is 4-9. Let's face it, no matter how much you love the Astros, I don't know that anyone other than maybe Jose Altuve would be characterized as a tough out. Still, it could always be worse. At least they're not striking out in double digits consistently any more.

Week 2 in Review

The Astros went 3-3 on the first six games of their 9 game West Coast road trip, and they certainly played a much more competitive brand of baseball. Here's a rundown on some of the numbers for both the big league club, and the up-and-comers:

Weekly Results

4/8     L Mariners 3-0
4/9     W Mariners 16-9
4/10   W Mariners 8-3
4/12   W Angels 5-0
4/13   L Angels 5-4
4/14   L Angels 4-1

Overall Record: 4-8
Team Batting Average: .254
Runs For: 51
Runs Against: 60
Home Runs: 12
Strikeouts/Walks (Hitting): 121/31
Stolen Bases: 1
Caught Stealing: 2
Team ERA: 4.26
Team WHIP: 1.37
Starters ERA: 3.39
Bullpen ERA: 5.72
Strikeouts/Walks (Pitching): 62/39
Times Shutout: 3
Shutouts: 1

Team Leaders (Hitting):

Average: Jose Altuve .333 (17/51)
Runs: Justin Maxwell/Chris Carter 8
Hits: Jose Altuve 17
Doubles: Carlos Pena 4
Triples: Justin Maxwell 2
Home Runs: Chris Carter 4
Runs Batted In: Rick Ankiel 8
Walks: 5 tied with 4
Stolen Bases: J.D. Martinez 1

Team Leaders (Pitching):

Games: Rhiner Cruz 8
Innings: Philip Humber 18 2/3
Wins: Bud Norris 2
Saves: Erik Bedard 1
Holds: 3 tied with 1
Strikeouts: Bud Norris 14
Quality Starts: Philip Humber 2
ERA:  Bud Norris 1.96
WHIP: Bud Norris 1.09

On the Farm:

Oklahoma City (AAA) - 5-5
Corpus Christi (AA) - 7-3
Lancaster (AdvA) - 7-3
Quad Cities (LoA) - 7-2

Minor League Leaders:

Runs: Drew Muren (AdvA) - 10
Hits: Jake Elmore (AAA) - 19
Walks: Robbie Grossman (AAA) - 11
Home Runs: Matt Duffy (AdvA) - 4
RBIs: Matt Duffy (AdvA) - 14
Stolen Bases: Austin Wates - 5
Wins: 3 tied with 2
Saves: Jason Stoffel (AA) - 3
Strikeouts: Nick Tropeano (AA) / Luis Cruz (AdvA) - 15

Holy Hits, Batman!

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

Week 1 in Review

Well, we're one week into the season. Here's some stats to note:

Weekly Results

3/31 W Rangers 8-2
4/2   L Rangers 7-0
4/3   L Rangers 4-0
4/5   L A's 8-3
4/6   L A's 6-3
4/7   L A's 8-3

Overall Record: 1-5
Team Batting Average: .199
Runs For: 17
Runs Against: 36
Home Runs: 2
Strikeouts/Walks (Hitting): 74/9
Stolen Bases: 0
Caught Stealing: 0
Team ERA: 5.00
Team WHIP: 1.54
Starters ERA: 4.55
Bullpen ERA: 5.64
Strikeouts/Walks (Pitching): 34/24
Times Shutout: 2

Team Leaders (Hitting):

Average: Justin Maxwell .381 (8/21)
Runs: Justin Maxwell 5
Hits: Jose Altuve/Justin Maxwell 8
Doubles: 5 tied with 1
Triples: Justin Maxwell 2
Home Runs: Rick Ankiel/Jason Castro 1
Runs Batted In: Rick Ankiel/Jason Castro 3
Walks: Jose Altuve/Justin Maxwell 2
Stolen Bases: None

Team Leaders (Pitching):

Games: Wesley Wright 4
Innings: Bud Norris 11 1/3
Wins: Bud Norris 1
Saves: Erik Bedard 1
Holds: None
Strikeouts: Bud Norris 9
Quality Starts: Lucas Harrell 1
ERA:  Bud Norris 3.18
WHIP: Bud Norris 1.32

On the Farm:

Oklahoma City (AAA) - 3-1
Corpus Christi (AA) - 3-1
Lancaster (AdvA) - 3-1
Quad Cities (LoA) - 4-0

Minor League Leaders:

Runs: Robbie Grossman (AAA) / Nolan Fontana (AdvA) - 5
Hits: Jimmy Paredes (AAA) - 8
Walks: Robbie Grossman (AAA) / Nolan Fontana (AdvA) - 5
Home Runs: George Springer (AA) / Preston Tucker (AdvA) - 2
RBIs: Preston Tucker (AdvA) / Carlos Correa (LoA) - 8
Stolen Bases: Delino DeShields (AdvA) - 3
Wins: 13 tied with 1
Saves: Jason Stoffel (AA) - 2
Strikeouts: Asher Wojciechowski (AA) - 7

We Scored!

