"My arm's dead, my legs are dead -- I'm just grinding," Oswalt said. "I think it's just the innings piling up on me. Usually you have a dead arm around 100 innings. Maybe for me it's around 170." -- Dead arm?? Kinda scary the last day of July. Hey Roy...we still got 2 months man...nut it up!!!
If he's really serious, and given today's performance i think he is. I wouldn't mind letting him skip a start. If we get to October, i'd rather have him healthy than vice versa.
I agree...a skipped start with maybe Astacio in his place would be sufficient. Even if we lost the game...it would be worth it down the line with O healthy and strong.
he still gave a quality start despite looking way off. for someone with his warrior mentality it tells me alot that he's actually saying the dead arm, leg stuff. i'd skip him in the rotation if backe is healthy. we need him back throwing strong in september.
Once Backe gets back I imagine Clemens, Oswalt and Pettitte may all get a day off if they want it. Either way, his "off day" of yesterday was still a quality start... we lost that game because of the bullpen, not Roy.
They also have not had an off day in quite a while. As long as they stay with a 5 man rotation this week, eveyone gets an extra day of rest due to today's off day.
Oswalt threw 130 pitches on May 11. His next highest game was his last start (prior to yesterday) at 123, so he hasn't been pitching into the "high 120" area. He is averaging around 108 pitches per start. As a matter of fact his pitches per inning is the least it has ever been.
This is alot of innings for him. Not too long ago Jimmy Williams was managing the team. Miller and Oswalt would be lucky to pitch more than 6 innings. I don't recall Oswalt ever pitching as deep all year long as he has been. 2 years ago if we were gonna win it would go Starter, Lidge, Dotel, Wagner. I kinda miss those 6 inning games. Either the other team is leading after 5, or they automatically lose!
At Oswalt's current pace he will pitch 248 innings which is 11 more than last year. Those 6 inning games under Williams were nice, but how many playoff appearances did they have using that strategy?
There could be a lot of reasons for him being off on Sunday. It was a day game so he got 6 hours fewer rest... They haven't had an extra day off in a while... His pitch count last game was high... He went to the All-Star game and didn't get that extra rest... Either way, his being tired didn't cost us the game. He gave us 6 innings like he would have under Williams. Our bullpen who has been amazing lately had an off day, it is going to happen.
This is common and will not be a problem for Roy or the Astros. An extra day off will help. They might limit him to 100 pitches in his next start to be safe, but it is still nothing to worry about. If it continues for a few starts, then they might need to have him skip one. Otherwise, it's nothing a little rest can't take care of.
Nope. Roy didn't make the playoffs until Garner took over. Jimy Williams *sucked* as a manager. I do *not* miss those 6-inning games, or anything else from the Jimy era.
When I came to the forums summary page, it showed this forum's 'last post' as being 'Oswalt's "dead...' Excuse me while I finish hyper ventilating into this brown paper bag...
Roy made the playoffs in 2001 under Dierker. He was scheduled to pitch Game 4, which we never got to, unfortunately.
He would have been our game 1 starter, had he not hurt his groin on a cold day in Chicago. Until this year, his first season in 2001 has been the best Roy has ever looked. Hitters had NO CLUE about what to do with his stuff (and the fact that most teams had never faced him before would make him twice as tough). This year, while his strikeout numbers are down, he's a better overall "pitcher", and his ERA #'s and innings pitched reflect that. When Roy is on, he's very very very economical with his pitches. That's why I posted during the game that Roy "seemed off"... because the Mets were constantly fouling off 2 strike pitches, and making him work harder. He doesn't need to strike out guys in bunches anymore (although he still can)... he catches guys totally off-balance with his pitch selection and location, and by the end of the game, they're just flat-out guessing as to what they're going to get next.
