Recap for G70 - Royals @ Astros

The Astros managed to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Royals today with a 5-4 win at Minute Maid Park.

Lance Berkman crack-a-lacked two homers - his first multi-homer game since April 26, 2008 (@St Louis) - and collected his 1000th/1001st/1002nd RBIs of his career today. Note the earlier post on the Astros' collection of 1000+ RBI players.

Overall, it was another sloppy defensive game - but one that went the Astros way. Moehler pitched well, only giving up 1ER, but his day could have gone a lot better. In Top 4th, Alberto Callaspo reached on an infield single, and then Jose Guillen grounded to Jeff Keppinger, who then threw the double play ball away. Runners on 1st/2nd. Then Mike Jacobs grounded to Tejada, who committed an error, allowing Callaspo to score, and reaching base safely. That's three outs if those simple plays are made. Instead, Moehler throws an extra 21 pitches to get out of the inning, and the Royals are up, 3-2.

That's pretty much how it went. Moehler left after five innings, and 91 pitches - but remember, that's 5IP and 70 pitches if those errors aren't in there (it's a hypothetical exercise, but still...). That forced the bullpen into an extended role, though they were solid this time around - 4IP, 1H, 6K. Let's gander it:

Moehler: 5IP, 5H/1ER, 3K:2BB, 13 first-pitch strikes (FPS) (56.5%), 24 non-contact strikes (NCS)
Wright: 1.1IP, 1H, 4K, 3 FPS (60%), 9 NCS
Sampson: .2IP, 1K, 1 FPS (50%), 2 NCS
LaHawk: 1IP, 1K, 2 FPS (66.7%), 3 NCS
Valverde: 1IP, 1K, 2 FPS (66.7%), 6 NCS

Give it up for Wesley Wright, who faced four batters and struck every single one of them out. Maybe he's a reader.

Offensively, we've already covered Berkman's jacks, but the Astros only got six hits (Keppinger, Lee, Berkman 3, and Quintero) all day. Bourn was 1x13 for the Royals series, and has three hits in his last 18ABs - causing an 11 point drop in his BA. Pence was also 0x4, and was 1x12 this series. Carlos Lee had a nice day, 1x2 with 2BB and three runs scored.

Man of the Match: Lance Berkman.

Goat of the Game: This is tough to call, because the Astros didn't hit well. I'm giving the Goat to the entire Astros defense. Three errors today, five in the last two games.

Matchup for G70 - Royals at Astros

The Astros are going to try to avoid getting swept by the Royals today, a team that hasn't swept anybody but the Reds all season long. Think they'd enjoy the NL Central? To do this, they'll need to whoop Brian Moehler, who is 3-2 in games where the Astros are coming off a loss.

Brian Moehler

Moehler has allowed 11 ER in his last three starts - 15IP. More disturbing, he's also given up 6HR in those 15IP. Of course the Twins teed off on him for three jacks in his last outing, but still. He's 0-3 at home with a 9.13 ERA, and Bud Norris is knocking...

Last three starts:

Date-Opp	IP	H/ER	K:BB	GB/FB	Pit/Str
6/9 vCHC	3	8/5	3:2	7/6	70/41
6/14 @ARI	6	6/3	2:2	4/16	89/54
6/20 @MIN	6	4/3	3:1	11/8	97/66

Moehler just hasn't been striking anybody out, either. 578 of his 894 pitches this season have been for strikes (64.6%), though it's been since May 29 (four starts) that he struck out more than three batters.

Let's do the splits:
vs Righties: 42x101, .416/.449/.743, 13K:5BB
vs Lefties: 32x129, .248/.305/.442, 21K:10BB

When swinging at the first pitch (32): .469/.485/.781, 6XBH
After First-Pitch Strikes (121): .307/.342/.579, 23K:5BB
After First-Pitch Balls (96): .286/.358/.488, 11K:10BB

RISP: 21x62, .339/.391/.500, 8K:6BB
Runners on: 35x104, .337/.386/.548, 14K:8BB
2OwRISP: 6x27, .222/.276/.222, 5K:2BB

Brian Bannister

After a two-game patch over May 29/June 3, Bannister allowed 15ER in 8.2IP. But since then, he's settled down and allowed just 3ER in his last 21IP.

Last three starts:

Date-Opp	IP	H/ER	K:BB	GB/FB	Pit/Str
6/9 @CLE	5	4/1	5:3	8/6	97/56
6/14 vCIN	8	4/0	4:1	14/10	108/69
6/20 vSTL	8	6/2	4:0	11/14	86/58

Let's do the splits:
vs Righties: 33x134, .246/.311/.373, 22K:11BB
vs Lefties: 39x144, .271/.327/.340, 22K:12BB

When swinging at the first pitch (46): .333/.333/.467, 4XBH
After First-Pitch Strikes (128): .229/.281/.288, 27K:6BB
After First-Pitch Balls (134): .261/.351/.383, 17K:17BB

RISP: 18x67, .269/.325/.373, 11K:7BB
Runners on: 36x127, .283/.319/.394, 16K:8BB
2OwRISP: 8x30, .267/.353/.433, 5K:4BB