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Hunter Pence Breaks Up The No-hitter, Drives In The Winning Run

By Lisa Gray | May 11th, 2008

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“Shawn Chacon Gets His 8th Consecutive No Decision To Start The Season Tying A 43 Year ML Record” was the headline I started with.

Then I thought maybe it should be “Astros Sweep Dodgers In LA For The First Time In 15 Years.”

Then I considered “Hey, What Do You Know - Some Pitcher FINALLY Gets Lance Berkman Out.”

But Pence was really Da MAN today, being the first Astro to reach base against Kuroda with a walk, then breaking up the nonon with a clean single, scoring the first run to break up the shutout, driving in the go-ahead run, using that pink bat in honor of his mother, and all other mothers everywhere (remember Brad Ausmus going like 3 fer 4 on the very first pink bat day? I thought he was a fool to quit using it - heck, he hit a 2 run single with his pink bat today. Yes, us mothers LUUUUVVVV Brad, we surely do…)

Every time that MLB does the Pink Bat Mothers Day Promo, I think of Jim Bouton’s lament about Bat Day - too many bats, not enough, um, mothers (note - that last word is a, um, rough translation, OK?) I say it is not enough bats for all the mothers. I honestly don’t know why all the ballplayers aren’t using the pink bats - after all, they’ve all got mothers, right? And most of them living with women they’ve helped become mothers, right? And here’s to the guys who used the pink bats to raise money for breast cancer research - and by the way, 1 out of 100 patients diagnosed with breast cancer are men, and, by the way, they have a much higher mortality rate than women do.

Anyway, back to Hunter - he was the Numero Uno Mother Lover (and game winner) so I’m givin the boy a lil r e s p e c t. Hunter went 3/4 with a walk, 2 RBIs, 2 SB and 2 runs scored. Oh yeah - now what was the pitch he hit to break up the nono? Yes, it WAS a slider - AND he had laid off the previous 2 out of the strike zone. And the pitch Hunter hit to drive in the go-ahead run? Yep. Now I know they weren’t low and outside, but still, hey, it’s ALL good.

Hunter is not the only one heating up - Michael Bourn seems to be seeing the ball at the plate better - he had 2 great ABs against 2 really tough leftys; he hit a fly ball to deep right center against the first which a web gem catch by Kemp robbed him of a 3 run double and the second AB, he hit a sac-fly to deep center again.

I wonder if the Astros had so much trouble hitting Kuroda because he has this weird stop and start motion and the guys had trouble picking up the ball. Amazing that they bout killt the shutemdown bullpen of Beimel, Broxton and Kuo - which goes to show that there is no such thing as a pitcher who is unhittable - EVERYBODY has bad days.

But actually, Chacon pitched very well. He was a little shaky in the first, giving up singles to Ethier (and by the way, I think this was a deal that Billy Beane definitely lost, wouldntcha say?) and Kemp, who was thrown out trying to steal, and then a homer to Loney. But he scattered 4 singles and a walk over the next 5 innings and kept it 0-2. And I guess a ND beats a loss, fer SHER. Think of poor Jon Garland who threw 8 shutout innings of 4 hit ball and got ND because it happened to be the game in which Jamie Shields threw his 1 hit CG.

Interesting series for starters - Brian Moehler and Chris Sampson allowed no runs in their starts, and Hideki Kuroda no-hit the Astros for 6.2 innings.

Sweeping an away series at Cincy is one thing - but LA?! Like WOW!!!

We’re off to San Fran, where the Stros have, um, not done as well as they might could like and where the Giants have done a lot better so far than you might have thought given the lousy team on paper. Well, yeah, having Lincecome and Cain pitch does help.

Also, Lance hits for spit in San Fran - .213/.310/.440/.750, but I hope it doesn’t cool him off. Besides, business for the poor kayak guys has been close to zero now that the Giants expunged Barry (and every trace of his existence) from the ballpark. How kewl would it be to see Lance launch one into the cove?

Game 1 will be Roy vs Barry Zito. Roy usually gets his butt handed to him at Phone Park, and, in fact, the only time he didn’t was when he threw 8 shutout innings with no Barry in the lineup and also, most of the regulars had the night off. Overall, he’s 1-5 in 7 GS there, with a 5.30 ERA, 1.90 WHIP and a .356 BAA over 37.1 IP.

