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9/10/10: Astros Pitch Batting Practice To Reds On Saturday, But Chris Johnson Provides Insurance Run And Astros Win Today

Sunday, September 19th, 2010

What can I possibly say about Saturday’s game except – thank you Carlos Lee, for hitting a homer early on so we didn’t get shut out.

Lessee – Figgy is good n lousy and last night, lousy Figgy showed up. He did indeed get a few unearned runs – CJ scooped up a ball, double pumped and didn’t get the out. But Figgy threw a whole lot of pitches in the dirt and Castro didn’t block 2 of them and one of em led to a run. And Jim Edmonds hit a homer that went 316′ – clanged offn the LF foul pole a couple feet north of the yellow line, and all I can say is – too bad no chicken sandwich for that one.

But the opposite field homer to Jay Bruce into the RF bullpen was definitely no cheapo, and he was very lucky to get away with only 3 ER in 4.1 IP because he really wasn’t fooling anyone.

And, by the way, Pence needs to remember to hit the cutoff man. He fielded Rolen’s RBI single with men on first and third. Instead of hitting the cutoff man, he tried to throw out Votto, who is a GOOD runner at third, and waaaaayyy overthrew the ball, which went about 10′ to CJ’s right – no way he could get it AND tag out Votto – and Sanchez, playing short, was the cutoff guy and he looked as if he was in fact expecting the throw – which would have kept Rolen at first, not that it ended up mattering, but this has been a habit of Pence this year.

With only a 4 run lead, I was very surprised to see Mills send in Henry Villar, who, if yall remember, just finished AA and threw 102 innings with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP – actually, i was very surprised that he was promoted at all, but hey, with this Organization, youneverknow.

But anyway, his outing consisted of 2 straight walks, a single, a balk, a sac-fly and a HBP. 2 runs, no outs. It wasn’t more because Chacin came in, faced a RIGHTY (goodness gracious!!!) and bailed his butt out.

Good news is that Wesley Wright FINALLY got to pitch after sitting for over 2 weeks and he got 4 straight outs with 3 Ks – and then he naturally got pulled for a righty. Paulino followed, immediately gave up a homer to Drew Stubbs which sailed through the first archway in left, but then got the next 5 outs.

Del Rosario, the guy we picked up on waivers from the Reds, immediately showed why the Reds didn’t want him no mo – groundout, single, single, K, double, single, groundout – and 2 runs.

Good news is that Brian Esposito, age 31, finally got his first ML PA – got 2 of em, actually, a groundout and a flyout to the warning track in right – but hey, a ML AB after 10 years is a ML AB. He’s one of zillions of catchers who are great at catching but can’t hit a lick – JD said that Roy-O said he really liked throwing to him this spring. Blowouts are good for stuff like this.

Today is noteable for this being Michael Bourn’s 28th straight day he has reached base. Which is teh kewl.

The Astros scored 3 runs off Travis Wood, and then CJ homered off reliever Jordan Smith, which turned out to be very fortunate because Matt Lindstrom was massive suckage again today – he got 2 popflies to right, gave up a double to Joey Votto off the LF bullpen wall – WHY would anyone throw a FB right down the middle of the plate to the NL MVP (and yes he SHOULD be)???!!! and he gives up an RBI single on a low inside FB which goes right up the middle, then ANOTHER FB right down the middle – seriously, groin high, mid plate and Ramon Hernandez hits it into the Crawford Boxes.

sigh

Melancon gets the final out then Brandon Lyon does his usual get 2 outs, then make it, uh, interesting, giving up 2 singles before getting Joey Votto to pop out – and yes I WAS surprised that Mills didn’t pull Lyon and send in Abad, who was already warmed.

youneverknow.

2 week road trip time – 4 games in DC, then 3 games in Pittsburgh, day off, then 3 games at the GAB (my Gawd, I almost wrote Riverfront), then a day off, then we finish off the season with a 3 day series with the C*bs.

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Posted in Brandon Lyons, Felipe Paulino, Matt Lindstrom, Nelson Figueroa, Wesley Wright | 4 Comments »

Brian Bogusevic Drives In His First 2 Runs, But Lyon Blows Save And Lindstrom Loses Game

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Michael Bourn extended his reached base streak to 25 games with a walk, a FC and a ROE4, stole a base and scored a run.

J Happ looked awful – especially in the first when he gave up a leadoff homer which was a line drive (oh yes, it was – to the Conoco Pump balcony) to Rickie Weeks on a FB right down the middle. Then a GR double (or it woulda been a triple) to Hart on a ball that was hit so hard to right that it bounced into the RF bullpen. Then a homer to Ryan Braun on a hanging curve which hit the tracks over the Crawford Boxes. Then he walks da Prince. Then McGehee flies out to the warning track in deep center. Gomez singles Prince to second, then they both advance on a wild pitch with Escobar hitting.

