Astros Falter Late, Lose 8-2
by David Coleman on Aug 11, 2010 4:10 PM CDT
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The Braves were ready to leave Houston, apparently. After the Astros scored a run in the ninth inning off Billy Wagner to tie the game, Atlanta roared back with six runs in the top of the 10th. That included a one-out, pinch-hit grand slam by Brian McCann off Jeff Fulchino.
Just in case you were wondering, both Fulchino and Lyon made a case why they shouldn't be given the closer's role, as they both got into trouble in this game. Again, they erased a good start by an Astros starter, as Wandy Rodriguez struck out nine in seven innings while giving up five hits and two runs (one earned). Wandy got into some light trouble in this game, but had his curveball baffling the Braves all day. Still, it was only the third no-decision for Wandy this season.
This game had a chance to be special, especially with Hunter Pence making a gutsy, dangerous move by trying to take third on Carlos Lee's single. Pence was barely safe at third, setting up Chris Johnson for the RBI sac fly. With a runner on first and one out, Mills made the equally baffling decision to pull Brett Wallace in favor of Pedro Feliz. Wallace should never, ever under any circumstances be pulled for Pedro Feliz. Ever. Predictably, Feliz hit a weak pop fly to right field for the second out of the inning.
It was nice to see Billy Wagner get a win in his last appearance in Houston, but it certainly wasn't something I was looking for. It's more of a silver lining to a sucky end to the game. There weren't many other silver linings. Only three Astros managed base hits and they combined for four total hits against Atlanta's young phenom Tommy Hanson. Combine that with seven strikeouts and 14 men left on base and this game was pretty bad offensively.
Seems Winsday is officially dead. I only post this WPA graph to show just how much those last inning swung in favor of the Braves.
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I hope someone asks Mills
on the post-game what the hell was the reasoning behind this move.
Reliz Feliz Pleiz! Ed, we can't stand it anymore!
it's a bad sign
if Mills had to learn the hard way. It’s not like Wallace has been stinking it up. But Feliz sure has. And we’ve already lost out on Rendon so it’s too late for Mills to be playing that game. I didn’t like it when he pulled Wallace for Michaels either. Some of you said it was good to keep Wallace out of pressure situations, but I think this is the perfect season to get him experience in pressure situations. It’s not like he’s Chris Davis with the Rangers. Mills is thinking too much. Baseball is not chess. You don’t have to make a move unless someone gets injured.
I'll defend Mills.
First, his decision to PH with Michaels in earlier games was highly successful. If you don’t like Astros’ hitters hitting grand slams, then you didn’t like his decision to PH Michaels over Wallace. Second, as long as Feliz is on the roster, he has to have a role. And his role happens to be a pinch hitter against LHP. I probably would have kept Wallace in to hit. But I don’t think it was that bad a decision to continue to give every one on the roster a chance to contribute in their particular role. And Feliz has been improving his offense as of late. Wallace was a huge candidate to strike out in that at bat. I think people are getting worked up over a decision that was arguable, but not unreasonable.
Sometimes bad bets pay out. The grand slam was fun but mostly pointless. This season will be most valuable if it is used to get guys like Wallace ABs in game situations and against tough lefties. Granted, next season will probably also be a practice run like this one, but my heart just can’t give up on it yet.
To be honest the main reason it rubs me the wrong way is because I tune in to these games solely to watch guys like Wallace, Johnson, Castro, Norris, Paulino and Happ navigate crucial situations.
Baseball is a game of entertainment. The grand slam was highly entertaining. It made me feel good about the Astros not only that day, but several days. The Astros have to keep the game entertaining to keep fans like me continuing to watch and listen to games. It is important to me to see the Astros continue to try to win individual games. Losses are very wearing on the fan base.
This is exactly why in a game winning situation you should not pull a well hitting player for a garbage player. Even if the it is rookie vs veteran.
Michaels has proven himself as reliable PH and was pretty hot when Mills put him in that Brewers game. On the other hand, Feliz hadn’t even as much as implied that he could be relied on.
