Would You Root For The San Antonio Astros Or The Houston Blue Jays/Athletics?

Everyone knows by now that since Nolan Ryan bought the Rangers, that he plans to claim the Austin/mid-Texas region as Rangers territory by putting the Rangers AAA franchise at RoundRock and casting Draytie-poo to the winds. We can keep Corpus for our AA team – not that there is much of any population there, you know. The Astros will end up in either Oklahoma City – which is mostly filled with Cardinals fans and a few Rangers fans, or Nashville, which is apparently so awful that Milwaukee wants out.

Isn’t THAT peachy.

Forget Portland – the Beavers are no more, as the baseball stadium is now the home of a soccer team and Portland is not about to give one dollar of public money for any sports stadium.

Not sure if Drayton even tried to renew the player development contract BEFORE the Rangers had known money troubles, but we’re in BIG trouble now.

You might could say – what about San Antonio, but they already have a AA club and the owner has NO interest in selling and they have a nice secure contract with the Marlins.

And Drayton is trying like heck to sell the team (don’t guess that either he wants to sell to Mark Cuban or that Mark Cuban wants to buy the Astros) and since Jim Crane of Houston changed his mind, Drayton has to find someone else. And so I hear tell, the someone else Drayton has found is some guys who want to move the team to – get this – San Antonio (I guess the AA guy would get paid off or Selig would force him to leave somehow, not sure how).

As you know, San Antonio has no major league stadium, so the public would have to be screwed into coughing one up or, even worse, the new Astros owners would have to (gasp, shudder) build their own as the Giants and Cardinals did. And if any of all yall remember, the Marlins tried to use San Antonio to blackmail Miami-Dade into giving them billions, and it didn’t work. San Antonio has a large population, but most of them are not exactly the sort who happily cough up hundreds of bucks to trot off to a baseball game. And there is no large corporate base, neither.

So the point of moving the team there would be???

The fan base would be, like, who? They can’t even fill the AA stadium. OK, it’s not in the north (rich) part of town, where I hear tell the New Guys would want the stadium (here and I thought stadiums were supposed to be these magic things that “revitalized” a downtown and brought in $$$).

But I hear tell that Bud Selig wants 3 ML teams in Texas and really wants to get the Blue Jays out of Canada – so much for globalization of baseball, eh? Or punish Oakland for not being richer and not forking over billions to the billionaires for new public transportation lines and a stadium (because God Forbid that he gives San Jose back to the Athletics who had it until 1992).

We have a lot of MILES here in Texas, but support for THREE major league teams? Heck, there’s barely enough support for 2 – and the only reason that the Rangers are getting as popular as they are is because Nolan Ryan is there and people are nuts about HIM – don’t give me the stuff about the winning team – there was barely ANY interest in the late 90s when the Rangers were winning big – they were around 1000x more interested in which Dallas Cowboy belched and when, even in the offoffoff season.

Who in Houston would shrug and say – Astros/ Jay-A’s – whazza diffrunce? Not me, that is fer SHER. I know that all the kids school groups/church groups/business groups would still come all right because they don’t know the difference between a baseball and a basketball anyway. But actual FANS? Please.

It would, of course, make more sense to put a team where the population and $$$ is – namely Brooklyn or NJ – but there is absolutely NO way that MLB would do anything to take either money or attention away from the Yankees – they WANT the Yankees to win every year and have these gigantic payrolls – it makes money to have the globetrotters/generals. And Bud couldn’t care less about what happens in some unimportant part of the country – unless of course, that part of the country won’t force its taxpayers to be blackmailed by (censored) politicians into forking over huge amounts of $$$ to billionaires.

And of course you know that due to blackout rules, couldn’t none of us follow the Astros if they moved to San Antonio and naturally, FoxSports would show the new team.

So tell me, WOULD anyone shrug and cheer for the new team? Would anyone go to see the new team in San Antonio?

Category: Astros baseball
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September 3rd, 2010 , Lisa Gray
3 Comments

Wandy Rodriguez Gets Screwed Out Of The August 2010 NL Pitcher Of The Month Award

Trouble is, too many voters REALLY think that pitcher wins are solely dependent on the pitcher.

In August, NO pitcher in the NL league outpitched Wandy.

He threw 6 games, 41.1 IP, 43 K, 8 BB, 31 H, 8 BB, 1 HR: 1.34 ERA, 0.97 WHIP. This is a 6.9 H/9; 5.4 K:BB; 9.6 K/9; 1.7 BB/9.  Unfortunately, he got minimal run support, so his W/L was a measly 2-1. He threw 3 games in which he gave up only 1 ER and all he got for his trouble was a ND. He gave up 2 runs in 1 game and got a L and he gave up 0 runs in 1 and got a W – and he also got a W in one game in which he gave up 1 run.

The guy who won threw 6 games, 42 IP, 33 H, 9 BB, 1 HR, 35: 1.71 ERA, 1.00 WHIP: 7.1 H/9; 7.5 K/9; 1.7 BB/9; 3.9 K:BB. This guy had a 4-0 record and threw 2 games giving up 0 ER, 2 games giving up 1 ER, 1 game giving up 2 ER and 1 game giving up 4 ER.

