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.

There are times in sports where you stop cheering for the win and start cheering for something else. Last night around the 7th inning, fully aware that the Rangers’ Yu Darvish was cruising through a perfect game, I stopped cheering for the win and began cheering for a hit. I just wanted the Houston Astros to not allow that piece of history to take place on that night, in that stadium, against this team.

The Astros have never been no hit in Houston…I didn’t want that to change last night.

There was a part of me that would have loved to say I was at a perfect game, but the Astros fan in me didn’t want anything close to that. There were too many zeros on that side of my scorebook. So I stopped cheering for a win, and prayed for a hit. Any hit would do. It didn’t need to be a home run or a double. It just needed to put an Astro, any Astro, on base.

My scorebook at the end of 8. That was a LOT of zeros.

When perfection is looming and some would say it was inevitable, you start to notice things in a bit of a different way. It was the bottom of the 8th when things started to seem surreal and I started taking note of the things around me. Here are a few of my observations as perfection loomed:

1. Yu is annoying:  No, I’m not annoyed by the man himself. The “YUUUUUU” cheer that the Rangers do at the end of each inning Darvish pitches sounds like they’re booing their own player. It gets annoying…really quickly. If I were Darvish, I’d hate it. Of course, if I were Darvish, I’d beg to play for the Astros, too.
2. Know your neighbor: In times of crisis at Minute Maid Park, you will make friends with anyone who happens to sit around you. For example, the guy in front of me wanted his photo taken with his kids with Yu in the background. I blanched until he said, “If I take the photo, I’m hoping it will jinx the no-no.” How can I NOT be friends with that guy?
3. Rangers fans think Minute Maid Park is a second “home field”: The fans from that city in the northern part of the state known for fake boobs, big hair and a 1970′s tv show are WAY too comfortable in Minute Maid Park. We need to work on that.
4. Memories aren’t enough: It’s the bottom of the 9th, one out and a perfect game is only two outs away is when you will realize there are a LOT of cellphones in this world, because every single one of them will be held in the air, set to video the next pitch just in case it’s something historical, because you certainly will not ever be able to find that clip in the morning.
5. Diamonds are smaller than you think: typically a baseball field feels huge to me, especially at Minute Maid Park, but last night it was the smallest ballpark in the world. When perfection is looming every player is in just the right spot to stop a ball, make a catch, thwart your team’s effort to break it up. The intensity with which players play defense behind a pitcher who is in that zone? Amazing. Imagine if all players played with that intensity during every at bat of every game!
6. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover: I spent 2 of his 3 at bats talking about how weird Marwin Gonzalez‘s stance and swing were and how he sort of arches his back and contorts in an odd way. Marwin – your swing is just fine. In fact, now I believe it to be a thing of beauty.
7. Perfect storms happen: It’s no coincidence in my mind that the skies in Houston began to open and the wind began howling moments before Marwin Gonalez’s at bat. It’s just further proof that God is a baseball fan.
8. Losing doesn’t always hurt the same: Losing 7-0 but not being on the wrong side of a perfect game hurts a lot less than losing 7-5 or 7-1 even. Sometimes, not making history is as important as making it.

Cover your ears before you watch this home video of Gonzalez’s hit – there’s a LOT of screaming!

Without going into too many details of the game, I’ll say this about the Astros play last night – the defense left a little to be desired (hello, Brett Wallace at third base) and there were some plays missed that should have been made, but Lucas Harrell looked good. I can’t complain about that guy’s performance last night.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be in that position again, where I’m at a game while perfection looms. Like any baseball fan, I think it would be fantastic to be in the stadium when it happens, but just not to my team and not in my house.

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.

Please welcome DeAnna Williamson to the Tales From the Juicebox family. DeAnna is an avid Astros fan and can be found at Minute Maid Park for most home games. She lives in the Houston area with her two dogs, who are both Astros fans – whether they realize it or not!

As baseball season approaches and we’re making due with somewhat meaningless Spring Training games, I started to wonder why we love baseball so much.

Believe it or not, I have friends who don’t love baseball.  Sometimes I wonder why we continue to be friends but I suppose I have to have something to do in the off season. But these friends complain that baseball is boring…it’s too slow. They don’t understand the strategies and the intricacies and the heart it takes to win a ball game.

But sometimes it’s not about the base stealing, the home run hitting, and the perfect game throwing.  Sometimes it’s about what it takes just to keep going when things seem hopeless.  This made me reminisce about an Astros game I attended early last season.

The Astros defeated the Padres by a narrow margin of 1-0.  It was one of those classic pitcher’s duels that so many of us love.  For some, it’s not as exciting as bomb after bomb in a big hitting game but I love the nuances of the pitches, the finesse of the pitching and on a weekday night, I loved the fact that the game flew by in less than 2 hours.

