Sampson Struggles; and other understatements

Ok. There comes a time in every fan’s life when he or she must take inventory of their team. Access their strengths and weaknesses and evaluate which aspects of their club cause optimism and which ones cause concern. That being said, the Astros lost to the Washington Nationals 16-2 on Thursday. Some highlights…er….maybe just lights, were our boys committing three errors, two of which being committed by Dome Dog favorites Jason Lane and Morgan Ensberg and collecting a grand total of five hits. However, the worst piece of news is most certainly the performance of Chris Sampson. In his first start of the spring, Sampson provided us with an effort that one could only dream about. This is, if one dreams about going to the dentist. Sampson gave up 12 hits, 10 runs (6 earned), and walked a batter in 2.1 innings of “work”. He failed to strike out a National, but may have whiffed as far as making the Astros starting staff.

Now, we realize that it’s just the spring. Be that as it may, Woody Williams and Chris Sampson have pitched two consecutive dreadful starts for this team. We all went into February thinking that the last two spots in the rotation were going to be question marks. Sure, Woody is past his prime, but he could still put up respectable numbers, while stabilizing the middle of the rotation. I am not giving up on Woody, because one start..or two…or three…in the spring -- yeah, that works! -- does NOT a season make. For my sanity, though, I would like to see these two get through more than three innings of work, while giving up a number of runs that you can count on one hand. And I’m not talking about Armando Benitez’ hands either.

Our deepest fears having been aired (i.e. we will have as dismal if not worse starting rotation than we did for the first half of last year; with even less of a hope of rebounding in the second half) perhaps all of this should be taken with a grain of salt – yes here comes a fan’s eternal optimism (a highly necessary ingredient to be any Houston sports fan). Last year, when Chris Sampson first bounced onto the scene, it was to attempt to stave off further damage than Wandy Rodriguez has already allowed in the first 1.1 innings of June 2 game against the Reds. Sampson left much to be desired giving up 3 runs (earned too), one of them a long ball on six hits in 5.1 innings. Sampson’s ground ball to fly ball ratio was 8:4; note that Lamb had 3B, Bruntlett SS, and Taveras CF. Just five days later, a different Chris Sampson took the mound and delivered 5 innings of hitless baseball, only giving up one in 7 innings of scoreless baseball against the Cubs. In this start Sampson’s GB to FB ratio was 16:5, this time around, Ensberg manned 3B, Everett was back at SS, and Chris Burke held down CF – both are home games. One has to assume that given the different make up of position players and an increased ratio of GB to FB, that Sampson had an extremely low BABIP. Indeed Chris Sampson’s sterling 2.12 ERA over 34 innings of pitching in 2006 were accompanied by a BABIP of .212!!

Tonight’s start featured 3 defensive errors, 1 on Ensberg and 1 on Lane out in CF. While we cannot obtain Sampson’s ground ball to fly ball ratio, one must assume that it was ground ball heavy being that his ground to fly out ratio was 7:0. Thus, any error (especially an infield) most assuredly did not help Sampson, which is evident in his 10 runs allowed with only 6 being earned. That being said, 12 hits is 12 hits, Sampson either needs to improve his command of the strike zone or else the signing of Adam LaRoche to the Pirates becomes much more important…Spring is a time when young people tend to think about true love. The Dome Dog staff find themselves thinking more like a mother than like Don Juan: our love must be unconditional, and not centered on aesthetic beauty. We’ll love this team no matter who pitches in the bottom of the rotation. Woody, Wandy, Chris, Fernando, or Matt. We’ll support them and the team in any and all regard. But much like a mother, we would much rather our child win a World Series, than be out of a job.

Sphere: Related Content