MVN - Most Valuable Network

Chris Sampson Throw 7 Innings Of 3 Hit Ball To Shut Out Dodgers

The Chris Sampson (NOT Chad Simpson, as I heard some guy say on ESPN radio) of early 2007 showed up tonight. He struck out 3, walked one, gave up 2 fairly long fly balls, and wouldn’t have had a man advance beyond second (Kemp’s double) but Tejada misplayed an easy popup and let it drop, then Carlos Lee booted it. And there were men on second and third with 2 outs, but Chris just went and got an infield pop, a grounder to third and a K, stranding them both. He kept the ball down, the sinker sank, the curve curved, the slider slid and the fastball snapped.

Actually, the only well hit FB was the one Blake DeWitt hit to Carlos Lee to end the third - all the way to the warning track, but fortunately, he got under it a bit too much and it hung.

Pence got the night off, and Erstad got a start in right, and he went 1/4 with a 2 run double. I hear tell that Coop is planning to play Loretta tomorrow - maybe at short, as Miggy got hit on the hand with a pitch - and Jose Cruz, Jr on Monday.

Bourn went 2/5, worked the counts a LOT better than he had been doing - even took lefty Joe Beimel to a 3-2 before K-ing on a filthy slider. No bad swings tonight. And of course, he stole second the only time the base was open, and he didn’t even draw a throw from the catcher. Heck he was more than halfway to second before the ball left Chan Ho Park’s hand.

Which reminds me - WHY does that guy always kill the Astros? I mean, when he was pitching for the Rangers and had like a zillion ERA and people were designating his contract as the worst EVAH (you don’t think he LUUUVVVVVS Barry Zito???) he always seemed to beat the Astros. Heck, he pitched at Round Rock all last year and had an ERA just under 6 and here he is pitching for the Dodgers again and has an ERA just over 2. AND he pitched 3 shutout innings against us.

Lance Berkman is STILL torrid - a single, a walk, a double and a run scored. The stat geeks are starting to stir - he’s starting to collect hits at a Pujols pace these past 7 games - all multi-hit games. He’s leading the league in runs scored, RBIs, doubles and is second in hits and homers and OPS. I wonder how long it is gonna be before ESPN/BBTN notices - or says anything lasting more than 10 seconds…

Oh yeah - before I forget - he has most DEFINITELY racketed up his defense more than a few notches, picking bad throws, pouncing on liners, turning DPs. His fielding stats are going to be incredibly better than they have been over the past few years. I guess it helps to have healthy knees.

This afternoon, Shawn Chacon and his 7 ND go for the ND record. I mean the sweep - and the Astros haven’t swept the Dodgers in LA since 92. In those 7 games, he’s pitched 45 innings - 40 H, 5 HR, 22 BB, 32 K: 3.60 ERA, 1.38 WHIP and a .238 BAA.

Of the Dodgers hitters, Kent is 9/27 with 4 2B, Andruw is 6/19 with 3 doubles and a triple, Pierre is 1/7 and Martin is 2/3.

The Astros face Hideki Kuroda, RHP, age 33, who is in his first year of MLB after signing as a FA from the Japanese League.

In 7 GS (4 QS), he’s 1-2 over 41 IP - 48 H, 5 HR, 11 BB, 21 K: 3.95 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and a .279 BAA.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008 at 12:19 am and is filed under Astros baseball, Chris Sampson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.