Email This Post Email This Post

5/17/12: Happ Throws 6 Innings Of Shutout Ball To Beat Brewers

Enjoying this last year of real baseball. No matter HOW bad the team. And Milwaukee isn’t lookin nothin like the team that had Prince Fielder on it last year. Of course, his new team isn’t doing so well in spite of Da Prince killing the ball because their starting and relief pitching has been bad and ex-Stro Vlaverde has been stinking it up.

Uncle hit another homer today – woulda been an out on the Hill here…

Giants beat Berkman and the Cards today – Cards made THREE errors (all allowing runs to be scored) and pitchers gave up NINE walks. Saw this ad for the 3 upcoming games – Zito, Vogelsong and Lincecum. Guess which of those 3 guys has an ERA over 5?

To the game:  looks as if there are like maybe 8000 people in the stands.

1st inning: Aoki grounds out, Happ throws 2 strikes, then 3 balls to Rickie Weeks, hitting .155, then grounds out to Lowrie. Carlos has to stretch to get the throw. Carlos has done a REALLY good job as a first baseman this year, gotta tip my hat. Braun singles to right – Bogu almost gets it. Aramis Ramirez up, Braun steals – he’s a good baserunner – pretty close to a real 5 tool star. Aramis goes to 3-2, fouls off a bunch, then flies out to center. 23 pitches. Happ needs to get efficient two 3-2 counts on 4 hitters.

Speaking of center, Michael Bourn has a 128 OPS+ but 5 CS with 11 steals, 16 walks, only 29 K. He’s a Boras client in his walk year – wonder how much $$$ and years he’s gonna get. He certainly won’t be coming back here, there won’t be any contracts like THAT you best believe.

Marcum out there – Schafer Ks – that is a WIDE strike zone, none of the 3 were over the plate (according to pitch fx). Altuve singles to center. JD takes a pitch above the ankles for a strike. Good grief. Fouls off a curve, swings and misses a FB. Carlos, who has gotten his BA back over .300, up. Altuve steals second, takes 3rd on a bad throw from Lucroy. But Carlos grounds out on Ball 4 on a bad pitch down and outside. 15 pitches.

At least we won’t get no hit.

2nd – Corey Hart up. Seems he KILLZ Happ (yeah, JD says 7 fer 15) but he Ks swinging this time. Lucroy – 3rd round of the 07 draft – is kind of like JD Mart and Altuve – called up after 122 AB at AA/AAA in 2010 and never looked back. Anyway, he’s called out on that wide strike. Same with Ex-Stro Brooks Conrad.  38 pitches.

Happ just struck out the side, can you believe it?

Jed Lowrie flies out on the first pitch. Bogu grounds out to second. CJ singles to left – YESSSSSSSS. Snyder goes to 3-2 takes a home run cut and misses.

3rd. Izturis, the SS, grounds out first pitch. Marcum walks – yes, the pitcher. It’s a bad thing to walk a guy who doesn’t hit. sigh. Aoki doubles to the RF corner. Here we go. Weeks up and singles to third – CJ has to fall and stretch to get the ball, look Marcum back and Weeks is on first with an IF single. Bases loaded 1 outs. JEEZ. Braun does Happ a favor (woulda been a bigger favor to GIDP, but hey, out is out) and pops out over near the dugout and Marcum, not exactly fast, has to stay put. Aramis grounds out to CJ. Man, they’re looking like the Astros. 57 pitches.

No I don’t blame the Brewers 3rd base coach for not sending a slow footed slug like Marcum from third on a popup – it would have been close with a fast runner as the throw from Carlos wasn’t a perfect strike – let’s put it like that.

Happ up, and he can actually hit, so let’s hope he does. Nope, not this time, grounds out to Weeks. Schafer bloops a popup into right near the line for a double – ran HARD all the way and made it in ahead of the throw. CMON JOSE!!! But he grounds out betwen the first base line and the mound and he’s out although Schafer makes it to third. But JD Martinez grounds out on a pitch at his ankle and Schafer is stranded. 42 pitches.

sigh

4th inning: Hart gounds out to Lowrie. Lucroy flies out to JD near the LF bullpen. Conrad hits a chopper to Happ. 67 pitches. That is a HUGE strike zone and both Happ and Marcum are really enjoying this. Hitting is gonna be done on something that hangs or one of those unusual golf swing type things.

But youneverknow…

Because Carlos hits a line drive into right. Lowrie goes to 3-2 and hits a high pop over the RF wall, maybe 30′ from the foul pole, but hey, out is out. Bogu singles up the middle. CJ up, but he dribbles a ball to third and is barely out. Snyder up, and he singles to shallow center, Bogu, who is FAST, easily beats the throw home and Snyder goes to second – throw skipped in the dirt. But he would have beat a GOOD throw, too. He’s a GOOD baserunner. Error on Aoki is for letting Snyder get to second. Happ up, goes to 3-2, then takes strike 3 down the middle. Too bad. Schafer up and he lines a high FB into shallow center and Aoki can’t throw out Schafer at the plate and Lucroy fires a bullet to second, But Schafer has already taken second and the throw is late!!! So Altuve hits a dribbler to third and barely beatts the throw to first – or maybe not. JD thinks that Conrad didn’t get the out call because he doesn’t have the rep. JD Martinez NEEDS to really hit some kind of serious double or homer here. But no, just a routine grounder to short. 76 pitches. But it’s

Astros 4 Crew 0

5th inning: Izturis singles up the middle. Marcum bunt pops up. Aoki singles to center, Bogu went to get the ball, drops it and runners at second and third. Bogu’s first error this year. I keep talking about what a good OF he is and what a good and accurate arm he has. He could easily play center and play it well. Weeks up, 1 out. Takes called strike 3 down the middle. Braun is up – but he grounds out to CJ – easy 5-3. 82 pitches.

Caballo up, goes to 3-2, takes a walk – first walk of the game. You notice all that walking the Astros were doing in April has kind of vanished. Lowrie flies out. Bogu hits a slow roller to second for a FC. CJ up – hope he isn’t swinging at all that low stuff again. Bogu steals second – throw a lil too late. But CJ swings at crap and strands him.

6th: Aramis grounds out to short. Corey Hart is long and he’s strong and he’s down to get the longball on, but the ball goes off the RF bullpen fence for a double. 5 more inches and it woulda been out. Lucroy singles to right, Hart stops at third, but Bogu didn’t make a good throw and Hart would have scored.

Broakey out. Happ stays. We’ll see.

First pitch, Conrad pops up. Two out. Izturis up. He grounds out to Lowrie on a 2-2. 97 pitches and he strands men on second and third 1 out AGAIN – he’s done this in 3 of the 6 innings he’s pitched and he left Braun on second in the first. Only two 1,2,3 innings. But he’s gotten his ERA under 5!!!!!

New pitcher, righty Kameron Loe in, Marcum and Brooks Conrad out, Travis Ishikawa now at 1B. Snyder up and he doubles off the scoreboard – barely beats the throw into second. Marwin Gonzalez up to sac bunt and JD says what I’m thinking – namely, why on EARTH not let the pitcher, who is USED to sac bunting, lay it down? Marwin Ks. Schafer is HBP on the 0-2 on a curve that curved. Altuve up and Ks on a 3-2 looking and this one WAS a strike, not that outside stuff getting called a strike. JD Martinez up and he has GOT to get his mojo back. But no, he grounds out to short on an 0-2.

