Man Hanrahan is a head case. Even he admits it.
But in the half-hour after the 4-3 loss at Minute Maid Park -- one that ended when Houston left fielder Carlos Lee hit a line-drive single to center with one out and runners at the corners in the bottom of the ninth -- Joel Hanrahan sat at his locker, his back to the visitors' clubhouse. An ice pack wrapped around his right elbow. His teammates ate quietly, showered, watched video. Hanrahan sat still, bare-footed, silent.
"I mean, I really . . . I've got no answer for it right now," Hanrahan said. "I don't know. You can't win ballgames by walking people, and that's what I did."
"I don't know," Hanrahan said. "I'm just not throwing strikes. I guess I'm maybe trying too hard to throw strikes and it's getting in my head. Right now, I'm not doing it."
"When it gets in your head," Hanrahan said, "I guess maybe that's my problem."
Joel leads all NL relievers in walks with 18 yet is 2nd in Ks by NL relievers with 27.
