Post Mortem/WPA

1. Over the past 2 games, Astros hitters were offered 34 first pitch strikes, and swung at only 7 of them. I'm not too sure what that means about how aggressive they are or should be, but I do know that 27 Astros batters looked at called first strikes and started their AB in an 0-1 hole.  That's a helluva advantage to give to major league pitchers.
2. Carlos Lee may or may not turn out to be the hitter we want him to be, but his baserunning in the past 2 games was pretty awful.  He seems to take a peek at the balls he hits before he leaves the batters box, and then appears to be jogging (maybe its all an appearance) when he runs.  I know he's no speed demon, but when you get nabbed (as he did yesterday) on a two bounce throw from deep shortstop (ball was not hit real hard), then something is amiss.  Apparently it doesn't concern Garner, who sent him on a steal or hit-and-run today and Molina threw him out by three feet.
3. The umpiring seemed very inconsistent and unpredictable.  I don't think it favored either team, but there were 3 batters who were bailing out of the box and had strikes called on them, the  strike zone seemed to move around randomly all during the games, and several calls down the foul line (fair or foul) were very questionable.  Don't know what this means for the season, if anything, other than there is an allegation that the umps have been told to "tighten" the strike zone this year and are perhaps not sure just how to do that.

Well 5 quality starts translated to 1 win. A playoff team should win at least 3 of those. The blowouts make the close games tougher because you realize some nights you will have NO chance and you didn't capitalize the one you could/should have won.

Piss poor performance by everyone but Jason. Two strong outings looks good. But what is up with him making Trev Miller look like Billy Wagner? I would NOT sign a guy to a long-term contract that has lost 5 mph on his fastball suddenly. I could care less if it is working right now or the whole season. That screams, "SOON TO HAVE ARM PROBLEMS" to me. A healthy arm should not lose velocity.

Did anyone see on the post-game how angry Lance got when the reporter said, "it looks like yall haven't had spring training yet". His eyes were strangling him at that point.

And Lee: Could not be more disappointed with Lee than I am right now. Scott is up and sees Lee is taking off and will get gunned so he swipes at a BALL to foul it and K's then Lee still gets gunned down. Dumb move.

on the topic of Brad, i REALLY don't understand why he continues to bat in late innings.  even a straight up pinch hit with Quintero would give me more confidence than letting Brad bat.  Why Lane wouldn't get in the game when we're down with even the slimmest hope of a comeback, is beyond me.