Keys to beating Houston

[DonkeyKongerko]

Keep the pressure on Houston and their pitchers at all times. Pods has been rattling the opposition just by being on base. Anaheim sort of brought it to us during the early parts of game 1 and game 5. Houston is not as good as Anaheim in that department. Also Ausmus is not the strong thrower he used to be and considerably less than Bengie Molina.

 

The recipe for success has already been written, we just need to execute it four more times.

[LosMediasBlancas]

That is very big IMO. Like everyone is saying, alot of runs are not going to be scored this series, so you cant blow chances when you have people on base.

 

 

All of these games will come down to which team blinks first. I see a few heartbreakers (for them) due to stupid mistakes.

[CYGarland]

I would agree over the course of the season.  But, over the course of a spread out series, I doubt we even see Backe starting. I see houston Using their rotation similar to the Dbacks in the 01 WS. Difference being, they have 3 dominant Sp's opposed to 2.

I don't think Garner will throw Clemens in game 4 on 3 days rest, unless it's an elimination game. Now if Oswalt had pitched game 1, i bet he would have started 4 and 7......THANK GOD, Pujols hit that homer

[tts1stros]

Greetings from an Astros fan.

 

When I saw a topic called "Keys to beating Houston" I had to reply.

 

A lot of what y'all are saying is true, but I wanted to correct some misinformation:

 

--We will be pitching a four man rotation, not three. Count on the Game 4 starter being Brandon Backe. Backe is NOT as dominant as Oswalt/Pettitte/Clemens, but do not underestimate him pitching at home. He's a completely different pitcher at home vs. on the road, with an ERA more than two runs lower. The difference was even more pronounced last year.

 

Clemens does fatigue earlier and earlier nowadays, but with our pen, that hasn't been a problem. And just because he's tired doesn't mean he's not effective: he'll still shut you out, it'll just be over 5-6 innings instead of 8. I wouldn't assume just because he's 43 and fighting some leg issues that he's an easy win.

 

Pettitte had a bad outing in Game 1, but that was mainly because due to him taking a line drive of his leg in batting practice (he says it didn't affect him, but anyone watching could see how different his mechanics were.) He was back to normal in Game 5 and pitched great. I'm not worried about Pettitte.

 

Oswalt is the best pitcher on our staff, and I'm sorely disappointed he won't pitch Game 1 because of Pujols's HR.

 

--Our pen is very, very good. Our starting rotation gets its share of press, but I think it's even harder to score off our bullpen. Definitely, definitely "worth writing home about." Lidge had 3 bad games in the LCS, which was frankly astonishing, but I'm attributing that to overuse (he pitched multiple innings outings 4 games in a row!), and even 3 bad outings by Lidge only meant 1 BS (The Shot by Pujols). Qualls and Wheeler have been Lights Out as setup guys (and you will certainly never see them in the 5th/6th), and with the exception of Lidge, who we still would trust with a 1 run lead, certainly no one's looked bad. At any rate, don't think you're going to feast on mediocre pitching if a Houston starter only goes 6 innings. And this is a distinct possibility with Roger.

 

--Don't let Lance Berkman beat you.

 

That's the absolute, number one thing I would say to a Houston opponent too. Funny thing is, it didn't turn out to be true: he only had 3 RBIs and 6 hits against the Cardinals. Even if he's not hitting HRs though, he has an excellent batting eye: he'll crush any mistake and will walk his ass off. He hits for a high average from both sides, but nearly all of his power is from the left side of the plate. You'll probably use Cotts/Marte to turn him around in an RBI situation late in the game.

 

Hitting-wise, you need to keep Berkman, Ensberg, and Biggio in check. Ensberg did a pretty good job of that himself in the LCS (he went AWOL against the Cards). Watch out if he brings his bat to Chicago.

 

Willy Taveras is overrated as the "key to our offense" and all that nonsense. He's fast. That's it. He can't hit.

 

Jason Lane is either hot or cold, and nothing in between. I sure hope he's hot.

