I've kept telling myself that Myers will turn it around after giving up 18 earned runs in his last 4 starts, but after today's atrocious outing, I'm starting to think that something may be seriously wrong with the Astros' supposed ace. Myers was taken out of the game in the 6th after surrendering 9 hits, 6 ER, and 3 walks with 4 strikeouts. He came out looking solid in the 1st, but proceeded to give up a run in the 2nd, 2 in the 4th, 1 in the 5th, and 2 in the 6th. He stayed completely away from his fastball throughout the afternoon, opting instead to go with his breaking balls, an unwise decision as many of them hung over the plate, resulting in lots of knocks for the Reds. Now I don't think that Myers just woke up one day and forgot how to pitch. This is the same guy who gave up a total of 3 ER in his first 4 starts of the season. Perhaps he has a small injury that is nagging him and causing him to pitch less effectively (a la Brandon Lyon). Maybe he's just scared. Either way, he doesn't seem to pitch well against Cincy, or anyone else at the moment, a harrowing fact for a young team that needs an ace to lead the staff.
In other news, I want to take a look at the kind of pitches that the Astros are swinging at right now. It's true, they had a nice inning in the 7th, stringing together a couple singles and steals to scratch out some runs, (Jason Bourgeois was fantastic as usual, going 1 for 2 with an RBI, 2 BB, and 2 SB to tie him with Michael Bourn for the league lead at 11) but the rest of the afternoon looked terrible, as guys were striking out all over the place or hitting comebackers to Homer Bailey. I know Bailey is a good pitcher with some nasty stuff, but this is a trend I've noticed throughout the year with certain players. Chris Johnson has complained about how much pitchers this year will be "throwing him a lot of breaking balls" because "they know I can hit the fastball over the plate". Well first of all Chris, everyone in the majors can hit the fastball over the plate. Second of all, if you're going to hit the ball at all, you gotta swing at it. Despite these declarations by the Astros' 3B, Bailey challenged the young hitter four times with fastballs right down the chute, and Johnson didn't swing at a single one of them. He ended up going 0 for 3 on the day with 2 strikeouts, lowering his BA to an icky .192.
But he's not the only one. Lots of Astros hitters have certain ugly pitches that they love to swing at for some inexplicable reason. Hunter Pence eats neck-high fastballs. Bill Hall makes me seriously believe that I could strike him out, as he stands so far away from the plate that any outside pitches have him done in, whether they cut the corner or not. Brett Wallace can't seem to handle balls that break away from him. Strikeouts are one thing, but swinging and missing at pitcher's pitches, coupled with letting fastballs flutter right over the plate does not a good team make.
The Reds bats proved me wrong, as they scored 10 runs on 14 hits, largely thanks to Myers and the wholly ineffective Nelson Figueroa. As I said earlier, I was hoping that Figgy had finally come around and found his place in the bullpen, but he gave up 4 ER in the bottom of the 8th, effectively putting the game totally out of reach for the 'Stros. He was atrocious as a starter, and he's not looking good as a reliever, so if he continues this terrible trend, why keep him? The team had no qualms in releasing Russ Ortiz a couple of years ago because of his ineffectiveness, so why not do that now? It's still the first week in May and too early to throw Figueroa out on the street, but come June or July, if he's pitching the same way, he deserves the boot. The prospect of eating 900K probably won't be very attractive to Drayton McLane, however.
All in all, this was a series that the Astros were only 3 outs away from winning, and considering the fact that the Lyon situation is temporarily solved with the young phenom Mark Melancon taking over in the closer's spot, the team can walk away from this series feeling somewhat good about themselves. Myers' start aside, the Houston starters have been tremendous in the last couple days, and if they can carry those good vibes over into Pittsburgh, we may just have a little win streak on our hands.
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| We may not be better than the Pirates this year, but at least our mascot isn't this lame. |
SERIES PREVIEW: Houston Astros vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, May 6-8, PNC Park
Game 1:
6:05 pm, Wandy Rodriguez (1-3, 4.26 ERA) vs. Paul Maholm (1-4, 4.14 ERA)
Game 2:
6:05 pm, Bud Norris (2-1, 3.03 ERA) vs. Charlie Morton (3-1, 3.52 ERA)
Game 3:
12:35 pm, J.A. Happ (2-4, 6.23 ERA) vs. James McDonald (2-2, 6.75 ERA)
This sadly looks like a pretty good series matchup on paper, as the Astros travel to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates for the first time in 2011. I have faith that our pitchers will be able to out-duel the Buccos', but the Houston bullpen and bats will be the real question. Seems to me that every time a starter goes out and throws a gem, the Astros only put 1 or 2 runs on the board, leaving the game in the hands of the shaky 'pen. If the team can capitalize on the high ERAs of the Pittsburgh starters and hold the league's 25th ranked offense in check, then a series win is very possible.
Prediction: I'm gonna be brave, bold, and beautiful and predict the Astros' first series sweep of the season. W-Rod and Norris have been very effective lately, as both are coming off shutouts in their last respective starts, though Wandy didn't get the win due to another Brandon Lyon meltdown. I think they'll both go at least 7 innings strong and secure W's. The only start I'm a bit worried about is Happ's, but with McDonald opposing him, it should end up being a slugfest anyway, and that kind of battle favors the Astros.
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