Astros Live Game Feed: Astros Find a New Way to Lose

The Houston Astros are down, but hopefully, they are not out.

Last night, it was looking like the tide was starting to turn for the Astros. The Houston scored some early runs to gain a lead and brought in their offseason prized addition reliever Ken Giles to hold the two-run lead. The flame-throwing reliever gave up two runs before he was able to get the third out, which he has done far too often for the Astros this season.

Everyone knows that Giles is much better than he has shown this year with the Astros, but he is not right on the mound right now. We heard about how dominant he was with the Phillies, but at this time, he is reminding us of Brad Lidge at times. His confidence looks shot, instead of coming in thinking that he will bring the heat, he’s thinking about how not to pitch badly.

Relievers can typically go on hot and cold streaks similar to hitters, but their stuff generally helps them out. Giles is not confident in his slider this year, so he has become reliant on the fastball too often. Yesterday I did a Twitter poll about what the Astros should do with Giles, keep him with the Astros or send him to Triple-A to regain his confidence. This could be once again, and there could have been too much pressure put upon the pitcher with only a year and a half of MLB experience.

If Giles does remain with the Astros, maybe he needs to be brought in earlier in the game. This afternoon, the Astros try to bounce back following the heartbreaking loss on the three-run homer off Pat Neshek in the ninth inning. Chris Devenski makes the start today. Hopefully, he can bring a little MPH to the Astros rotation.

Next: Astros: Digesting the Base Running Woes

Join the discussion below with the writers of CTH using Disqus below. Most fans wanted to see Giles go work on things in the minors.