PopTop
07-24-2005, 09:27 PM
Really humongous 7-game homestand this week in the Bayou City versus Phils and Mets, two closest teams to us in the current NL Wildcard race. Could hardly pick a better pair of teams for the Astros to meet than Philadelphia and New York since both teams have been known to ruin Astros' seasons before.
Pitching Matchups
MON: vs. Phillies, Lidle & Pettitte
TUE: vs. Phillies, Leiber & Oswalt
WED: vs. Phillies, Padilla & Clemens
THU: vs. Mets, Martinez & Backe
FRI: vs. Mets, Benson & Rodriguez
SAT: vs. Mets, Glavine & Pettitte
SUN: vs. Mets, Ishii & Oswalt
Would seem pretty obvious that Pettitte and Oswalt are the keys, at least initially. Really need at least 3 wins from their 4 starts. Wandy made a couple of good starts this week. The schedule worked out pretty good with our Big 3 all going in the Phils' series. They''re hot right now and it could really hurt if we don't win that series right off the bat. I think we're 2-4 against the Mets this year, all of those games played in NYC. So take the Philly series and just split with the Mets, I'm pretty happy. Stay as hot as we've been, very happy.
CENTERFIELD
Hate to bring it up and maybe overplay it, but Chilly Willy's misplay in DC on Saturday was really sad. Not to jump on the "get Willy out of center" bandwagon, but I thought it was interesting that we saw Chris Burke finish out that game in CF and Bruntlett come on to play CF at the end on Sunday. Deshaies and Brown were talking about Taveras' misplay and about how he's been working on his defense. But man, I don't think you can coach instinct, and Willy's in the realm of Eric Yelding, Gerald Young and Roger Cedeño as far as the "jump" he gets on a lot of balls. If he can't ever get away from that first step, he won't help you in any of the fields. Will be interesting if we don't see Bruntlett more and more out there. And I hope that Burke takes his placement in center the other day as a compliment. Here's a guy who was real shaky early on, but his ability to get on flies quickly has improved dramatically.
BULLPEN
Up and down as they are, they've been better than I expected. But with Wheeler going 3 on Sunday, and Springer 2, and Qualls tossing 3 times in the DC series, it really leaves just Lidge with help from Burns, Harville and Gallo on Monday. Or so it would seem. Qualls or Springer could be used for an out or two, maybe. But it makes Andy's start on Monday a criticial shot to rest the relievers. With Oswalt tossing on Tuesday, it could give them 2 days off.
ORLANDO PALMEIRO
We've all cussed this guy and wondered why he was kept to start the year. And I'm guessing some people still think we should be giving that time to either Luke Scott or Todd Self maybe. I'm all for giving him more PT right now, glad to see Garner doing it.
Pitching Matchups
MON: vs. Phillies, Lidle & Pettitte
TUE: vs. Phillies, Leiber & Oswalt
WED: vs. Phillies, Padilla & Clemens
THU: vs. Mets, Martinez & Backe
FRI: vs. Mets, Benson & Rodriguez
SAT: vs. Mets, Glavine & Pettitte
SUN: vs. Mets, Ishii & Oswalt
Would seem pretty obvious that Pettitte and Oswalt are the keys, at least initially. Really need at least 3 wins from their 4 starts. Wandy made a couple of good starts this week. The schedule worked out pretty good with our Big 3 all going in the Phils' series. They''re hot right now and it could really hurt if we don't win that series right off the bat. I think we're 2-4 against the Mets this year, all of those games played in NYC. So take the Philly series and just split with the Mets, I'm pretty happy. Stay as hot as we've been, very happy.
CENTERFIELD
Hate to bring it up and maybe overplay it, but Chilly Willy's misplay in DC on Saturday was really sad. Not to jump on the "get Willy out of center" bandwagon, but I thought it was interesting that we saw Chris Burke finish out that game in CF and Bruntlett come on to play CF at the end on Sunday. Deshaies and Brown were talking about Taveras' misplay and about how he's been working on his defense. But man, I don't think you can coach instinct, and Willy's in the realm of Eric Yelding, Gerald Young and Roger Cedeño as far as the "jump" he gets on a lot of balls. If he can't ever get away from that first step, he won't help you in any of the fields. Will be interesting if we don't see Bruntlett more and more out there. And I hope that Burke takes his placement in center the other day as a compliment. Here's a guy who was real shaky early on, but his ability to get on flies quickly has improved dramatically.
BULLPEN
Up and down as they are, they've been better than I expected. But with Wheeler going 3 on Sunday, and Springer 2, and Qualls tossing 3 times in the DC series, it really leaves just Lidge with help from Burns, Harville and Gallo on Monday. Or so it would seem. Qualls or Springer could be used for an out or two, maybe. But it makes Andy's start on Monday a criticial shot to rest the relievers. With Oswalt tossing on Tuesday, it could give them 2 days off.
ORLANDO PALMEIRO
We've all cussed this guy and wondered why he was kept to start the year. And I'm guessing some people still think we should be giving that time to either Luke Scott or Todd Self maybe. I'm all for giving him more PT right now, glad to see Garner doing it.