Lets sweep the Astros and get everyone healthy too!

[sychmd]

agree, i think he realizes he belongs and can be a game changing star.
now he can relax and let the game come to him.
good to have a coach like hurdle who gives him a long leash. it might have exasperated fans last year and beginning of this, but it allowed pedro to really trust hurdle and get comfortable i believe.

he will be fun to watch these next 5-7 years.

hopefully he works at his craft each offseason as he has a chance to be a 45- 50 hr guy.

 

[sychmd]

our catcher combo of barajas and mckenry has given us great offensive production after the first 3 weeks of the season.

hope this minor injury for barajas gives the old man some rest that will be valuable when we are in the stretch drive in late aug and sept when catchers usually wilt.
this platoon should work well to our advantage.
to bad one isnt a lefty.

 

[Darkstone42]

Man, Pedro's feeling it.

Four very good at bats today, all against lefties. Coming up with hits in big spots.

And he's now something ridiculous like 17-22 with the bases loaded with 23 RBIs in his career, and 3-3 this season with 12.

 

[steelparrot]

Pedro makes our lineup deep, having 2 big bats in your lineup really changes the way other teams pitch to the other players in the lineup.

3-0 with a major gravy game tomorrow going for the big 4 game sweep to ensure a winning home stand with 3 games vs San Fran left.

 

[sychmd]

cant let up. really need the sweep to keep the pressure on the rest.
we also miss cain and bumgarnre in the giants series and lincecum just got shelled again.

just one game out of bedard before the break,

what a series. we are the most dominating home team in the whole mlb. ridiculous in the last 18-5 for the last 23 i think.

 

[Etrius24]

Yeah we just have to somehow coax one more decent start out of bedard before the break... Give him a week off and let him rest.. I hope they do not name McDonald to the staff... I would like to think he is fine... but he has had a decent workload...So I would like him to get a week off also.

Maybe with extra rest Hanrahan will get that velocity up and be able to be close to perfect down the stretch...

Sychmd... Good call on missing cain...He might be the cy young winner this year... Would be tough going up against him when he is dead on.

 

[Etrius24]

What impressed me lately about pedro is that he is starting to walk a little more and strike out a little less... He has his cold streaks still... but increasing his plate discipline is a Very good sign... He already has mega power... Pitchers will stay away from him... Once he shows he can control the strike zone...He will get more pitches to hit and hopefullly he can get that average up!!! I do not think he will ever hit .350... but his 30+ homeruns would produce a great stat line if he could hit .280..And it would give the bucs a legit #4 hitter to protect McCutchen..

I am hoping as this season goes along...We can see Pedro keep improving to the point where he will hit 4th... Jones 5th and Walker can hit second... this will give the Bucs a really strong lineup....And good support and protection for McCutchen... When pedro is hot and hitting homeruns teams will have to pitch to McCutchen..

The one thing that puzzles me is how can someone hitting as well as McCutchen only have 27 walks halfway into the season? I mean he is the best hitter on the team... hitting .360...Why are opposing teams pitching to McCutchen???
Not that I want opposing pitchers to start walking him all the time...but I have to wonder just how selective and controlled McCutchen is???? Is he going to be like Vlad Guerrero who just swings at whatever you throw to him??

 

[Etrius24]

In Pedro's last 6 games he has 6 walks... and only 1 strikeout... The guy is really seeing the ball well.

 

[thecrow124]

It is now time to trade Pedro, his value may never be higher. He is hitting, looks like he knows what he is doing, however, as he has proven over and over, he is just on a hot streak. He has not figured anything out, he has just been playing a lot of day games. Package him and one of the AAA lefty's with some other minor prospects and get Hamels or Greinke. The more I think about it, the more I think we need another pitcher more than we need another hitter. He will never be a #4 hitter, the only way he performs is if he bats 6th, and that isn't so good, no matter what numbers he puts up.

 

[thedddd]

Karstens with the gem tonight. I would like to see them get the sweep against a very BAD team.

 

[sychmd]

should have left karstens in.
hanrahan has struggled 2 days in a row and is only hitting 92-95 in those games.

 

[sychmd]

a 1-0 pitch and he just walked a guy on 5 pitches and he swings into a DP.
luck our way.
dumb situational hitting.

 

[sychmd]

1-0 and he swings at it again after a terribly wild pitch.

hanny got bailed out big time!!!!!!

karstens deserved a complete game shutout.

 

[thedddd]

Yep glad to see him get out of it.

 

[Darkstone42]

Great game from Karstens. Good job on getting the sweep against a bad team. That's just taking care of business, and what good teams do.

 

[steelparrot]

Great to see that from Karstens, he is a big key for the rest of the season.

 

[sychmd]

Great to see that from Karstens, he is a big key for the rest of the season.

agreed.

we need
1. mcdonald,
2. burnett,
3. karstens,
4. best of owens/wilson/vanderhuk/reyes, will take 2 if they can separate from the #5 options
5. best of correia/bedard

dont really care if we paid a lot for bedard or correia. if we can send them to a contender that needs another arm to start and doesnt have any AAA options, then send them off. we dont need them in the pen, probably wont need them next year.

i would consider them for next year if:
1. cheap
2. healthy
3. cole, wilson, owens, morris, vanderhuk, morton, arent ready to contribute as 4/5 role.