Reliz Feliz Pleiz! Ed, we can't stand it anymore!
by RocketsAstros on Aug 12, 2010 8:32 AM CDT up reply actions
Feliz has been hitting pretty well in August. His OPS in August is more than 200 points higher than his overall season OPS. His OPS against LHP, overall this season, is 300 points higher than his OPS against RHP. It’s not an open and shut case that he isn’t a better hitter in that particular situation. Feliz’s OPS against LHP this season does not indicate he is a “garbage player” if used in the right situation. Give Mills some credit for taking some of those things into account. Also one of Mills’ better traits is that he doesn’t bury any players on the roster.
Feliz though is not known for his offensive contributions. He’s more of a defensive player that had enough bat to keep him on a major league team. To use Feliz over Wallace who has been lauded for his bat since the draft seems a bit counter intuitive. Not to mention the fact that Wallace has crushed left handed pitching in both the majors (small sample size) and minors.
by Timothy De Block on Aug 12, 2010 2:31 PM CDT up reply actions
I agree that you can make an argument for keeping Wallace in to bat. (And I already said that I probably would have.) All I am saying is that there is an argument for Mills’ thought process too—it makes some sense if you believe that Feliz has been somewhat hot lately, has hit well against LHP this year, and think that Wallace is likely to K against a LHP who is as tough as Wagner. I forgot to check the “pitcher-batter” career stats, since most managers put weight on match up stats (probably more than they should) and Feliz has a 1.025 OPS against Wagner for his career.
I understand. There’s just a difference in opinion about what is most entertaining. Right now I want to see Wallace bat with the bases loaded (the other option being watching Lance hit for the Yankees) even if he makes an out and the Astros lose, over Michaels winning a meaningless game. That’s more fun for me. The losses were wearing last season. I don’t feel that pain anymore… those nerves are dead. I want hope at this point. If it were the playoffs then I would be happy that Mills got lucky with Michaels, but it’s not…and I want to just watch Wallace. Especially against Wagner.
The rest of the year is about experience for the young guys and seeing what you have for next year...
Wallace is going to have to hit in pressure situations so let him try now …. and if he fails… so what! Mills let Johnson hit against Wagner. I hope it’s not a lefty vs lefty move b/c I hope Wallace proved the other day (against Minor) that he has a good chance against lefties. I realize Wagner is a different caliber pitcher than Minor in his 1st start but after he got hits the other night he at least deserves a chance.
There’s an image icon that looks like a tree that you select and it will allow you to put in a link to the picture.
by Timothy De Block on Aug 11, 2010 9:31 PM CDT up reply actions
Standing O for Roy O
MLB.com reports:
Roy Oswalt received a standing ovation as he walked off the field in the top of the seventh inning Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park.
He had lived up to the hype.
Oswalt, who made his home debut with the Phillies, threw seven scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Aug 11, 2010 9:20 PM CDT reply actions
Folty
I saw his line at 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K
and the box score shoed the game as delayed. I figured it was over after refreshing the page several times.
Just now I checked and Folty apparently the game resumed and Folty got touched up.
6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
I wonder how long the delay was and if it impacted him. He appeared to be cruising.
Scratch that...
They initially attributed all of Castillo’s 6th inning to Folty in the online boxscore. They must’ve fixed it later.
That makes a lot more sense given that the game seemed to be delayed for awhile. It didn’t make sense that he came back out.
round rock up 11-0 after 2...
lost 13-11…
by EveryHoustonTeamRox! on Aug 12, 2010 12:27 AM CDT reply actions
J.D. Martinez
After a 4-for-5, 2B game tonight, his numbers with Corpus Christi are similar to his career averages. In 97 at-bats, he is batting .351/.422/.515.
It’ll be interesting to see how much the rankings change after this season.
by Timothy De Block on Aug 12, 2010 7:43 AM CDT up reply actions
Its great to see
Martinez struggling initially at AA, but only taking a week or so to adjust before going on this tear.
We did only draft him last year, so there isn’t a whole lot of point in hurrying him too much.
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