[rustyhook]

Soooo, somebody correct me. The Big guy everybody touts gets up to the plate and swings once (honestly) at a ball and hit's a foul. Then 2 times he just one handed swang hoping to hit a ball; maybe with his eyes closed. What's up with this Biggio? He did same thang in the world series. Yea, he can catch a ball (in his position, who in the major leage can't) but he is a whoos at the plate. My 2 cent, I want the stros to win. I will be at the Thursday game, Roger (The Rocket) is pitching. LET'S GO ASTRO'S!!!!!!!!!

 

[portalto]

Sorry, but I thought this was a team sport. Did Biggio lose the whole game or was he just the last batter? What else did Biggio not do during the 10 innings?

 

[Mr. Breeze]

Couldn't believe Lidge threw that ball in the dirt. Man? Must be related to Mickleson. lol

 

[DannyMac]

I just returned from the game, you can thank Chris Burke and Preston Wilson for this one. Burke tried to bunt with Biggio on first with one out, he popped up the bunt and Biggio was doubled off. Wilson tried to make a throw to home plate when he should have let the runner score and hit the cutoff man. If he had done that, the Astros would have had runners at 1st and 2nd with one out, instead they had runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out. They ended up getting a DP but not before the game was tied 4-4.

Lidge was off from the minute he took the mound, but in his defense the plate umpire was bad. His calls were just down right ****!!! Miller gave up a first pitch fastball HR.
Oswalt pitched a gutty game but he was never in command of his pitches, but the plate umpire could have had a lot to do with it.

 

[Sponge]

Plain and simple...with a three run lead you do not throw home and try to get the runner at the plate causing runners to go to 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. The next guy hit a ground ball that would have been a double play if Wilson would have hit the cut off man and we would have been out of the inning with still a 2 run lead. Lidge did make a few bad pitches to top it off but he only gave up 1 run. That's still unlike Lidge. Wilson did make up for his throwing decision when he hit that homerun in the bottom of the ninth but we still managed to lose the game. Oh well, it happens!

As for Biggio - there's only two things I don't like about him (he's a sucker for sliders away and his throwing arm is very weak).

As for Burke bunting into a double play (pop up)...I can't blame the guy it was just bad luck. It was a drag bunt that he was not able to get the bat on top of. Burke is one of the main reasons I think this team is turning things around IMO.

 

[CHARLIE]

Well I have been saying for the past few years get rid of biggio and Bagwell while you can get something for them. Well its too late now. They do one thing or did one thing for the Stros they sell tickets but dont win pennants. Astros management is interested in selling tickets not being champions, IE, Kent, Beltran, the pitcher they let go a few years back caint remember his name but a bulldog competetor. If yall think the Rocket is gonna win pennants I want some of what yall are smoking. How many games did he win in the playoffs last year. A major league ball player who caint bunt, how about dat ? Poor coach.

Charlie

 

[Stuart]

Well, Biggio leads the NL in doubles at least. Look, if your going to get on Biggio for his hitting, your going to have to get on every Astro about their hitting, except Lance. Lance is the Astro's only player in the NL top ten hitters. In fact he is the only Astro in the NL top 40 hitters.

 

[atm_93]

ditto what sponge said...hit the $%^#& cutoff man, game is 4-2 if they do that. Heck, 8 yr olds know to do that.

 

[manintheboat]

Biggio is simply not as good as he used to be. With that said, he is still pretty darned good. He is still a pretty good hitter, but his biggest deficiency is his reduced range in the field and his horrible throwing arm. His double play turns are way too slow. he looks like he is trying to dig the ball out of an outfielders glove and his throws look more like soft toss than anything else. With that said, he isn't going anywhere until he reaches 3000 hits.

The bigger problem was Wilson throwing to the plate. Just a horrible decision. They really must have somebody better than Trevor freaking Miller that they could have put out there in the 10th, right?

 

[WBHB]

I dozed off at Biggio's last at bat in the 10th. I did see in the 8th where he had trouble handling the breaking curve off the back side of the plate. He had a swinging one handed miss on the first pitch, and then fouled off 4 pitches in a row, before getting fooled again on the low breaker for strike three. He just can't hit that pitch. If you go look at the Gameday pitch location, his 2 swinging strikes and the foul ball in the 10th were all low and outside, too. The strike zone was HUGE last night.

I was very impressed with the way Oswalt came back in the 8th. I have never seen him so commanding. Perhaps they should have let him pitch the 9th innning too, but Garner never lets his guys go that deep.

They made enough mistakes last night to last a week. Hopefully, this was just one game.....Wandy on the mound today.

