On one hand, Russ Ortiz lasted only 2.1 innings, and the Astros relief pitchers came in and mopped off his mess. If the mop was one of those old ones that no longer soak up water, just spread it out a little more evenly on the surface you're trying to clean. After Ortiz allowed three runs, the middle innings were pretty quiet for the Cubs, as their offense stalled against Chris Sampson. It just so happened that the Astros' offense couldn't muster a hit from the fourth through the seventh innings.
Felipe Paulino took his lumps in the ninth inning, giving up four runs in 2/3 of an inning. Hell, he took enough lumps to last a few weeks worth of appearances. Our offense managed to add three runs in the bottom half, making the final outcome appear a little more palatable. Regardless, the game film for Thursday could have just as easily been any number of games already played this season. The formula has been repeated enough: pitching staff keeps it close enough early on, offense has sparks of life every so often yet don't counter the opposition's run scoring, and eventually the late innings see a tumult of runs scored against and over used relief corps. If an equation is used so many times, over and over again, it starts to gain a certain validity, like it can't be disproved. Hopefully the Astros 2009 Equation is disproved, sooner rather than later.
0 recs | 10 comments
I know you meant Paulino gave up four runs in the ninth,not five
Astros play is getting monotonous
MLB 2009: Astros Groundhog Day
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=groundhog+day+movie&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=17kDSqviI-KwtgewuNiEBw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#
It seems like Byrdak, Geary and Wright pitch almost every day. Aatros need a day or two off.
Joe in Birmingham - May 7, 2009
thanks for the catch
in all honesty, I was driving this afternoon, and I thought:: “if the astros would just forfeit a series against St Louis or another team that’s playing gangbusters, we may be better off in the long run”. that’s where i am right now, considering forfeiture in lieu of using our bullpen until their arms fall off and they all look like
Evan Hochschild - May 8, 2009
I wondered why they don't use a position player who used to pitch.
Jason Smith – Did you every pitch? Earn your keep. Keppeiger
You’ve done everything .Have you ever wanted to pitch? I bet JR Towles was a pitcher in high school. Hunterhave i got an opporunity for you?Or why take a reliever out who is doing well?
Joe in Birmingham - May 8, 2009
How did I draw a line through the best part of my message?
Joe in Birmingham - May 8, 2009
Strike-through command
You must have accidentally clicked the “S” with the line through it above the text box. I do things like that all the time when I am using my laptop, it is very sensitive to all movement of my hands/fingers. Very annoying and requires stringent proofing!
Danyah - May 8, 2009
Smith is no longer with the Astros.
He may have to practice pitching in between flipping burgers.
clack - May 8, 2009
hahah I like the flipping burgers comment
i like to go with “working at jiffy lube” when a fringe player gets let go from a team
Evan Hochschild - May 8, 2009
I knew SMith was gone
but he was with the team in Washington when I first thought of it. He was the logical one to use as an example since he did nothing else on the team.
Joe in Birmingham - May 8, 2009
you begin to wonder
if it might just be beneficial, from a long-term (by which I mean a few weeks) point of view, for Coop to do what he did last year with Backe. Just let Ortiz pitch until he reaches whatever you think is a reasonable limit, regardless of outcome, in the hope that he’ll at least be able to cover 7 innings of baseball.
I wonder how many pitches it would take to get through an offense like the Cubs’ if you just groove pitches down the heart of the plate.I mean, a lot will be hit, but eventually they’ll make bad contact, right? You’ll eventually get 3 outs, and maybe with fewer pitches than actually trying to pitch properly.
Of course, doing that would piss off your players and fans, but it might save the bullpen. You’d be concentrating your weaknesses in an attempt to keep a possible strength in play.
Only_A_Lad - May 8, 2009
you have a point.
When Ortiz has pitched in previous games, I have wondered, why not leave him in for 125 or 130 pitches. It’s not like you are trying to save a young arm. I think Ortiz would be willing to do that.
Ortiz said he was surprised when Cooper came to get him out of the game. He also said that he has pitched this way all of his life—walks and traffic—because he doesn’t give in to batters. (He was known for that, even when he was good; how well he can get away with it now..who knows?) I don’t think Ortiz will groove everything, because he is always trying to put the pitch just outside the zone,, so it will take a lot of pitches to get intot he 7th. But I agree that at some point, Cooper is going to have to allow the starting pitchers to face big jams and get into the 7th inning no mattter what, in order to save the bullpen.
Cooper said he removed Ortiz early in order to keep the game from getting away from the Astros. However, he said he alllowed Paulino to stay in the game and absorb four runs in an inning because there is notning you can do about that. The reasoning seems contradictory. Oh, well.
clack - May 8, 2009
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