Heck yes, Brett Myers. This guy just continues to get better. You expect pitchers to give up runs. You also expect them to give up home runs. But, when Myers gave up that solo shot to Corey Hart, I was slightly shocked. It's just that Myers has been very, very good at avoiding those. And, yeah, he doesn't give up runs period.
Which is why I didn't immediately get a bad feeling when the Brewers tied the game in the fourth inning. See, back in the bad old days of April and May, any time the Astros lost a lead, I was about ready to give up the game right then. That wasn't a team who could score runs late.
This team? This team gets an RBI single from Carlos Lee and Chris Johnson and an RBI walk from Tommy Manzella. Two of those three guys had the lowest slash lines on the team in the past week, as pointed out by Zachary Levine and Baseball Reference. Any time we get production out of El Bufalo, it's a good thing.
It was also nice to see Henry Villar pitching well in this game. We talk a lot about the minor leagues around here, but Villar's is truly a great story. This guy was pitching in Low A ball last year and was in the Dominican Summer League three years ago. Now, he's pitched in one complete inning over two appearances, striking out two and allowing just one hit. His strikeout numbers were excellent in the low minors as a reliever, but dropped off some when he slipped into the rotation in Corpus Christi. It looks like the Astros could use him in the bullpen more and more if he keeps putting up effective innings like this.
One of the main points to Orem's article earlier today was that we Astros fans are very optimistic right now. You can see that also reflected in the Fan Confidence poll up in the top left corner of this blog and featured on the main page of SB Nation Houston. Our Confidence Level is up to 67. To put that into perspective, it was at 27 just a couple months ago. I know I was guilty of scoring them that low. Now, though, guys like Villar and Lee are performing well and the mood around this team is infectious. I can't wait for tomorrow's game.