“He’s just an exciting player, and you want him to bat as many times as you can,” Astros manager Cecil Cooper told the Houston Chronicle. “If he’s down sixth, it would probably keep him from hitting one extra time. You want your best guys right up top. Hunter’s just a guy that sees it and hits it.”

Pence has continued his impressive play during spring training as he’s leading the Astros in at-bats (54), hits (19) and RBI’s (13). Pence also has five doubles, a triple and three homeruns.

Post from: EveryJoe

Hunter Pence to Bat Second?

Unfortunately, the Houston Astros lost the game against the Cincinnati Reds by a final score of 5-4. The Astros took a 4-0 lead to the bottom of the ninth inning, but Houston was unable to close it out as the Reds scored five runs to take home the victory. Alvin Colina won the game for Cincinnati with a three-run double.

On Wednesday, the Astros take on the Detroit Tigers.

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Hunter Pence Hits First Spring Homer

Hunter played in four of those five contests and went a combined 5-14 (.357) with four RBIs. He got at least one hit in all but one of the games.

On Tuesday, the Astros play their next game against the Cincinnati Reds. It’ll be the first time this spring that the Astros face the Reds.

Post from: EveryJoe

Hunter Pence Spring Update

So, we are just three short weeks away from our season opener in San Diego and I’m already itching to get on that plane to head out west.

I made a couple of appearances on ESPN this week, starting by doing a phone interview on ESPN News and finishing up on First Take on Friday. Doing interviews is actually a lot of fun, especially on ESPN because I still have to pinch myself somedays that I’m lucky enough to be playing this game everyday … and being on ESPN is pretty cool.

To recap the past week, we played some pretty good teams from the American League, starting off with the Bronx Bombers on Monday. There’s always a different kind of energy out there when those guys are around. Jeter, A-Rod, Rivera and Posada … seeing them across the way is pretty special. Tuesday I had the day off but we played against Detroit and their high-powered offense. That lineup has to be one of the top two in the entire American League. They are stacked from top to bottom and I would not want to be a pitcher facing that lineup!

Wednesday, I was back in the lineup against the Tampa Bay Rays. They are going to surprise some people this year as they have some pretty good starters on their pitching staff and Carlos Pena came out of nowhere and hit over 40 homers last year … keep your eye on those guys. Thursday, we faced a strong Cleveland Indians club – man can they hit! They were so close to reaching the World Series last year and facing the reigning AL Cy Young Winner in CC Sabathia wasn’t easy.

He held us scoreless for the three innings he was on the mound and was pretty impressive. Friday we had a rematch against the Yankees on the road and ended up walking out of there with a win. Shawn Chacon pitched against his former club and threw groundball after groundball and that’s always great to see.

Over the next couple of weeks, you will start to see the starting pitchers go longer and position players go a little deeper into the game in preparation for the regular season – which is fine by me because i’ll take all the at-bats I can get!

Until next week!

Hunter

Post from: EveryJoe

From Hunter: Itching for the Season to Start

I had just come home from dinner with some friends, and decided to jump in the hot tub to loosen up my muscles before bed. As we were walking out to the hot tub, I took about three steps toward the tub (leaving the door open behind me) and decided I needed to use the restroom before hopping into the hot water … I did not realize that my friend had closed the door behind me.

Because the ground was cold outside and I was barefoot, I turned around quickly to run inside. As I tried to hop inside from the step, I went straight through the glass door. It all happened so fast that I am just going to have to slow down and be more cautious in the future. The good news is that I will be back on the field soon and I did not have any severe injuries.

Hunter

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Hunter Pence: “I did not consume any alcohol”

“It’s pretty silly that this kind of a freak accident happened,” Hunter told the press.

Hunter was in a hot tub at the home. When he got out, he didn’t realize a friend had closed the door and he walked straight through it – shattering it.

“I just didn’t see the door and jumped through it,” he said. “I have small cuts everywhere.”

We will check in with Hunter soon and I’m sure he will give you all the inside scoop about this freak occurence in his blog later this week. It appears he will be out about a week.

Post from: EveryJoe

Hunter Pence Injured in a Freak Accident