 

And watch out for Brad Ausmus, our catcher; he stinks offensively, but is somehow hitting very well in the playoffs/post-All-Star Break timespan.

 

Our offense is not the best, but IMO, too much of that is influenced by the first two months of the season when we were terrible.

--------------------------------

This is going to be a low scoring series. I don't see any team scoring more than 5 or so runs in a game. If they do, they'll almost certainly win.

 

Best way to beat the Astros: suffocate the offense. Don't allow more than 1 run. Score as much as you can off the starters, because you won't score multitudes of runs against the pen.

 

My two cents. Looking forward to a good series. I think I'm going to go make a "Keys to beating the White Sox" post and let y'all tell me what you think of it.

Edited October 20, 2005 by tts1stros

[CanOfCorn]

Greetings from an Astros fan.

 

When I saw a topic called "Keys to beating Houston" I had to reply.

 

A lot of what y'all are saying is true, but I wanted to correct some misinformation:

 

--We will be pitching a four man rotation, not three. Count on the Game 4 starter being Brandon Backe. Backe is NOT as dominant as Oswalt/Pettitte/Clemens, but do not underestimate him pitching at home. He's a completely different pitcher at home vs. on the road, with an ERA more than two runs lower. The difference was even more pronounced last year.

 

 

 

I agree with all that you said, but you have to remember that he will be pitching against Freddy Garcia, who is MUCH better on the road than he is at home. It's a very interesting matchup in Houston cuz the White Sox were the best team on the road and the Astros have won something like 80 out of the last 110 games at home. Don't forget the Red Sox had the best home record in the AL this year and we beat them there. We also swept the Angels in Los Angeles of Anaheim. I'm certainly not saying we are going to sweep the Astros in HOuston, but I wouldn't count Backe being better at home any higher than Garcia and the Sox being better on the road.

 

Otherwise, great post and good luck!

[TheBigHurt]

QUOTE(tts1stros @ Oct 20, 2005 -> 04:52 PM)

Greetings from an Astros fan.

 

When I saw a topic called "Keys to beating Houston" I had to reply.

 

A lot of what y'all are saying is true, but I wanted to correct some misinformation:

 

--We will be pitching a four man rotation, not three. Count on the Game 4 starter being Brandon Backe. Backe is NOT as dominant as Oswalt/Pettitte/Clemens, but do not underestimate him pitching at home. He's a completely different pitcher at home vs. on the road, with an ERA more than two runs lower. The difference was even more pronounced last year.

 

Clemens does fatigue earlier and earlier nowadays, but with our pen, that hasn't been a problem. And just because he's tired doesn't mean he's not effective: he'll still shut you out, it'll just be over 5-6 innings instead of 8. I wouldn't assume just because he's 43 and fighting some leg issues that he's an easy win.

 

Pettitte had a bad outing in Game 1, but that was mainly because due to him taking a line drive of his leg in batting practice (he says it didn't affect him, but anyone watching could see how different his mechanics were.) He was back to normal in Game 5 and pitched great. I'm not worried about Pettitte.

 

Oswalt is the best pitcher on our staff, and I'm sorely disappointed he won't pitch Game 1 because of Pujols's HR.

 

--Our pen is very, very good. Our starting rotation gets its share of press, but I think it's even harder to score off our bullpen. Definitely, definitely "worth writing home about." Lidge had 3 bad games in the LCS, which was frankly astonishing, but I'm attributing that to overuse (he pitched multiple innings outings 4 games in a row!), and even 3 bad outings by Lidge only meant 1 BS (The Shot by Pujols). Qualls and Wheeler have been Lights Out as setup guys (and you will certainly never see them in the 5th/6th), and with the exception of Lidge, who we still would trust with a 1 run lead, certainly no one's looked bad. At any rate, don't think you're going to feast on mediocre pitching if a Houston starter only goes 6 innings. And this is a distinct possibility with Roger.

