If Hitting is Contagious What Cures it?

The Astros were hitting everything thrown to the plate on Tuesday night in Chicago. They rapped out 22 hits and scored 18 runs on the hapless Cardinals. The night before they scored nine runs in winning the first game of the series.

So, what causes something like that? Bad pitching maybe, but the Cards sent Jake Westbrook and Jaime Garcia to the mound in both games. Not only do their records indicate they should be tough, but both were being seen by the Astros for the first time. Usually that gives the pitcher the advantage, but it sure didn't on Monday or Tuesday.

There is another factor to consider. The Cardinals themselves had been bashing the ball and talking about hitting being contagious coming into the series. They had scored 20 runs in the first two games of their sweep of the Pirates over the previous weekend. But the Astros pitcher cured their contagion while it was caught by the Astros offense.

Maybe that's what happened. The disease ran it's course with the Cards but they infected the Astros. Nothing wrong with that. Contagious hitting is a good disease to have. Hopefully the Astros immunity is not so strong they will ward it off soon. They don't even have to score 18 runs every day. All they have to do is keep averaging the 8+ runs per game and allowing the two they have over the current seven game winning streak and we will all be happy.

If they keep doing that this seven game winning streak will last a whole lot longer, too.