But somehow, he manageas to get him and Lucroy out, stranding 2 – 40 pitches and the Crew leads it 3 zip.

And the 2nd, 3rd and 4th – he gives up only a 2B down the RF line – which seems nice, seeing as how Dave Bush had thrown 4 straight innings of 3 up 3 down.

Then in the 5th, Happ fell apart again, walking Weeks, giving up a double to Hart to the LF bullpen, scoring Weeks, then an RBI single to Prince, scoring Hart.

So GooBah Happ – his shortest outing since the debacle at St. Louis back in early August.

In comes Villar – the guy just up from AA, who gives up 2 straight singles to load the bases, then gets Escobar swinging and Lucroy to fly out.

Crew 5 Stros nohit, no walk, no score

But then Clank breaks up the nono with a single to left, CJ singles up the middle, Wallace hits a GB to Prince, but it clanks off his glove and instead of men on second and 3rd 1 out, Clank scores and it’s men on second and third, no outs. Sanchez hits an RBI single to the 5.5 hole. Castro walks to load the bases (looks like Bush is gettin unglued pitching from the sstretch…)

Brewers pitching coach can’t hardly believe his eyes, signals for Loe to get loose FAST, trots out to “chat” with Bush as pinch hitter Bogusevic comes up. Bogu is 1 fer 8 with his first AB a double to the RF bullpen and the rest of his ABs massive suckage. So Bogusevic goes 0-2, takes 2, fouls off 1, takes another, then singles to center to drive in his first 2!!!!! 4 runs in, no outs.

Bourn swings at the first pitch, fielder gets the roller, throws out Bogu, who takes out Escobar and it’s men on second and third, 1 out. Kepp is up, a good threat to GIDP, Michael is a great threat to steal and everyone knows it. And sure nuff, inspite of umpty throws over, he takes off on ball 2 and has such a huge jump that Lucroy doesn’t bother to throw. Michael is teh awesomeness.  And Kepp coems through with an RBI single which SHOULD have been an RBI single, but the hit was one of those bloop jobs and Michael wavered too long going off to third and couldn’t advance – but it turned out OK as Pence didn’t groundout for once, and drove in the go-ahead run.

Clank hits a ball to 3rd, Pence slides in to Weeks hard, he gets off a late throw, but he’s fune because Clank barely bothered to trot down the line. It didn’t seem to matter much, seeing as how the Astros were ahead 6-5 with Henry Villar in line for his first ML W, but El Perezoso doing his usual sashaying crap ended up making a difference later on…

Meanwhile, Paulino made his first appearance in months – walked the first batter, but then got the first 3 outs. Then Loe got 3 straight outs in the bottom. Then in the 7th, Byrdak gets da Prince, but of course he gets pulled – these days, he is strictly a LOOGY, unless everyone else is tired or it is extra innings, and then somehow he can manage to get rightys out too. But Melancon comes in and gets his 2 outs, then the Brewers righy McClandon gets his 1,2,3 out.

Then it’s the 8th and Abad gets his 1,2,3 outs – ALL RIGHTYS!!!! How could Millsy EVAH let that happen? The game wasn’t lost and Abad got rightys out!!! Then Brewers righty gets out Pence, Clank and CJ.

9th inning, Lyon comes in to close – he has only 1 blown save (and 5 more losses, BTW) and – well, Corey Hart hits a GR double just inside the RF foul line on a high FB, then Braun comes up and hits the same pitch to almost exactly the same spot and the score is tied.

Second blown save. Peachy. And Brewers send in their closer Jonathan Axford, who gets 1,2,3 out.

10th, Lindstrom comes in. Gomez immediately hits a bunt single that Castro couldn’t possibly throw him out. Then Mat Gamel comes in to pinch hit. So Gomez goes to steal second on a ball low in the dirt and the throw is good, but Sanchez doesn’t put his glove out quite in time, the throw hits Gomez in the helmet, bounces into center, and Gomez gets up and goes to third. Peachy. Then Gamel hits a GR double to almost the EXACT same spot on the RF line as the other 2 and the Crew leads by 1. Lucroy is up, Lindstrom throws a slider in the dirt – yet another pitch that Castro can’t block (the boy got to work on that) then singles home Gamel from third. Crew leads by 2.

So Mills figures that Lindstrom can’t get lefty Craig Freaking Counsell out – no I am NOT kidding, pulls him, sends in Chacin to get the sac-bunt, and for some reason, let’s him stay in to get out rightys Weeks and Hart.

Bottom of the 10th, Axford comes back out for a 2 inning save (WHOAAAAAAA) and walks Bourn, but Kepp grouds out and Pence strikes out swinging and Brewers finally win a game at the Box for the first time in over a year.

sigh

Clank has absolutely been total suckage this September – for those who think that August proves that he pulled himself out of whatever slump he’d been in for April/May/July. I’m just soooooooo happy that mamagement apparently intends to play him at first next year – or else take away AB vs leftys from Brett Wallace because he IS a lefty, not because he can’t hit them.

