So Bud Norris is fallible against the Cardinals, as they finally solve him in an 8-0 win.
*Norris enjoyed 26 great innings, and even got in 33 good innings, against the Cardinals before Matt Holliday tagged him for a three-run homer in the 8th to turn a 2-0 game into a 5-0 game.
*Norris has given up 15ER in the 1st-2nd innings (24IP), with 31K:12BB. The inning he gets touched up the most in is the 5th - 11ER in nine different 5th innings, and a 1.076 OPS-against.
*Norris also only threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of the 31 batters he faced. For the season, he has thrown 130 first-pitch strikes and 128 first-pitch balls. Strangely enough, the Cardinals were patient against Norris, only going after the first-pitch twice (1x2, a Rasmus double to right). That's odd, because when opposing batters swing at Norris' first pitch, they were previously 16x22.
*Byrdak had his first out-less outing of the season, brought in to face John Jay, who doubles, and Tyler Greene, who walked.
*Gustavo Chacin came in to pitch the 9th, and didn't fare so well. Skip Schumaker reached on an infield single, Felipe Lopez doubled to score him, and Brendan Ryan flied out. So naturally in comes Casey Daigle, who promptly gave up a 415-foot homer to Pujols.
*And it turns out the offense doesn't do as well when not facing the Pirates. The Astros were shutout for the 9th time this season, and now have a .642 OPS. All six hits they recorded were singles, and that's the 12th game the Astros haven't had an extra-base hit.
*It's the 17th game that the opposing pitcher has enjoyed a Game Score of 70+ (Wainwright last night: 71)
*The Astros were 0x3 against Wainwright when reaching a three-ball count, and 1x8 when ahead in the count.
*Only Berkman was able to get on base more than once, with a 1x2, 2BB night. Berkman's OPS has risen from .770 to .836 in these past four games. From June 9-July 9, Berkman has hit .258/.394/.551, with 13 of his 23 hits coming for extra-bases, 24K:20BB.
*In that same span, Carlos Lee (0x3 last night) has gone .260/.330/.420, with eight extra-base hits, 7K:11BB.
*Jason Castro was 1x4 last night, getting his second hit since June 29 (2x21).
Pitch Count Hero: Lance Berkman (1x2, 2BB) - 19 pitches in four PAs.
Pitch Count Punk: Angel Sanchez (1x3) - 10 pitches in three PAs.
Man of the Match: Lance Berkman, I suppose.
Goat of the Game: Carlos Lee. 0x3, GIDP and ended two of the first six innings (when the game was manageable).
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