Pitcher Lucas Harrell threw a complete game and in the 9th inning, when the bases suddenly loaded, you knew that he was tired; he had to be!  Standing there, in the crowd, I looked at my friend Lindsey and I said “This could end disastrously!”  We were nervous.  There were 2 outs and 3 men on base.  One good hit and this thing would get ugly, fast.

But I felt it.  Somehow, in that crowd of thousands, I actually felt Lucas Harrell dig deep and deliver the next three strikes.  It was an exciting win, especially as you’re biting your nails at the end.

On the drive home, I thought about those last few strikes Harrell threw.  He had been working for 9 innings, throwing pitch after pitch and then suddenly, that last inning got a little out of hand.  He had a decision to make; he could give up and allow the coach to bring in a reliever or he could find that strength inside himself to finish this game.

We all go through these moments in our life, don’t we?  We are in a situation where we can give up or we can dig deep and grab that “oomph” to propel you into your next moment.

Don’t we all wish we could do that?  I wonder sometimes where I might find strength.  It’s easy to get mired in our own pity.  For me, it helps to know that I’m not the only one who has ever walked down this road…whatever road that is.
I’m not the only one who has suffered fatigue, sadness, loss, hard times…

I’m not alone on this road because there is always either someone ahead of me or someone behind me.  And just because I find my way, doesn’t mean I won’t be on this road again.

So, what more can I do other than adjust my crotch, spit in the dirt, watch the runners at first and third, nod at the catcher’s signs, dig deep and pray for that one last strike.

This is why I love baseball.

Most Houston Astros fans gave up in July. Remember that month? It was long, very, very long…and included only 3 wins in 27 games. That month seems to be so long ago now that September is big hits and big wins month.

So far in September, the Astros are playing .500 ball.

They’re still sitting with 106 losses, tied with last year’s final total, but the last two games are against the Cubs, so anything really is possible. And since the Astros have pulled off back to back shut out wins….on the road? Now we know miracles can happen.

Speaking of this final series against the Cubs, tomorrow night will mark the first time since 1962 that two teams with 100 losses or more will meet to play a game of baseball. The last time it happened, the Cubs were involved as well – versus the Mets.

So tonight Lucas Harrell took his record to 11-11 for his rookie season. Not a shabby showing for a guy who got next to no run support early on, but managed to continue to be impressive from the mound. Wesley Wright earned his first save of the season, and Fernando Martinez stunned with this 3rd home run in as many games. These are NOT your July Astros.

These Astros are making the final days of National League baseball really fun to watch. Tune in tomorrow night and Wednesday afternoon and let’s see what they do to wrap it all 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.

Ladies and Gentlemen – Your 2012 Houston Astros

I am cursed. I will adore and cheer on the Houston Astros even in a season like this one. Even in a season like the one they’re sure to have in 2013, I cannot turn away. I don’t know if it’s a masochistic tendency or some bizarre sense of loyalty that my Italian heritage has instilled in me, but it’s annoying as hell this year.

Since I can’t just cheer for another team, I’ve taken to trying to find the upside. DO NOT GET ME WRONG, I am not enjoying the world’s most ridiculous losing streaks. I am not enjoying watching guys who just aren’t cooked enough to be in the majors play against men who truly belong at this level. I am not enjoying any of that.

But, like the players have got to be feeling, I can’t wallow in the horror, shame and misery every single day. It’s not good for my sleep patterns, if nothing else.

So what’s the upside of the 2012? I have a few…here you go:

• The Astros are almost assured a #1 draft pick for 2013.
• Odds are good that the train is leaving Minute Maid Park (I’m guessing based on the giant dumb ass sign blocking it).
• A true rebuilding, well, deconstruction so far, is underway.
• The minor league teams have been kicking ass and taking names. To follow along, make sure you’re reading What the Heck, Bobby.
• Kevin Goldstein. Yes, he gets his own bullet – ask the people who were with me when I found out about this hiring. I was a teensy bit excited.
• The new previous at bat graphic on El Grande.
• Lucas Harrell. Certainly you don’t need an explanation for that, right?
• Bud Norris. Again, please refer to his best-in-the-NL home ERA of 1.90.
• Brett Wallace it seems, really CAN hit against lefties. Mystery solved. #BrettWallaceIsFree
• Zachary Levine’s twitter account. If you haven’t been paying attention, this painful season has brought out his funny.
• There will be baseball during the offseason, well, baseball stuff. The Astros need a new Manager after all. Look for any announcement of a new hiring to take place in the middle of the night. The front office is made up of Vampires, I swear.
• Every now and then, when the Astros do win? It’s like they just won the World Series!

So there you have it. The straws I am grasping in order to maintain my fandom sanity. What’s keeping your chin up and your blood alcohol level from getting too high?

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.

