Never was it more evident than in Friday's game vs Arizona. Houston scored 7 runs with a number of extra base hits, but after their 2-0 and 4-3 leads disappeared by the bottom of the third inning the lack of pitching was evident.
If this was to be the start of "Astro Young Pitcher" weekend it was a flop. Yormin Bazardo was awful. His reliever, Wilton Lopez was semi-awful. Actually, he probably deserved the same ranking, but Bazardo was SO bad he looked better in comparison.
Both combined to give up 14 earned runs and 16 hits. Ouch!
At least it gave sports fans in Phoenix something to cheer about. Not only did rookie John Hester homer in his first major league at bat, but he walloped the ball 420 feet to dead center. He is a catcher. The D-Rays already have a good one in Miguel Montero. That depth of farm system is what the Astros simply have to develop....and pronto.
The two pitchers who opened the game are farm system products, although both Bazardo and Lopez were signed after being let go by others this spring. No one with a full Astro system pedigree is yet worthy of advancement.
One who did come up through the ranks, Bud Norris, pitches on Saturday. Bud has been on a spiral downward since his first two or three major league outings. That drop must end on Saturday or the Astros plight will be worse than ever.
Already manager Cecil Cooper has cancelled the "All Rookie Pitcher Weekend" with the announcement following Friday's 14-7 loss that Wandy Rodriguez will pitch on Sunday instead of Felipe Paulino. What he saw on Friday may have given him a fright.
Not only had Coop hoped to give his "Big Three" of Wandy, Roy and Moehler an extra day of rest, he had them set to go against the Cubs. Now, he can use Roy and Moehler, but will still have to use someone else next Wednesday. Will it be Bazardo? Does he dare?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment