He’s got whatever it is that blows them away …

Astros’ starter Bud Norris, that is, certainly still has that whatever “it” is that stifles Cardinals hitters.

For only the second time this season, the Cardinals will lose a series. This time, that series goes to Houston.

It was Jaime Garcia’s fifth start and he was looking for his third win. Trouble is, he was 0-3 against Houston in his career. Add that to the fact the Redbirds don’t hit Norris well — at all! — and that it was a road game (not Garcia’s specialty) and things weren’t looking entirely promising to start with. Especially considering the spark the ‘Stros offense has shown lately.

The Cards continued their trend of scoring early — plating one run in the first inning. But, when Garcia walked the bases loaded with two outs, it was more than a little trouble. As Rick Hummel described it,

For much of the first inning at Minute Maid Park, Garcia had trouble locating  the strike zone. From bouncing his first curveball about seven feet in front of  the plate, Garcia proceeded to load the bases on walks with two outs.

Then, he began throwing strikes, as in two quick ones to [Chris] Johnson. The third  pitch to Johnson was a strike too, if Yadier Molina would have caught it.  Johnson took a pitch down in the zone and launched his first career grand slam  into the Crawford (Street) boxes atop the left-field wall and the Astros had  erased a 1-0 Cardinals lead built against Bud Norris in the top of the  first. » Continue reading “Bud Norris: Cardinal Killer Extraordinaire”

When the women of AMF asked me to come here, enemy territory, and talk about the latest with the Houston Astros, my heart split in two. You see, I really, really, really don’t like the Cardinals. I am, after all, a die hard Astros fan. But at the same time, the lovely writers at AMF are dear to me and so how could I refuse.

So what about those ‘Stros? Well, this is definitely not the team you saw last year. This is a young and vibrant group of guys, led by a handful of veterans that are out to prove something. They want the world to know that there won’t be another 100+ loss season if they have anything to say about it. They definitely have skin in the game.

The Astros are currently 11-14 (.440) and in a 3 way tie for third in the NL Central leaving the Cards in first and the Cubs (who I’m happy to say we can all agree to dislike) floundering in the basement.

Offensively, this team knows how to get on base. Jose Altuve (2B) has one of the best batting averages in MLB (.358 BA) and that’s not going to change. Combine that with his new affinity for drawing walks and you’ve got yourself a guy who gets on base…a LOT (.404 OBP)! Jordan Schafer (CF) has now reached base in 24 games. That’s some consistency we didn’t see last year from anyone. Jed Lowrie (SS) is swinging the bat well (.329 BA) and has had some timely hits this year. » Continue reading “A Look At A Rival: The Houston Astros”