Hunter Hype...and other things
(written Wed.) I went to the game tonight, and we won...finally! That means that we have won every game I've been to (although it doesn't hurt that Oswalt has pitched several of those).
The first thing about the game tonight of note was Oswalt's pitch count. While I can't find an official count, the last thing I remember was like 92 total pitches with only 19 balls. Can someone say amazing? That's about all I have on that...the guy is just a great pitcher, and he will always be fun to watch, as long as we (and I mean the entire city of Houston) don't expect and depend on him to carry the team.
I began this post last Wednesday after the game, and I am just now getting back to it. I was going to write about all the Hunter Pence hype, and how I thought it was almost scary that there was so much riding on this kid. There are a lot of fans here in Houston who like to jump on the bandwagon when a team is doing well, and then those same people talk smack about the team when they are not winning. We do the same thing with our players (example: Brad Lidge; and I'm not talking about those of us who think he just lost it and may benefit from a change of scenery. I'm talking about those people who boo him when he comes out and talk smack about him). I don't like those "fans".
Okay, back to Hunter: I know that he is young, and I was really worried that he would cave under the pressure (although so far, no sign of that...and his first dinger in the majors today, which just so happened to be a grand slam, is evidence of that). It is entertaining to watch this young thing play ball. He is all over the place. There was one time on Wednesday night when I honestly thought Luke Scott might drop a ball he had caught. There was a hit to shallow right field, an easy catch for Scott, but Pence ran full speed into right field and didn't stop until he was on top of Scott. They laughed about it after the catch, but it scared me a little. Then last night (I think it was last night) a routine fly was hit to deep left, and Lee was waiting pretty much under the ball. Pence booked it over from center, called Lee off, and made the catch. Um, okay. While part of me is glad we have someone who will hustle and is aggressive, there's another part of me wondering when he's going to screw something up. He reminds me of the character (I think his name was Kelly) in the Bad News Bears who runs around the entire field making every play because the rest of the team sucks.
I will enjoy watching Pence play, and I am a fan, but I refuse to jump on the bandwagon. I'll leave that to the rest of the city.
One of the effects of Pence's presence is revitalized bats (or so it seems). Today they scored 13 runs, and Albers pitched a shutout against the Cards (awesome!). I only wish we could save some of these hits for later games. It seems like our bats get fired up in one game, and then we go cold again for the next few (or more); examples: April 13, Astros v. Phillies (9-6) and April 28, Astros v. Brewers (10-1).
Go 'stros! ...and Hunter, you too: keep it up; you're doing great!
The first thing about the game tonight of note was Oswalt's pitch count. While I can't find an official count, the last thing I remember was like 92 total pitches with only 19 balls. Can someone say amazing? That's about all I have on that...the guy is just a great pitcher, and he will always be fun to watch, as long as we (and I mean the entire city of Houston) don't expect and depend on him to carry the team.
I began this post last Wednesday after the game, and I am just now getting back to it. I was going to write about all the Hunter Pence hype, and how I thought it was almost scary that there was so much riding on this kid. There are a lot of fans here in Houston who like to jump on the bandwagon when a team is doing well, and then those same people talk smack about the team when they are not winning. We do the same thing with our players (example: Brad Lidge; and I'm not talking about those of us who think he just lost it and may benefit from a change of scenery. I'm talking about those people who boo him when he comes out and talk smack about him). I don't like those "fans".
Okay, back to Hunter: I know that he is young, and I was really worried that he would cave under the pressure (although so far, no sign of that...and his first dinger in the majors today, which just so happened to be a grand slam, is evidence of that). It is entertaining to watch this young thing play ball. He is all over the place. There was one time on Wednesday night when I honestly thought Luke Scott might drop a ball he had caught. There was a hit to shallow right field, an easy catch for Scott, but Pence ran full speed into right field and didn't stop until he was on top of Scott. They laughed about it after the catch, but it scared me a little. Then last night (I think it was last night) a routine fly was hit to deep left, and Lee was waiting pretty much under the ball. Pence booked it over from center, called Lee off, and made the catch. Um, okay. While part of me is glad we have someone who will hustle and is aggressive, there's another part of me wondering when he's going to screw something up. He reminds me of the character (I think his name was Kelly) in the Bad News Bears who runs around the entire field making every play because the rest of the team sucks.
I will enjoy watching Pence play, and I am a fan, but I refuse to jump on the bandwagon. I'll leave that to the rest of the city.
One of the effects of Pence's presence is revitalized bats (or so it seems). Today they scored 13 runs, and Albers pitched a shutout against the Cards (awesome!). I only wish we could save some of these hits for later games. It seems like our bats get fired up in one game, and then we go cold again for the next few (or more); examples: April 13, Astros v. Phillies (9-6) and April 28, Astros v. Brewers (10-1).
Go 'stros! ...and Hunter, you too: keep it up; you're doing great!
posted by paige at 11:00 PM
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