Yeah, I know – no crying in baseball…

But I really don’t, for the life of me, understand why Wandy don’t get no respeck. I remember the night he pitched a shutout against the Mets a few years back – ESPN didn’t even mention his NAME when they talked about the game. When he got 10 Ks in a loss against the Marlins earlier this year, they didn’t say anything about the game except to talk briefly about Hanley. When he outpitched (by FAR) Roy Oswalt last year, all I heard was deafening silence.

sigh

With all the talktalktalk about how Jordan Lyles is supposed to joing the Astros rotation next year (and so far at AAA, he’s started 5 games over 26.2 IP, given up 40 H, 2 HR, 10 BB, 19 K, 16 ER/18 R) with a 5.40 ERA/ 1.88 WHIP) and he sure nuff doesn’t exactly look ML ready to me – but unless Paulino is finished as a starter, we already have 5 ML starters and I can’t see them wasting him as a Joba.

I wouldn’t be real too surprised to see him get traded this offseason as he is gonna be a LOT more expensive and I would bet that Drayton would rather spend money on Hunter Pence, who is a big crowd pleaser, than an outstanding pitcher whose jersey isn’t for sale anywhere, even on line.

I would also bet that even if the Astros and their fans and the media aren’t real too impressed with Wandy, that OTHER baseball people sure nuff know who he is and the other teams would line up to get him…

Category: Wandy Rodriguez
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September 2nd, 2010 , Lisa Gray
4 Comments

Hunter Pence Is Teh Awesomeness And Nelson Figueroa Is The Lucky-ness As Astros Sweep Cards

I really should have called this – Albert Pujols can’t hit even Nelson Figueroa for goodness sakes – but i’m just not that mean. I’ve started looking back and I can’t find even ONCE when Uncle came to the Box when he didn’t get even ONE hit – although he did get 1 walk.

Or I could have called this – the umps had a strike zone that wobbled like a drunk trying to walk a straight line – which would be more fun and just as accurate, but I just HAD to give Hunter Pence the props as this was the second game in a row that he won the game for the Astros with his bat. As well as the second game in a row in which he was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double, but we won’t have to go there because his batting overcame his feet outrunning his brains…

Where was I? Oh yeah. It is Wednesday afternoon at the Box, and most businessmen had seomthing else to do with their time on this rainy afternoon- maybe, MAYBE 10K people were actually AT the ballpark. Me, I like to think that everyone decided to boycott the Milo adoration pre-game fest. No, I am not kidding – yet ANOTHER reward Milo ceremony.

But anyway, Figgy started out having juuuuust a bit of trouble – gave up a leadoff double to Schu down the LF line, then got lucky when Miles hit the ball back to him and he caught Schu in a rundown. (JD was VERY approving of the way that Figgy performed the rundown, running right at the runner, chasing him back to second and then throwing the ball to Blum for the out – yes, Blum was at SS (sigh) because he has a history of hitting Suppan well. he’s 10 fer 28 lifetime. Seriously. But then he got Uncle out, and hung a curve to Matt Holliday, who hit it into the Crawford Boxes – actually, looked like the hall beyond the Boxes, in the 3rd opening toward center.

So much for the 3rd shutout in a row.

Figgy threw a LOT of balls (well, the HP ump couldn’t make up his mind which pictch on the outside corner was gonna be a strike or ball – and he changed his mind constantly – and there were 4 pitches called strikes which were DEFINITELY outside and more than that called balls which were definitely strikes, but it didn’t decide the game – I think…) Anyway, Figgy hit a batter, gave up 3 walks, went to five 3 ball counts, had a lot of “strikes” fouled off, had 3 swing and miss pitches, gave up a homer, 2 doubles and 3 singles over 5 innings/91 pitches – AND he left bases loaded twice. Got lucky once because it was Pedro Worthless Feliz up and the other time, he got Jon Jay out, and Jon Jay is hitting .300+ and has a .952 OPS with RISP, 2 out.

And it sure looked as if that Cards 2 run lead was gonna hold up. Suppan threw a lot of strikes, the Astros swung early and swung often (I keep writing that every entry, don’t I?) and got themselves out. Pence duplicated his performance last night when he hit a ball and tried to stretch it and this time, instead of being thrown out by 6 inches, he was thrown out by 6 feet – at least.

Through the first 4 innings, the Astros had managed that Pence single, a HBP (Wallace is trying to race to Biggio’s record, I guess, and at this rate – 7 HBP/90 PA, he’d break Biggio’s record in 3670 PA – or sometime in 2016 after the ASB, which would be teh kewl.

But then in the 5th, Suppan walked Wallace on 4 straight balls (yes, ALL out of the zone) then Castro doubled to the LF bullpen – the ball rolled quite a way and Rasmus had to chase it, but Clark held Wallace at third – not sure why – he must be so incredibly slow that Clark must have thought that even with all the relays, that he had no chance to score.

And then Brian Bogusevic, newly called up, came in to pinch hit. AW RIGHT!!!!!!!!!! But he grounded out to Uncle, so Wallace was dead meat at home while Castro went to third. JD was groaning, and so was I – think he was also a lil surprised that Clark stopped Wallace. But Michael hit a hi FB 400′ for a sac-fly and Castro scored to at least break up the shutout. And Bogusevic stole a base – EASILY – off Yadi Molina. Hadn’t realized that he is such a great base stealer – 24 for 25 this year at AAA. He doesn’t LOOK fast – He’s probably a Carlos Lee type stealer – goes when the opposition has forgotten him…

Michael has been tearing it UP since he started his reached base streak on Aug 21 – 47 BA/54 PA with 17 H, 5 BB, 2 ROE, 5 SB, 1 CS, 6 RBI, 6 RBI, 10K: .361 BA/.444 OPS. Not sure what he turned on, but I LIKEY, I LIKEY!!! After an absolutely putrid July, Michael has turned it back on and for August, hit .283/.350 – no power, yeah I know, but he’s not The Rickey, and his job is to get on base, steal, score runs and field. Which he has done very well.

