There was much ado about pitching last night; conversations on twitter and message boards, fan reaction at the ballpark. For years I’ve said, it’s about the pitching. Good defensive pitching can make a mediocre offense a little less important. But if a team has subpar pitching, it takes a whole heck of a lot of amazingly impressive offense to make up for the sins of the guys on the bump.

The Astros starters have been reliable, not outstanding, but definitely reliable. The first 5+ innings of baseball haven’t been the site of anything tragic. In fact, they’ve been pretty darn good. Even when they’ve struggled and seen inflated pitch counts, Astros starters have battled their way through. If you look at the ERA of starters, throwing as starters, you can’t complain – Lucas Harrell (1.50), Philip Humber (1.59), Bud Norris (3.18), Brad Peacock (4.15) – as a group, the starters have a 2.63 ERA. It’s a stat where the Astros are not, in fact, the worst in baseball. They rank 8/30 clubs in starting pitching ERAs so far. Not bad.

If any real criticism can be made after ONLY FIVE games – and let’s all remember it’s only been 5 measly games – it’s more about the fact that a starter should come in throw six innings, but the starting rotation in Houston has only Lucas Harrell as a member of the 6 inning club. Last night, Bud Norris got pretty darn close, but still didn’t clear that hurdle. Bear in mind this is after FIVE games…there are 157 more to go and we need those shoulders and elbows to remain intact, so SPs only going 5 1/3, 5 2/3 isn’t a “real” concern, but something to ponder.

The biggest problem with the starters unable to go a full six is the the Houston bullpen has been terrible. Several people commented via social media last night that the team’s bullpen was stretched and that’s why Porter left Bud Norris in during the sixth after a homer, an error by Ronny Cedeno, two fly ball outs, a walk and a hit. That’s not why Porter left him in.

“Bud did a tremendous job. To me, tonight, he grew up,” were manager Bo Porter‘s words. “He did what a number one starter should do.” Porter told Norris he had earned the right to earn the win, resulting in Norris throwing 122 pitches in 5 2/3. Perhaps not his most efficient start, but not devastating by a long run.

The problem? The bullpen. Their ERA so far this season? 6.62 Yep, folks, that’s the problem. So you can go on twitter and whine about how long the starters are lasting. You can moan and groan about whether Brett Wallace is getting hits or Chris Carter is striking out again (although I admit I have fun with that last one), but when the umpire yells, “Play ball!” it’s going to come down to the guys on the mound. If they can’t their job done, then no amount of offense will save your team.

Jason Castro hit a three run homer last night in the Astros 6-3 loss to Oakland. Not even close to being enough to make up for pitching that wasn’t defensive. Justin Maxwell and J.D. Martinez were both 2/4 last night. No matter how productive that offense is on any given day, poor pitching can give a game away. And the Astros’ bullpen has been giving a lot away. Where do they land in baseball? 26 /30, so not the bottom of the barrel, but not anywhere they’d want to be.

One more comment of note from Bo Porter since the strikeout count has been so high and noted both in historic and sarcastic context by everyone under the sun. Last night the Astros struck out only four times – that’s the lowest in a game so far (again ONLY  FIVE games). When asked his thoughts on the matter, Porter, being the guy we’ve all come to expect him to be, said, ”I couldn’t tell you how many it was yesterday or how many it was today. What I do know is that we lost the game.”

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

I woke up this morning wondering if it was all a dream. I mean, no one expected the Houston Astros to win against the Texas Rangers on Opening Night in baseball. I’d hoped for it though.

In case you hadn’t been paying attention to those morons, they’ve been whining about the Astros damaging “the integrity of the game” by slashing payroll, not to mention their repeated posts about Alex Rodriguez making more while injured and sitting on his rear than the entire Houston Astros payroll.  I think they can all shut it now.

The Astros strutted into the AL West last night. They did it with home runs, triples, impressive pitching and the attitude that no matter what the media says about them, they can beat anyone. And beat anyone, they did, as they took down the Texas Rangers 8-2.

The win was the franchise’s 4,000th. I was disappointed when that win didn’t come against the Cardinals at the end of last season, but I see now that the 4,000th win had bigger and brighter things to accomplish – it needed a National spotlight. That win needed to show that no matter what league Bud Selig decided to put the Astros into, they could still produce hits, runs and wins.

