The Astros have now won 2 series in a row and welcome the Boston Red Sox to Houston for a 3 game series. The Astros are sending their recent call up(and replacement for Chacon) Runelvys Hernandez to the hill against Dice K.
Daisuke has been pretty good overall this season (I say pretty good... what I mean is VERY good) with only losing 1 game this season. That one loss came in his first start since returning from the DL in which he only went 1 inning and gave up 7 earned runs. Before then, his era was 2.53.
0 recs | 10 comments
Damn...
We should have saved Wandy for Dice-K…..
entropic soul - June 27, 2008
Dice-K walks too many batters.
His BB/9 rate is over 5.68. If the Astros’ hitters exhibit patience, they may have a chance. Unfortunately, the Astros are one of the least patient lineups in baseball. Dice-K probably is happy to be facing a team with the fewest walks in the league.
clack - June 27, 2008
Honestly...
who here wouldn’t be happy just taking one of these three games? obviously, i’d love to stick it to the BoSox as much as the next Astros fan, but the realist in me says this is not shaping up to be a very satisfying series. We’re getting their three best starters, while they miss our best (by name) two. They have the 2nd best slugging offense in baseball against our 30th best slugging against pitching staff (of course the Rangers were the #1 slugging team). Granted, they still have a losing road record, and they have yet to sweep a road series, but they’ve won their last three series on the road and are 16-8 overall since their last road series loss.
I’m going to be channelling all my positive mojo once they take the field, but the contemplative sigh before the gun goes off is one of depressed expectations.
littlevisigoth - June 27, 2008
Yeah
The team to clean up against was the Yankees, especially with Caballo and Miggy having seen a lot of Mussina.
Instead…
But we have a little bit of hope having taken series from Rangers and Rays, who seem to represent both ends of the offense/defense spectrum in AL.
Given the starting pitcher lineups, though, that’s all I’ll call it – a little bit of hope.
pel - June 27, 2008
Moehler is going to pwn them
Just wait and see. :p
entropic soul - June 27, 2008
i'm going to that game
and it may be the best pitching matchup of the bunch. weird to have considered that a while ago, but Moehler’s been our most consistent starter since he joined the rotation. in his 8 starts, he’s only given up more than 3 runs once (that stinker in Milwaukee), and in 3 of his last 4, he’s gone into the 7th with one run or less. still, the matchup nod has to go to Beckett. the Brewers touched him up for 6 earnies earlier this year though, so we should be able to match that, right?
tonight’s matchup might be intriguing. Dice-K got rocked in his last start, his first since coming back from the DL. hopefully he’s not back in the groove yet. meanwhile, who knows what were going to get from the real fat elvis? interestingly, Boston is one of the three organizations he bounced around with last year. he was 0-3 in 7 starts, with an ERA of 3.06 and a WHIP of 1.22 for AAA Pawtuckett last summer, between stints with the Yankees and Pirates AAA clubs. i guess we’ll cross our fingers and hope for the best.
littlevisigoth - June 27, 2008
Let's see if Manny can high five someone after a catch tonight.
:p
entropic soul - June 27, 2008
So anyone got any background on this Hernandez guy?
entropic soul - June 27, 2008
At one time he was a highly touted young starting pitcher...
for the Royals. And he was their “No. 1” pitcher for a couple of years, but never could put it together. He throws hard and can get groundballs when he is right. I recall some exhibition games at MMP a couple of years ago where he would look dominating for the Royals, and then I would be surprised that he pitched so badly during the regular season. Supposedly he declined because he didn’t keep himself in shape. Hooten, the pitching coach at Round Rock, has praised his pitching for the Express and credits Hernandez’s commitment to a conditioning program.
clack - June 27, 2008
How did he not get to that?!
mokulen - June 27, 2008
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