And he did his thing in the 8th, too – singled on a bouncer up the middle, went to second on a rare Yadi Passed ball that clanked off his glove – too busy watching Michael, went to third on a flyout, then scored on a popup to shallow center in which the SS caught the ball while running towards the OF – just like Anderson Hernandez did last week when Michael let Hernandez call him off.

Where was I?

Oh yeah – so with 2 on, Hunter came up and don’t ask me why, but TLR left Suppan in to pitch to Hunter instead of bring in McClallan a little early. Suppan hung a curve and Hunter hit it 10 rows back into the Crawford Boxes just inside the foul line. But that is 3 runs and the Astros never looked back.

Good news is that Lindstrom is back off the DL and he pitched an inning and looked as if he was throwing free and easy without pain. He had no trouble finding the strike zone, neither and he pitched to Uncle and Holliday and retired them both easily. Abad threw an inning, looked great and got Rasmus on a strikeout on a pitch that was way outside. I have noticed that this happens to Rasmus a LOT and I am wondering if he has seriously pissed off umps or something because it wasn’t one of those – last pitch of a 15 inning game and the umps want to go home sort of thing (like what happened to Johnny Damon last month).

Lyon pitched an easy 1,2,3 9th for the save and didn’t look as if he’d struggled last night.

So tomorrow is a blessed day off – FINALLY – then we’re off to Arizona then Phoenix before coming back home for a 10 day stand against LA (goody – I get to see Bradley Awesomeness!!!) Milwaukee and Cincy.

September 1st, 2010 , Lisa Gray
15 Comments

Wandy, Wilton And Lyon Shut Up And Shut Out Carpenter

Wandy had a bit of difficulty because the HP ump had a somewhat erratic strike zone on the outside, but Wandy and Castro managed to adjust all right. It took Wandy 20 pitches to get through the first inning, and he walked Albert, but got Holliday looking at strike 3 – off the plate – as I said, the ump was, uh, erratic. He gave up 2 singles in the 3rd, but got Uncle to flyout to end the inning – Uncle has never done well against Wandy. He walked Pedro Feliz in the 4th, but after that, mowed em down 1,2,3 except for Yadi, who ROE in the 7th when CJ bobbled a ball.

7 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K, no runs, ERA now down to 3.71 – his 8th straight QS, 12th of 13.

He now has a 1.35 ERA for the month of August over 6 starts and has 2 W and 1 L (on 2 ER/7 IP) to show for it. One of the reasons I hate hearing about pitchers “knowing how to win” and all that stuff.

And speaking of win, I really liked seeing Wandy Win and Carpenter NOT win. I don’t like that guy, never have. Every time I see his mug I think about my Mama talking about this guy never mind who – big as an ox and half as smart. And I was glad that Michael Bourn led off the game with an infield single – he got caught stealing when Angel Sanchez effed up a hit and run. But anyway, the Astros were swinging early and often – 6 pitches total for the 1st, 7 for the 2nd and 7 for the 3rd. I knew we weren’t gonna get nohit, but maybe 1 hit? But Michael led off the 4th with a hard smash off Schumaker’s glove, then Angel Sanchez singled up the middle. Then Pence hit a hanging slider to deep center over Rasmus’ head and it rolled UP the Hill, and by the time Rasmus retrieved it and threw it back in, Bourn and Sanchez had scored. Clank struck out swinging, then CJ singled Pence home.

Only 3 runs, but fortunately, it was all Wandy needed.

Although he just might could have got hisself some serious high blood pressure when Byrdak came on in the 8th and immediately walked  pinch hitter Aaron Miles. Mills, to my surprise, pulled him right quick and sent in Wilton Lopez, who got out Wilton Lopez, Rasmus and Uncle.

Brandon Lyon, uh, made things, uh, INteresting in the 9th – threw a first pitch FB right down the middle to Holliday, who doubled. Uh oh. Then he had fun with Yadi Molina – threw 4 pitches in almost the exact same spot – I mean, millimeters – and 2 were called strikes and 2 were balls and Yadi decided to swing at one of em – guess he couldn’t guess WHAT the call was gonna be and fortunately, he swung right through it. OK, 1 out. Feliz grounded out. OK, 2 out.

Then he walked Schu – and all those balls were WAAAAYYY out of the zone. And now Randy Winn is up and Lyon looks VERY tired and no one is up in the pen. 4 pitches, more borderline funfunfun, it’s 2 and 2 and Winn does Lyon a favor by swinging at a pitch at his neck and game ovah.

And we have shut out the Cards for the second straight game. Carpenter being the shutout pitcher is just icing on the cake.

Tomorrow afternoon, it’s Nelson Figueroa vs Jeff Suppan.

Would be nice to sweep…

August 31st, 2010 , Lisa Gray
No Comments

Happ-y Astros Shut Out Happ-Less Cards

JA Happ pitched the 3rd Astros complete game this year, a 3-0 shutout of the Cards. Unlike his previous starts, he threw mostly strikes, going to only three 3 ball counts. One walk, 2 singles, 1 GIDP (from Uncle). And that was really all she wrote.

It was a nice quick Roy-O style game – 2 hrs, 1 min, first pitch to last – probably because there was exactly 1 mound conference – the Cards in the 7th. And only 1 pitching change, and that was to start an inning.  I LIKEY!!!! It’s true that all the running out to the mound, stepping out, stepping on, stepping off makes games incredibly more boring and I wish the time limits were enforced (yeah, they are ALREADY ML rules, but not enforced…)

Jake Westbrook wasn’t bad – 9 hits, 1 walk, FOUR GIDP (Castro had 2, Clank had 1, Sanchez had 1) and gave up only 3 hard hit balls (only 1 was an out – Manzella’s flyout to the wall at the RF bullpen) and the other 2, both singles, drove in runs. Pence singled and Clank drove him in with a double down the RF line that had some funny bouncing after it hit just inside the line.