 

[Silverspoon]

162 games in a year! You have to take the good with the bad. Last night was depressing but if the last two years have taught us anything, it's all about how the team finishes.

 

[TPD]

Biggio

I can't believe what I am hearing from some of you guys about Biggio. He is going to go into the hall of fame as an Astro. The first and probably only for a long time. I want the Astros to win as much as anybody but I'm not going to let that ruin enjoying watching Biggio on his march to the hall. He is 133 hits short of 3000 and I hope to see most of them. The guy has been a great player and role model for a lot of years. He is playing for a reasonable amount of money and if I'm not mistaken, was part of the team that made the playoffs 6 of the last 8 years and went to a world series last year. No, he isn't the player he once was, but who is at 40 plus years old? If anybody wants to sit around and complain about his lack of arm or his trouble with sliders, thats fine. Go ahead. I'm going to sit back and enjoy watching our first Astro make his case for the hall of fame.

 

[manintheboat]

His case for the hall of fame has been made for the most part. The final statement will be made when he hits number 3000. You can ignore it all you want, but his skills, mainly defensively have eroded by quite a bit. Of course, he is still a productive player offensively, and he is not getting paid a huge amount. On balance, he is much more of an asset at this point than a liability. The Astros have plenty of liabilities right now.

 

[Fish-a-mon]

I guess going 2 for 5 isn't good enough for some folks. He batting .280. Now let's look at the other player on the team. Ensberg 1-4 3 SO Ausmus 0-4 Everett 1-3 Lamb 0-4. Biggio is doing his job. As you get older you arm is going to slow down, but he still can turn the DP it just closer at first these days. By the way the rest of the league/Fan must like what Biggio is doing because he is leading the All-Star voting for second base.

 

[ol billy]

Lidge isn't the same guy he was last year. Not yet, anyway. When I saw Garner brought him in to close the 9th I cringed and said "here we go.."

Sure enough that was it. Save blown. Again.

Ohhh well. It's just baseball. But I was ticked.

 

[manintheboat]

Even though his defensive skills have eroded a bit, he is still on of the best second basemen in the NL . Just because I say that his skills have eroded does not mean that he stinks. He was arguably the best player in the game around 1997-98.

You are right, fish-a-mom, the Astros have bigger problems. Their bullpen must do a better job, and they really need to get Ensberg going at the plate. I really did like the lineup they put out there last night. Biggio is still solid at the plate, burke is very solid, Berkman is Berkman, I like Lamb at cleanup, Ensberg and Wilson are fine at 5 and 6, and Ausmus and Everett are about what you should expect out of your 7 & 8 hitters, even though Everett is one of the worst offensive players in the game.

 

[Ryano]

http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/biggicr01.shtml

 

[Maddog]

gotta go with manintheboat on this one, biggio has ALWAYS been a sucker for that low and away pitch, and i mean always. I honestly don't understand why more pitchers don't simply throw only that pitch to him, at best he will pop it up foul. That having been said, he is still one of the best second baggers in the NL. Everett is the #2 SS in MLB, granted he is lacking at the plate, but we don't have another SS that is even half as good, and that defensive position is one of the most important. Just my .02

 

[Maddog]

I almost forgot about Miller, the only reason he is in the majors, is because he is left handed. He is for all intensive purposes a AA pitcher at best, but with the shortage of lefties he has a spot in the ML. Although with his ERA against lefties, I honestly don't see the point.

 

[SpanishFly33]

Soooo, somebody correct me. The Big guy everybody touts gets up to the plate and swings once (honestly) at a ball and hit's a foul. Then 2 times he just one handed swang hoping to hit a ball; maybe with his eyes closed. What's up with this Biggio? He did same thang in the world series. Yea, he can catch a ball (in his position, who in the major leage can't) but he is a whoos at the plate. My 2 cent, I want the stros to win. I will be at the Thursday game, Roger (The Rocket) is pitching. LET'S GO ASTRO'S!!!!!!!!!

There is ONE second baseman in the NL better all around than Biggio and that's Chase Utley, Jose Vidro is better offensively but is only good for about 120 games a season and is a defensive liability. The last strikeout was against probably the most dominant closer in the game night in night out. As a previous post mentioned, the book on Biggio is hard sliders away...if you have a good enough slider and can locate it off the plate away you have a good shot at getting him to swing and miss. That being said, there are only a handfull of pitchers in the NL with that good of a slider and Biggio will get around on anyone's fastball in the league (Ask Billy Wagner after the 3-run HR in the 9th last year). There are a ton of hitters that can't get around on a pitch going faster than 93mph. Biggio is one of the very few consistant offensive players on this team.