Brian Moehler regains his starting touch
I'll be honest, I'd kind of lost track of the major league career of former UNCG Spartan Brian Moehler. Pitching long relief for the Houston Astros will do that to a guy.
Apparently, according to the Houston Chronicle, the Dodgers weren't keeping up either. They put his name on the scoreboards as "Brad" Moehler.
Brad, Brian, whatever, Moehler was pretty darned good in his return to the bigs, pitching five scoreless innings while striking out five to win a 7-1 decision.
What's he been doing lately you ask? Well, even if you didn't ask, I'm going to tell you. That's the perks of having a blog.
Friday's start for Moehler was the first one since Sep. 29, 2006, when he was with the Marlins. It was Moehler's first win as a starter since June 17, 2006 when he beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-2. He lost his last six starts that season. (A major tip of the hat to the folks at Baseball Reference for those tidbits)
Is this the start of something new for Moehler? Probably not - he should get at least one more start before the guy he replaced in the rotation, Wandy Rodriguez returns from the dreaded groin strain. Either way, Moehler, who's 36 (man, time flies) sounds like he's in a pretty good place right now in his career.
"I'm at a point in my career where I really just want to go to the playoffs. And whatever role there is, whether it's reliever or starter or both, it doesn't matter to me. I enjoy either role," Moehler said. "Am I capable of starting? Yeah, but I'm probably not capable of giving them 32-35 starts anymore."
Right now the playoffs are looking like a very real possibility for Moehler and the Astros. They're 4-0 on their current road trip and have won nine of their last 10. Houston is currently 22-17, just 1.5 games out of first in the NL Central.