Tagged: Carlos Lee
Bye, bye, bye (Straight losses)
Ladies and gentlemen, your Houston Astros have finally achieved their first win for the 2010 season. This is also our very first post during this year. We’ll be honest with you, we were waiting for such a moment, with the only reason we wanted to put things for this club on its right proportion.
Brad Mills has his first Major League win as a manager, and the Astros can breathe a little bit slower (well, and we hope this music doesn’t become a trend at the clubhouse for a long time).
Bud Norris was simply remarkable, pitching one-run baseball off four hits, fanning nine; and he also helped himself with the lumber, driving in a run. This is the Bud Norris we have always heard of, the one we wanted to see.
Of course, this is not just a pitching matter. We have seen one too many times how a lack of offense is the big reason behind a loss, more so than any pitfalls on the mound. Michael Bourn and Jeff Keppinger are the only Astros batting above .300. Pedro Feliz, despite the fact he owns a .294 batting average, is the RBI leader in this franchise after 9 games with… 4. J.R. Towles has only one driven in, with a measly .056.
There’s a lot to be made yet, however, they had a sample today of what they’re capable of. They badly need lift Keppinger some heavy burdens off his shoulders. Carlos Lee should stop picking up his bats at the North Pole.
This pitching staff has been efficient enough, although not outstanding, with several acceptable outings. Roy Oswalt, despite the 0-2 record, has allowed 5 runs in 12 innings, with a 3.75 ERA, for example. Only Felipe Paulino (7.20) and Wandy Rodriguez (6.10) own somewhat alarming ERAs. They can turn this around though.
We are not saying this will be any easy. They are still one and eight. There’s plenty much yet to do, but we cannot write an epitaph for the 2010 Astros just yet.
A springtime full of questions
Welcome once again to a new season with your Houston Astros. As always, we’ll try to give you information and notes in a different way. There’s one thing which I’m really glad about, and is that I won’t be holding the fort all by myself this time: Besides good friends such as Thomas, Bernardo and other bloggers, we are joined by people who are known by all of you: Alyson Footer, someone who really knows her Astros, and the voice of the Houston Astros in Spanish himself, my good friend Francisco Romero.
So there’ll be a little bit something for everyone this time around.
We saw Roy Oswalt last night in a game which became so painful for us, in which Venezuela was mercilessly pounded by the US offense. Roy O proved himself why he is one of the premiere starters in baseball, and that’s what matters most. He won’t return to Kissimmee just yet; in the meantime Carlos Lee is taking the plane back to Florida after his team Panama’s elimination from the World Baseball Classic.
This is been a Spring Training quite interesting to see. And a hard one as well. We know there isn’t anything more worthless than Grapefruit League scores, but it’s true that it would be so much nicer to see a win every now and then at Osceola County Stadium.
I’m sure Cecil Cooper will try to energize the troops back again to see if bats start swinging the right way and things change a bit. But we know that’s not the main goal.
It’s all about breaking down performances and seeing which players will survive all cuts and stay in the 40-man roster. It’s time to see if prospects (which there are plenty to see) can stay or they could be well-kept in the Minors for a September callup. That’s a positive effect of Tejada, Lee and Oswalt being absent for the WBC if you ask me.
Are there reasons to panic yet? Not quite. Most especially if your main players are somewhere else. But it’s true that, despite we know that is not what it’s all about, a win every now and then would make this spring a bit more joyful.
The Space Race 