If you were watching last night, you were probably as nervous as I was in the top of the ninth. Here we were only four days since Dallas Keuchel pitched the Astros’ first complete game of the season, and Lucas Harrell was coming back out onto the mound to finish what he’d started against the San Diego Padres. Did I mention the score was only 1-0?

The 9th inning would prove to be the most batters that Harrell would face in one inning all night – 6. Six batters to get those three outs to claim a complete game shut out. He put the first two hitters to rest easily with ground ball outs (well, one was actually an amazing 7-2 out), but would then find himself with the bags loaded thanks to a walk, a single and another walk.

Did I mention nail-biting?

That 6th hitter of the inning? The Padres catcher, Nick Hundley, who was 0-3 at the plate at that point. I looked at my dad and said, “This will be a strikeout.” I’ve never been so glad to to be right, as Harrell threw two balls and three strikes to finish the game, 1-0. Chris Snyder walked immediately to the bump to hug Harrell and congratulate him on his first complete game…a shut out, no less.

This is the second complete game by an Astros pitcher in only five days, as Dallas Keuchel put the Cleveland Indians to rest on Saturday with a 8-1 victory while pitching the Astros first complete game of the season. What does this mean for the Astros as a ball club? Well, it means you can’t blame the pitching.

In the last 7 days, the pitching staff has managed a 2.45 ERA and the starters by themselves have put up a 1.83. And yes, that’s with Wandy’s start on Monday where he allowed 5 hits and 5 ERs. You get that, right? You know that means that the rest of the starters have been damn near perfect, right? Even if you look at Lucas Harrell’s start last week that he lost – it wasn’t the pitching.

So if it’s not the pitching….it’s the offense. The defensive, although not exceptional, hasn’t been awful. I mean, we’ve seen Carlos Lee dive for (or fall for) balls twice this week. But the offense? Not so much. When the bats kick in they’re great, but there’s no consistency or dependability in this lineup at the moment. Hell, without Matt Downs home run last night? We’d have ended up in extras and we all know that the Astros aren’t very good at playing free baseball.

If this pitching continues (and we’ll get to see all SIX starters through the All-Star break with Bud Norris coming back) all this team needs is for the offense to find some consistency and the Astros may just win more ball games than they lose.

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 can’t help it. When I think of the Cleveland Indians, I think of the movie Major League. I’m sure I’m not the only one. But this is real life and this weekend as the Indians take the field at Minute Maid Park to face the Houston Astros, there will be no Wild Thing on the mound. There will be no Jake Taylor or Roger Dorn. Instead, it will be a 36-32 Indian team looking to improve that record while facing the 28-41 ‘Stros.

Here’s a look at the match ups:

Friday – 6/22/2012: Ubaldo Jimenez (6-5, 5.00 ERA) v. Lucas Harrell (6-5, 5.07 ERA) – On paper, this is the most even of the pitching match ups of this series. Harrell has struggled in his last two starts putting up an 8.37 ERA. His last quality start was June 5th against the Cardinals, but he’s faltered since, allowing 5 runs in each of his last two games. Jimenez hasn’t exactly been on top of his game either as he allowed four runs in his last start, giving up seven hits in those six innings. Tonight will likely come down to whose head is on straight and who can hit their spots.

Saturday – 6/23/2012: Jeanmar Gomez (4-6, 4.95 ERA) v. Dallas Keuchel (0-0, 1.80 ERA) – While Gomez allowed five hits on Sunday facing Pittsburgh, his team didn’t help by committing three errors. He hasn’t gone more than five innings in his last four starts and endurance may be the biggest factor for him thus far. Meanwhile, the Astros will put up lefty Dallas Keuchel who made his first big league start Sunday against Texas. He allowed 4 hits and 1 run in the five innings he pitched that day, and got little run support from his team. Keuchel will be gunning to prove he’s truly big league material, taking advantage of the fact that Bud Norris is on the DL.

Sunday – 6/24/12″ Derek Lowe (7-5, 4.30 ERA) v. J.A. Happ (5-7, 5.15 ERA) – Although his record doesn’t necessarily reflect it, Happ has been a very consistent starter for Houston this season, pitching 9 quality starts thus far. At home he’s 5-4 with a 4.08 ERA this season and I expect he’ll be equally as consistent this weekend. Lowe’s last start was a rocky one as he allowed 7 runs on 11 hits agains the Reds. Key for him thus far? Run support. The Indians have been able to put up the numbers behind this pitcher, but he’s not gotten a win since June 1. This might just be the most fun pitching matchup to watch this weekend.

The biggest challenge for the Astros coming into this series? Hitting. When the bats are hot, the Astros find themselves leading ballgames, but they often struggle when the bases are loaded, leaving more players on base in a game than any fan would like to see. Brad Mills constant adjustment of the batting order hasn’t hit on a winning lineup quite yet and I’m not sure with such a young team that it ever will this season.