In the first at bat by a Houston Astros in the American League, Jose Altuve started things off right with a first-pitch single to left field. but Justin Maxwell owned the  night in many ways, making some great catches in center (one that probably wasn’t  catch at all), but coupled with his 2 triples – one driving the first 2 runs of the night home-, and his two runs secured his place as a leader on this young team. Interestingly, the other guy who stood out? Rick Ankiel who came off the bench to blast a pinch-hit, 3 run homer in his very first at bat as an Astro. The last guy to homer in his first club at bat? Yep, Justin Maxwell.

The offense was outstanding, but without good defensive pitching it means nothing. Hats off to Bud Norris who pitched 5 2/3 innings – 5H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 5K – 3.18. He struggled in the 6th inning, collecting  3 hits, 2 runs and a walk in that 2/3 of an inning alone. Before the 6th, Norris looked solid and used his slider to his advantage.

But behind Norris, Erik Bedard was ready close out the game. Since Bedard isn’t scheduled to start a game until Saturday, the Astros chose to use him in relief. It was a masterful decision as he pitched 3 1/3 innings, allowing only 1 hit and striking out 2. Bedard earned the save and Norris the win. A nice night of pitching from the Astros.

It would be easy to remind everyone that currently, the Astros lead the American League, but there are still 161 games of baseball to play. Last night showed, however, that anything is possible with this young club. These guys are walking – no running since Bo won’t let them walk – with a fire in their bellies. Bo Porter has ingrained in them that being a champion is a construction project, and that each day you’ve got to show up, put in the work on the project or the champion never gets built.

I don’t expect the Houston Astros to be champions this year…but it’s nice to see the progress on that construction site.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

This past weekend at Houston Astros’ FanFest, I got a chance to sit down with a few members of the club and get their take on the upcoming season. In that mix was outfielder, Justin Maxwell.

Maxwell will likely always be best known for his first at bat for Houston. Justin had been claimed off waivers from the Yankees on April 8, 2012, came up to bat on Tuesday, April 10th for the first time in an Astros uniform and blasted a pinch hit, two-run homer in the eighth inning in what would become an 8-3 win for the Astros over the Atlanta Braves. I was at that game and I remember thinking, “I’m gonna like this guy.”

Maxwell started to come into his own last season as he hit 18 home runs, the club leader for 2012. He’s a guy that you notice right away thanks to his 6’5″, 235 presence, but he’s not as scary as his size implies. A mild and well-mannered guy, the biggest takeaway after speaking with him was how poised and well-spoken he is. This is a trait that may bode well for him and this young club in the future.

At age 29, he’s one of the older guys in the clubhouse now.  I asked him about the youth in the clubhouse and who the players could look up to this year. He’s met Carlos Pena and is looking forward to learning as much as he can from the seasoned veteran this year, but sees himself as someone who can become a leader for the Astros. “As one of the older players this year, I’m usually not as vocal as I should be, so hopefully I can take more of  leadership role.”

And Maxwell has some wisdom to spread. His career trajectory was one of slow and steady wins the race. He paid his dues and worked hard at every level of baseball. He admits to frustration and mistakes along the way,  ”2010 was really frustrating, I was up and down a lot – 5 times and I kind of let that affect my play a little bit. But it’s always in your favor to play well. No one cares about what you’re going through off the field, they want to see you perform on the field.”

But that experience made him realize exactly where his real attention should be. What advice would he give to a frustrated player? “Just focus on baseball, the rest will take care of itself.” If that’s the sort of advice that Maxwell imparts to this young club, I’d say he’s the absolute right guy for the job.

Maxwell takes his role of power hitter seriously and knows he’s capable of the big hits when the team needs them, but wants to work on improving his average. “I’d like to hit for average this year and be more consistent that way. Just try to hit the ball every at bat, don’t try to do too much. Just let the game come to me.”

With the move to the American League every fan wants to know what changes in the mind of the players and Justin Maxwell seems ready for some of the changes at least. “We’ll have some dialogue in Spring Training, but for me, it’s nice not to have to watch the pitchers hit anymore or bunt because to me that was kind of boring.” As you can imagine that was followed by a lot of laughter.