And leftys hit Barry Zito better than rightys, too - hope Coop isn’t allergic to checking simple stat pages as Phil was.

Tuesday is Backe vs Matt Cain

Wednesday is Moehler (Wandy still isn’t ready and he needs a rehab start) vs Pat Misch

Thursday is Sampson vs Lincecum (yeh, David vs Goliath there and yeh, Wandy/Wesley sized Lincecome is most definitely the Goliath in that one…)

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008 at 9:14 pm and is filed under Chacon, Astros baseball, Hunter Pence. 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.

15 Responses to “Hunter Pence Breaks Up The No-hitter, Drives In The Winning Run”

Steve Schramm says:

May 11th, 2008 at 10:59 pm

Wow, it is SO FUN watching this team right now! They are blowing away my expectations and it has never been more fun to be wrong than it has been the last three weeks. Un-freakin-believable.
Mark says:

May 12th, 2008 at 12:14 am

The way these guys are playing right now, you expect them to come back and win even when they’re down and they’ve been no-hit for 6.2 innings. What a deal.

Lance didn’t use a pink bat, but I wouldn’t have either. When you’re what JD calls “the hottest man on the planet,” you don’t fool around with a different bat no matter what day it is.
Joel B. says:

May 12th, 2008 at 1:06 am

what a blast.

doesn’t give us much to argue about but its fun to watch.
Lisa Gray says:

May 12th, 2008 at 7:51 am

i am gonna enjoy the ride as long as it lasts. it IS a 162 game season and the ups gonna balance out the downs. i HOPE.

but i sure do gotta say that i don’t worry quiiiiite as much as i used to about getting shut out if they don’t have any runs by the 5th. and i am not worrying about getting no-hit if there are no hits after the first time through the lineup.

and also, everyone doing his job and picking up other guys really makes the psychobilly cadillac purr…

- grinning

but it sure makes it tough to remember to point out that there’s 2 headlights on the right and one on the left, you know what i’m sayin

and i DO enjoy husband saying stuff like
holy ^&@!
is that WIGGY on the other end of a double steal? against russell martin (who, unlike loduca, is actually good)

and #2 son says - yep

like guys like wiggy steal bases all the time no biggie.

hey, i like that

wiggy?
no biggie….

- and before i forget, Adam Everett hit his first homer of the year using a pink bat.

pink bats ROOL

and of course, you want to know what my kids gave me for mothers day.

they gave me an astros t-shirt and very carefully, wrote WANDY on the back in magic marker (seeing as how you can’t buy a real one)

i’m gonna wear it loud and proud the first time the lil guy makes his first start after rehab
Travis says:

May 12th, 2008 at 8:34 am

After seeing Chacon pitch very well again but get a ND I am becoming more and more of a believer in the Quality Start stat. But like many baseball stats (ERA etc) its kind of complicated and I dont know all the factors, shed any light on that and your opinion of QS vs. Wins and Losses?
Stephen Higdon says:

May 12th, 2008 at 9:29 am

ERA, QS, W-L. In that order. Looking at rate stats is a lot better because they show what the pitcher is doing to control the things the pitcher can control (k/9, K:BB, H/9, HR/9). I don’t think that Chacon’s struggles in the W-L column should make you a believer in the quality start, they should instead just make you convinced that W-L is about the WORST way to evaluate how a pitcher is doing and how valuable he’s been to his team…EVER. You should look into E(W) -E(L) or support neutral stats, FIP, DIPS, anything, just don’t look to W-L or ERA too much.
Steve Schramm says:

May 12th, 2008 at 9:36 am

Looking at K/9 K/BB HR/9 H/9 are all good, as is Batting Average Against. Bottom line: Chacon is doing WAY better than we had any right to expect, and that does make me a little nervous — but sometimes, a guy just needs a change and a chance, and Chacon got both so I’m enjoying his success.