Despite the disappointing two losses against the Royals, I suspect this scrappy team from Houston will find a way to squeeze two wins out of the Indians to take another series at home. I’ll be at MMP for all three, screaming my head off and praying I’m right.

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.

A new face for many fans, Kyle Weiland will be a part of the starting rotation.

During tonight’s game between the Houston Astros and their AA affiliate Corpus Christi Hooks some pitching information was released. By the way, the Astros won, 6-2.

Jordan Lyles has been optioned to AAA Oklahoma City. I think this is for the best. He needs some time to marinate, work on that curveball and just mature in his talent. Fear not, Astros fans, it won’t be long before we see Jordan in an Astros jersey on a regular basis. With the use of another option, the Astros have one remaining on Lyles.

On the side of who’s staying? The Astros announced some guys who will make their first MLB Opening Day roster – David Carpenter, Rhiner Cruz, Lucas Harrell, Fernando (Fernie – I swear it’s what his wife calls him) Rodriguez & Kyle Weiland. Congratulations all around. I’m pleased to see several of those names on the list.

So if everyone keeps their current pitching schedule the starting rotation would be Wandy Rodriguez, Harrell, Bud Norris, JA Happ, and Weiland.

So there we have it, folks. Houston has a starting rotation. Play ball!

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.

It’s that time…you know, the time when I get to start burying myself in the numbers from the 2011 season and trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. I’m a science geek, after all, and one of the things that keeps me addicted to baseball is the stats. In my crazy noggin’ it seems there just HAS to be a statistic to explain it all. There’s a magic number that once I find it, will explain the horrid season.

I know, I know…this season was a long time coming and made over the course of a lot of bad decisions and then bad playing and then more bad decisions and then the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball jacking around with a potential new owner. I know all of this, intellectually, but my head has a hard time convincing my broken heart.

So we’ll blame the stat analysis on the heart and a little less on the head this year.

What’s below is a graphic representation of the Battery Combinations from the 2011 season. For those unfamiliar with the term, Battery simply put is the pitcher and catcher together. I looked up why they call it that (again, GEEK!) and according to Wikipedia:

The use of the word ‘battery’ in baseball was first coined by Henry Chadwick in the 1860s in reference to the firepower of a team’s pitching staff and inspired by the artillery batteries then in use in the American Civil War.^[2] Later, the term evolved to indicate the combined effectiveness of pitcher and catcher.

Who knew? Back to the graphic below. It shows pitching appearances and which catcher caught each pitcher. You will find trends in the season and can start to see how Brad Mills makes catcher decisions in the lineup.

So what I notice right off the bat is that Brett Myers and JA Happ were caught almost exclusively by Humberto Quintero. Q was the senior catcher on the team this year and has a penchant for catching base stealers, so it’s not surprising we’d see him used more often. He’s also a better hitter than the other choices available. The only time we see other combinations with those pitchers is essentially the time that Q was out on the DL with that high ankle sprain – which I should mention that he got because he’s an awesome catcher that wouldn’t back down.

Now, you can’t expect Q to catch everyone all the time, so you see Wandy Rodriguez caught almost exclusively by the “non-Q” all season, whether that was JR Towles or Carlos Corporan at the time. Quintero is thrown in from time to time, and my guess would be that was Mills making decisions based on the opponent sometimes, not the pitcher.

We also see that Bud Norris’ time on the mound is split pretty closely between Q and the “non-Q” catcher. It made sense that Aneury Rodriguez and Jordan Lyles were caught by Corporan more than Quintero as that’s who they threw to in the minors. If you’re going to start a 20 year old kid, it’s probably a good idea to have him pitch initially into a glove and toward a guy he’s comfortable with already. But you notice that as the season progresses, Lyles is caught by Q. My guess? Lyles got to know him. Comfort didn’t play as big a role in the decision at this point, rather putting in the best catcher that night was more important.

What I find interesting about this is that if I had to name the Astros two most vulnerable positions in terms of lack of depth this season, I’d say pitching and catching. We all know this starting rotation had about 2 1/2 actual starting rotation guys on it. And with Jason Castro out for the whole season this year, the catcher position was thin and our catchers took an incredible beating. Were there combinations and timing of combinations that would have been better? Oh how I wish I could say yes, but frankly, the team was just thin in these pivotal spots this year. No way around that.

There’s nothing magical about any of this information, it’s more fascinating than awe-inspiring. It’s interesting to see. If you watch a lot of games these are trends that you probably already picked up on, but it’s nice to have a graphic representation of it if nothing else.

I promise not to shove things like this down your throat all season, but I will admit that I like it. I can’t help it, it’s the geek in me.

*Thanks to Tara Franey, the lead writer for C-ing Red, the Aerys Sports home of the Cincinnati Reds, for the great chart!

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can read her Astros blog at www.talesfromthejuicebox.com, email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @agirlinthesouth.