Might could be time to move him down in the lineup because hitting 3rd doesn’t seem to be doing it for getting his hitting back. Not sure whether or not he knows that Fernando Martinez, Brad Snyder and Justin Ruggiano are tearing it up at OKC…

7th – Wesley Wright out. Gets Ishikawa to groundout to CJ. Aoki HBP on a 3-2. Wilton Lopez in, Wesley out. Rickie Weeks lines out to CJ and Braun grounds out to Lowrie.

Vinnie Chulk, RHP in – his ERA is 7.71 AFTER last night’s 2 scoreless IP.

JD says that the actual turnstile count tonight is 15,173. There must be a whole lot of people who aren’t actually sitting in seats is all I can say.

Carlos flies out to center. Lowrie works a 3-2 walk. Bogu strides to the plate, goes to 3-2, hits a ball to the LF corner – thought it was gonna be a Lance Berkman CBox homer, but no, juuuuust short of both the scoreboard AND the wall. Lowrie gets back in time. CJ singles down the RF line on an 0-2. Men on first and third, 2 out. Chris Snyder hits a ball hard to left, but just gets under it and Braun catches it just before the scoreboard. Astros have left TONS of runners on so I’m hoping that 4 run lead holds up.

Vinnie Chulk wishes it could be all Astros ALL the time.

8th inning: Wilton back out and walks Aramis on 4 straight balls – first walk of the season. Corey Hart Ks. Lucroy hits a high chopper to short and they can’t turn 2. Tyler Green in to pinch hit. Foul ball to the LF corner – barely foul – like by 1 inch because he wasn’t near close to that ball. But fortunately, he grounds out to Wilton. JD just is NOT having a good month at ALL. He’s 4 fer 34 for May. He’s lucky he started off so smoking hot – it’s always bad for them when they start out in a slump.

Jose Veras, RHP in. Travis Buck is pinch hitting, grounds out to first. Schafer grounds out to short. Altuve gets his second infield hit tonight – between short and the mound. Hey, a hit is a hit. And he’s 3 fer 4. JD up and takes a bad swing at a bad pitch in the dirt and he gets extremely lucky when it takes a bad hop over the SS and it’s a single – hey, ANYTHING. Carlos up and I hope HOPE he drives in some runs because Abad is going to mopping up and no one else is warming up and I’m feeling nervous.

It’s weird how I’m writing earlier about Michael Bourn and Brownie and Deshaies start talking about him – he’s leading the NL in hits. He’s leading the team in WAR, too.

9th – Abad out, gets Izturis to ground out. Edwin Maysonet up, goes to 3-2 and pops up to short. I can’t believe it – 2 straight rightys out. Aoki, LHB, singles up the middle. Righty Weeks up. And Abad gets him to fly out to center.

Stros leave 12 on base and win anyway. Happ, I think, really benefitted from that wide strike zone – he threw almost everything just inside or just outside. I hate calling a 2 game series a “sweep” but hey, I’ll take wins no matter WHAT you call it.

This weekend is interyecccch – the hell that Bud Selig has finally achieved his dream of turning baseball into. Nolan Ryan is coming in to gloat – he, um, encouraged (yeah, let’s call it that) Selig to destroy this team by turning into the crap DH ball that he was reduced to. Revenge is a dish best tasted cold, as my Daddy loves to say, and Nolan sure got his – he was ignored and disrespected when he was here, both times – first when McMillan let him go in 1989 – and, as I’ve said, absolutely NOBODY thought Ryan was any sort of Hall of Fame player at the time he left for the DH team.

And when he came back as an “adviser” Drayton used him as a tourist attraction and had no interest in much of anything he had to say, so he left for that DH team again. And when his chance came to kill the Astros once and for all, he did.

And he’s throwing out the first pitch tomorrow. And the Astros are giving out a bobblehead of the person who thoroughly, totally destroyed the team. Rivalry my ass. Will be the best day of his life. I’d love to tell him that I have really enjoyed watching the Cards (and Lance Berkman) kick him where it hurts, coming back TWICE to kill em dead.

hehhehheh

May 17th, 2012 , Lisa Gray
2 Comments
Email This Post Email This Post

5/16/12: Bud Norris ROOLZ With NO Bad Innings

Well, you might could call the homer to Corey Hart a Bad Inning, but really it was one of only 2 really hard hit balls. and he went 7 IP with 5 K – including striking out the side in the 5th, 3 singles, 1 homer, 2 walks, 1 run. And absolutely not ONE inning in which he had even the littlest bit of sudden loss of control. Absolutely teh awesomeness.

And the Crew just beat him UP last month – 3 homers, 7 runs over 5.2 IP.

But today, he just had everything working and the ump didn’t gift him with any close strikes and, in fact, on Ishikawa’s walk, 2 balls were clearly in the strike zone. He threw 117 pitches – really surprised me that Millsie-poo let him go back out for the 7th when he had reached 100 after the 6th – 73 strikes. Still not up to Wandy’s masterpiece the other night though.

Didn’t look like that from the getgo though – took him 21 pitches for 3 outs and a walk, and Randy Wolf need 10 pitches to get 3 outs. Second inning, he needed 19 pitches to get 3 outs and a walk – which should have been a K, twice. But then the Astros were up and the guys who were not even managing 2 runs/games over the past 9 games got into the action.

Caballo singled, then Jed Lowrie doubled off the scoreboard – Braun thought it was going to go closer to the bullpen and misses it, and Carlos chugged home – can’t tell if he ran thru a stop sign or not, but he HUSTLED. Clank no mas. Justin Maxwell, playing RF because a lefty is pitching, singled Lowrie home. CJ then GIDP and Castro grounds out.

Astros 2 Crew zip

3rd inning, Bud gives up 2 singles, no runs. Then the Astros are up and Bud, who disbelieves in the Don Sutton philosophy of taking 3 straight pitches, singles to right. Schafer Ks, Altuve singles, JD – still not hitting well – walks and it is bases loaded one out. And it’s the 08 Caballo up, sniffing those RBIs and he singles home Bud and Altuve. Then Jed Lowrie hits a ball into the RF corner, but Corey Hart drops the ball (so seeing as how it clanks off Hart’s glove, it’s a double and not an error WHY???)  JD scores and it’s Carlos at 3rd (and according to Deshaeis, Carlos actually got caught between second and third because he had to wait to see if the ball was going to be caught to go to second – but luckily for him, Rickie Weeks dropped the relay. Maxwell and CJ groundout and it’s

Astros 5 Crew 0

4th inning, Corey Hart leads off. Bud hangs a slider and Corey sends it into the CBoxes and it is goo-bah shutout. Next batter, catcher George Kottaras, hits a bullet headed down the RF line and Carlos makes and excellent dive to catch it and throw to Bud for the out. And from that minute on, Bud shut it DOWN. Gave up one piddly single in the 7th with 2 out, shrugged and got the next guy swinging.

Stros weren’t done. Castro walked, Bud Sac-bunted and Schafer singled up the middle and Castro scored. Altuve walked (and he’s having a BAD month – no doubles, 1 homer, 3 walks, 12 fer 53 – which is, if I’m adding right, a .565 OPS which is bad – and yeah, only CJ and Carlos are not looking bad this month). Then with JD up, the boys pull off a double steal, I love them – so kewl. It’s their 3rd double steal this year. And then JD hits a soft popup to center and for some reason Nyjer Morgan calls off Corey Hart and let’s just say Nyjer has a weaker arm than your supposed garden variety “girl” and his throw doesn’t even reach the pitchers mound and Schafer scores easily. Can’t tell if Clarkie-poo had the stop sign on or not. Then Caballo flies out to the warning track in deep center. No problems though because it’s

Astros 7 Crew 1

5th – Bud mows em down. Vinnie Chulk comes in to replace Wolf. Lowrie is called out on a strike that is outside – and hasn’t been a strike all game. Maxwell is called out on a supposedly swinging 3rd strike in which he hardly got the bat anywhere near the zone and didn’t break his wrist. CJ has a 3-2 count with 3 fouloffs and is called out on ball 4 which is 3″ outside the plate. JEEZ. I’d be more irritated if the Astros weren’t ahead by 6 runs.