As fans brace themselves for a new era of baseball in Houston, I feel confident that with Justin Maxwell, the Houston Astros get much, much more than a guy who can hit a baseball. With a young roster and a rebuild in progress, Justin Maxwell is poised to make an impact on this club well beyond batting average.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

Last night after Justin Maxwell hit his 8th home run for the Houston Astros I started thinking about how much this guy has accomplished without much in the way of playing time this season.

So far, JMax has appeared in just 58 games and had only 114 at bats. What’s he done with those opportunities? A lot. His .246 batting average is certainly  not one of a superstar, but given his playing time, I find it to be impressive. His dinger last night put him second on the club’s list of home runs for the 2012 season and his OPS of .836 is second only to Jed Lowrie, who also owns the Astros leader position for home runs.

It has to make you think that perhaps JMax isn’t getting his fair share of playing time. I mean, I’m wondering what his numbers would do if he started with more regularity and didn’t hit off the bench as often as he has.

When JMax does start, it’s usually against a left handed pitcher when Jordan Schafer rides the bench. So it only makes sense to compare him to Schafer. In 199 at bats, Schafer’s .246 batting average is no better than Maxwell’s, so where does Schafer shine that JMax doesn’t?

Looking at the stats above, I can’t really find a reason why Schafer starts ahead of Maxwell. The only true advantage Schafer has in these numbers is stolen bases and that he doesn’t strike out as much. But could we chalk that up to Maxwell hitting cold from the bench more often? Absolutely. And Maxwell has more RBI than Schafer, certainly a factor of his home run hitting, but something to consider.

I’d like to see JMax get more starts and if the rumors I heard this morning are true, then someone in the organization agrees. I hear that we’ll see JMax and Schafer platooning in Center for the time being. The one thing that would truly accomplish is seeing which of these two guys really should be the starter. And if all things turn up equal? It never hurts to have a starting lefty and a starting righty who can handily play in that big expanse of grass out there.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

Jed Lowrie's been spending a nice amount of time on base for the Astros.

I love when the Cubs come to Minute Maid Park. There’s a few things that I adore about it. First, the Cubs fans come out in droves. Generally that annoys me at a game, but this year in particular, the opportunity to watch Cubs fans cry at MMP is more than I can resist smiling at. Yep, I know, I’m a bit evil.

But the Cubs are the “Astros of last season” sitting in the bottom of the NL Central standings and that’s just a whole lot of fun for an Astros fan, right? Admit it…you love it too.

The match-ups for this series aren’t too shabby either. The timing in the starting rotations means we’ll see some fun baseball. But when push comes to shove, I expect the Astros to take 2 of these 3 games and really in my heart of hearts I think they should sweep this team of baby bears.

JA Happ’s coming in with momentum after his last start, the same for Cudly Studly Budly Norris and Wandy Rodriguez has to want to come out and prove that the hit parade by the Rangers last Friday was a fluke and he’s still the pitcher we all know he is. After all, at home, Wandy’s ERA is a very impressive 1.52. Come on, Wandy, we know you want to kick some ass this week.

Jordan Schafer will still be sitting out and isn’t expected to play on Monday thanks to that lower leg strain, but Jose Altuve once again proved Sunday he can hit in any spot you stick him and did a fine job as the leadoff hitter. If Schafer was missed anywhere it was in centerfield where Justin Maxwell isn’t quite as quick (or used to Tal’s hill) defensively. That should only affect Monday and possibly Tuesday.

But on the other hand….let me tell ya’ story ’bout a man named Jed…yep, that SS is finding a nice groove at the plate (.273/.354/.461) and I look for him to continue to hit well and make the plays down the middle.

In the meantime, I’ll be waiting on JD Martinez to lose the “lost” look he’s been sporting at the plate and find his swing again. And I’ll be waiting for Brian Bogusevic to fix the little things that seem to be keeping him off-balance from time to time at the plate as well. If the Astros can get those two kicking it old school, I think the Astros will continue to be the scrappy little brother who just won’t give up.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.