Mr. Rodriguez is now approaching the status of being a near-ace. Not Johan, Lincecum, Greinke territory, but pretty close. Eleven strikeouts, zero walks. That makes eighteen strikeouts and zero walks in his last fifteen innings of work.
Michael Bourn had two steals and four hits. He wasn't the only Astro showing off the wheels, either. Carlos Lee made like a dump truck in stealing his first bag of the season. He also did what he does best, hit the baseball very, very hard. El Caballo connected for his seventh long ball of the young season. Hunter Pence and Ivan Rodriguez both continued their torrid hitting ways, collecting two hits apiece. I guess Pudge felt left out after not being in the lineup on Wednesday?
A weekend series in Chicago to face the Cubs awaits. I don't much care for those boys, but playing where the ivy grows is always entertaining. Brian Moehler takes the ball tomorrow, with Roy O and Felipe closing her out. Two games under .500. May was good for us in 2008, and hopefully we make it even better for us in 2009.
0 recs | 4 comments
11 K's
on the day for Wandy. He’s been nothing short of fantastic so far this year. Hopefully he can sustain it and stay healthy.
Also, when is Coop going to put Bourn back at the top of the lineup and either bump Kaz down a spot or put Pudge or Tejada in the 2-hole?
littlevisigoth - May 14, 2009
it is getting sorta frustrating
in regard to Kaz. He isn’t doing anything. He’s not getting on base. He’s not hitting for power (and he won’t).
Lance prefers to hit behind a guy who isn’t a basestealer, so why not (like you suggest) move Tejada up to the two hole. I’m not as big on moving Pudge up, but when he’s hot/when he has a favorable matchup, why not? Moving Tejada up would also allow Hunter to bat higher in the order. The way he’s been looking so far this season, I want him to get as many ABs as possible.
Coop isn’t one to rattle anyone’s cages, so any moves may be slow in coming. That being said, a couple more weeks of Bourn obp’ing above .360 and Kaz struggling might mean the move could come sooner rather than later..
Evan Hochschild - May 14, 2009
I'd be fine
with Kaz in the 2-hole. i don’t think he’s going to struggle like this all season. he’s a very professional hitter and he’s got a very low K-rate. also, his GO/AO ratio is 1.5, so batting in the 2-hole, he’d more than likely be making productive outs with Bourn on base, when he’s not tallying hits. the BLT with pickles part of the lineup is doing pretty well right now in it’s current configuration, so if Coop wants to be on the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” groove, that’s fine… for the part that ain’t broke.
littlevisigoth - May 15, 2009
I agree with you.
Kaz is likely to come around, and he is one of the best Astros at working the count. Some of his value (ground balls/working count/bunting) aren’t as useful in the 7 or 8 hole. So, putting him in the 2 spot makes some sense. But I agree that Coop follows the “if it ain’t broke…” logic on his lineups.
clack - May 15, 2009
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