6th – Bud goes 1,2,3 and Chulk goes 1,2,3.

7th – Bud goes 1,2, single, 3. Righty Tim Dillard comes in. Altuve lines out to second. JD hits a long fly ball into the RF corner and Corey Hart makes a great sliding catch – to bad – one of the best hit balls JD has had this month. Then Carlos is up, takes a ball outside, Deshaeis says something about how Carlos has been getting his batting average up and is looking for that next home run and you know he hits that next pitch on the wall over the windows over the LF bullpen – in the middle of the girder to the right of the Citgo sign. Very fun call.

8th – Rhiner Cruz in to mopup – gets 1,2,3, including Ryan Braun. Tim Dillard gets Maxwell swinging and CJ flies out to deep center. But he’s pulled because lefty Jason Castro is up? Jeez, he can’t face Jason Castro? losing by 8 runs??? You talk about a ROOGY. So Manny Parra, failed starter, comes in and gets the job done.

9th – Rhiner Cruz back out – walks Aramis Ramirez and Corey Hart on 10 pitches and those pitches were not even CLOSE to the zone. Out he goes and in comes Wesley Wright. First hitter is ex-Stro Edwin Maysonet – and like with Hunter Pence, I’m rooting for the boy, one of many who never stood a chance to succeed with the Astros because it was personal. But he flies out, then Jonathan Lucroy triples to the RF bullpen on a FB right down the middle – it was one of those balls that isn’t that deep but splits the outfielders and hits the grass and rolls all the way to the wall. ARam and Hart score. But he gets the next 2 outs on a few grounders – a comebacker to himself – he looks Lucroy back, then a groundout to Altuve.

Bud even gets a 5 second mention on BBTN, whaddaya know.

Ex-Stro Junior Cruz (remember the psychobilly cadillac year of 08? He could walk and field but he couldn’t hit – we got him when he had zero left – too bad) is now one of the BBTN crew. I’m watching more and more now that there is a lot more Doug Glanville and a lot less Rick Sutcliff.

Tomorrow, it’s J Happ vs Shawn Marcum, RHP

J, believe it or not, has thrown QS in 4 of his 7 starts – 2,3,3,3 ER over 6 IP – and he has a 5.73 ERA, which is like not Quality. He has a 6+ ERA vs the Crew in 6 starts and 1 in relief over 31.2 IP.

Marcum has dominated the Astros – has a 2.52 ERA over 4 GS/25 IP.  Actually, his last game earlier this year wasn’t so great – 4R, 3 ER over 5 IP with 8 H, 4 BB, 7 K. Let’s hope the guys remember how much FUN it is to hit. And score runs.

And speaking of Ex-Stros,

Felipe Paulino – remember him, got traded to the Rox last year for Clint Barmes, crapped out, then was picked up by the Royals and has done VERy well? He threw 6 innings of 4 hit no run ball against the Yanks earlier and today, threw 7 innings of 5 hit no run ball against the first place Orioles (yeah it DOES sound odd – this late in the year and they are actually winning by beating AL East teams) and it will be very interesting to see how he continues to do.

May 16th, 2012 , Lisa Gray
7 Comments
Email This Post Email This Post

5/15/12: In Which Hunter Pence Beats Brett Myers

The Astros, in general have basically stopped hitting anything except grounders. Hard for any pitcher to win anything without run support. Last 8 games, Stros have scored exactly 12 runs and it is more than tough to win with numbers like that. Bud Norris won 1-0 on an UER.

Lucas Harrell actually pitched very well last night – got stuck with 2 runs because Jed Lowrie fumbled an easy GIDP ball . But trouble is that his hitters didn’t do diddly vs Joe EFF Blanton, who has either been facing BAD teams or he’s suddenly learned to pitch in his contract year. The guy hasn’t had an ERA under 4 since 2007.

sigh

Immediately before today’s game, Jordan Lyles was called up and David Carpenter, who gave up a 2 run homer last night doing mopup. But Millsie-poo wants 2 leftys, so Abad, who pitched a scoreless, even getting out a righty!!! was the one who stayed. No news yet as to whether or not Lyles is gonna stay up as the 5th guy until/if Weiland comes back.

So today, it’s Jordan Lyles vs Cliff Lee and Jordan’t game features 3 bench guys – Matt Downs (who is NOT hitting) in right, Marwin at short and Jason Maxwell in center. And of course, JD Mart is being given today’s throw away game to try to get his stroke back against Cliff Lee, who has, surprisingly, lost a lot of games to the Astros.

Jordan gave up a leadoff double to Rollins in the first, but stranded him. Justin Maxwell drew a walk, but got CS with Clank, one of the few guys on the Astros who is still hitting, at bat.

Second inning, Clank sneaks a grounder into right, but gets stranded. Phils up, Jose Altuve makes a bad throw on an easy grounder, Mayberry reaches on error. Next pitch, Brian Schneider (didn’t realize he was even still in the majors – I remember him being a very good hitting catcher for the Nat-Spos) hits a down the middle pitch into the RF stands.

Phils 2 Astros 0

Unearned, but, like so, runs are runs. This is bad BAD news because Cliff Lee is simply cruising.

3rd – Marwin singles, but gets stranded. Everyone is grounding out or striking out. Altuve almost sneaks a ball thru the 5.5 hole, but Rollins makes a great play. Lyles goes 1,2,3, but is at 50 pitches.

4th – Downs Ks on 4 bad pitches. Clank grounds out, CJ strikes out – ump is calling the high strike (for both pitchers, got to be honest here.) Lyles gets 2 groundouts (it’s really hard not rooting for Hunter Pence) then an infield single to third for Mayberry – CJ can’t throw him out as he is still running toward the stands when he got it – made a lousy throw and Carlos made a good catch, but it would have taken Scott Rolen in his prime to have made that out. But it seemed to be a little upsetting to Lyles, who walked the next batter on 4 straight, then it was Schneider up again – 2 balls, then he fouled off a hittable pitch, another ball (oh jeez) then a good FB which Schneider ropes into RF for a single, but mayberry decides to try to score from second, seeing as how it is Matt Downs, a second baseman (really, it’s what he is) in right, but he gets gunned down with a perfdect throw and Jason Castro is not stupid enough to be blocking the plate with his body and Mayberry is OUT. 72 pitches.

That’s the second play that CJ hasn’t made – he missed a tough foul ball running on wet grass, not errors, just plays not made that cost Lyles extra pitches.

5th – JD FINALLY breaks his ofer with a solid single up the middle (I really REALLY hope this gets him his confidence and his hitting back) but Jason Castro GIDP after 7 pitches. Marwin Ks. 68 pitches.

Third time thru the lineup. GO, bunt popup, GO. 80 pitches. Hey, he just might could make it thru another inning!!!!!

6th – Cliff Lee gets a grounder and 2 Ks. Astros lookin really lousy. 78 pitches. Lyles back in, gets a GO, then Pence hits a hanging curve opposite field on an 0-2 and that was legit. hunter has had a slow start to this year, and has had a lot of weight on his shoulder, especially with all the rest of the really good hitters out. Like I said, I’m happy for the guy – just not against us.  Polanco singles. Mayberry Ks, Galvis flies out. 93 pitches.