Day off tomorrow, then Cincy comes to town and it’s ace Johnny Cueto vs the Wand Man. We’ve been a total doormat to the Reds all year long – time to be a spoiler.

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Posted in Brandon Lyons, J.A. Happ, Matt Lindstrom | 3 Comments »

Astros Take Series From Cubs With A 4-0 Shutout

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

Michael Bourn kept his reach base streak alive at 18 with an IBB in the 6th – unfortunately, he didn’t get a chance to steal or score. He did, however, have a chance to drive in a run in the second, but grounded out.

Astros shut out the Cubs 4-0 with pretty much contributions from everyone, in spite of leaving a ridiculous number of guys on base. Defense was awesome, too, especially Tommy Manzella, who made 3 very tough plays. But the play of the day goes to Kepp to went to his right, then did a Jeter jumpthrow – ball to Wallace bounced in the dirt and Wallaced stepped back on the bag and the runner ran right into him. Kind of reminded me of that Aesop’s fable about the fly who lands on a bull’s horn – after a minute, asks the bull if he’s a bother and the bull says – I didn’t notice you were there. Wallace is, to put it mildly, undemonstrative.

CJ didn’t have the best night – looks like the balls had some funny hops on the ground there – he had a Bill Buckner error – looked as if he thought the ball was gonna bounce a lot higher than it did. And later he couldn’t get the ball out of his glove fast enough to turn a DP.

Michael Bourn, of course, was great – and he made the final out – a really excellent running catch in which he had to come way in way fast.

Cubs really shouldn’t have been shut out – Tyler Colvin doubled to the wall in right center in the 7th, then Geo Soto hit what SHOULD have been an RBI single to left, but inexplicably, the 3B coach held the runner, who, by the way, is VERY fast. That is called BAD coaching, as Clank, as usual, didn’t bother to go fast to the ball and wasn’t even going to try to get it back in quickly, as usual. And speaking of overly conservative 3B coaches, Clark held Tommy Manzella at 3rd when Quintero doubled to the RF corner – Tommy was 30′ toward home when Clark made him go back – not sure why – Colvin had barely secured the ball.

Everyone hit except for Wallace – and nobody pitched him inside, neither. Clank didn’t get any hits, but he hit the ball to the warning track in dead center twice and hit a wicked liner which Starlin Castro, the Cubs SS made an incredible catch on. Bad luck. It is baseball – it happens.

CJ hit one of those bloop to shallow right center doubles and an RBI single. I bet he swings at more pitches than any other major leaguer and has more swing and misses in 1/2 season than most hitters do in 1 full season.

Pence hit a ball HARD to left center which died on the track – there was a vicious north wind blowing in. But the next one went into the LF bleachers.

All in all, Pence knocked in 1 and left 2 on. Kepp went 2 fer 5, scored 1, drove 1 in; CJ went 2 fer 4, drove 1 in, left 2 on; Wallace left 3 on; Manzella went 2 fer 4 and scored 2; Q went 2 fer 4 and drove in 1.

Nice to beat the C*bs again – we end up the year with them as our last home series.

And speaking of home, we now have a 4 game series against Brad Ausmus and the Dodgers. Yes, I’m gonna try to go to a game and get my last longing look at the HOTTTTTness.

Tomorrow, lefty Ted Lilly (who we know only too well from all his years as a C*b) faces Bud Norris. Ted has always been an Astros killah – he’s 7-1 in 12 GS with a 2.19 ERA. But we DID beat him once so it CAN be done…

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Posted in Hunter Pence, Matt Lindstrom, Michael Bourn | 6 Comments »

9/1/10: Hunter Pence Is Teh Awesomeness And Nelson Figueroa Is The Lucky-ness As Astros Sweep Cards

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

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 something 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 Aaron 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 (Brett 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 Bourn 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 Kyle 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.

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Posted in Hunter Pence, Matt Lindstrom, Nelson Figueroa | 17 Comments »

Carlos The Jackal Beats The Astros As Wandy Gets No Run Support

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Wandy gave up only 4 hits (3 singles) and 1 homer by that Jackal into the Crawford Boxes – about 350′ but it was good enough.

Lindstrom is still doing the Lidge – his back is supposed to be fine, but he couldn’t even get Jeff Francoeur, on the edge of being released, out. He might could have, if Bourn had been fielding instead of Michaels, but that was just an insurance run.

So Wandy didn’t win, but at least he didn’t lose. Can’t imagine what is worse than losing a game 1-0. I suppose losing a game 1-0 if the run reached every base on errors not made by the pitcher.

sigh

And tonight, Nelson Figueroa gets his first start of his Astros career against his old team. I’m not holding my breath here. We’re facing Johan Santana, the guy who coulda been an Astro, who has 3 starts and 1 relief (gee that was a LONG time ago) appearance against the Astros with a 2.52 ERA/1.36 WHIP and .260 BAA. At this point, he has a 2.89 ERA – but interestingly enough, he has 15 starts in which he gave up 0 or 1 run, 1 start in which he gave up 2 runs and 9 starts in which he gave up at least 4 runs – the last time being August 1. So he is not unhittable.

