Should the Astros slow Wilton Lopez' roll?
by Evan Hochschild on Sep 2, 2010 9:00 AM CDT
in Player Profiles
1 comment
Wednesday's victory over the St. Louis Cardinals clinched the Astros' second series sweep of the Red Birds this season, an anomaly of sorts in a season filled with more losses than wins. If their winning ways haven't been enough to give you a little pep in your step, the return of second baseman Jeff Keppinger and closer Matt Lindstrom from injury should be more than enough to do so. Not that the Astros struggled without the pair, but their being available to play, plus the addition of five minor leaguers because of September call ups means that other Astros won't have to perform in roles that aren't necessarily beneficial for the team or to the player himself.
Wilton Lopez is one such Astro who, while in the midst of a stellar if not spectacular rookie season, has been forced into pitching more innings with greater frequency than most would like to see from a mid innings relief pitcher. His statistics don't necessarily indicate that Wilton has been over used and abused by any stretch. Fifty-eight games pitched, and 58 innings in total after 130ish games is not ludicrously high in relation to the other relief pitchers in MLB either. Nor can we draw any meaningful conclusions from a comparison with injured hurler Alberto Arias, in my opinion, because Arias threw less innings in his first season as an Astro (first FULL season, mind you) than will Lopez.
So are concerns about Lopez' health going into the future legitimate? That much remains to be seen. My subjective brain told me that Brad Mills was running Wilton out there quite a bit in August, while the team actually had leads to preserve and during the DL stints of Jeff Fulchino and Matt Lindstrom. If you go down his log of appearances, it is tough to argue that he has been utilized a great deal more this past month than in any other. His 16 appearances are the most of any month this season and he pitched two innings three times this month, also a season high. To minimize any stress on his arm, the always efficient Lopez threw 23, 20 and 20 pitches in those appearances, in line with his 8+ K/BB ratio on the season. He attacks hitters and doesn't make himself work harder than he has to.Brad Mills called Lopez' number seven times from August 10th to August 19th, and his man delivered by not allowing a run over 7.2 innings, walking none and striking out three. Again, look to the pitches thrown column to realize the almost machine like efficiency of this guy. My personal favorite is the August 10th outing against the Fightin' Ted Turners, where he got two outs with one pitch, inducing a double play to end his daily labors. Good stuff.
Hopefully now with Fulchino and Lindstrom back, and Wesley Wright and Henry Villar added to the mix from the minor leagues, Wilton Lopez won't have to shoulder the burden he did during the month of August. Yes, it's not as if his innings assignments suddenly doubled or anything extreme like that, but his load did increase during the August days of winning with a thin 'pen. He's 27 years old so he's heading into the prime seasons of his career. While the offense struggles to push runs across home plate, pitchers like Lopez will be counted on to win games moreso than for other clubs. Injuries are a part of the game, and as we've seen with the Nationals treatment of Stephen Strasburg, even the kid gloves treatment doesn't always work. Wilton Lopez' value to the Astros can't be compared to Strasburg's value to Washington, but the injury concerns associated with pitching are a constant in today's game. Lopez' usage in August seems to be more to do with game to game situations and limited bullpen options, factors hopefully not to be repeated in September and on into 2011.
Only one side of the coin?
by AstroB on Sep 2, 2010 6:33 AM CDT
4 comments
Another off-day, another post.
Sometimes people seem to forget that baseball is played by two teams, and a fan should always guard against expecting their team to win every night. The Astros make it difficult on their fan base because they are either stone cold or red hot, with little in-between.
What made the recent Phillies series so special is the arrogance of some of the Phillie Phanatic towards the four-game set. They misjudged where the Astros were in relation to themselves, and needing to gain some ground on the NL East leading Atlanta Braves, being swept by Houston was a bitter pill to swallow.
It is very easy when you watch a team for 162 games and only see another team for three, six, or even 15 to know very little about the team you are playing, glance at their W-L record and expect to win. As a fan, you could be forgiven for doing that, but not a sports writer.