Lyles has done a REALLY good job – only 3 really hard hit balls – 2 went out and Rollins flew out to the RF warning track – just got under it. He’s not up next inning and youneverknow, he just might could get a 7th inning, seeing as how he’s losing. You KNOW that if he was winning, he’d get pulled.

7th – Cliff Lee back, throws a FB right Downs the middle, which he hits out. At least we won’t get shutout, which I was expecting. Caballo pops up, CJ flies out to right after fouling off 4 tough pitches (he didn’t get any pitch which wouldn’t have been a called strike) then JD Ks on 3 straight FB down the middle. So much for his confidence being back.

Phils 3 Astros 1

Jordan is NOT back out. 6 IP, 6 H (2 hr, 4 singles), 1 walk, 4 K, 1 ER, 3 R. Absolutely Quality. And being nervous facing a pitcher with a 1+ ERA and having minimal hitting behind him? Unlike at AAA where 6 regulars have a BA over .300. I was thinking that Downs or JD might could need to go to AAA to get their swing back, and we could check out someone else.

Abad out. Righty Schneider fouls to left, barely missing a double, but he grounds out. Cliff Lee Ks. Rollins hits righty and singles up the middle. Rollins numbers, bu the way, career, are almost exactly the same RHP or LHP – just like Chipper Jones, only with a LOT less power and a lower BA.

Abad out, Fernando Rodriguez in to face righty PH Ex-Stro Ty Wigginton (yet ANOTHER FA who Drayton/Tal Smith refused to offer arb to, even though it was more than obvious he would get more in a multi year deal as a FA – and we got zero draft picks, but who needs those, right?) Anyway, the AB takes forever because of all the pickoff throws by a guy who has a lousy move anyway. And He can’t concentrate on the batter and walks him – men on first and second. Sometimes, you have to concentrate on the out and not the basestealer. Anyway, Victorino pops up after getting a gift call on a FB clearly in the zone. Abad owes him a steak dinner, as his ERA is finally under 6.

8th – Cliff Lee is back out even though he’s at 95 pitches, isn’t that just SHOCKING? Gee, I’d have thought they’d bring in The Eighth Inning Guy to make sure that ol Cliffy-poo has Something Left For october (which, by the way, I wonder if I’m supposed to mention that he’s absolutely been beyond terrible in the post season the past few years). Castro strikes out, but Schneider doesn’t catch the ball and it rolls to the wall, Schneider can’t get to it in time. Charlie Manuel starts swearing at the HP ump for supposedly getting in the way and they scream in loud swear words at each other and Charlie is tossed. But it doesn’t matter because Marwin immediately GIDP 1-4-3 on a ball in the dirt. Travis Buck, lefty, pinch hts vs lefty (??? gee, is that Millsie-poo managing today???) And whaddaya know? A single grounder into right. Altuve up – can he finally get a hit? Nope – flies out to the RF warning track – Hunter barely had to jog there.

Starting May 9, Altuve is 2 fer 20 with 1 walk. BA was .350 on May 8 and 1 week later, it’s .311 – Altuve and Lowrie not hitting is one of the many reasons that the Astros have stopped winning.

Lowrie? On May 6, he was hitting .333 and since then, he’s gone 3 fer 28 with 1 walk and no RBIs.

9th – Lyon in to mopup. Pence singles, then Castro misses a pitch for a PB (although the bat was in the way) and Pence trots to second. Polanco singles to right, men on first and third, no outs. Mayberry hits a ball to CJ, Pence is out in a rundown, men on first and second, 1 out. Galvis flies out. Lefty Schneider up – and whaddaya know, Millsie-poo leaves Lyon in to face him instead of sending in Wesley Wright. What’s goin on in this ballgame????? So he grounds out to Caballo, who makes a great grab and a lousy throw to Lyon, who has to slide to catch the ball/tag the bag.

Ex-Stro Chad Qualls in to close. He’s had some good years and some lousy years (but has blown at LEAST 5 saves and lost at LEAST 4 games every year – has had a lot of animosity from fans of every club in which he’s been closing – not Armando Benitez level, but then again, he hasn’t had to close in NY or Boston…) since being traded in the 07 offseason purge. Schafer doubles on a 3-2 – it was a VERY good AB in which. Downs up, grounds out, Schafer to third. Carlos up. RBI single to center under Rollins’ glove. Bogu in to pinch run. CJ up and oh HOW I want him to be the HEro here. Bogu steals second easily on a 2-0. CJ fouls off 2, lays off slider in the dirt. But no, grounder to short. sigh.

JD Martinez – and I really REALLY REALLY want him to not get out here. AND JD SINGLES TO RIGHT!!!!! Dave Clark held Bogu who was already 30 feet past third, because of Pence’s arm, but Pence DROPS THE BALL AND BOGU SCORES!!!

Astros 3 Phillies 3

TIE GAME CAN YOU BELIEVE IT????? (Cliff, Wandy feels your pain)

Jason Castro doubles to right and JD, a slow runner is held, which is a very good idea because he would have been dead meat, too bad it wasn’t Schafer, Maxwell or Bogu. Wonder if Lowrie had gone in to pinch run it would have been different…

(So far, NOT a good day for ex-Stros…)

Jake Diekman, LHP, rookie, in to face Marwin Gonzalez. First pitch is a 95 MPH FB. Swing and miss at slider. Foul on a slider. CMON Marwin – let’s win this thing NOW. Ball. CMON MARWIN!!! But no, he swings and misses the same exact pitch he just laid off leaving men on second and third.

Brandon Lyon back out. (You know the rule – you aren’t allowed to use your closer in a tie game on the road in the 9th.) Carlos Ruiz up (came in to catch Qualls – not sure why Schneider was pulled, but there you go) and he Ks. Rollins grounds out 1-3. Wiggy flies out to left.

Extra innings AGAIN and both the Astros and Phils are ofer Extra Innings.

10th inning – Diekman back out and Jed Lowrie in to PH for Lyon. Diekman’s arm action looks like Randy Johnson. Flyout to Pence. Altuve Ks on crap in the dirt. Looked bad. Schafer back up. Goes to 2-2, fouls off a bunch of pitches, then Ks on the same crappy pitch in the dirt that Altuve went down on. If this guy pitches like this to everyone else, the Phils have found themselves a Closer. Oh, wait – I forgot – they already HAVE a closer signed for 4 years. Let me re-state. Looks like the Phils have found themselves a LOOGY. (Yeah, sarchasm based on the ol leftys can’t get rightys out stuff – seriously, this guy looks like Randy Johnson. Guess he can’t keep it going for more than an inning or 2, otherwise, why they aren’t having him start, I don’t know.)

Myers out. He hasn’t had real too much to do since he blew Wandy’s game. Victorino pops up to CJ. Hunter Pence out – can he redeem himself for his fielding effup?  And he certainly does – he hits a fat one down the middle (hanging slider) over the LF fence and it’s a 2 homer game for Hunter and the second straight loss for Myers (well, he didn’t get stuck for the loss in the Wandy game) and he’s sure nuff decreasing all that trade talk.

Now Millsie-poo is gonna take a lot of stuff for putting his Closah in the game in a tie game on the road – like it was a stupid thing to do with the heart of the order coming up. But now he’s gonna have to explain his Going Against The Rules – and this is exactly why he pulled Wandy after 8 innings, so in case the Closah lost, he didn’t have no splainin to do.

