We came into the final series knowing we probably needed to win six games against the Three Rivers Gamblers to have a chance at the playoffs, and our pitching limits were putting us up against the wall; our 2 A+ pitchers had 8 2/3 innings but only 3 appearances between them, and Ryan Madson had only 3 appearances and 4 innings. Things started really well, with the Highlanders winning 4 of 5 behind an incredible Chris Davis hot streak (4 HR, 2 2b, 2 3b, 13 RBI in the 4 wins) but things cooled off quickly thereafter, as we only won game eight after that. Congratulations to the Gamblers and all the other playoff teams (Marauders, Bamm Beanos, and Champions, looks like).
Time to dissect the team performance. Hitting was clearly the problem, as we had 6 players get over 300 at-bats who had on-base averages under .300. Once again, we didn’t have anyone drive in 100 runs (Chris Young drove in 96 despite his .230/.293/.431 line – the Joe Carter special). Lance Berkman was our best all-around hitter, scoring 107 runs, driving in 91 while hitting .274/.379/.529 and stealing 17 bases to top it off. Justin Upton hit .248/.332/.532 with 19 HR in 351 AB’s, and other than that no one really did well with the bat. Stephen Drew and Adrian Beltre started off hot, but vanished without a trace in the second half, Howie Kendrick and Rickie Weeks never really got started, and Ivan Rodriguez and Miguel Montero didn’t do much behind the plate.
The pitching staff was good but not great. Our starters were solid, led by Roy Oswalt (a 2.86 ERA but only 12 wins) and Felix Hernandez (14-11 with a 4.71 ERA that would have been better without one blowout game early in the season). Jeremy Guthrie threw a no-hitter and won 13 games, and Jon Garland was solid as well. Ian Snell was up and down, going 5-15 with a 5.21 ERA, looking much worse than that at times and much better at other times. Brad Ziegler flashed good stuff in the pen, saving 21 games with a 2.43 ERA, while fellow rookie Jim Johnson vultured 10 wins with a 2.36 ERA himself. Ryan Madson was expected to develop into an elite shutdown reliever, but that didn’t happen (4.14 ERA, 7-5 record) and now he’ll get the chance to try for the Kernels as he and Johnson were shipped out for Michael Young.
Where do we stand for 2010? It looks right now like there are three strong contenders for the playoffs, and three teams playing for 2011, leaving four teams with varying degrees of chances to get that 4th playoff spot. I think we’re one of those 4 in the middle, but probably one of the further shots. We’ve traded for Scott Kazmir and Michael Young, and shipped out a couple of reliever and Adrian Beltre. We need a little coverage at second base but are otherwise covered – which is good because we have no retiring players. Julian Tavarez is getting cut, and the ax is hovering over several other players heads, and we may not know who will be cut for the extra pick until draft day.