The Hitting has been worse than Pitching

Really it has been that all season. But it is not evident initially when one checks batting averages. The Astros have had one of the better team batting averages all season. But they have not been driving in nearly enough runs with those batting averages and have been less than average in the clutch.



The big story in the Chicago papers Tuesday morning will be Soriano hits grand slam walk off homer to lead Cubs over the Astros 5-1. However, from the Astro perspective it was game of lost chances...often with the right people at the plate.



The top of the 13th should have led to a run. Bourn started it with a base hit. Now, old line baseball strategy says bunt him to second. But this is Michael Bourn the top base thief in the National League. Yes, he was thrown out once earlier in the game when for some reason only known to Michael he tried to steal on a 3-0 pitch to Kazuo Matsui, but this was a different catcher. Or to be more specific is was a mostly infielder who had caught two innings in the major leagues. Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver disdained the bunt. You can be sure he would not have bunted here and given up an out. He would have told Bourn to steal so the lead run would be in position with three full outs left to get him in.



Coop followed the book. Even though Bourn was on first he used an out and had Matsui bunt. Everything worked well. Tejada was unintentionally intentionally walked. None of the pitches were very close. That brought up the Astros top RBI man, Carlos Lee, to the plate.

Unfortunately when the big guy quickly fell behind in the count 0-2 the die was almost cast. Carlos becomes a contact hitter with two strikes. He alters his approach to make contact and not strike out. Generally, that is a sign of a good hitter. But it also has a drawback. It can lead to hitting into a large number of double plays. And that is exactly what happened.

Would the Astros have won had Carlos singled to give the club a 2-1 lead to the bottom of the inning? It would have all depended on who pitched.

A one run lead could not have been protected by Chris Sampson any more than the tie was. All he would say after the game was that he missed his spots in the 13th. That is certainly true, but why he missed them perhaps more the story. He had been excellent in the 12th. He was hitting his spots. He had just come off the DL. So was it the right thing to do to try and squeeze two innings out of him? As Coop said after the game there wasn't much left. His two lefties would not have been good matchups against the Cubs righthanded sluggers. And while he was in the pen in the 13th for awhile Jeff Fulchino just pitched two innings on Sunday and was on the borderline of really being available. So Chris stayed in...wasn't good in the 13th...and was the loser.

The Astros pitching, though, was good. It was the hitting that again failed. Not just the Carlos Lee at bat in the 13th, but repeatedly when one single would have plated a run. It has been that way all year. The team batting average is pretty good. But the clutch hitting and big hitting has been below par.

Lance Berkman is missed. However, Lance and his fellow big man, Carlos Lee, are running well behind their RBI and HR totals for a comparable period in 2008. It has been that way all year. The Astros get some hits and the team batting average is good. But when they get the hits or the inability to string them together often enough has been a major problem.

Maybe Tuesday...for in baseball there is always a game tomorrow.