 

--Don't let Lance Berkman beat you.

 

That's the absolute, number one thing I would say to a Houston opponent too. Funny thing is, it didn't turn out to be true: he only had 3 RBIs and 6 hits against the Cardinals. Even if he's not hitting HRs though, he has an excellent batting eye: he'll crush any mistake and will walk his ass off.  He hits for a high average from both sides, but nearly all of his power is from the left side of the plate. You'll probably use Cotts/Marte to turn him around in an RBI situation late in the game.

 

Hitting-wise, you need to keep Berkman, Ensberg, and Biggio in check. Ensberg did a pretty good job of that himself in the LCS (he went AWOL against the Cards). Watch out if he brings his bat to Chicago.

 

Willy Taveras is overrated as the "key to our offense" and all that nonsense. He's fast. That's it. He can't hit.

 

Jason Lane is either hot or cold, and nothing in between. I sure hope he's hot.

 

And watch out for Brad Ausmus, our catcher; he stinks offensively, but is somehow hitting very well in the playoffs/post-All-Star Break timespan.

 

Our offense is not the best, but IMO, too much of that is influenced by the first two months of the season when we were terrible.

--------------------------------

This is going to be a low scoring series. I don't see any team scoring more than 5 or so runs in a game. If they do, they'll almost certainly win.

 

Best way to beat the Astros: suffocate the offense. Don't allow more than 1 run. Score as much as you can off the starters, because you won't score multitudes of runs against the pen.

 

My two cents. Looking forward to a good series. I think I'm going to go make a "Keys to beating the White Sox" post and let y'all tell me what you think of it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Lol, sure, but don't expect us to give you as many hints of how to get to our players like you did

[Jordan4life_2007]

Greetings from an Astros fan.

 

When I saw a topic called "Keys to beating Houston" I had to reply.

 

A lot of what y'all are saying is true, but I wanted to correct some misinformation:

 

--We will be pitching a four man rotation, not three. Count on the Game 4 starter being Brandon Backe. Backe is NOT as dominant as Oswalt/Pettitte/Clemens, but do not underestimate him pitching at home. He's a completely different pitcher at home vs. on the road, with an ERA more than two runs lower. The difference was even more pronounced last year.

 

Clemens does fatigue earlier and earlier nowadays, but with our pen, that hasn't been a problem. And just because he's tired doesn't mean he's not effective: he'll still shut you out, it'll just be over 5-6 innings instead of 8. I wouldn't assume just because he's 43 and fighting some leg issues that he's an easy win.

 

Pettitte had a bad outing in Game 1, but that was mainly because due to him taking a line drive of his leg in batting practice (he says it didn't affect him, but anyone watching could see how different his mechanics were.) He was back to normal in Game 5 and pitched great. I'm not worried about Pettitte.

 

Oswalt is the best pitcher on our staff, and I'm sorely disappointed he won't pitch Game 1 because of Pujols's HR.

 

--Our pen is very, very good. Our starting rotation gets its share of press, but I think it's even harder to score off our bullpen. Definitely, definitely "worth writing home about." Lidge had 3 bad games in the LCS, which was frankly astonishing, but I'm attributing that to overuse (he pitched multiple innings outings 4 games in a row!), and even 3 bad outings by Lidge only meant 1 BS (The Shot by Pujols). Qualls and Wheeler have been Lights Out as setup guys (and you will certainly never see them in the 5th/6th), and with the exception of Lidge, who we still would trust with a 1 run lead, certainly no one's looked bad. At any rate, don't think you're going to feast on mediocre pitching if a Houston starter only goes 6 innings. And this is a distinct possibility with Roger.

 

--Don't let Lance Berkman beat you.

 

That's the absolute, number one thing I would say to a Houston opponent too. Funny thing is, it didn't turn out to be true: he only had 3 RBIs and 6 hits against the Cardinals. Even if he's not hitting HRs though, he has an excellent batting eye: he'll crush any mistake and will walk his ass off.  He hits for a high average from both sides, but nearly all of his power is from the left side of the plate. You'll probably use Cotts/Marte to turn him around in an RBI situation late in the game.