Back home tomorrow and Bud faces Randy Wolf n the Crew. Wolf has thrown 7 games this year and exactly 2 in which he did not suck – the 4 hit 2 run/6 IP he threw against us earlier and the last game against the C*bs – 4 hits, 3 walks NO runs/6 IP.

PLEEEEEZE let Great Bud with no Bad Innings show up tomorrow. And I hope JD Martinez is now officially off his can’t hit streak.

May 15th, 2012 , Lisa Gray
6 Comments
Email This Post Email This Post

5/13/12: In Which Brett Myers Ruins Wandy’s Superb Start (And My Mothers Day)

And it’s up n down the hall Astros Fan Mother,
Mother, who has raised her sons well, you see.
They’re 8 and 10 and picked up all their stuff.
Just bought my favorite food and got me mlb.tv.

(sorry Jerry Jeff Walker)

What can I say – some women like diamonds. Other women prefer a subscription to mlb.tv.

They also got me half a dozen of those huge luscious strawberries dipped in rich dark chocolate. ummmmmmmmm. gooooooooooooooooooood.
And then sat there watching me open em and start to eat them, sort of reminding me of how my Dogss look at me when I’m carrying a plate of burgers – sitting nice and polite with pleading eyes, licking their noses, hoping against hope that for some reason I’ll throw em a bone. So to speak. So I offer to pass em around and #2 son says solemnly, no Mami, they’re all for you. Yeah, says #3 son, we already ate ours.

Which, after Vietnamese food for lunch (which I dearly love but can’t fix near as well as real genuine Vietnamese people in a Vietnamese restaurant), was just the ticket.

And then we sat down to see if Wandy could give me a W for Mothers Day. To my surprise, they seemed to really want to watch (unlike the Old Days where they BEGGED to go to the game) – I guess Jose Altuve is Teh Kewl – but he was benched this afternoon. JD Martinez was back in the lineup after a few days off for hitting like Albert Pujols since like April 24 (which is not, by the way, exactly a good thing).

Wandy gave up exactly 3 hard hit balls – one out, one double on an inside fastball almost at the knee to Neil Walker and the next bad pitch – his ONLY bad pitch, a FB down the middle to Andrew McCutchen for an RBI double to left. Neither one was JD Mart’s fault. So 1 run. then 1 walk, then the last out.

And that was his last “bad” inning – he gave up a piddly single in the third, but got a double play and sent em down every single inning 1,2,3. And that was IT my friends – just those 3 hits and 1 walk, then 7 Ks. Couldn’t nobody touch him, no way, no how. Not even close. And he was at 91 pitches at the end of the 8th and was leading 2-1 (more on this 2 runs in a minnit) and I expected him out there to finish the job.

Which was stupid of me, seeing as how that simply is NOT done any more because that is why you are playing 11 mill a year to a closer – so no matter HOW well you are pitching, if you are winning by 3 or fewer runs, he’s comin in for the 9th. It’s just how things are done. I know that once before I got VERY upset when Wandy was not sent out to finish the game when he’d been cruising, but that time, Wandy had said to the manager that he didn’t have anything left and to please send in the closer. Didn’t hear nothin bout that THIS time.

Myers couldn’t get the job done for the first time this year – I absolutely HATE intentional walks – and do think it was very funny that Millsie-poo had the Ol WB walk McCutchen the righty to pitch to Alvaraz the lefty, who naturally, got the run home.

Wilton Lopez and Wesley Wright shut it DOWN, but Wesley was pulled so Froddy could pitch to Clint Barmes, who hit one of those bloop doubles down the LF line, then scored on a single to left when Justin Maxwell couldn’t throw him out. Then again, Justin Maxwell ain’t no Bryce Harper with the arm.

AJ Burnett, just like Charlie Morton last night, just shut down almost everyone with weak-ass ground balls or easy fly balls. THREE of the Astros’ 6 hits were infield singles – and interestingly enough Carlos Lee scored both runs tonight – he scored the first (tying) run on Jason Castro’s RBI single in the 5th. In the 7th, he hit one of those infield singles – Pedro Alvarez grabbed it as it was going down the 3B line but not in time to get an out. Carlos really RAN it out. El Perezoso the slug appears to be dead and gone. Whoda think it? Then Bogu singled and then CJ hit a single to left and Carlos really hustled all the way from second, taking off at the crack of the bat, even with 1 out, and Tabata didn’t even bother to try to get him. Then Castro ROE – another one of those piddly infield grounders that AJ Burnett mis-fielded.

Bases loaded, but Marwin struck out on a crappy pitch in the dirt and Wandy grounded out to first. Casey McGehee is one heck of a good fielding first baseman – of course, he was a third baseman up until this year, but I never thought he’d be so nimble. He caught a ball thrown (badly) by Pedro Alvarez and fell, while stretching to his full height to keep his toe on the bag as he caught the ball – and THAT should have been the Web Gem of the night, but of course, didn’t nobody notice.

And leaving bases loaded right there was what made the difference.

Poor Wandy.

Pink bat and all. I remember when they started using pink bats back in, what was it, 04? Hardly any of the guys would use them because if they touched something hard and pink they would instantly all turn into homosexuals or something. I remember that Berkman and Ausmus were 2 of the few guys who used a pink bat and Ausmus went 4 fer 5 or something.

And speaking of hitting – which the boys have suddenly stopped doing – wonder how long Matt Downs is gonna last with his waaaayyy sub Mendoza line BA before he gets sent down and Bixler or Moore gets a chance.

We’re off to Philly where Lucas Harrell will face Joe Blanton, who is usually lousy, but has had a string of 3 good games. Youneverknow. We’ve sure picked up a bunch of guys who have been lousy – like Burnett and Morton. It would be nice if Lucas manages to locate (hahaha) his sinker this time. The Phils are last place in the NL east (really) and I’m sure they’re salivating over having some Astro ass to kick.

May 13th, 2012 , Lisa Gray
5 Comments
Email This Post Email This Post

5/12/12: Edwin Maysonet Is Back In The Bigs – As A Brewer

Yeah, I know he’s not with the Astros. And he’s 30 years old and will never be a regular.

But he’s one of the many guys who have been in the Astros minor leagues under the old Organization who was labeled as “Not Major League Material” and not only wasn’t not given a chanc to succeed, but when he DID make it to the majors (in 09) as an injury replacement, and hit .290 and fielded very well, he was benched for the likes of Matt Suckage Kata and Jason ofer Smith because he made the mistake of playing well.

I really truly never understood that kind of thinking, and no matter how old I get, I still don’t. I mean, if I had a piece of furniture that I thought was useless junk and used it for a garbage bin, then found out it was worth some money, I’d sell it, not insist that I had to keep something valuable to use as junk. Just because I was wrong about its value.

I know the probability of him ever becoming any sort of regular, even a regular utility IF, in spite of his first career grand slam today, is slim to none, but just the same, I rootrootroot for guys like him. And Drew Sutton, who has a .724 OPS (94 OPS+) over 178 ML PA in 4 years for 3 different teams. He’s better than a lot of major league regulars, tell you THAT. Oh yeah – and Brooks Conrad, too.

One of these days, I’m gonna make a list of Astros minor leaguers who were discarded with NO return, or for minimal or no return, from 2001 to 2011, especially when they turned out to be good or useful AFTER leaving the Astros and their replacement was more expensive or MUCH suckier.