Right now, I am looking over the list of this year’s Astros draft picks to see who did/didn’t sign, and I’m going to write up how they’ve done so far, if anything. We didn’t sign Jacoby Jones, that I can find.

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Posted in Matt Lindstrom, Wandy Rodriguez | No Comments »

Ex-Stro Brooks Conrad Goes Albert Pujols On Matt Lindstrom To Beat Astros

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

Unbelieveable.

A great pitchers’ duel for 7 innings.

Jair Jurrgens was almost unhittable, except by CJ (naturally) who had 2 singles, Wallace, who singled, Castro, who singled and Bourn, who tripled to the RF gap – the hardest hit ball all night. He SHOULD have had this game won as a shutout, but with 1 out and Bourn on 3rd, he got Kepp to ground out to short (JUST like last night with Pence on 3rd) and AGAIN, Alex Gonzalez, the SS messed up the throw home- it one hopped and McCann couldn’t tag the sliding Bourn – who, by the way, missed the plate. Fortunately for him, McCann missed the ball, which rolled all the way to the backstop and Bourn heard the screams from the dugout to go back and tag in time.

With Kepp advancing to second on the throw, Jurrgens IBB Pence, then Moylan came in to get Clank to GIDP, and indeed, that was exactly what Clank did, only Alex Gonzalez, the SS, messed up the throw to the 2B, who was charged with an error for missing the bad throw, and Keppinger scored the go-ahead run. Jurrgens looked as if he was ready to jes break down and cry – not that I blame him.  

Pence, on second with CJ on 3rd, for some reason decided to steal third (WHY? he could score from second on a single!!!) and was thrown out. So naturally CJ singles under the glove of Glaus. Pence would have been at 3rd, bases loaded, Wallace up.

So Bobby Cox sends in Venters, his lefty reliever, and Mills pulls Wallace, WHO CAN HIT LEFTYS, and sends up Michaels, who strikes out.

And I guess I should go back and mention the fact that Kepp and Pence stranded Sanchez in the 1st, Happ left men on first and third on the 2nd (Castro came up with men on 1st and 2nd and grounded out and it wasn’t a DP because Wallace broke it up); Wallace left CJ on first in the 4th; Bourn, Sanchez and Kepp left Castro on second in the 5th… That is a lot of guys who didn’t score.

Happ pitched his typical outing – which is that he gives up lots of walks, very few hits, very few runs. He has always run out of steam around 5-6 innings. And for some reason, even though he was at 93 pitches, Mills sent him back out without having anyone warming up in the bullpen.

?????

He walked Brooks Conrad (who was put in for Chipper Jones, who hurt his leg – apparently pretty badly, on the great play he made on CJ’s grounder at the end of the previous inning) on 5 pitches. No one gets up. He strikes out Diaz. He’s up to 101 pitches, and he was lookin like Pedro in the infamous Grady Little game. Lopez starts to warm up (WHY???? wasn’t he warming up to START the inning???) and then he throws 3 straight balls to McCann NOWHERES near the zone, then a gimme strike, then ANOTHER ball outside the zone. Mills trots out.

Does he pull Happ, who is CLEARLY finished???

NO

He goes all Grady Little and NATURALLY, Troy Glaus singles in a run to break up the 0-0 tie.

I couldn’t freaking believe it.

NOW Wilton Lopez trots in and gets a GIDP with 1 pitch (I like how there is never a double switch so a reliever who throws 1 pitch can’t go back out for the next inning).

The Astros grab the lead thanks to multiple Braves fielding effups, and then Matt Lindstrom comes in to close. He has only a 1 run lead, and like in St. Louis, he gives it up. First, an infield single to Infante, then he throws a FB RIGHT down the middle and Brooks Conrad sends it 440′ into the RF upper deck. Yes, another guy the Astros Organization didn’t like for some reason, although he was a very good utility guy who would have been better than any number of horrible vets they preferred. He got out Diaz and McCann, then Glaus hit a FB right down the middle waaaay over the Crawford Boxes.

Mills pulls him out and sends in Chacin, but it’s a little too late to do the right thing now, as the old song goes.

The Astros lie down to Billy Wags.

I’m getting those Brad Lidge 06 bad vibes about Lindstrom.

sigh

Tomorrow, it’s Tommy Hanson vs Wandy (and it was his 5-2 win that Lindstrom blew last week) so we better hope that the batters score so many runs that we don’t need Lindstrom.

