El Caballo goes from El Cabrito to El Hero in Astros 6-4 victory
by Evan Hochschild on Jun 3, 2010 5:51 PM CDT
in Houston Astros News
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PrintIn case you've forgotten, this is what winning a series is like. It took some sloppy defense on the part of Washington, and some timely hitting from Michael Bourn and Carlos Lee, but the Astros won their first series since a sweep against St. Louis three weeks ago. In so doing, the Astros reached the twenty win plateau, a mark previously thought unattainable....not really, but it sure as hell seemed like it at times.
Brian Moehler pitched about as well as Brian Moehler probably can, going 5.1 innings while giving up only 2 runs. Our middle relief corps looks like a scrap heap of left overs at this point in time, but Byrdak, Fulchino and Daigle combined with Brandon Lyon to preserve a lead for Moehler. Times were good. The optimism was palpable. Matt Lindstrom retired the first two Nats in the ninth in order and all was right with the world. As it so often goes with the Astros though, things can never be that easy. Matt Morse singled up the middle and scored after Willie Harris' pop up to left went un-caught by a typically slow footed Carlos Lee. Not only did Lee fail to make the play, the ball's spin played tricks with Lee and the ball rolled back towards the corner allowing Morse to score. A Christian Guzman bloop to center field allowed Harris to trot home to give the Nationals a rather undeserved lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
As if Tuesday's comeback wasn't enough, the Astros decided to treat us again. With one out, MB knocked a line drive double to right center, but Jeff Keppinger failed to score him, leaving it all up to Lance Berkman. Berkman knocked a rapidly falling liner into right field which should have gone for the third out, but instead Christian Guzman completely missed the ball on the fly. Bourn romped around third to score the tying run. Carlos Lee would see to it that Guzman would wear the title of least valuable player from Thursday's game, crushing a Matt Capps pitch for a game winning two run home run.
Tomorrow the Astros will welcome throngs of Chicago transplants, hangers-on and bandwagoners to Minute Maid Park. Then there's the draft next week. For a team with just 20 wins, the next few days are going to be fun.
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Koby Clemens went 3/3 with two walks for the Hooks.
Chris Johnson and Oswaldo Navarro homered with the Express (game still ongoing). Navarro also drew two walks, so it seems his hot streak is continuing.
CJ is already tied for 2nd in HRs on the team with 6. Shelton leads with 8 and Locke has 6 as well. He has close to half the ABs of Shelton too.
Locke has been hitting really well lately too, after a horrible start to the season. I really love our OF depth. None of them jump out as “hey that guy’s going to be an impact bat” but we have so many guys I feel could be average everyday starters.
Agreed
The CC OF Trio really were disappointing to start the season but after looking at their OPS by month, you can see some big time improvement. Both Gaston and Steele improved over 200 points from April to May. Shuck missed the 200 point improvement mark by 23 points.
I also noticed something that really disappointed me though. I was under the impression that Shuck was playing a good bit in CF, when in fact its only been 8 games and has played more games in left than anyone else. In fact he was pretty bad in CF last year according to the unreliable TZ. He obviously lacks the arm for RF but being he’s a slap hitter, he lacks the power for RF and LF. But he does have great plate discipline. So, unless he cleans up his defense in CF, he doesn’t have much of a chance.
Gaston’s bat has really come alive lately, he’s shown some of that power stroke that got everyone excited last year. I’d really like for him to come around. According to TZ again, he’s bad in RF but by how much he’s played there, he has to have a good arm, definetly good enough for LF. If he can show some of that power again, we might have a replacement for Lee in a few years. Although he needs to clean up his plate discipline.
Steele is the exception on defense. His defense in CF has been good up to this point, and he’s very fast. The power tool has yet to be shown this year, minus his recent HR. He has the speed to be great, but his lack of on-base skills and power is disappointing. If he can lower his strikeout rate and put the ball in play more to allow himself to use his speed, he could be pretty good and have a decent ceiling.
Man, how about Brandon Lyon
No runs allowed in 21 of 25 appearances. Nice to know there’s a candidate in place if Lindstrom keeps struggling.
When in doubt, play the Astros.
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Current Series
3 game series vs Rockies @ Minute Maid Park
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Colorado Rockies
Friday, Apr 6, 2012, 6:05 PM CDT |
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| Sat 04/07 | 6:05 PM CDT | |
| Sun 04/08 | 1:05 PM CDT | |
NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Cincinnati
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Houston
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Milwaukee
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
|
St. Louis
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
(updated 2.15.2012 at 6:05 PM CST)
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