On a sad note, Chris Sampson is finally out of baseball, after pitching very well at the Marlins AAA club last year – guess his shoulder finally gave out, or he saw no future. The Red Sox sure could use him, though…

May 12th, 2012 , Lisa Gray
4 Comments
Email This Post Email This Post

5/11/12: Bud Norris (And Pen) Shuts Out Pirates 1-0

Bud pitched VERY well – 3 hits, no walks, 8 K over 6 IP – and it wasn’t just because he was pitching against the Pirates. AND, mind, he wasn’t getting any knee high strikes called – heck, the strike zone ended like 3″ above the knee. But he had great control of all 3 pitches – he’s starting to really learn how to handle that changeup.

He had his first tough inning in the 4th – Tabata hit an unsliding slider off the side of the wall in right and by the time Bogu got it and threw it in, Tabata was on 3rd. No outs. Nate McLouth, hitting second for some reason I don’t get, popped up, then Andrew McCutchen was up. He hit the ball right to Lowrie who threw a perfect bullet to home to nab Tabata at the plate. Then, with Pedro Alvarez up, Castro threw out McCutchen, his second batter of the year. Perfect throw, too, and Bud owes him a steak dinner.

Had his second  Little Trouble in the 6th – Rod Barajas hit the only other really hard hit ball of the night – a double off the CF wall, Barmes, who is having a BAD start to this year, threw his bat out of the zone on a 2-2 hitting a single into right and Barajas, slow as molasses, stops at 3rd. So James McDonald, a pretty good hitter for a pitcher is up – men on first and 3rd, no out – perfect time for a squeeze, yes?

But no. Don’t ask me why, but Barajas doesn’t move a muscle as McDonald hits a perfect roller to first, which Bud bobbles for an error – at least THIS one wasn’t a throwing error – and it’s bases loaded no outs. And whaddaya know, the Pirates go all Astros with bases loaded. Tabata Ks on a 3-2, McLouth pops out on another 3-2 and McCutchen Ks swinging on a FILTHY 2-2 slider. 33 pitches and the boy is done – doesn’t he always have one of those 30-40 pitch innings just when I think he’s gonna have a CG.

Wesley Wright comes in in the 7th, gets his 2 leftys, then Wilton Lopez comes in to get pinch hitter Casey McGehee, ex-Brewer.

8th inning, ain’t we got fun. Wilton back out,  Barajas singles up the middle, Josh Harrison comes in to pinch run. Clint Barmes is supposed to sac-bunt, fouls off 2, then the ball hits off SOMEthing. At first, he’s out because it was supposedly a foul bunt. Then it’s not out because the ball supposedly hit Barmes hand. But he’s not sent to first on a HBP, no. Even though the ball CLEARLY hit his hand. For some reason, the ump re-decides that he was pulling the bat back, which he wasn’t, and it’s a foul and not a bunt foul. Brad Mills has a tantrum and must have said some sort of Magic Word because Jim Joyce tosses him.

So Clint, batting a buck fifty, gets another chamce. OK, fine – and Wilton them immediately picks Josh Harrison off first. Mucho kewl. And Clint grounds out very next pitch.

3 quick outs, including Millsie-poo. (I like how BBTN, mentioning the game with 30 seconds to go before the Screaming Baseball, didn’t say ONE thing about the excellent pitching of either Bud or McDonald, just talked about Millsie-poo getting tossed. Guess that’s more exciting than excellent pitching…)

Pinch hitter Alex Pressley, who I seem to remember killing Astros pitching last year, pinch hitting for McDonald, strikes out.

Poor James McDonald – he pitched an outstanding game – gave up only the one run on 2 singles and a GIDP to Justin Maxwell, playing for JD Martinez, who is still sitting, not sure how long that is going to continue..

Only person who actually hit a baseball HARD was Jed Lowrie, who hit a ball off the RF wall in the 6th, looked as if it was gonna go ovah the fence, but it actually hit high up on the wall. Lowrie didn’t run HARD out of the box, but only picked it up after rounding first, tried to stretch it into a triple and was barely thrown out at third by Neil Walker. Not sure if he was safe or out – Lowrie thought he was safe, but I didn’t see Dave Clark throwing a fit, so I think he was probably out. I didn’t tape it, and the only replay is the Pirates’ feed, and they don’t show the closeup.

Schafer and Altuve went ofer and CJ was 2 fer 3 – not real too much hitting or getting on base today. Wonder if the Pirates wish they hadn’t thrown Paul Maholm out on his ear… They preferred AJ Burnett because???

Anyway, tomorrow, it’s J Happ vs Charlie Morton. J has pitched 5-6 innings/GS this year, has given up at least 2 runs in each start, got killt by Saint Looey last week. He’s done well against the Pirates in the past, has only a 2.52 ERA over 8 GS.

Charlie Morton, RHP, ex-Brave, is 2-5 in 8 GS vs Houston with a 6.59 ERA. He came to the Bucs in ht e trade a couple of yaers ago that sent Nate McLouth to Atlanta.  Charlie threw 4 games against the Astros last year – did well in his first, 1 run over 7 IP, gave up 3 runs/ 5 IP in the second (and won because Happ uck-sayed), then lost the last 2 in which he gave up 4 runs over 5.1 IP.

This year, he pitched well until his last 2 starts – 6 runs in 4.1 innings to Saint Looey and 5 runs over 5 innings to Cincy. And speaking of Saint Looey, in caase all yall curious, Uncle Albert is hitting .192 – really. 130 AB, 8 doubles, 1 homer, 6 walks. He has a .515 OPS – seriously, Jason Castro is out OPSing Albert Eff Pujols. Whoda think it…..

May 11th, 2012 , Lisa Gray
11 Comments
Email This Post Email This Post

5/9/12: Chris Johnson Walks Twice In The Same Game

And hit a homer, too. Had to mention about the 2 walks because it was his first major league 2 walk game!!!!!!

Lucas Harrell wasn’t bad – first run scored because Jed Lowrie made his first error of the game (and year) when a ball clanked off his glove and Reyes scored from second, but then he gave up 2 runs on 4 singles to give up 3 runs over 5.1 IP – 6 H, 3 BB, 4 K. Got pulled after giving up a double to shallow center with 1 out – Schafer’s throw was not very good and Bonifacio is fast. Wilton Lopez came in a shut it down. He was even allowed to start the next inning, got 2 outs, then an inside breaker nailed Hanley Ramirez who got all whiny and said some icky things to Wilton, who gave him one of those silly Marlins eye thingys they do right back. Wesley came in and got Morrison out.

Astros got one run on a WP (Schafer dived into 3rd, lay there panting until Clark screamed at him to get up and run as John Buck’s throw sailed into left and he got up and ran home. They got the second on a Chris Johnson line drive homer into the CBoxes.

Basically, how can I say it – the Astros made Josh Johnson, who had looked like a BP pitcher, look like Josh Johnson again. He finished 7 innings barely breaking a sweat – 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K. Mujica pitched a scoreless 1,2,3 8th.

Rhiner Cruz comes in and looks great, pitching a 1, single, 2,3 9th. And then Steve Cishek came in to close it out. He gave up a triple on a bloop hit that Carlos Lee hit to right – shallow right, that SHOULD have been caught but Stanton misjudged and Clank chugged all the way into 3rd. Looked as if they were gonna hafta do CPR on him – he was still out of breath when the camera focused on him 5 minutes later. Travis Buck struck out (he did not have a very good game, let’s be kind here) and he’s playing for JD Martinez who is still looking bad. Then CJ walked on 4 straight pitches, NOT intentional!!! and Bogu came up and hit the ball for a single to left and Marwin Gonzalez, not exactly Mr. Speedy, trotted home. Matt Downs, pinch hitting for Chris Snyder (not real too much of an improvement) immediately grounded out to the pitcher.

Tie score.

Ovahtime. Good thing we have an off day tomorrow.

