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Fernando Nieve, RHP (0-0, 5.40) |
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Orlando Hernandez, RHP (1-1, 5.59) |
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Will catch up on the game from yesterday shortly (not that I really want to) but after a nice birthday lie-in, better get the gamethread up before anything else happens! At least we're not facing a left-hander today, which will be a relief for certain players on the team. Basically, the offense needs to kick it up several notches: three hits aren't going to get it done, but Nieves isn't a guy with a lot of big-league experience - this is his first ever start - and we need to make that work against him.
We send up El Duque, so looks like it could be another long afternoon for the bullpen. Let's hope he can give us more than five innings, but you know the Astros will be taking early, and getting his pitch-count up there as soon as possible. El Duque should use this and Priority A is to throw first-pitch strikes. But if the offense is as absent as it was yesterday, it really doesn't matter much. And if Shawn Green makes an out in his first at-bat, his average will be down below .100...
