Maybe that future is looking bright after all.
A gaggle of young players helped lead the Astros to their third straight victory on Tuesday night, as the team dismantled Pittsburgh 8-2. Behind a 6-run 6th inning and yet another strong showing by Henry Sosa, the club was easily able to coast to the victory. Here's what I observed from a feel-good win:
1. Sosa might surprise a few people come 2012.
I originally thought that Jason Stoffel would be the key piece in the Jeff Keppinger-to-San Francisco trade, but boy was I wrong. Sosa came out firing to win his second straight start, going 6 strong innings, allowing just 2 hits and one ER while striking out 7 and walking just one batter. He threw first-pitch strikes to 13 of the 21 batters he faced, and mixed his pitches well enough to keep the undisciplined Pirates guessing. (For those who were wondering, they're struck out 27 times in the first two games of this series). Odd to think that this guy might be in the back end of the starting rotation come 2012, but that's the beautiful nature of
baseball-one team gives you a chance and you run with it.
2. Carlos Lee either can't hit curveballs, or he has a serious problem with his depth perception.
I've been seeing this all year long, and don't get me wrong, I'm actually rather pleased with El Caballo at the moment, what with his 11-game hit streak and 1.360 OPS during said streak. However, I can't help but notice how easily his knees go noodly whenever somebody throws him a bender. Back door, front door, inside, outside, low, high, it doesn't matter. Lee will not swing. He bends his knees, sometimes moves out of the way, and almost every time it's a called strike. He thens looks back at the umpire in disgust. Dude, it's just a curveball. If you've been in the league this long and still can't accurately recognize a breaking ball pretty quickly, you're in deep trouble. (To be fair, Charlie Morton's arm slot is a little weird and all, but c'mon).
3. I keep oscillating back and forth as to whether J.D. Martinez is the real deal or not.
Martinez set an Astros rookie record yesterday by driving in his 28th run in August. That's also third all-time by an NL rookie in the month. There's no doubt that Martinez has the ability to hit at the major league level, but will he be able to harness it? Even I can notice that the guy has a really, really funky swing, and while sometimes that's not a bad thing (see Bagwell, Jeff), if pitchers are able to make an adjustment that screws up his timing, he might be dead in the water. The red flag that's been mentioned by just about everyone is the awkward stutter step that he takes as the pitcher is delivering the ball. Will he be able to work through the odd mechanical problems and purify his swing? Does he need to? Interestingly, Martinez describes his batting stance as a combination of Magglio Ordonez and Albert Pujols. If the guy ends up being able to hit like either of them, I'll be pleased as punch.
J.A. Happ takes on James McDonald tonight for the series finale at 7:05. Get your brooms ready.
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