10th: Brett Myers in – gives up a single to Hanley, then an easy GB to second which Marwin scoops and throws to Lowrie, who DROPS IT for his second error of the game – hey, even great fielders have bad days – and it’s 2 on, no out. But the WB gets 2 popups and a K.

Heath Bell, removed from the closer’s role just a few days ago after his 4th BS, Ks pinch hitter JD Martinez (who looks bad AGAIN), Jordan Schafer singles up the middle (after looking stupid his previous AB with a terrible bunt) which makes him 4 fer 5 tonight then gets thrown out stealing – it WAS close – by a catcher who has been as successful throwing out runners as Castro. Altuve flies out to right for an ofer 5.

11th – David Carpenter in. He walks John Buck, Ks Infante, give up a single to Reyes, has men on first and second, 1 out, then gets Donnie Murphy to fly out. And it’s Hanley Ramirez up and he flies outon the first pitch.

Lefty Randy Choate in. Lowrie, ofer Marlins is up and I wonder if he’s trying to make up for his run allowing error in the first. So he singles to center. Castro is in (remember Chris Snyder got pinch hit for by Matt Iforgothowtohit Downs) and he screws up 2 bunt attempts then Ks. Travis Buck Ks. Goo-bah lefty. Hello righty Ryan Webb (who got hisself beat by Bogu last night) who gets CJ to fly out to the LF bullpen – 20 ft further left and CJ woulda had hisself a walkoff.

12th – David Carpenter stays. And Millsie-poo will use this as proof positive to me why relievers “can’t pitch more than 1 inning in relief.” Single, walk, forceout (unturned DP) K, ANOTHER walk for John .203 Buck, 2 run single, IBB, K Webb, the relief pitcher. I guess Lyon was being saved for the save and of course, Abad is bad.

Marlins 5 Astros 3

At least Carpenter lost his own **** game and it is his own **** fault.

Bogu grounds out on 3-2 (Webb’s revenge), Downs flies out, pinch hitter J Happ Ks for the final out.

Lousy game. Of course, the Marlins have incredibly good starting pitching and you know what they say about good pitching shutting down good hitting.

sigh

We’re off to Pittsburgh where Bud is gonna face James McDonald. Of course he’s yet another pitcher with a career good record vs the Astros: 5 GS, 1 in relief over 29 IP – 27 H, 0 HR, 13 BB, 28 K, 10 ER/11 R: 3.10 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP, .250 BAA.

This year, he’s 2-1 over 6 GS in 36.2 IP: 27 H, 2 HR, 13 BB, 31 K, 11 ER: 2.70 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. He hasn’t given up more than 3 runs in any game he’s started and the last 2 games, he’s gone 7,7 and 6.2 IP. He only lasted 4 innings vs Arizona, but that was the second game of the year in which he was pulled for a pinch hitter in the top of the 5th with men on second and 3rd, 2 out – and what is funny is that the pinch hitter was Nate McLouth, who hasn’t hit better than a pitcher since he was originally traded to the Braves a couple of years back. I mean, the Pirates don’t have a pinch hitter who can, you know, like HIT?

Here we go again.

I hope that maybe a change of scenery is gonna help straighten out JD Martinez’ head. At least the Organization doesn’t dislike him or want him to NOT succeed, like, say JR Towles…

May 9th, 2012 , Lisa Gray
3 Comments
Email This Post Email This Post

5/9/12: Aneury Rodriguez Is Sent Down As A Reward For Great Pitching and Hitting

Just wanted to note that Aneury, not Fernando Suckage Abad, got sent down to make room for the returning Rhiner Cruz, who, by the way, wasn’t all that sharp at AAA rehabbing from an ankle sprain – they had better not be bringing him back too early because that is how shoulder/elbow/back injuries happen, when guys adjust their motion slightly to compensate for something else that hurts.

So anyway, this means that Aneury can’t be called back up for 10 days, or May 18, which means that they’ll have to recall Jordan Lyles (remember I explained about how they have to keep it to guys on the 40 man) and Paul Clemens has suddenly been teh sukc – 15 earned runs over his last 2 games, which have totaled 5 innings. They had darn well best check it out and make damm sure he isn’t actually hurt and being Macho Fool.

Henry Sosa isn’t pitching well neither (and isn’t on the 40 man) and Sergio Perez has been relegated to the bullpen – both LOOGY and long relief. The pitchers at AA are sucking massively, except for Jarred Cosart who was briefly called up to take Aneury’s rotation spot, gave up 3 runs/6 IP, then got sent straight back down.

The Astros will have to call up SOMEbody before 10 days is up and will be interesting to see who takes Lyles spot in the rotation this time. Don’t look for Brett Oberholzer (another Michael Bourn tradee) because he’s doing just as lousy at AA (6.67 ERA over 5 GS, 27 IP) as he did in his one AAA start – bout the same.

In case you’re curious, the AAAA hitters at OK city are all killing the ball, except for Brett Wallace and Angel Sanchez (and he’s lookin like your old fashioned no hit much SS) and Landon Powell/Carlos Corporan – and they are hitting like Brad Ausmus – not that it seems to be a problem on this team any more seeing as how neither Castro nor Snyder is exactly the object of massive female groupie attention…

but I digress…

Oh yeah – and highly pimped Jonathan Villar has made TEN errors and is sporting a .567 OPS at AA. 1B Jonathan Singleton, on the other hand, has a .965 OPS and has made 4 errors – will be very interesting to see if he gets called up if/when Clank gets dumped at the deadline.

Category: Aneury Rodriguez
Labels: Tags:
May 9th, 2012 , Lisa Gray
1 Comment
Email This Post Email This Post

5/8/12: Aneury Rodriguez Pitches Really Well, Doesn’t Win, But Bogusevic Does

Well, Bogusevic didn’t start again, (hitting OR pitching) but he came in to pinch hit after Travis Buck singled against righty reliever Ryan Webb and he hit the ball opposite field against the scoreboard in right and Buck, who had taken off at the crack of the bat (woulda been out if it had been caught) scored the winning run standing up.

You best believe I’m gonna tip my hat to Aneury – gave up only 2 hits – unfortunately, both solo homers, and 2 walks over 6 IP with only 74 pitches and the only reason he didn’t go deeper was that he was pulled for Marwin Gonzalez to pinch hit. Turned out to be fortunate for Aneury, because the Astros, who looked like AA guys vs Ani Sanchez, tied the score (after loading the bases with singles to Marwin, Jose and a walk to Caballo) thanks to an easy groundout to Omar Infante who first bobbled the ball, then over threw to let 2 guys score. Man that’s tough when you are the starter, have been killing the other team, then your own player screws you out of a W.

At least Aneury won’t get a L.

At least the Astros didn’t get shutout the second night in a row, as it sure nuff looks as if they would.

And CJ and Lowrie almost hit em out over the RF wall, but close is no cigar.

JD Martinez again looked BAD at the plate – he’s been dropped to 6th with Lowrie hitting 3rd. He’s looking like CJ did at the beginning of last year – is having a really tough time making adjustments. And other trouble is that when a young guy is struggling, umps are bad to call borderline pitches strikes

In the second, the ump calls a high inside FB a strike, so in the 4th, JD swings at it and naturally, misses, because it’s not hittable. But this stuff builds up.

Tomorrow is Josh Johnson, who is coming back from TJ surgery and has, um, not looked real too much like Josh Johnson, vs Lucas Harrell, who looks like the #5 guys that he is. Interestingly enough, Josh Johnson has never done well vs the Astros – has a 5.82 ERA over 3 GS and 1 in relief (geez, I don’t remember him as a reliever – looked it up, was Opening Day 2006, the last time in the past 10 years that the Astros have won Opening Day, besides this year) over 17 IP with 20 H and 4 HR, 10 BB, 17 K. So be it and shall it remain.

