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04-12-2004, 04:37 AM
<b>Milwaukee's eager to visit Houston</b>
Depending on a player's perspective, which is almost always determined by recent performance, the "repeater" scheduling that is all the rage in major-league baseball these days can be a stroke of good fortune or a curse.
Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Doug Davis and first baseman Lyle Overbay view their rematch with Houston next weekend as an express lane toward possible redemption.
In just four days, Davis will get another shot at the Astros' lineup, particularly leftfielder Lance Berkman, whose two-out grand slam in the third inning sent the visitors to a 7-4 victory before a crowd of 11,262 Sunday afternoon at Miller Park.
"I might do some things a little differently," said Davis (1-1), who gave up six runs, six hits and four walks in a 41/3-inning outing that featured 100 pitches and left him winless in four starts at Miller Park.
"The second time through the order, they were sitting on cutters. I may have to change that a bit. They know I live by my cutter. I died by it today."
Berkman, a switch hitter who entered the season with 116 homers against right-handers and 10 against lefties, hit a first-pitch cut fastball for the grand slam that put Houston ahead, 5-1.
"I knew it was gone as soon as he hit it," said Davis, who avoided offending lip-readers in the Easter Sunday crowd by covering his mouth with his glove while shouting an expletive into the pocket.
"I was trying to throw a cutter in and I didn't really get it all the way there. It would have been a good pitch if he wasn't looking for it, but he was. You could see by the swing. He kind of opened up and stepped in the bucket. I probably should have started him out with a curveball, but you can go ifs and buts and second-guess yourself all day."
Overbay knows about second-guessing. He was hitless in five at-bats, all with runners in scoring position. His first two at-bats against Roy Oswalt ended in strikeouts and the third ended in a weak pop-up to the catcher.
"Lyle saw a lot of off-speed stuff today and he just couldn't stay back," hitting coach Butch Wynegar said. "That's what makes Oswalt one of the best. His arm speed is just as fast on his changeup as it is on his fastball. You're reading fastball when the ball comes out of his hands and you just can't slow down your swing."
Oswalt's exit after the sixth did little to help Overbay, who struck out against Brad Lidge with two men on in the seventh and then drove in a run with a groudout in the ninth against Brandon Backe.
"I've got to do a better job putting the ball in play," said Overbay, who leads the team with six RBI. "It was a frustrating day for me, personally."
It was frustrating for almost all the Brewers' hitters, who combined to go 1 for 17 with runners in scoring position to negate a stellar effort by second baseman Junior Spivey, who had three doubles, a single and a walk.
"Junior had a great day," Wynegar said. "Hopefully, we're going to see more of that. He's got good hands. He's got great bat speed. He's an exciting player."
The Brewers tried to generate excitement against Oswalt, but couldn't rally.
"He really competes extremely well," said Astros manager Jimy Williams, whose team took two of three games in the series. "He really seems to have those capabilities when guys get into scoring position to make some good pitches and get out of those jams."
Davis' jam in the third started when Oswalt slapped a single, the first of his two hits, and continued with a double by Adam Everett, two walks and a run-scoring wild pitch by Davis.
The key mistake, however, was the pitch to Berkman.
"If he doesn't throw that pitch, people talk about what a good job he did against Bagwell," Brewers pitching coach Mike Maddux said of the Astros first baseman, who was hitless in three trips against Davis en route to a 0-for-5 day.
"Other than that pitch, he threw the ball pretty well. He just made that one mistake."
On Sunday, it was one mistake too many.
"You can't really say it was a game of wasted chances," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "(Oswalt) is a No. 1 starter on a team with one of the best pitching staffs in the game. You know going in you're going to have to battle and claw and scrape."
The battle resumes next weekend in Houston.
"I'm just going to go out there and go after it again," Davis said. "I'll just write this one off as my one bad game of the first half."
Depending on a player's perspective, which is almost always determined by recent performance, the "repeater" scheduling that is all the rage in major-league baseball these days can be a stroke of good fortune or a curse.
Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Doug Davis and first baseman Lyle Overbay view their rematch with Houston next weekend as an express lane toward possible redemption.
In just four days, Davis will get another shot at the Astros' lineup, particularly leftfielder Lance Berkman, whose two-out grand slam in the third inning sent the visitors to a 7-4 victory before a crowd of 11,262 Sunday afternoon at Miller Park.
"I might do some things a little differently," said Davis (1-1), who gave up six runs, six hits and four walks in a 41/3-inning outing that featured 100 pitches and left him winless in four starts at Miller Park.
"The second time through the order, they were sitting on cutters. I may have to change that a bit. They know I live by my cutter. I died by it today."
Berkman, a switch hitter who entered the season with 116 homers against right-handers and 10 against lefties, hit a first-pitch cut fastball for the grand slam that put Houston ahead, 5-1.
"I knew it was gone as soon as he hit it," said Davis, who avoided offending lip-readers in the Easter Sunday crowd by covering his mouth with his glove while shouting an expletive into the pocket.
"I was trying to throw a cutter in and I didn't really get it all the way there. It would have been a good pitch if he wasn't looking for it, but he was. You could see by the swing. He kind of opened up and stepped in the bucket. I probably should have started him out with a curveball, but you can go ifs and buts and second-guess yourself all day."
Overbay knows about second-guessing. He was hitless in five at-bats, all with runners in scoring position. His first two at-bats against Roy Oswalt ended in strikeouts and the third ended in a weak pop-up to the catcher.
"Lyle saw a lot of off-speed stuff today and he just couldn't stay back," hitting coach Butch Wynegar said. "That's what makes Oswalt one of the best. His arm speed is just as fast on his changeup as it is on his fastball. You're reading fastball when the ball comes out of his hands and you just can't slow down your swing."
Oswalt's exit after the sixth did little to help Overbay, who struck out against Brad Lidge with two men on in the seventh and then drove in a run with a groudout in the ninth against Brandon Backe.
"I've got to do a better job putting the ball in play," said Overbay, who leads the team with six RBI. "It was a frustrating day for me, personally."
It was frustrating for almost all the Brewers' hitters, who combined to go 1 for 17 with runners in scoring position to negate a stellar effort by second baseman Junior Spivey, who had three doubles, a single and a walk.
"Junior had a great day," Wynegar said. "Hopefully, we're going to see more of that. He's got good hands. He's got great bat speed. He's an exciting player."
The Brewers tried to generate excitement against Oswalt, but couldn't rally.
"He really competes extremely well," said Astros manager Jimy Williams, whose team took two of three games in the series. "He really seems to have those capabilities when guys get into scoring position to make some good pitches and get out of those jams."
Davis' jam in the third started when Oswalt slapped a single, the first of his two hits, and continued with a double by Adam Everett, two walks and a run-scoring wild pitch by Davis.
The key mistake, however, was the pitch to Berkman.
"If he doesn't throw that pitch, people talk about what a good job he did against Bagwell," Brewers pitching coach Mike Maddux said of the Astros first baseman, who was hitless in three trips against Davis en route to a 0-for-5 day.
"Other than that pitch, he threw the ball pretty well. He just made that one mistake."
On Sunday, it was one mistake too many.
"You can't really say it was a game of wasted chances," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "(Oswalt) is a No. 1 starter on a team with one of the best pitching staffs in the game. You know going in you're going to have to battle and claw and scrape."
The battle resumes next weekend in Houston.
"I'm just going to go out there and go after it again," Davis said. "I'll just write this one off as my one bad game of the first half."