Monday, May 31, 2004

Astros 7-11 over last three weeks

How have the Astros gone 7-11 over the last three weeks?

Lance Berkman and Jeff Kent have been top notch. Both these guys have been crushing the ball.

Adam Everett has been average at the plate, which is good for him; they'll take his recent 0.292 / 0.338 / 0.444 performance and like it. Morgan Ensberg is hitting a lot of singles (0.309 / 0.339 / 0.364). Brad Ausmus has been Brad Ausmus.

Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell have been pretty awful. Biggio is going 0.238 / 0.256 / 0.350 over his last 80 plate appearances - basically, dating back to his 2,500th hit on May 9th. He has cooled off after a hot start, and he'll probably cool off some more given his age and overall level of performance the past few years. Bagwell is suffering at the plate, hitting an uncharacteristic 0.254 / 0.346 / 0.403 over his last 76 plate appearances. No word that he's injured so I guess he's just plain scuffling.

Richard Hidalgo has been a big zero at 0.167 / 0.270 / 0.204 in his last 62 PAs. Again, no word that he's injured so I guess it's a slump. With Biggio, Bagwell, and Hidalgo not producing, I'm surprised Jason Lane has only managed 12 PAs in the last 21 days.

In the rotation, Clemens, Redding, and Pettitte have been outstanding. Oswalt has been above average. Wade Miller has been throwing batting practice: opponents have been hitting 0.317 / 0.398 / 0.598 off him. Clearly, something ain't right there.

Brad Lidge has been the best in their bullpen, but he is somehow responsible for two losses in the last three weeks. Dotel has been solid. Brandon Backe has been torched and the rest of the crew has been average.

If we must identify scapegoats for the recent win/loss record, I guess they'd have to be the slumping studs and Wade Miller.

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