Did you hear Ausmus’ interview yesterday where he talked about how he’d pitch to Lance? Hilarious! Ausmus goes, well, uh, I’d um, pitch him inside, but he’s getting to those pitches and also covering the outside of the plate and well, there’s just no way to pitch the guy right now. He’s hitting everything. Gee, ya’ think?
Paul says:

May 12th, 2008 at 9:52 am

Unrelated to this post, has anyone checked the latest MVN power rankings (with current records)? Hard to believe we’re as low as 14 with the Dodgers (7?!), Mets, Twins, and ChiSox all above us..
Steve Schramm says:

May 12th, 2008 at 9:56 am

Oh, I almost forgot — did you see El Caballo STEAL a base on a straight steal??!! Giddyup!! Is this FUN or what?
Travis says:

May 12th, 2008 at 10:02 am

ERA is defiantley the best way to judge a pitchers performance over a season, look at the years the Rocket had with the Astros…

@Steve: Yeah I am loving the new runnin’ ‘Stros. Its just fun baseball, and when you have the speed to do it then its a devastating weapon. Then when you send guys like Lee and Berkman it starts getting into a pitchers head. When they can never just focus on the batter it is mentally draining and can be that little edge that gets you the couple of runs that beat a good thrower.
Glennbo says:

May 12th, 2008 at 12:43 pm

I have tickets to Thursday’s day game. Lincecumvs. Sampson. I will take some photos for you. Last year me and my sont went to 2 of the 3 Stros game at phone park and had a great time. It is a beautiful ballpark minus the lovely Fowl Poles. God those things at MM look pathetic. Anyway root root root for the Astros…
Derek says:

May 12th, 2008 at 2:28 pm

Travis: ERA is defiantley the best way to judge a pitchers performance over a season, look at the years the Rocket had with the Astros…

ERA is a flawed pitching stat for the same reason that W-L is: because it is dependant on the other players on your team. As Stephen mentioned, rate counting stats the best purely pitching metrics, but I also like K:BB ratio and WHIP (even though this one is partially dependant on your fielders.)
Daniel says:

May 12th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

Usually ERA lies the least. At least pitchers with ERA’s in the threes and below are good. And five and above are bad. Generally. The rate counting stats are pretty good to (especially K/BB) but k/9 can be decieving, as is the case with Roy in the past, and with the other Roy (Halladay, whose career numbers are strikingly similar).
Lisa Gray says:

May 12th, 2008 at 3:36 pm

Travis,

W/L isn’t really helpful any more because it applied more to when pitchers actully pitched the whole game unless they were knocked out very early. Because contact is de-emphasized these days and hitters are taught to not just swing to put the ball in play, it takes a LOT more pitches to get through 9 innings than it used to. this bullstuff about in the old days when pitchers were men and not wimps they used to throw 150 - 200 pitches a start every 4 days and they never got hurt - it really IS tiresome

a “quality start” means that the pitcher pitched at least a league average start, and believe it or not, quite a few ML pitchers aren’t even league average.

unfortunately, you can pitch lousy on a great team and win a lot (see randy johnson with the yanks 05) and pitch fantastic on a terrible team and lose a lot - or at least not win a lot (see randy johnson with the dbax 04 or roger clemens and the stros 05)

pitchers STILL think about getting that win and in some part are still paid and rated by their wins, so unfortunately, pitcher W/L aren’t going away.

i personally prefer to look at WHIP, which is, as far as I’m concerned, probably the stat that measures the pitcher’s actual ability the best. Runs allowed is too close to ERA and can be significantly skewed by bad fielders.

i also like BAA (batting average against) and OPS against.

unlike just about everyone else, i am not too into K rates because i prefer to look at out rates and as greg maddux said, many times, a 3 pitch 3 out inning beats a 3 strikeout inning every time.

one of the reasons i am not into “game score” - its heavy emphasis on strikeouts instead of something like, say, number of pitches needed to record each out.

glennbo,

i would LOVE pics. I am going to find out from another writer how to do it.

steve,

actually, ol clank isn’t a bad basestealer - he’s not fast (duh) but he is VERY good at timing pitchers and he waits until he’s pretty darn sure they aren’t paying him no nevermind… I remember watching him when he was with the brewers and wondering how a guy that slow and clumsy could steal bases. it’s not the speed, it’s the timing…
Lisa Gray says:

May 12th, 2008 at 3:46 pm

paul,

i really don’t pay anyone’s power rankings no nevermind because they are generally slanted in favor of AL teams and east coast teams. the astros never get no respect, anyhow, so this is nothing new to me.

derek,

incredibly awesome email addy

lisa

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