Lucas has a 4.76 ERA, 1.41 WHIP over 6 GS, 34 IP. He gave up 4 ER over 4 IP earlier this year when facing the Marlins – 7 H, 4 BB, no HR, 2 K. Let’s hope “better” Lucas shows up – would be very nice to sweep this here series against this very good team.

Category: Aneury Rodriguez, Bogusevic
Labels: Tags: ,
May 8th, 2012 , Lisa Gray
No Comments
Email This Post Email This Post

5/7/12: Wandy Coughs Up THREE HR and Zambrano Shuts Out Astros

I’m trying to think of SOMEthing good to say about this sorry game and I can’t. Wait – yes I can – I didn’t take the time to actually GO to it. So here you go – and try not to get sick:

1st inning: Jose Reyes hits the very first pitch to left, but Wandy picks him off 2 pitches later, which is a good thing because Bonifacio grounded out and Hanley Ramirez hit a double to the RF corner. Then Logan Morrison hit a scorcher up the middle off Wandy’s – well, looked like, uh, upper inner thigh (ahem) and Altuve scooped it up – the BASEball, I mean, and threw Morrison out.

Facing Big Z, now free of C*b craziness: Schafer Ks on 3 pitches, Altuve is hit on the next pitch – upper arm, looks like – certainly wasn’t Hamels drilling Harper – JD goes to 3-1, takes Strike 2 on the outside corner, swings at ball 4 as Jose steals second, but is called out because JD’s swinging arm hit the catcher trying to throw Jose out. sigh.

Big Z looks like he’s lost at least 20 lbs – his stomach is hard and flat and I seem to remember that the Cubby pinstripes weren’t near as flattering – or is it flattening.

2nd inning: Infante pops up to Lowrie in shallow left, Stanton pops up to Altuve in shallow right, Stanton walks on a pitch which was definitely in the strike zone – hope Wandy isn’t gonna get the same zone squeeze that Happ-less got last night. Buck grounds out 5-4 and strands him. 22 pitches.

Clank flies out, Lowrie strikes out in a ball inside and in the dirt. CJ flies out to the RF bullpen. It was a good pitch, he just didn’t get quite enough of it – and he didn’t swing at anything not in the strike zone. 21 pitches.

3rd inning: Zambrano and Reyes fly out to right, Bonifacio fouls off a bunch before popping up to Clank. Actually, I’ve got to quit calling him Clank because he’s really doing a very good job with the glove – I mean, he’s not JT Snow, but he’s still doing a good job. He really looks like a different guy than the lazy good fer nuthin we saw in 09 and 10. 35 pitches.

Buck singles up the middle and we won’t get no-hit. At least there’s that. Snyder GIDP (and by the way, Quintero is outhitting him, in case yall were curious) and Wandy flies out to the warning track in deep center (very kewl) and all I can say is too bad it wasn’t further to the right because it must have gone 380 feet. 33 pitches

4th inning: Hanley Ks, Morrison takes a 3-2 walk and goes to second on a WP (Snyder didn’t muffle that curve any better than Castro) and Infante grounds out to short. Then Stanton hits an inside curve into the Crawford Boxes – 350 feet, but it’s out and it’s

Marlins 2 Astros 0.

Deshaeis must have jinxed Wandy by all that talk about how he hadn’t given up a homer yet this year. Sanchez GO. 50 pitches.

The guys better get somethin goin on – Zambrano looks like his old self so far. He NEEDED to get out of that craziness that is the C*b clubhouse.

Schafer grounds out first pitch. Altuve singles to left. Cmon JD – but no, he hits into a 6-4-3 first pitch, only he’s not out because Infante makes a lousy throw to first. Caballo up – but he grounds out. 44 pitches.

sigh – they had better get goin because I remember the old Z and how things used to be.

5th inning: first pitch, Buck hits it out over the RF fence – I miss it on the way back from the kitchen. I’m not sure why I am gonna bother to watch the rest of this,

Marlins 3 Astros 0

Zambrano Ks, Reyes pops up to center, Bonifacio grounds out to Altuve. 63 pitches.

Lowrie up, grounds out. CJ Ks on a 3-2, Buck walks on a 3-2, Snyder Ks on a 3-2 on the outside corner that isn’t exactly always a strike. 67 pitches.

6th inning: Must be tough to pitch from behind in the score when your teammates aren’t getting much of any hits, let alone any runs. Poor Wandy.  Hanley flies out, Morrison grounds out, Infante grounds out 3-1. 74 pitches.

Wandy up, strikes out, then Schafer squares to bunt and is hit on the knee. Astros have as many HBP as hits. This is not saying something good about Astros bats. And speaking of not good, Altuve GIDPs on the first pitch. 75 pitches. zigh.

7th inning: Stanton pops up, Sanchez grounds out, Buck flies out. 81 pitches. Looks like it’s gonna be a complete game shutout LOSS for the Wand Man. Watch Millsie-poo pull him just because it’s been 7 innings.

JD Martinez up – and I can’t remember the last time he had a good swing. And he swings at a low ball at his feet, blooped popped it to center for yet another out. Caballo grounds out 6-3. Lowrie hits a weak flyout to left. 82 pitches. 7 effing pitches for 3 outs. This SUCKS.

8th inning – Big Z grounds out, Reyes grounds out, Bonifacio bunts out. 88 pitches.

CJ Ks on 3 pitches. Travis Buck (just realized each team has a guy with the last name of Buck) grounds out. Snyder Ks on that same crap pitch in the dirt that everyone else is swinging at with 2 strikes. zigh

9th inning – Wandy back out – Hanley hits a mid-plate chage high up off the LF wall. 3 homer game for the Wand Man. Morrison hits a blooper that hits juuust inside the LF line just before the scoreboard. Sigh

Marlins 4 Stros zippo

Here and I was hoping he’d get a CG. Even if it was a L.

Brandon Lyon comes in, gets Infante, Stanton and Sanchez, all swinging. I can’t remember the last time I saw him do that.

Big Z back to put the nail in the coffin. Bogu in to pinch hit and he singles to left. Schafer GIDP 3-6-3. Josae Ks on a pitch right down the (swear words) middle.

3 lousy singles. 1 walk. 2 HBP. THREE, count em, THREE GIDP. Exactly one ball hit beyond shallow center.

That was sorry. And I think it was Big Z’s 3rd career shutout (including the nono) vs the Astros.

Wandy didn’t have swing and miss stuff tonight at ALL – maybe he better go back to throwing to Castro even if Castro is worse at blocking balls. The trouble with pitching to contact is that sometimes the contact is good and every ball that was hit out was up and in the middle. NOT good.

Tomorrow is Aneury Rodriguez (oh dear) vs Anibal Sanchez, who has a career of killing Astros – saw him last monght and he threw 6 innings, gave up 5 hits, 3 BB, 3 runs over 6 IP. Ani has thrown 5 games, gone at least 6 innings/game, 7 the past 3, and not given up more than 3 runs/GS and has an ERA of 2.43. Aneury is a Christian getting thrown to the lions, best I can tell, seeing as how he hasn’t exactly been pitching lights out at AAA – lots of hits and walks and a 4.59 ERA.

Here and we started out this homestand so well.

Category: Wandy Rodriguez
Labels: Tags: ,
May 7th, 2012 , Lisa Gray
4 Comments
« Older Entries