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Posted in Chris Johnson, J.A. Happ, Matt Lindstrom | 4 Comments »

8/6/10: Matt Lindstrom Gives Up 4 Runs And Blows Wandy’s W Against The Brewers

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Games like this are why I seriously want to kick all the media sorts who talk about pitchers who “know how to win.” Wandy didn’t win tonight – yeah, he didn’t lose, but besides giving up 1 earned and 1 unearned run, I seriously do not get how he was supposed to prevent Matt Lindstrom from being unable to get good pitches over the plate (meaning the kind that don’t get hit)  for 5 straight batters (and 4 runs.)

Yeah, I know – ALL starting pitchers BITGOD threw 150-200 pitches/game every 4 days, 300+ innings/year, every year, for 10-20 years and finished ALL their games because THEY didn’t have ANY weakass hitters in THEIR opposition. Noooooooooooooo.

sigh

Wandy wasn’t ace – had only one 1,2,3 inning and gave up at least 1 hit (no walks) in the others, but he didn’t walk anyone and he struck out 7. And he sure nuff did more than enough to win. Well, every pitcher has a bad time sometime, I guess, and as Lopez and Lyon had already been used, and no one had warmed up, there really was nothing that Mills could do except trot out there before Da Prince drove in the 2 winning runs and tell Lindstrom to not lose, but – shrug – what can you do.

Roy Oswalt, whose bullpen (not Lidge, though) blew his W last night, feels for Wandy.

I suppose you could blame the hitters for leaving 11 MOB and only going 3 fer 15 with RISP, but hey, not every game is gonna be a blowout.

sigh

Of course yall know that Delino DeShields Jr, the first round pick, has signed for 2.15 mill. He’s supposedly being moved from CF to 2B. I sort of have to laugh – Drayton supposedly had a screaming fit about signing bonuses (meaning he didn’t want to pay them if possible and certainly not over slot) after signing Chris Burke, who had a FAR better record and was a proven, polished college hitter, for about the same amount. Now, if we can sign Jacoby Jones (with some of that money saved from Berkman/Oswalt) I really will believe that Drayton’s era of cheapness has significantly diminished.

I also see that Jordan Lyles, the latest Organization pimp-ee, has been promoted from AA to AAA, but Douglas Arguello, who gives up fewer hits and runs over the same number of games and innings, is being left to rot. More important to keep Shane Loux and his 6.59 ERA and 1.58 WHIP and .329 BAA in the rotation.

I guess Arguello is in the hate pile along with Maysonet and Towles.

sigh

Tomorrow night, it’s a re-match of the ex-Phillies. Randy Wolf is licking his chops because the Astros are the one team he consistently shuts down.

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Posted in Matt Lindstrom, Wandy Rodriguez | 10 Comments »

Da Bourgeoisie Scores the First Run Against Zach Duke

Friday, July 16th, 2010

El Cabrito was benched today because he missed an “optional” workout for players – given that they had had an extra day over the ASG break. He managed to not get exactly the right flight out of Panama or something, so he got another day off, and Jason Bourgeois got a start in left.

He made the most of it, going 1 fer 4 with a walk and 2 SB and 2 Runs – and did a fine job with the glove, too and oh MAN it was great to watch someone actually going all out to catch a baseball.

Bourn batted second, but went ofer, although he did a fine job with the glove, as usual.

Kepp batted third (and it does not say real too good things about this lineup when Jeff Keppinger is your 3-hole hitter) and hit a solo homer, drove in 2 more and scored a run.

Berkman went ofer and looked bad with the bat, good with the glove. Interesting that I keep hearing from Astros fans that he should go somewheres else and be a DH, but he is fielding better than he is hitting. And, I checked several sources over the break and can’t find anyone who is hearing anything about any other team wanting to get him – not a surprise.

Pence hit a couple of singles, walked and scored 2.

CJ did just fine with the glove and finally broke an ofer with a single in the 6th, although he took the sombrero, and on curveballs – the 3rd pitch. Boy better watch out because he’s gonna become one of those few waste pitch victims. He best pick it up with the bat, and soon.

Q had a very good game – had an RBI double and a single, and made an awesome pickoff when he got Andy LaRoche leaning juuuuuust a leetle too far off second. And it was 2 on, 2 out and Neil Walker, one of the few decent Pirate hitters up with a 2-1 count. At first, I thought it was him not being able to frame pitches, but it wasn’t – it was the ump, who had a, um, erratic (ahem) strike zone – lots of strikes called balls and vice versa, but for both pitchers.

Sanchez went ofer, but laid down a very nice squeeze to score Hunter Pence. It’s an amazing thing with squeeze bunts – IF the bunter lays it down right, it is absolutely impossible to defend against, even when you know it is coming. I’m still not particularly impressed with the glove – but I AM glad he has been playing a while – will get some of the complainers off Tommy Manzella’s back when he comes back from the DL.

And Lindstrom FINALLY gave me a nice 1,2,3 9th. What a sweet boy.