 

Hitting-wise, you need to keep Berkman, Ensberg, and Biggio in check. Ensberg did a pretty good job of that himself in the LCS (he went AWOL against the Cards). Watch out if he brings his bat to Chicago.

 

Willy Taveras is overrated as the "key to our offense" and all that nonsense. He's fast. That's it. He can't hit.

 

Jason Lane is either hot or cold, and nothing in between. I sure hope he's hot.

 

And watch out for Brad Ausmus, our catcher; he stinks offensively, but is somehow hitting very well in the playoffs/post-All-Star Break timespan.

 

Our offense is not the best, but IMO, too much of that is influenced by the first two months of the season when we were terrible.

--------------------------------

This is going to be a low scoring series. I don't see any team scoring more than 5 or so runs in a game. If they do, they'll almost certainly win.

 

Best way to beat the Astros: suffocate the offense. Don't allow more than 1 run. Score as much as you can off the starters, because you won't score multitudes of runs against the pen.

 

My two cents. Looking forward to a good series. I think I'm going to go make a "Keys to beating the White Sox" post and let y'all tell me what you think of it.

 

Nice post. I agree with most of it. As somebody mentioned, Freddy Garcia is money on the road. Whatever Backe has done at home, Garcia has done that and then some on the road. And, not to take anything away from the Astros pen, but I don't think it's as good as the Angels pen. Shields, Donnelly, Escobar, and K-Rod is as good as any pen in the game. And in games 2, 4, and 5 of the ALCS, we did plenty of damage against those guys. I'm not saying the same thing will happen against the Astros, but we are battle tested when it comes to going up against good bullpens. Other than that, excellent post!

[AddisonStSox]

Anyone else think we are going to tag the Rocket for 3 or more?

 

As dominant as he is, I think Paulie, Crede, and co. are peaking at the right time and might send one of those 95mph four-seamers on the Dan Ryan.

 

Feel real good about our chances v. Clemens and Pettitte...Oswalt, not so much.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Anyone else think we are going to tag the Rocket for 3 or more?

 

As dominant as he is, I think Paulie, Crede, and co. are peaking at the right time and might send one of those 95mph four-seamers on the Dan Ryan.

 

Feel real good about our chances v. Clemens and Pettitte...Oswalt, not so much.

 

 

I feel the same way. Clemens just hasn't looked that good for about 6 weeks now. And we've had a lot of success against Pettite when he was with NY. Oswalt is Oswalt. It's funny to me that it seems like people are just now starting to take notice on how good this guy is. He's been doing this since he entered the league. I remember having a big time argument with Witesox fan on who was better between Oswalt and Carrie Wood.

[Jordan4life_2007]

• Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, Scott Podsednik, Joe Crede and Juan Uribe are combined .404 lifetime against Clemens (23-for-57).

 

I like.

[Jordan4life_2007]

• As they did against the Angels, the hot White Sox starting pitchers can prey upon another aggressive lineup. Only three NL teams walked less often than Houston.

 

This also bodes well for us. I'm liking our chances more and more to win this thing.

[easyw]

The real key for beating Houston?

 

Score more runs that they do, and win more games.

 

DUH!

[OneShotTwinsKilled]

We have the Rally Crede

 

'nuff said.

[southsider2k5]

Greetings from an Astros fan.

 

My two cents. Looking forward to a good series. I think I'm going to go make a "Keys to beating the White Sox" post and let y'all tell me what you think of it.

 

Welcome to Soxtalk

[kevin57]

I also have this feeling we'll tag Clemens for more than a couple of runs. It's the rookies we make look like Cy Young, not the Phenoms like Clemens.

 

BTW, there have been posts that say it is hard to "hate" the Astros. In general, that's true, but don't Clemens and Garner merit good ol' fashion "hate"? They've been jerks.