Another loss for the Astros as a missed opportunity on a potential double play ball turned what could've been a scoreless inning into a 7-run 5th. The 8 run deficit was too much to overcome, but at least the Astros managed to score this time. Some observations from Game 4:

1) Houston middle infielders are pulling their weight, but that's about it. Jose Altuve and the shortstop platoon of Marwin Gonzalez and Ronny Cedeno are a combined 13 for 29 (.448) while all other Astros are 12 for 100 (.120).

2) Astro hitters struck out 13 more times last night giving them 56 through 4 games (an average of 14 per night). Brett Wallace notched his third hat trick of the season giving him a team high 11 strikeouts through the first four games. He wasn't even the worst offender last night though as Rick Ankiel managed to strike out in all four of his appearances. After slugging a pinch hit three-run homer in his first at-bat as an Astro, Ankiel is 0 for 10 with 9 strikeouts. If you play fantasy baseball, you may want to consider starting whatever pitcher is throwing against the Astros. Even Bartolo Colon.

3) Chris Carter and Jason Castro finally notched their first hits of the season. Houston now has only three players still looking for their first hit of 2013: Carlos Corporan (0/3), Brandon Barnes (0/1) and J.D. Martinez (0/3).

4) Brad Peacock has good stuff, but he needs to be more efficient. Peacock threw 89 pitches in 4 1/3 innings of work causing the bullpen to be forced into action early once again. And considering Houston's bullpen has an ERA of 7.53 (and that's including 3 1/3 scoreless innings from Erik Bedard), that's not a good thing. On a brighter note, the Astros starting 5 have a collective ERA of 2.16 through 4 games.

5) Having to get extra outs will kill a bad team. Marwin Gonzalez's misplay of a groundball in the 5th led to 7 runs, 3 of them unearned. If Houston gets out of that inning without yielding a run, maybe it's a different ballgame. You can come back from 1-0 down. 8-0? Not so much.

6) Brandon Laird went 3 for 5 with a home run and 4 runs batted in during a AAA double header yesterday. Keep an eye on his production in Oklahoma City, especially if Brett Wallace continues to struggle.

Hard to Win if You Can't Score

The bats were lifeless for a second straight game as the Astros fell to the Rangers 4-0. The Astros racked up double digit strike-outs for a third straight game to start the year and wasted another strong pitching performance, this time from newcomer Philip Humber. Some more observations from Game 3:

1) The inability to put balls in play is killing the Astros right now. They have ten times as many strikeouts (43) as walks (4), and hit just .172 in the series while fanning in 46% of their at bats. You can point your finger in any number of directions too as every Astro with the exception of Carlos Corporan struck out at least once in the three game series. Top offenders: Brett Wallace (8), Chris Carter (7), Carlos Pena (6), Justin Maxwell (5), and Rick Ankiel (5). Even pitchers don't strike out at that rate, so you have to figure things will get better and average out, but still...

2) Jason Castro and Chris Carter both went 0 for 11 in the Rangers series. Have faith, both will break out of their mini slumps. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

3) Lance Berkman is not welcome in Houston any more. The Big Puma reached base in 9 of his 13 at bats and drove in 3. His "replacement" Carlos Pena was just 2 for 11 and as previously noted struck out six times. I say the word replacement loosely because Pena didn't really "replace" Berkman, we just opted to sign him instead. Any regrets yet?

Bang, Bang, Maxwell's Silver Hammer

"The road to being a champion is always under construction." - Bo Porter

For one night, the Astros looked like a contender. Houston outplayed the Rangers in every facet of the game and cruised to an 8-2 victory giving them the best record in all of baseball, and the distinction of being the only undefeated franchise in the American League. I know it's short lived, but I'm going to enjoy this moment, because that's what baseball's about. Some observations from last night's game: And yes, I know this is only one game into the season.

1) For me this game turned on two plays, both of them in the sixth inning. The first came with 2 on and 2 out in the top half, and the Rangers rallying having cut the Astros lead in half. Erik Bedard entered the game to face catcher A.J. Pierzynski and induced a weak fly ball to centerfield to end the threat. A hit by Pierzynski and the momentum swings in favor of the Rangers, and then who knows what happens. Then in the bottom half of the inning, in the same situation, two on, two out, pinch hitter Rick Ankiel crushed Derek Lowe's 3-2 offering into the right field bleachers for a 3-run home run putting the game all but out of reach. GM Jeff Luhnow's offseason moves are looking pretty smart after one game.

 2) Speaking of Bedard, the Canadian lefty looked brilliant last night. He faced 11 hitters and surrendered just a broken bat single to Nelson Cruz on his way to his first Major League save. If Bedard pitches like he did when he was with Baltimore a few years ago and stays healthy, he's going to look like a steal.