CJ broke his ofer 9 with a single in the 7th, then Brett Wallace, who went 3 fer 3 – yeah, he DID, and now he’s hitting about 20 points under his weight!!! drove him in with a double to the LF bullpen wall.

Oh yeah – and we had our all rookie infield tonight – Wallace, Sanchez, Manzella, Johnson, Castro. Manzella made awesome plays all night long, Sanchez made a fabulous catch of Miles’ pop fly into shallow right center, Wallace made a nice DP when he caught Rasmus’ liner and doubled off Yadi Molina in the 8th. Castro called a great game and Happ shook him off once.

Manzella hustled BIG time to beat out a crucial infield single in the 8th. And speaking of hustle, Carlos Lee, yes, CARLOS LEE hustled in the 4th – when Wallace was up, he had second easily stolen, only it was a foul and then on the next pitch, he ran HARD from first to third when Wallace singled. In fact, this August was the first month this year that he hit his usual career numbers – .295/.339/.514/.854. He SAYS he’s worked out his troubles with his swing, seeing the ball, etc. OK, but he’s got to do it for more than 1 month, seeing as how we’re prolly stuck with him for 2 more years, unless Drayton wants to eat more dough.

Tomorrow, it’s the Wand Man vs Chris Carpenter. Root root root for the Wand Man. Especially because I don’t like Carpenter…

August 30th, 2010 , Lisa Gray
3 Comments

In Which Jason Bourgeois Saves Wilton Lopez, Tim Byrdak And The Victory Against Johan Santana

Yeah, we beat Johan Santana for the second time this month. Hard to believe, yeah. Once more, he gave up 4 runs over 7 innings. The lineup was almost perfect – Bourgy in left, Pence in right, Bourn in center, Manzella at short and Sanchez at second. No effing Anderson Hernandez. ANYWHERE. And, naturally, no Brett Wallace at first because he hits leftys better than rightys – once more it was Clank, trying to play first. Well, he plays first better than left, but that isn’t saying real too much, I know…

Bourgy led off and Michael hit second (for the first time this year, I think) so Bourgy had a lead off single, Michael hit into what SHOULD have been a 4-6-3 but they didn’t turn it, then Pence singled, Clank singled and Michael scored, then CJ flew out to center, but not deep enough for Pence to go to third, then Angel Sanchez walked, then Tommy Manzella beat out an infield single to third and Pence scored.

Tommy, by the way, went 3 fer 4 and showed Mills what a REAL shortstop looks like with the glove, so hopefully, we’ve seen the last of Anderson Hernandez.

Michael Bourn singled, was HBP, scored 2 runs and darn near grounded into a 1-6-3 in the 8th – he was only saved because Santana had a crappy throw to the SS, who had to take a fraction of a second to double step to tag second, and he made a throw to first which pulled the 1B off the bag, otherwise Michael woulda been out by a full stride.

CJ was completely lost against Santana and took the sombrero. Carlos drove in 3 with a single and a homer.

And the Astros pitching and fielding (Tommy Manzella is really REALLY good) shut down the Mets until Wilton Lopez came in in the 8th. He ran into bad luck – Luis Castillo led off with an infield single to short – one of those slow rollers – Tommy gloded forward, made a fabulous scoop and throw, but Castillo beat it out by a hair. Wilton got lucky when CB Bucknor at first called a ball hit over the 1B bag by the Jackal as foul, and he grounded out with Castillo going to second. Then Wilton got a bunch more grounders, but unfortunately, they just found holes – and some days, ground balls do that. David Wright hit one that Sanchez couldn’t get to, driving in Castillo, then Ike Davis hit another, then with 2 on, Jeff Francoeur got himself out swinging wildly at 3 pitches which were all out of the zone – the last one was somewheres near his neck.

With lefty Josh Thole coming up (Jerry Manuel never lets him bat against leftys – this year he’s had exactly 10 PA appearances vs leftys) Lopez was pulled and Byrdak came in. He went to 2-2, then Thole lined a rope to shallow left center and Bourgeois with his great glove and speed nabbed it – Clank wouldn’t have gotten anywheres NEAR that ball and a run would have scored fer SHER.

Odd managing decision with the Astros batting in the 8th – with 2 out, Manzella singled, the Quintero singled. With a righty pitcher, Mills decided to send in Blum, who has been out with a stiff neck (or something, who knows, they lie) which made Jerry Manuel go straight to his pen to send in the lefty. Blum can’t hit his way out of a wet paper bag righty, so why didn’t he send in Michaels in the first place?

shrug

Fortunately, we didn’t need the run(s) in the 8th or the 9th and Lyon came in and got 1,2,3 out.

This afternoon, it’s Bud Norris vs the knuckleballer RA Dickey – a few weeks back he threw 8.1 innings, giving up 9 hits, 1 walk, 2 ER and 6 K. We gots to hope that the knuckleball doesn’t knuckle.

Bud threw 7 innings of 2 hit, 2 walk, 2 run ball. I hope to gawd that Bucknor isn’t the HP ump. Dana De Muth was the ump for this game, and he’s good and he’s fair – Bucknor is neither…

August 28th, 2010 , Lisa Gray
4 Comments

Stephen Strasburg, Mr. Murphy And Money

As everyone who watches baseball or any sports broadcast knows, 22 year old Stephen Strasburg, last year’s #1 draft pick, the 22 year old supposed gonna be an ace de la ace forEVAHpitcher, hurt his elbow and has to have an operation and will be out for a year. Even then he may not return to being The Strasburg with the Exciting 100 MPH fastball!!!!!!!! for a year. Or he may be like Lidge and have to slow it down by 10% in order to succeed and who would want to watch him if he threw only 90 instead of 100? Too many people are enthralled by velocity itself and bored by results.

