His control was the best it has been. FB was 95-98 with most at 96. Throws pretty much only 4-seem. I thought there were a few 2-seems that slid more than dropped. Was throwing a good breaking pitch at 86 all game. It had more CB movement but it might be a slurve. Almost never threw a CH.

I was very surprised by his performance. He dropped off most lists because of serious injury concerns. He had a mysterious nerve problem in his forearm. At the beginning of 08 he said it was a problem and the Astros came out with a timetable to return. When asked about that Paulino said it would probably be much longer. So no one outside the organization knew what was going on or even what type of injury he had. I even wrote him off as far as counting he could help the Astros.

I think he earned another start. He should get the start against the Brewers. I will be waiting to watch that one against a better lineup. He would have baffled any lineup today.

but he was filthy today. His fastball was sitting at 96 and 97 the whole game, and his breaking ball was nasty. His stuff looked every bit as good as his opposite in this game’s, Edinson Volquez.