‘Stros drop rubber match to Brewers, 4-3 in extras
What’s funny about games like this is that you have an idea of what you’re going to write while the game is going on. Certain narratives start developing and you come up with themes. This one was going to be that the Astros won despite grotesque mismanagement by Brad Mills.
But, since Matt Lindstrom blew his first save and then lost his first game of the season, the narrative became this – the Astros got just what they should have gotten from a dreadful performance.
It started before the game. The Astros official website carried the story that Carlos Lee and Pedro Feliz would be sitting on Thursday against the Brewers. The manager’s justification: Dave Bush has had success against righties, and against Lee in particular. Let’s look at that success against right handers: .297 batting average against, .917 OPS against. Doesn’t exactly look like he dominates them, does it? Granted, he allows an even higher batting average to lefties (.317) but he has a lower OPS (.915) because righties hit him so much harder (.584 slugging versus .484 for lefties).
So, it’s not exactly an overwhelming case that he does better against right handers. You also have to consider the replacement. Cory Sullivan isn’t exactly Babe Ruth coming off the bench to replace Lee. He sat a right-handed hitter who has a .532 OPS versus righties in favor of a lefty with a .477 OPS (almost exclusively against righties). The stats of the guy he brought in were worse. Kind of like when he pinch hit for Felipe Palino with Jason Michaels…whose numbers were worse despite Paulino being a pitcher.
You can’t just look at which side the dude bats from. You have to actually look at numbers, and Sullivan’s numbers against right handers are worse than Lee’s. And all of that, of course, on top of the fact that Bush really isn’t better against righties than he is against lefties. That’s only true if you look at it through the limited scope of batting average.
How’d Sullivan do? He looked at strike 3 in his first at-bat but Jerry Layne (whose strike zone was ALL over the place) called it a ball and he walked. Flew out in his second at-bat. Walked again in his third. Then he was pulled for a pinch hitter. Final line: 0-for-1 with 2 walks. Thank goodness they didn’t have Lee in there. Gosh, Sullivan was a huge upgrade.
Oh, and I almost forgot – he inserted Sullivan in the lineup when they’re already depleted with Kevin Cash starting since Brett Myers was pitching.
It also got them no offense. The Astros managed only three runs (all unearned) against a starter and a reliever who both had ERAs over 5.00.
Mills said he would have those right handed bats available on the bench if they needed them. But did he ever use Lee? No. What he did do was let Jason Michaels hit twice, let Cash have five plate appearances without ever pinch hitting for him, and pinch hit for a pitcher with Oswaldo Navarro, who still doesn’t have a hit this year.
Great managing. Maybe Lee needed a day off. After all, he played two whole games since his last day off, so he’s probably really tired.
The real feather in Mills’s managerial cap today was in the sixth when the Astros scored what should have been the winning run. Sullivan led off the inning with a walk. Then he had Tommy Manzella sac bunt Sullivan to second. Keep in mind, this is a guy with a .532 OPS sacrificing his at-bat to get to Cash, who has a .327 OPS, and who is followed by the pitcher in the lineup. A pitcher for whom the probably will not pinch hit, since he has only pitched five innings and has been pitching quite well.
Sac bunt works (if you consider that absurd strategy “working”). Rather than going with a good pinch hitter in a key situation, Mills lets him hit for himself. Pitcher goes conservative, walks Cash. Myers comes up. Once again, it’s a tough call since he’s pitching well, but this is a huge situation in a tie game. Does he pinch hit? No. Myers goes to sac bunt and instead pops out to the catcher. Two outs. Runners go nowhere.
No matter, though, because Bush is so bad against lefties and Bourn is at the plate! Bourn grounds to second but Ricky Weeks has a horrible error that allows Sullivan to come home for the lead-grabbing run.
This is where I started to think about writing how the Astros won despite Mills’s flubs. But, since they lost, I can say he totally mismanaged that situation and blew a chance at a big inning.
And blew a chance to help Myers, who had his typical start – lots of hits but battled well and constantly worked out of jams. Not great, to be sure, but certainly good enough against the Brewers.
Should have been good enough against the Brewers.
Despite those missed chances, they managed to hand Matt Lindstrom the ball with a one-run lead. Hit batter, sac bunt, wild pitch, walk, single and it’s a tie ballgame headed for extra innings.
The Astros went down in order in the 10th and that’s where Mills made yet another mistake. Lindstrom was clearly way off his game, but he sent him out for another inning. Hideous. He gave up two single and a walk, and with two outs, walked in the winning run. Weeks gets his redemption by having the patience to watch ball four sail way outside and the Brewers literally walk off with the series win. Their first since sweeping Arizona May 7-9. Since then they’d lost 11 of 13 but, not surprisingly, broke that slide against the Astros.
They are the slump busters of the league. It’s what they do.
I’ve been pained by this latest terrible season and came up with another suggestion as to what needs to change. Granted, Mills needs to change, and McLane probably needs to change. And the lineup definitely needs serious change. But I think one other thing needs to be altered: the name of the team.
I wrote full post on it at my blog (http://www.nathan-miller.com/its-time-to-change-the-astros-name/) but there is one point buried in my ridiculum that should be noted: the last time the Astros were 16-31 was 2005. And we all know how that season ended.
Yeah, I see that comparison made a lot without much regard to the differences. Differences such as the fact that Lance Berkman missed the entire first month. He only missed half that time this year. Differences like the fact that they were getting Roger Clemens back mid-season. That the rotation was led by Andy Pettitte (who went 17-9 with a 2.39 ERA) and Roy Oswalt (five years younger and in his prime). They had Chad Qualls, Dan Wheeler and Brad Lidge in the bullpen. They had Morgan Ensberg having the year of his career, the best defensive shortstop in the game and one of the best game calling catchers ever.
The ONLY similarity between this team and that is the poor records. That team actually had some talent and some things that ignited them late in the season that this team really can’t expect. The 2010 Astros are not the 2005 Astros. The sooner the front office stops trying to convince themselves of it, the better.