Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
September 29, 2005
Smells Like Victory

There was an aroma in St. Louis last night:

Warming up in the bullpen, Brad Lidge enjoyed the sweet smell as Willy Taveras sprinted all the way home from first base on Morgan Ensberg's double to left field in the ninth inning Wednesday night.

The aroma got better for Lidge after he retired the St. Louis Cardinals in the bottom of the ninth, sealing a come-from-behind 7-6 victory that pushed the Astros closer to their second consecutive National League wild-card berth.

So an Astros win clinches a tie for the Wild Card.

Has Carpenter fallen out of contention for the Cy Young award? His ERA is up to 2.83 and he's posted a 5.73 mark in September. Is Dontrelle suddenly the front-runner or does it go to Clemens with his great ERA?


Posted by David Pinto at 08:49 AM | Division Races | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Both Dontrelle and Clemens are worthy, IMHO. But I think you've got to add a little more hardware to the Rocket's mantle. It's certainly not his fault that the 'Stros didn't hit when he pitched.

Posted by: Matt at September 29, 2005 09:29 AM

Interesting that Garner has slipped Taveras down to second in the order. Phil loves the guy and has handed him 620 plate appearances despite the unsightly .665 OPS (146th out of 151 qualifiers, and the absolute worst outfielder). Last night showed what Taveras can do: run. He might make a sort-of okay fifth outfielder and pinch-runner.

Maybe Garner is finally deciding that Taveras just doesn't hit or field well enough to deserve a regular spot, especially at the top of the order. We'll see what happens next year. If Willy's OPS continues to embarrass, maybe Garner will slip him down the order further or even out of the regular lineup altogether.

Posted by: Casey Abell at September 29, 2005 10:18 AM

By the way, Carpenter continued his recent trend of not looking all that great. That's one of the few things that makes me think a Padre upset is possible.

Posted by: Casey Abell at September 29, 2005 10:42 AM

Got to agree with Matt. Though I think Rog is most deserving, if they do pick Dontrelle instead, it will have gone to a worthy candidate as well. Does Dontrelle get bonus points for the offensive help he gives himself with his bat?

Posted by: Dave S. at September 29, 2005 11:07 AM

Clemons has definitely been the best pitcher in the NL this year. Willis has been great, as has Carpenter. But they simply have not been in the same class as Clemons - even with Clemons' "struggles" this month.

He is still the best pitcher in baseball.

Posted by: dave at September 29, 2005 12:26 PM

Dontrelle gets a big boost in win shares with his bat.

Posted by: David Pinto at September 29, 2005 12:34 PM

agree with casey 100% about taveras.

if yall notice, he hasn't really been stealing bases much since the ASB, and he's only been having a 60% success rate.

he ALSO has a real problem hitting if there are MOB - not sure why.

and he STILL has problems coming forward to catch balls.

eric bruntlett and charles gipson are SO much better as fielders that it's not funny...

if eric could hit (and he CAN run, yes he can) there would be NO reeason to keep willy as the starter...


and i keep hearing how he should be ROY???

puh-lease

and i'm an astros fan...

Posted by: lisa gray at September 29, 2005 03:35 PM

lisa,

could wily's problem hitting with MOB be that the fielders are in a bit and that gives him less time to beat out the infield hits. Aren't about half of his hits of the infield variety?

Posted by: bruce at September 30, 2005 09:36 AM
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