Tomorrow is Ohlendorf (who actually pitched VERY well against the Astros last week – it’s just he gave up 2 solo homers to Lance and Roy didn’t give up anything) vs Bud Norris, who looked very good, actually, until Holliday hit a pitch out of the strike zone for a 3 run job.

As for the break -

No, I didn’t watch the HR derby. Too long. Will prolly catch bits and pieces of the replay here and there. Am amused to hear all the media guys whining about how there aren’t any great home run hitters to hit home runs any more now that the roids are gone.

Didn’t watch the ASG neither – at least, most of it. Lots of people grousing bout how it ain’t what it used to be. Well, yeah, like duh. Interleague play is mostly what ruined it and this sillyass business of making sure everyone gets in the game and saving the Albert Pujolses and ARods for some chance that never comes does the rest. The managers, ever since the 92 Mussina game, have put the greatest importance on getting everyone in the game instead of leaving the best players in. Or managing first and foremost, to win.

Oh yeah – and the christawful endless pre-game crap which took well over 45 minutes is the last straw. And no, they are NOT gonna start it earlier because they would prefer that 1/3 of the game run between 11PM amd MN EST because the ratings go up after 11. Not kidding.

As for rumors, well, there is most definitely a market for Roy, but apparently Drayton doesn’t want to eat salary, or much of any salary and he wants back top players. Gee, what a surprise.

There is still a market for Pence, Bourn and a few others, not including Carlos Lee, who had a .453 OPS in April, a .666 OPS in May, an .834 OPS in June (12 walks???!!!!) and so far in July, an .804 OPS with a .294 BA – certainly not enough to persuade any team to pay 18 mill a year for 2 more years.

Trouble is that I see absolutely no sign whatseover that Drayton is gonna do anything any different than he always has – and is fer SHER gonna milk Roy’s 2 home starts this month for all they’re worth.

Before he trades him, that is – or maybe I should say – IF he trades Roy…

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Posted in Carlos Lee, Jason Bourgeois, Matt Lindstrom | No Comments »

Lance Berkman Drives In The Winning Runs Two Out Bottom Of The 9th To Beat Matt Capps And The Nats

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Watching Astros baseball games is not real too good for my blood pressure.

Either the starter gives up a run or 2 in the first inning and I know the game is already lost, especially after the opposing pitcher gets 1,2,3 out on 5 pitches, because I want to yell and scream and call Drayton and gang the kind of names that I don’t want my kidz hearing me say because I have spent all these zillions of hours trying to teach them good manners. So there goes my blood pressure.

Or Michael Bourn manages to score a run in the first to put the Astros ahead, but then no one else can either get on base or drive someone home and we lose and there goes my blood pressure.

And tonight was 3 hours and 25 minutes of pressure packed game. Well, actually, blood pressure was fine the first couple of innings. Bourn led off with a walk (he’s up to 25 already – not bad – projects to about 85 walks for the year), then Kepp singled him to 3rd, then Lance had an RBI double off the wall just past the RF bullpen. So far, so good. The usual, Michael gets on and one of Kepp, Lance, Clank or Pence manages to get him home so we don’t get shut out.

But then shock deluxe – Clank does NOT GIDP, as I figured he would, he singles to left and it’s bases loaded. Hunter goes to 3-2, then walks in a run (he’s quit swinging at pitches out of the strike zone and is lookin GOOD) and then it is Geoff Blum, PLAYING SHORTSTOP!!! how absolutely ABSURD to take Tommy Manzella out to play Blum when it makes infinitely more sense to take out Pedro Suckage Feliz and have Blum play 3rd.

So Blum grounds out and Lance scores and unfortuinately, the runners move up. So even though Feliz is thevery definition of suckage, the Nats understand that Cash is an even greater mass of suckage (yes it IS possible) and they IBB Feliz, then Cash Ks and the pitcher is out.

But the Astros are up 3 runs. But I know better than to relax. And even though the Nats go down 1,2,3 on 12 pitches in the second, the Astros go down 1,2,3,4 on SIX freaking pitches in the bottom of the inning. 37 pitches in the first, and SIX in the second. At least Lance hit the ball to the wall and the LF had to leap to get it.

3rd inning, it’s blood pressure time again. With Guzman on first, Nyjer Morgan hits a single to left and Clank doesn’t even TRY to get Guzman at 3rd, but casually tosses it in to second. It’s what he always does. I know he’s terrible and has got an arm like a noodle, but the ball wasn’t hit THAT deep – in fact, it was a grounder that Blum didn’t get near. But Clank never ever TRIES to get the out, just casually tosses the ball in. You’d think that after 3 years of that crap I’d just shrug, but noooooooooo.

Anyhow, it’s bases loaded 2 outs, Adam Dunn out, but he strikes out swinging. Whew. In the bottom of the 3rd, Pence gets an IF single, then Blum, who has swung and misses ball 2 and 4, hits the next pitch to right and Pence goes to 3rd, then scores on a Feliz sac-fly – hey, he actually hit it to somewheres besides third, can you believe it???

