Bud Norris faced off against the young Dillon Gee, and at first glace everything seemed to be going in the home team's direction. Through a bunch of bloop singles (I can solemnly swear to you that the Houston Astros have never hit anything but a single this season, save Hunter Pence who occasionally knocks a two-bagger), hit batters, walks, and the Mets basically playing like the Mets, a quick 4-0 lead was built after 6 innings. And then, of course, all Houston fans were snapped back to reality.
Jason Bay hits a baseball to Galveston after Norris and Quintero decide to lob him a 3-1 fastball right in the happy zone: 4-1
Justin Turner (I don't know who he his either) gets on base and is summarily brought home after Fernando Martinez tattoos a Norris changeup into the second deck in right: 4-3
Jeff Fulchino is brought in, ya know, to stabilize things after Norris walks Jose Reyes.
David Wright says "Hey Fulch, stop trying to pick off Jose because I'm just gonna take you and your sorry beard yard anyway.": 5-4 Mets
After the bats failed to even things up in the bottom of the frame, some guy named Jason Pridie and a bunch of other nobodies knock around Wilton Lopez to secure an insurance run. Ballgame. 6-4.
Look, I love Bud Norris. I really do. I wholeheartedly believe that he is the best pitcher that the Astros have right now, and the fans watching on Friday might have been seeing the next Roy Oswalt on the mound. He's improved markedly from last year, and seems much more confident in himself to boot. But the one thing he's going to have to limit is homers. You see, Bud is so confident in himself that he gets a half dozen K's in his pocket and begins to think he's the next Halladay. Suddenly a 3-1 count to a great hitter like Bay becomes a challenge match, where Norris sits on the mound and says, "Screw it. I'm throwing him a freakin' fastball right down the middle. I'm BUD NORRIS, I mean there's no way he's gonna hit it." Boom. And that's where he lost his confidence in this one. Another homer given up to a guy who's only hit one in his career should have effectively chased Bud, but of course Brad Mills decided to leave him in for one more hitter, who he walked, setting up the Mets' go ahead long bomb by Wright.
Which, of course, leads to the bullpen. Fulchino and Lopez came in and gave up 3 ER, raising the Houston bullpen ERA to a ghastly 6.10, dead last in the majors. If new owner Jim Crane wants to improve this team in any way, it should be through this group of guys first. I'll be posting later on why I think the relievers really aren't the only ones to blame in this situation, but Friday showed once again just why this team is losing games so frequently. When the starter knows that the guys behind him probably won't be able to protect the lead, it's frustrating. You start out-guessing yourself, and your sense of calm and assurance turns into a sort of "Well, I better post a zero or we're screwed." Most of the time, this is what Astros' starters have had to do, as a 4-0 lead vanished like dry ice against the likes of the Mets.
Pitching. Defense. It's what won the Astros the NL pennant in '05, and whether Ed Wade wants to face it or not, signing "power bats" ( I know, I can't believe they called Bill Hall and Clint Barmes that either) is not going to work. Pitching. Defense. It's what wins championships. It's why we need Andrew Friedman.
J.A. Happ takes the mound against R.A. Dickey in the Battle of the Initials tomorrow at 3:05 pm (??). Come back here for another sorry wrap-up of that game as well.
And since Blogger deleted my previous post, a happy belated birthday to Kevin Bass, former Astros outfielder.
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