May 03, 2007
Let's Go to the Video Tape
Roy Oswalt watched what he did right in previous seasons to fix his delivery in time to defeat the Reds:
On Tuesday, Oswalt did side-by-side comparisons of his 2004 and 2005 seasons and his previous two starts and noticed he was too quick to the plate. All four of the hits he allowed Wednesday came on 0-2 pitches.
"I'm going to throw the ball over the plate and make them swing at it," he said. "A lot of guys try to nibble there and waste a few pitches. I'm trying to get guys out on (as few) pitches as possible. It's tough to get strikeouts that way, but you can go deep into games that way."
Roy only struck out two, but issued just one walk, so he solved his control problem. He also threw 74 of 95 pitches for strikes as the Astros won 3-1. Now, Houston just needs to figure out how to score more runs.
Posted by David Pinto at
08:22 AM
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Wow, does Oswalt own the Reds, or what?
18 - 1 with a 2.46 ERA
Houston and Cincinnati weren't the only clubs having problems scoring runs last night. MLB averaged a little over seven runs a game, about deadball levels (first and second eras).
Offense has bounced around this year. Some days the teams have racked up a ten-plus average, other days they can barely score at all. Overall, the season is running a smidgen over nine runs a game. That's very average by historical standards since 1901, but well below most of the 1993-2006 era.
Maybe baseball figures it's all the way back after the 1994 debacle and doesn't need high offense any more. Basically, what's happened is that the game has returned to normal offensive levels. I still expect some announcers will refer to "high offense" during the season, but sooner or later the word will get out even to the media.