Interesting that so few are saying, well, elbows get hurt, it is how things go. Most are wanting to know why WHY WHY did this happen???!!! The Nationals, as well as his college team, supposedly Did Everything Right – no overuse, no abuse, not making him pitch tired or hurt, etcetcetc. Supposedly, stuff like this didn’t happen BITGOD.

Sure it did. Guys who injured their arms as teens, in the minors or the majors didn’t have the option of tendon replacement surgery, they were just ineffective and out of baseball. I’ve chatted with more than a few guys who were stud pitchers (so they say) in school or college or minors and hurt wrist/arm/shoulder/hip/foot/leg and after repair, just couldn’t play as well – or play at all because they couldn’t/didn’t get it fixed in such a way that they were even the same player after healing/rehab.

There were never, and I mean NEVER tons of pitchers who threw 200-300 innings every year for many years without injuries. If you don’t believe me, go to baseball-reference.com. Pick a team (not the Yankees) and look at the roster in 1930, check the pitchers, games started and innings pitched. Go to 1931, do the same. And every year until 1939. See how many pitchers threw even 200, not 300, innings a year every year for 10 years. Then look at the few who did, and you will see that darn near all of them are in the HOF. And, by the way, check out guys who threw 200+ innings their first year and didn’t make it through the next year – there are plenty of them.

But too many people won’t look at the actual FACTS because they prefer to think that today’s pitchers are effeminate, babied weaklings and BITGOD, ALL pitchers were like Nolan Ryan (who, by the way, WAS injured at age 21 and didn’t start pitching full time until age 25) or Bob Feller or Warren Spahn. Very few guys even lasted 3 straight years in the majors, even though there were only 16 teams and LOTS of minor league teams with some VERY good players who never had much of a chance. And there simply were not as many good hitters (check out teams not named the Yankees from 1920 to 1970) and very few pitchers threw any 95-100 MPH, if any of them did. And if they did, it may have been only for the Ted Williams quality hitters, not the middle infielders. AND remember that guys didn’t take pitches and striking out was a REALLY Terrible “Not Playing The Game The Right Way” Thing and grounding out/popping up was a Good Thing. They swung early and often – you disbelieve me, go watch ESPN classic sometimes, even games from the 70s/80s were incredibly different Before Video. They ALL (except Ted) choked up on the bat after 2 strikes and made every attempt to ground out/popup so they wouldn’t K. And check out the pitches, too – not real too many starters like Verlander. Most guys were a lot more like Moehler/Nelson Figueroa.

 The BITGOD thing is another one of zillions of Garden of Eden fantasies.

But truth is that ANYONE can get injured at ANY time. It could be as simple as just being distracted for a fraction of a second by a runner, a bird in the sky, an itch, planting your foot just a teensy bit wrong, not getting your arm/shoulder/hips/feet aligned just perfect and when you make your body move in a destructive, unnatural way, and you don’t have everything perfectly timed, well, it sure nuff is easy to tear something if you put the wrong kind of stress on something. Heck, I’ve read about guys who have injured themselves by SNEEZING.

These days, seems us people all insist that If You Do “Everything Right” Then Nothing Can Go Wrong. And if something does, SOMEONE is to blame, and there HAS to be a reason other than Murphy’s Law (if something can go wrong, it will go wrong) and Mr/Ms Murphy shows up at the darndest places and the darndest times. Sometimes stuff happens for which there is no particular reason and there is no one to BLAME and there is no FAULT. Stuff happens. Bad Luck exists. It just does. Life is not predictable the way people think it should be. Sometimes, you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Sometimes you just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and there IS no fault.

People have different DNA and even with athletes with special DNA which gives them unbelieveable eyesight and hand-eye coordination (just think – from less than 60 feet away you can spot a red spot on a round object traveling at least 80 MPH and not only that, you can react so incredibly fast that you can swing a thin stick and hit that 5″ diameter ball. I doubt that most people could hit an object with the kind of motion and speed a ML pitch haws if the object was 2′ wide…) And for whatever reason, those people’s tendons and bones and muscles are just the littlest bit different from each others and so some large strong (like that makes a difference) males are as fragile as china dolls and some males just never seem to get hurt.

And Strasburg (and the Nats and the Strasburg fans) just interacted with Mr/Ms Murphy.

I get so tired of all the incessant comments about how Strasburg SHOULD have been fine because he is SOOOOOOOOO big. Really. And the reason small guys like Maddux and Glavine pitched for 20 years without getting hurt or going on the DL is, um, well, uh. “Large” does not keep anyone off the DL. “Large” is another one of those myths that will NOT die. There is exactly NO difference in injury rate of pitchers of different sizes/weights. People simply believe that bigger = better and no amount of icky FACTS gonna change their beliefs.

And, subject 2, everyone is now screaming that it is SUCH a terrible thing that the Nats paid 15 mill to Strasburg to sign him and now they are gonna lose a year. OR maybe more!!!!!

I see.

So are those self same people gonna start screaming that if the Nats had picked him in the 30th round, paid him a sack of chewing gum and he had turned into a Super Ace that they should pay him like a Super Ace and not the minimum league payment for 3 straight years? Please.