Astros Wednesday Minor League Recap
by Subber10 on Sep 2, 2010 6:00 AM CDT
in Minor League Recaps
7 comments
There was a really big flurry of roster moves yesterday in the minors and a few came as a bit of surprise to me, not just because of the timing. It's a little odd being that there is about a week of games left, but it was mostly to fill roster spots left open by September Call-Ups. But, the order of promotions leaves a little to think about.
Speaking of September Call-Ups, Chris Sampson has been told he will not be called up and he's not happy. He tweeted that he's not going back to Houston Astros roster and will soon be working his camps. Astros County asked him if he was given a reason and his response was there was no reason and that communication isn't one of the Astros strong points. That's pretty harsh.
I'll go over each minor league transaction after the jump as well as each games recap!
The Sweep Is On, Astros Beat Cards 5-2
by David Coleman on Sep 1, 2010 5:13 PM CDT
in News
11 comments
Seldom do games turn so suddenly. Just as I was getting worried that the Astros were getting punked by Jeff Suppan. In those early innings, Suppan was wiggling out of jam after jam with Houston not getting any runs on the board. That's exactly what would happen with the Astros early this season as the offense completely lacked any firepower.
This time? Hunter Pence, Brett Wallace and Jason Castro did their best to touch Soup up when it counted. Pence's three-run homer showed that he's not going to be cursed by the TCB POW award and that his recent hot streak is in no way ending.
The funny thing is this game didn't fit the pattern of the past few weeks. Nelson Figueroa did an okay job, but he only lasted five innings and only managed one strikeout while walking three. He also gave up a two-run home run to Matt Holliday that gave the Cards an early lead.
Luckily, the bullpen was about as solid as we could expect. Brandon Lyon, Fernando Abad, Mark Melancon and Matt Lindstrom struck out five over the final 3 2/3 innings. It was a great return for Lindstrom as he was just activated from the disabled list this afternoon.
Castro also deserves mention for going 2 for 4, giving him seven hits and three doubles in the past week. In fact, Castro now has three multi-hit games in the past week and has brought his average up from .186 to .208. It's not what we expected from him, but it's a good sign for the young backstop.
The Astros have now won nine of their last 11 games and are just nine games below .500 with a weekend series at Arizona up next. Bring it on.
TCB's Astros Players Of The Month
by David Coleman on Sep 1, 2010 9:40 AM CDT
in Editorials
2 comments
No stock watch today, but I did want to briefly touch on three of the top players from the past month.
Hitter of the Month: Hunter Pence - Pence led the Astros in batting average (.322), the highest slugging percentage (.522) and OPS (.900), the highest wOBA (.376), the most doubles, triples and tied for the most home runs. Only Carlos Lee drove in more runs and only Michael Bourn stole more bases. That's a big reason why Pence had a club-leading 25 runs scored in August and a big reason why he's turned his season around dramatically.
Pitcher of the Month: Wandy Rodriguez - As dominant as Hunter Pence was last month, Wandy was equally as dominant. He put up a stretch of six starts that was as good as any on the team this season. He threw 40 1/3 innings, striking out 43 while walking just eight. He allowed 31 hits in 158 total batters and stranded 79.8 of the runners that did reach base. His ground ball rate inched up over 50 percent and all three of his main pitches had positive run values according to FanGraphs. In short, Wandy was exactly what the Astros expected him to be coming into 2010. He was just a few months late getting to this point.
Defender of the Month: Humberto Quintero - Michael Bourn is clearly the best defensive player on the team. Even after Berkman has been traded for a month, Puma is still second on the team behind Bourn in Ultimate Zone Rating. No one else is close to his 9.3 UZR this season, but we all know how good Bourn is. Q deserves some props for how good he's been behind the plate. That series against Philly showed how much of a weapon his pickoff throws have become. He takes pride in keeping the bases clean and it's a big reason why Houston is in the league's top five for caught stealing.
Astros Tuesday Minor League Recap
by Subber10 on Sep 1, 2010 6:00 AM CDT
in Minor League Recaps
13 comments
Happy Loux Day! Today begins Barret Loux's free agency and the hopes of many local fans as well as many of are hoping we are the lucky winner of the Loux sweepstakes. There is already a fanpost on the subject, so go there for some discussion.