4th is 3 up 3 down for both teams.

5th is blood pressure time again. Wil Nieves leading off the inning, again gets a hit – this time, a double juuuuuuuust inside the line to the LF corner. Pitcher Ks, Guzman singles to center and Nieves goes to 3rd. Then bad stuff happens. Morgan hits a nice GIDP ball to short and Blum bobbles it, a run scores, and everyone is safe. Peachy. Then Zimmerman walks and bases are loaded for Adam Dunn again.

Then stuff happens. He hits a nice grounder to Berkman, but somehow, he makes a bad throw home, Cash can’t corral it and 2 runs score and Dunn ends up on 3rd, then scores when Willingham hits a sac-fly.

Tie game on 2 BIG time errors. Blum has NO business at short and Berkman has to throw very carefully to Cash because he is just not a good defensive catcher (can’t block balls neither…) Yeah, 3 runs are unearned, but they count just as much.

AUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHH

But then Hunter Pence hits one into the Crawford Boxes to take the lead back and it’s 5-4. Feliz and Cash BOTH single with 2 outs (shock deluxe) but they are stranded.

Nats go down 1,2,3 in the 6th. Then Drew Storen comes out to pitch. He’s the reliever who the Nats drafted as their supplemental pick in the first round – no one really noticed because Strasburg was getting all the ink. But he blew through the minors and was called up a couple weeks ago and was pretty sharp with a 1.59 ERA. But Michael hit a double off the scoreboard, Kepp sac-bunted, even though they were all bunched in the IF, expecting it, and then Lance drove him home with a single to left thru the 5.5 hole. Clank swung just over a hanger and grounded out, then Pence went to ANOTHER 3-2 count before flying out. I likey him going to all those 3-2 counts!!!!!

So we’re ahead 6-4.

7th is 1,2,3 for the Nats and 1,2, then ANOTHER Cash single (????!!!! 2 in ONE game?????) but Jason Michaels grounds out on the first pitch he sees to strand him.

So then it should be a no-problem finish, right? I mean, we have our 15 mill setup guy and our closer fresh and ready, right?

rong

Lyons comes out and can’t find the (swear words) strike zone. Walks Dunn, Willingham pops up, Desmond singles, then Lyons walks Roger Bernardina, in the middle of a 1-20 slump, who has 4, that is FOUR walks over 88 PA and all I can say is oh noooooooooo, this is baaaaaaaaaaad, and sure enough, he hits Willie Harris with the very next pitch to walk in a run. Don’t ask me how he got the next out – the hitter swinging at ball 2 which almost hit him, then somehow, Lyons suddenly managed to find control and threw 3 pitches which hit the inside corner for the last out.

Astros 6 – Nats 5

So bottom of the 8th, it’s a lefty pitcher and Bourn grounds out, Kepp singles, Lance walks. Then in comes a righty and Clank pops up, Pence walks on a 3-1 (he’s not swinging at balls !!!!!) and Manzella, who has come in as a (ahem) defensive replacement, hits a ball into the hole on the left, but Desmond makes a great play to get the force at second (barely).

A 1 run lead. Can Lindstrom hold it? I almost can’t watch, I’m so nervous – don’t ask me why, it’s not as if this game counts or anything.

So Morgan leads off with one of those singles that goes in between the pitchers mound and first and Lindstrom can’t get it in time to feed it to Berkman and actually, the toss is no good and rolls to the dugout, but fortunately, Morgan hadn’t turned the corner or he woulda been on third. Zimmerman is up and Lindstrom throw 3 FB – NONE of which are anywheres NEAR the plate – up near the shoulder, nose, 1 foot inside – ball 4 is actually strike 1, but Zim takes his 4th walk of the night. Arnesberg runs out – and I notice that someone is getting up in the bullpen WITH THE CLOSER ON THE MOUND. Peachy. I’m going back to Brad Lidge 06 time with that uneasy feeling.

Adam Dunn is up, fouls off the 2 pitches which are borderline strikes, then takes his second walk in a row.

Bases loaded, no outs, 2 walks in a row. This is not good. This is not good. This is not good.

Somehow, Lindstrom manages to find the inside corner at the knees and strike out Willingham. Now, all we need is a GIDP PLEEEEAAAASE.

But no. Desmond singles to shallow left, Morgan trots home. Tie game. Second Blown Save in 3 games for Lindstrom.  Bernadina – remember him? the guy who was 1 fer 20 who almost never walks who Lyons just walked last inning – well, Mr. Slump singles in Zimmerman, the go-ahead run.

Mills has seen QUITE enough and he pulls the closer. Yes, you read that right. He sends in Wilton Lopez who gets the next 2 outs.