Same thing with any free agent they sign. You can sign a guy who never had a headache and first wekk out, he sneezes, throws out his shoulder or ribs, or whatever, bends over conks his head and that’s the end. OR he’s minding his own business and suddenly one of those baseball shoving matches breaks out and someone falls all over him and he gets a knee in the face and is out concussed forever.

youneverknow. you REALLY never know.

Teams gamble that they will make money off the player and the player gambles that he will make money off the team (except for Gary Sheffield who was constantly griping that he should be paid more and never offered to refund money if he didn’t live up to expectations – imagine that) but a whole lot of people, especially media types, use Strasburg to point out how the draft “is broken” because the Nats are losing a year of Strasburg. I don’t see them pointing out how Evan Longoria who was a hitting stud from the word GO is and was the most underpaid player in MLB, given his accomplishments, and that he will most likely never ever be paid anything like his true worth.

But that is fine because a whole lot of people really think that professional ballplayers SHOULD be paid like minor leaguers and have to do crappy jobs in the offseason to eat. Or live off their parents/rich women. Or something. They have no problem with ownership making 130 mill a year instead of 30 mill a year. They have this silly fantasy that seat prices are related to the payroll, which is why you see all the low payroll teams selling their seats at 1980 prices, right? That and the fact that they resent the fact that professional athletes get paid a lot of money when they themselves could do the same for FREE. Which explains why minor league games draw hundreds of thousands per game, unlike MLB.

If people really think that professional athletes should ONLY be paid according to performance, and shouldn’t get a penny if they get hurt, then they should be paid HUGE sums per year if they excel, right? Seeing as how they shouldn’t have contracts guaranteed (how is an unguaranteed “contract” a “contract” at all? If one party doesn’t have to adhere to it, why does the other party? Sounds like BITGOD where men got to cheat on their wives and that was fine and dandy, but the wife didn’t get to cheat on her husband, even though they took the same vows of monogamy…)

So if you want to change drafts so that athletes get some small “slot”bonus to keep them from playing some other sport or not playing at all, then you also have to change the pay structure and pay them according to their true value on the field, which should be a premeasured, agreed upon percent of the team’s moneys received – and this has to include baserunning and fielding, not just hitting, or BA/RBI). which means that a guy who comes up and hits like Albert Pujols did his first year should be paid like a 10 year star, not a league minimum AND should receive what SHOULD have been his slot bonus too, right?

What, you don’t like that neither?

Gee, what a surprise…

Category: baseball
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August 28th, 2010 , Lisa Gray
10 Comments

Astros Play Lousy And Mets Hand Them A Well Deserved Loss

It started in the first inning. Mike Pelfrey threw 2 pitch strikes on the upper outer corner, then couldn’t find the zone with a telescope and Bourn fouled off 3 pitches out of the zone, then walked. Anderson Hernandez, not exactly any good, was batting second. And for reasons I do NOT get, Michael was hugging the bag tighter than some big fat slug. He didn’t run on 1-0. He didn’t run even after he saw that Pelfrey and Blanco had NO idea where the pitches were going and he had THREE opportunities for easy steals, but noooooo.

So when Hernandez swung on a high pitch and flew out to shallow center, Bourn was glued to second, and when Pence singled up the RF line, instead of scoring, he ended up at third – and I don’t want to hear about Francoeur’s arm – for some reason, he has this Jesse Barfield rep which is totally undeserved.

Then Clank swung at THREE pitches WAAAYYY out of the zone – WTF???!!!! – CJ walks on FOUR pitches, and Brett Wallace is up with bases loaded, 2 outs. He swung at ball 3 – which was high, and what was probably ball 4 – but was at least borderline and almost unhittable.

And that was the HIGH point of the Astros night.

Figgy came out, and like Pelfrey, couldn’t find the strike zone with a searchlight. Well, after the first hitter, who flied out to Bourn. Then Luis Castillo singled up the middle – that wasn’t the problem. Figgy threw wildly to second, trying to pick off Castillo, who has long since lost his legs. Wallce fell over Castillo, had to chase the ball and Castillo ended up on second, then went to third on a VERY wild pitch (Brad Ausmus wouldn’t have gotten that one neither), Beltran walked and it was 1 out, men on first and third.

Then the absolutely bullstuff happened. David Wright hit a popup to shallow center. Bourn, a gold glove fielder, the fastest man in the NL, was running forward to catch the ball and Anderson Hernandez was running toward the OF and called for the ball – either he was called off by Bourn, ignored it, or Bourn had to pull up because he would have collided, but he would have EASILY had that ball. Hernandez was flat out STUPID to go and get that ball and call off Bourn because he was running toward the OF, he wouldn’t have been able to throw out Bengie Molina, he threw wildly to home – was so incredibly offline that the ball skipped by Castro and Beltran ended up on second. It SHOULD have stayed men on first and third, 2 outs.

I really would like to know why on earth Mills is playing Hernandez so much. He has absolutely NO redeeming qualities. NONE. He can’t hit for average, power, can’t play even average defense, can’t throw, can’t field, can’t steal, can’t run. And all this is worse than Tommy Manzella? Hernandez is not a rookie, learning how to play. He is taking valuable time from a rookie, and THIS year, there is no, and I mean NO excuse for this crap.

And then both pitchers just went up, threw strikes and the guys went down 1,2,3 in the second, and third, with the only excitement being Angel Pagan’s excellent running catch on Bourn’s shot to left – would have been a triple if he had missed it.

