Roy O had his game face on and Jose Vizcaino did his best imitation of Lance Berkman as the Stros salvaged the final game of their series against the Padres, 5-1.
Oswalt was steady and unyielding, giving up six hits, three walks and a run in seven and a third quickly paced innings. After he uncharacteristically walked two straight with one out in the eighth, Jimy Williams pulled Oswalt in favor of Brad Lidge who secured the win by fanning four of the six batters he faced.
Viz had a two run yak in the first and three more hits (including two doubles) later in the game, which is an anecdotal performance that has the bad side effect of prompting Williams to overplay the normally light-hitting Viz (.319 OBP and .345 SLG. in 15 MLB seasons) for the forseeable future. The Stros had twelve hits — a veritable offensive explosion for them — but left 14 runners on base and failed to score after loading the bases in the first, second, and sixth.
The sixth inning situation was particularly egregious as the Stros loaded the sacks with no outs, and then Bags and Lamb whiffed, and Everett popped out weakly to second.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to watch Bags struggle at the plate. He has had a Hall of Fame quality career, but is now a tremendous burden to the Stros — a singles hitting first baseman who whiffs often and is owed an incredible $39 million over the next three seasons (at least Bags has an All-Star quality agent). Bags’ contract is the last big one the Stros have stemming from the overheated players’ market from several years ago, and it is my sense that the Stros simply need to bite the bullet and arrange the best deal possible either to pay a large portion of Bags’ contract in connection with a trade or simply buy out Bags’ contract. The Stros will lose between $10-13 million over each of the next three seasons on any such deal, but the first loss is always the best loss in this type of situation.
Bags is still the fifth most productive hitter on the team (behind Berkman, Beltran, Bidg, and Lamb), but he is now a relatively unproductive first basemen (currently ninth in hitting among first basemen in the National League) and it is much more likely that his decline will continue (his hitting statistics have been declining for over five straight seasons now) than turn around. Moreover, his continued presence prevents the Stros from retooling their club, including the move of Berkman to first, trying to ink Beltran to a deal, and playing younger players such as Jason Lane in the OF spot that opens by moving Berkman to 1B. Finally, by moving or releasing Bags, perhaps that would have the fringe benefit of prompting the Stros to release Bags’ buddy Brad Ausmus (-18 RCAA, explained here), who is now competing neck and neck with Neifi Perez in the race to become the most unproductive hitter among regular National League ballplayers this season.
The Stros now bus up the West Coast to Dodger Stadium for a four game weekend series with the Dodgers leading up to the All-Star break. The Stros’ starting pitching for the series is a bit up in the air, as the Stros recalled Brandon “Launching Pad” Duckworth (he has given up an incredible 10 yaks in only 25 innings this season) from AAA New Orleans to start one of the games. Andy Pettitte will start the Friday night game.