Jordan Lyles had another rough outing last night. The outing was cut short in the middle of the fifth inning due to rain, but it could very well have been for the best. Lyles threw 81 pitches (55 strikes) in four innings of work, that's at least twenty pitcher per inning, which is a little high. He really didn't have an easy inning. The first two innings had a lot of five and six pitch counts but the other two innings were peppered with a lot of hits. Lyles has already had a lot of stress on his arm this year with skipping a level and then moving up to AAA as well as being close to the high end of how many innings he should pitch this season. The stress in those innings tonight at times were pretty stressful towards the end of each inning. Pushing him on to about 100 pitches probably would have been a bad idea.
Even though he labored through the outing with twelve hits and seven runs (five earned), there were some bright spots. He struck out four and induced four groundouts to two flyouts. A lot of the hits were grounders that got out of the infield for hits. Thats going to happen when Edwin Maysonet, who is more of a second baseman, plays short-stop and Matt Kata, a man hanging on to the last strings of his career, plays 3B. The rest of the good news is that he wasn't named a September call-up nor was he named to an AFL roster, so he has only one start left at maximum before he gets to rest in the off-season.
Let the shut outs continue....
by clack on Aug 31, 2010 10:00 PM CDT
3 comments
Wandy Rodriguez continued his excellent pitching in the second half of the season, and the Astros continued giving doses of lefthand pitching hell to the Cardinals. The Astros have shut out the Cardinals for two straight games. With a complete game shutout last night, J.A. Happ threw a 2-hitter. Wandy pitched 7 inning and only allowed 2 hits. Overall the Astros' pitching must have let up a bit, allowing 3 hits in this game.
Last week the Astros let the air out of the Phillies balloon, leaving that team's playoff chances in slightly tattered position. This week the Astros are inflicting damage on the fading Cardinals' playoff chances. The Astros will send Nelson Figueroa to face Jeff Suppan--fresh off a minor league rehab stint--tomorrow, hoping that the afternoon game produces a sweep.
Wandy Rodriguez effectively used his full repertoire to stay in control of the Cardinals. But the obvious big play in this game was the triple by Pence which drove Bourn and Sanchez home. Carpenter appeared to be as much in control as Wandy up to that point. Bourn and Sanchez did a good job getting on base, and Pence drove a ball toward Tal's Hill. Colby Rasmus, running toward the Hill, seemed confused by the distance of the ball as it went over his head, falling in front of him. The ball rolled up Tal's Hill and around the flagpole in putt-putt fashion, with Rasmus scampering after it. Later that inning, Chris Johnson showed good patience, hitting a soft liner the opposite way to drive in the 3d run. That's all it took, thanks to Wandy, Lopez, and Lyon. And thank goodness for those runs, because Carpenter continued his strong pitching in the subsequent innings. Tim Byrdak replaced Wandy in the 8th and walked his one batter, sending a few shudders through the Astros' fans. But Wilton Lopez put on his Superman cape and saved the day, inducing three straight outs. In typical fashion, Brandon Lyon put more runners on base than you would like, before closing out the game with no runs and an official save.
For the Cardinals, this has to be the worst of times. Coming into this game, the Cardinals had a .205 batting average and .348 slugging percent in Minute Maid Park. And the results of this game won't improve those numbers. The Cardinals haven't had a runner reach 3d base in the two games of this series so far.
I'll end with a "post of the game" from tonight's game thread. It's by Timmy in the 9th inning as Feliz makes the second out:
"Feliz being Feliz in Minute Maid Park."
Bogusevic, Downs, Esposito, Villar, Wright will join Astros in September.
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cincinnati
|
78 | 55 | .586 | 0 | Won 4 |
|
St. Louis
|
69 | 62 | .526 | 8 | Lost 5 |
|
Houston
|
62 | 71 | .466 | 16 | Won 3 |
|
Milwaukee
|
62 | 71 | .466 | 16 | Lost 3 |
|
Chicago
|
57 | 77 | .425 | 21.5 | Won 1 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
44 | 89 | .330 | 34 | Lost 1 |
(updated 9.2.2010 at 9:47 AM CDT)
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