Figgy lost all control in the 4th, gave up a single and 2 walks to load the bases, then issued a walk to a guy who is 1 for his last 50 (or something like that) to allow another Mets run (actually, the winning run), then got lucky when the pitcher hit into a DP (guess they didn’t want to risk a squeeze, don’t ask me why – maybe Pelfrey can’t bunt well). Astros didn’t do well in out half neither, Clank lined out, then CJ doubled. Brett Wallace struck out on 11 pitches after taking 2 balls, 1 called strike and fouling off 4 which were out of the zone and was caught looking on a perfect pitch inside which was belt high. He’s not even having good fouls. Angel Sanchez then singled to shallow right and CJ ran right through the stop sign at third – and he slowed down as he passed the bag (seriously, WHAT???!!!) and was a dead duck. Not that he had any reason to think that Castro would drive him in, yeah, I know, but still, you have to be Bourn fast to pull that off.

In the 5th, with 2 out, Bourn singled and was caught stealing. He didn’t go early in the count, when he actually had a good chance – he went on a 2-2 after a few fouls and he got a BAD and late jump. He just seemed off it rtoday.

Figgy got lucky because he still couldn’t find the zone and the first 2 batters got themselves out on pitches out of the zone and Beltran hit the only ball actually IN the zone, but was just a little under it and flew out.

Only excitement in the 6th was Francoeur getting hit by an errant slider, then stealing second on a ball way outside. In the 7th, Wallace FINALLY broke his ofer streak – hit s single to left on an outside pitch off the end of the bat, but Sanchez and Castro stranded him needing only 3 pitches to get themselves out. Good grief.

No excitement until the 8th – Bourgeois hit a pinch single, then Bourn GIDP 3-6-3. That is his 4th one this year. sigh. Not a good day for the boy.

Melancon pitched a 1,2,3 8th.

Then in the 9th, they sent in Parnell, who gave up a single to Clank, who went to second when Angel Pagan booted the ball – even the best of fielders have effups every now and then. CJ singled, then lefty Takahashi came in (here and I thought he was starting – guess times change) and pinch hitter Michaels singled to drive in Clank. Angel Sanchez took 3 balls, then a borderline called strike, then fouled off one, then missed a fat one down the middle, fouled another one off, then popped up the last pitch – he had to swing, it woulda been strike 3 if he didn’t. Then Tommy Manzella was sent in – got called out on one of those strikes low and on the black – you GOTS to foul them off. He didn’t think that strike 3 was a strike, but it was. The ump only got 3 calls wrong all night – he did a VERY good job with calls, I thought – and he had the same zone for both pitchers and all players.

sigh

That was truly a sorry ass game – guys best show up tomorrow because we’re facing Johan Santana and yes I know we beat him a week ago back home, but that was then and this is now…

Category: Nelson Figueroa
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August 27th, 2010 , Lisa Gray
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Michael Bourn Drives In 1, Steals 2 And Scores From Second On An Infield Single

Remember a couple years back when Michael Bourn scored all the way from second on a Berkman sac-fly to deep center? I thought that outside of Wandy hitting a homer, that nothing could possibly be more absolutely kewl – well, maybe if Michael reached on error, then went to second on a WP, went to third on a balk then stole home. But this afternoon, I watched Michael reach on a ball hit off the pitcher’s glove (somehow, when the pitcher went to chase the ball, his shoe fell off – really, I swear it), get picked off but steal second anyhow and slide under the tag, and when Anderson Hernandez hit a chopper to third, Polanco picked it up, threw to first, not in time to get Hernandez – a little high, then he turned on the afterburners, flew home and slid in ahead of Ryan Howard’s perfect throw to Ruiz.

This is what makes Michael so exciting. I mean besides all the great fielding. He went 8 fer 20 with a HOMER!!! 4 runs, 2 RBI and 4 SB. And he really should have had another RBI but they held Castro at third when he could have scored – guess they figured Anderson Hernandez would drive him in?

Wandy didn’t have his best stuff today, but somehow he kept on mowin em down – gave up no hits until Werth singled to lead off the 5th. He went to 3rd on an Ibanez double, then tried to score on a fly ball to shallow center – but Pence was coming forward as he caught it and made a perfect throw to Castro and Werth was dead meat. I suppose he could have played Pete Rose to Ray Fosse, but he didn’t.

Wandy finally gave up a run in the 7th – Ben Francisco singled, then Jimmy Rollins hit a smash to third – CJ made another really great play, threw to Hernandez, who again couldn’t complete the DP. He’s not exactly a very nimble guy for a middle infielder – reminds me of Jeff Kent, except that Kent, for all his statue-like-ness was really good at turning the DP. I see why other Organizations keep getting tired of him – they’d usually put up with the lowe BA/OBP/SLG if he was a great glove, but he’s not. Anyway, Utley hit a ball into the RF corner and Rollins scored standing up and slowing as he reached the plate.

Since Castro started catching Wandy on June 24, Wandy hasn’t pitched fewer than 6 innings. He’s pitched 3 games giving up 0 runs, 6 games giving up 1 run (and has ND in 3 of those), 1 game with 2 runs, 1 with 3 and 1 with 5. I think the difference is that Castro is MUCH better framing pitches than Quintero – his weakness is blocking balls in the dirt, but he’s much better with the curve because it is slower and Wandy doesn’t throw a slider. Wandy’s ERA has gone from 6.09 to 3.87. His post ASB ERA is something like 1.70. Of course nobody notices…

And speaking of Castro, he singled and he doubled down the LF line today – good. I hope this might could get him hitting.

Brett Wallace is looking completely lost. His timing is off – he pops up, has weakass grounders, looks like Pedro Feliz (not good) except he is good at walking and getting HBP.