Nats 7 – Astros 6

And Matt Capps, who always shuts the Astros DOWN is in to close. I don’t know why I bother to watch. A glutton for misery, I suppose. Husband sits down to watch it with me. I’m sitting on the floor holding Jana Brattain Dog, who was a bit surprised that I went in the kitchen and picked her up, but she figures, hey, enjoy it while it lasts, and Dog Pappas trots in to make sure he gets his fair share of patting – he’s WAAAAYYYY too big to pick up, although he doesn’t like to admit it.

So it’s Feliz NaviDUD up and sure enough, he grounds to third and sure handed Ryan Zimmerman kicks the ball and Feliz is safe. No matter – it’s Cash who is up and he sure as HECK ain’t gonna go 3fer, and he gets the sac-bunt down. So it’s Cash on second and Cory Sure-out Sullivan up. And Sullivan hits the ball off the deep LF wall for a double and Feliz stops at third!!

FELIZ STOPS AT THIRD – FELIZ STOPS AT THIRD WHAT THE (expletives deleted) IS HE DOING STOPPING AT THIRD???!!! (I’m so busy screaming YEW IDIOT!!!) that I hardlt heard anything – and Mama, who was at the Box, texted me and told me that Dave Clark had, for some unknown reason, held him up. SERIOUS, SERIOUS effup. I mean, SERIOUS effup.

But then I realized that I scared the living heck out of my poor Dogsss and I just had to shrug and let the ol blood pressure go back down and figure that Clark would be the Designated Goat to replace Blum/Lyons/Lindstrom in my little writeup and I could spend the next 2 outs thinking up Clever Titles. So I watched them IBB Michael Bourn so hopefully Kepp would GIDP – and he did groundout to second, but they could only get the force at home.

So then Lance was up. And yeah, he had driven in 3 and given up 2, but he HAD been the one to drive home the winning runs on Sunday, so I watched him swing through a slider, then foul one off, then take a high pitch, then foul off another, then lay off a pitch juuuuust outside, then hit its duplicate down into left and wasn’t nobody could possibly throw out Bourn goin home and Lance made a winner out of Wilton Lopez and the Astros.

So I looked at Husband and he looked at me and he sez – well Baby, it’s baseball and the one thing you know is youneverknow.

Oh myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

But I’m getting ahead of myself…

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Posted in Berkman, Brandon Lyons, Matt Lindstrom, Wilton Lopez | 4 Comments »

5/27/10: Lindstrom Blows Save, Gives Up The Game Losing Walk Off Walk

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

sigh

I don’t know what to say. Dave Bush is no longer a good pitcher and should lose ballgames by a good 5-6 runs. The Astros SHOULD have beaten him but good. Absolutely NO excuse for only scoring 2 unearned runs on o0nly 3 walks and 4 hits over 5 innings. NO excuse.

Of course, the lineup included stalwarts Cory Sullivan and Kevin Cash – when on WHEN – or at least HOW could Astros fans even begin to convince the Organization to dump Sullivan and call up Bourgeois? I mean, what more can the guy POSSIBLY do in AAA – batting .350 with 8 doubles, 3 triples, 4 homers and 14 SB over 41 games???!!! I don’t have any problem giving Clank a day off, even after a good day at the plate and on the bases, but replacing him with Cory Sullivan is NOT a win/win. And Bourn went ofer, even though he did walk and steal a base and get stranded.

But actually, I place the blame SQUARELY on Berkman and Blum as both left SIX guys on base, doing basically nothing and yeah, I know Berkman walked once and Blum drove in 2.

Fact is that the score SHOULD have been so lopsided that Lindstrom, who needed work, should have cruised through the 9th with a 5 runs lead. And of course, he wasn’t helped by the fact that Kevin Cash couldn’t get up in time to catch a high one that even Towles woulda caught so that the runner advanced to third. Castro is just a singles hitter, but even HE is supposed to be able to catch wayward balls and block well. (Of course, you KNOW he’ll be up after the Super 2 deadline and won’t have to worry about being sent back down no matter WHAT he does/doesn’t do – unlike, say, poor Navarro…) Anyhow, he shouldn’t have thrown a 2-1 FB to Gomez, who was sitting on it – and Blum wasn’t able to field it – and there was the blown save after 22 straight saves.

He just didn’t have it tonight. And really, there was no one to send in for the 10th, seeing as how Fulchino and Sampson are suddenly having trouble with finding the strike zone/keeping pitches out of the MIDDLE of the strike zone, really, and Lyons and Lopez had already been used.

sigh

Really, I don’t know what to say any more.

We’re off to Cincy, and hopefully hitting at his favorite ballpark will get Lance really going. Everytime I think he’s got it together, he absolutely is lousy the next day.

And by the way, I hear tell that bout every team not named the Royals or Pirates or Marlins are MUCHO interested in Roy – Fast Eddie is a sittin back, watchin the offers pour in. I just hope he is a little better at making a good trade than he was with either Schilling or Rolen, but I’m not holding my breath…

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Posted in Matt Lindstrom | 12 Comments »

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