Good game by Harrell. Got his record to 9-7 and lowered his era to under four. A rookie ace. Unbelievable.

Agreed. He has steadily gotten better over the course of the season. That 6-hitter he threw against the Padres was one of the funnest games of the season.

I like his emotion. He gets pissed if he's bad and is happy when he good. He's a gamer.

Harrell has been a pleasant surprise, but come on ... he isn't an Ace.

Who is on our staff? He is the best starter. Could be 11-5 on an average team.

Who is on our staff?
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Nobody is an ace on this team. IMHO, an ace doesn't = the best SP on a club. An Ace is an elite SP in the league. 86Ks over 120 IP and a 1.34 WHIP doesn't scream Ace material to me.

"Could be 11-5 on an average team."

Well, the average Run Support for a SP in the League is 4.4 run support per Games Started (RS/GS). Harrell is currently getting 4.7 RS/GS per game. It's even less for NL SP. 4.3 RS/GS is the average.

He's our ace, for better or worse. We're a trash team and the guy has a winning record. I take that over Ash and your stats. I want the beef, not the bun.

Exactly. I love that too. I like when players show some emotion. I wish Jordan Lyles would so some emotion.

Go ahead and call Harrell an Ace, but don't is claim he is an 11-5 pitcher on an average team when Harrell gets better than average Run Support. Ignoring the stats and making hamburger metaphors doesn't change the facts.

"Harrell gets better than average Run Support"

Three runs is better than average? Take your top pitchers, last year, this year, whatever, and see how many runs were behind them? You should be able to pull up a stat for that. I'd guess that it is about 5 for a season. Harrell left several games with a lead and our outstanding bullpen went to work.

Three runs is better than average?
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You really think that my posts stated he gets 3 runs of support and that is above average?

Wow.....

Kinda pointless to write anything else.

Yes. And where is the stat that proves you point?

In his last post dude: "Harrell is currently getting 4.7 RS/GS per game."

I knew you wouldn't disappoint. Is that the average of good pitchers in the league(you be the judge for what that means) for run support while they are in the game? Dude. That strikes me as about what all winning pitchers get. Dude. By winning pitcher, I mean about .600 and better. Dude.

And by the way, whats wrong with that? He has a 9-7 record, which is winning. Maybe, just maybe, the team has more confidence with him and is more relaxed.

First, you have to love Harrell's passion and hustle. When he bunts or hits the ball he runs down the line likes its the World Series final game.

Look, from spring training on ASH hasn't liked Harrell. Harrell is a ground ball pitcher supreme and some nights that means that the balls will find the holes. ASH pulls some SABRE METRIC stats out of his waazoo that he uses to say Harrell is this or that. Like not enough K's.

But, over the past say 10 starts he has been striking out more hitters. And, ASH is right that has helped him.

Right now Harrell's stats make him one of the top couple rookie pitchers in the NL. And, for a guy fighting to make the team in ST he has handled the pressure and the Astros rebuilding situation with great composure and maturity. Of course he played about 6 years in the minors and lost about 2 years to a shoulder surgery. So he is no kid.

At 27, he is still young enough to have a good career. If you keep the ball down, you can last into your mid 30's. I hope by that time we have a better staff. I'm on Harrell because that's the best we have.

*sigh* You still don't get it? You said Harrell would have a better record on an "average" team. That's the word you used. Ghick then informed you that Harrell has been getting BETTER THAN AVERAGE run support this year; the Astros have scored an average of 4.7 runs a game in Harrell's starts, while the National League average is 4.3 runs per game. In other words, you can't blame his record on the team not scoring enough runs for him. That's all Ghick was pointing out, but then you pulled three runs seemingly out of nowhere and missed the point.

P.S. you don't like "dude?" I thought that would be better than the other words I was thinking of, facing the lack of reading comprehension.

Your comprehension is bad. Tonite was three runs. You need to read better. May I suggest Evelyn Wood. I'm not going to defend what I said. Read it. Dude.

"Your comprehension is bad. Tonite was three runs."

No one was talking about just tonight. You said he could be 11-5 on an average team. He's averaged 4.7 runs of support in his starts.

"I'm not going to defend what I said."

What you said is simply indefensible.