Angel Sanchez is not nearly as good with the glove as Manzella – I’d rather see him at second and Manz at short until Kepp gets back. I have no idea why Mills is playing Hernandez so much.

CJ was ofer again – at least he only swung at 1 pitch out of the zone and it wasn’t strike 3. He made 2 really REALLY good plays, and I mean good. I think his errors are him getting overeager to try to get an out, especially on a ball which really shouldn’t be thrown anyway because infield singles happen.

No stupid ump stuff – the HP ump only missed 1 pitch and there weren’t any close calls, except for Wandy getting thrown out at second on a WP – looks to me as if he was safe and he got his foot in ahead of hte tag, but the ball beat him and he’s a pitcher and well, that’s how things go. wandy was on first because he’d smashed a hanging breaker of some kind off the RF wall and unfortunately, it rolled straight to Werth and Wandy ain’t Michael.

Fulchino pitched a 1,2 walk, 3 8th.

Fernando Abad came in to mop up the 9th, got 2 quick outs, then gave up a single that Sanchez couldn’t get to (that Manzella would have had – I saw him make that play twice last night), then a single to left. And with a righty coming up to pinch hit, I fully expected Mills to pull him and send in some righty, but to my surprise, Arnesberg went out and Abad stayed in (although Lyon started warming up).

That AB took like FOREVER because Abad didn’t want to pitch what Castro wanted, or he couldn’t understand the signs, but he kept stepping off – and Castro went out to the mound THREE times before Ruiz finally flew out to Bourn.

But this was a 4 game sweep of the Phils – we kick ASS at their park, for some reason – they swept us back in April at the Box.

We’re off to see the Mets and Pelfrey (who gived us a whuppin a week ago) and we’ll see if Nelson Figueroa can beat his old team. Looks as if Figgy is gonna be our new Moehler, who re-injured his groin/abdomen – pulled muscle, bad tendon – something – and needs season ending surgery. I’ll go for that – he seems to be about the same kind of pitcher, only shorter and cheaper. My favorite kind…

August 26th, 2010 , Lisa Gray
11 Comments

Brandon Lyon Has A 2 Inning Save To Back Happ’s Win Over Halliday

Well, I know he dood it, but I don’t know HOW he dood it. He doesn’t have awesome stuff, he went to 5 three ball counts, but somehow he gave up only 5 hits, 2 walks 1 homer, 2 runs over 6.1 IP.  He got a little lucky and unlucky in the 6th, when with Halliday on second and Victorino on first, Polanco hit a ball to the LF wall that Clank misplayed – it really SHOULD have been caught, but he took a bad route, let it hit the ground and bounce off the wall, and Halliday scored, and for some reason I do NOT get, they held Victorino, who is almost Bourn fast, at third. It is absolutely ridiculous that not getting a very catchable ball isn’t called an error, but even Roy Oswalt would have made that play in left. But then Happ then got out Utley and Werth. Amazing.

And when the game first started, I thought that fer SHER Halliday was gonna throw a nono. 11 hitters, 34 pitches, then Pence came to bat, Halliday threw a FB up and in and Pence sent it over the left center wall. SUCH a relief – no  perfect game, no shutout. CJ singled to lead off the 5th, then Wallace GIDP. (The boy is having some trouble adjusting to ML pitching, just like Castro and Manzella and NO, I most positively do NOT want any of those guys sent down. And, in fact, I would like to see Anderson Hernandez and his long ML history of suckage kept mostly on the bench – he’s just Matt Kata all over again.) And Manzella is most definitely exponentially better with the glove than Sanchez. Even though he’s apparently forgotten all his Baggy lessons and is again mostly hitting the ball to short.

Oh yes – so in the 6th, Happ grounded out to lead off, then Michael Bourn, yes, MICHAEL “Mr. Infield Singles” Bourn golfed a pitch like a GOOD 380-400′ into the RF stands. Roy “Ace-Man” Halliday has just given up TWO homers to Astros hitters. I mean, we are talking about the guy who has given up no runs at ALL in 9 of his 26 starts.

In the 7th, CJ doubled to right, then Quintero drove him in with a single to left. And Quintero was most DEFINITELY the game’s hero. No question – not only did he drive in the winning run, but he saved the game before Brandon Lyon picked up a baseball. And this is the story.

Happ, to my surprise, comes out to start the 7th – Wilton Lopez was all warmed up and ready, but no. So Sweeney singles, Ben Francisco hits what SHOULD have been a GIDP ball to 3rd, but Hernandez can’t turn the play in time and it’s a FC.

Then Mills plays musical relievers. He pulls Happ and sends in Lopez, our best reliever, to face Ruiz. Good job, I woulda done the same. Ruiz singles to left, and then Manuel sends lefty Ibanez up to pinch hit for Halliday. But Mills pulls Lopez, HIS BEST RELIEVER, and sends in Byrdak, who gets Ibanez out. Then, Mills pulls Byrdak because he doesn’t want him to face Jimmy Rollins. So he sends in Melancon. (Mills REALLY thinks that Lopez can’t get out either Ibanez or Rollins? Are you KIDDING me????) And Rollins takes a strike, swings and misses, takes a ball, fouls one off, then there’s another ball in the dirt, which Q blocks, then he sees that Francisco has wandered off third, and he fires down to CJ and PICKS OFF FRANCISCO!!!

Amazing.

And then, of course, Brandon Lyon comes in and slams the door – 2 innings, 22 pitches. Gave up a single to Ryan Howard, who poked a ball through the 5.5 hole to beat the shift.

And tomorrow afternoon, it’s Wandy vs Kyle Kendrick. Would be very nice to sweep there Wand-man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 25th, 2010 , Lisa Gray
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