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

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

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

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

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

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

Yeah, I know – no crying in baseball…

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

sigh

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

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

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

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Posted in Wandy Rodriguez | 4 Comments »

Wandy, Wilton And Lyon Shut Up And Shut Out Carpenter

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Would be nice to sweep…

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Posted in Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, Wandy Rodriguez | No Comments »

Michael Bourn Drives In 1, Steals 2 And Scores From Second On An Infield Single

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Posted in Michael Bourn, Wandy Rodriguez | 11 Comments »

Righty Figueroa Beats Marlins While Leftys Wandy And Happ Lose

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

Well, I’d heard that the Marlins eat lefty pitchers alive and they surely did.

This weekend was a little crazy for us – getting kidz ready to start skool, and any female who has “baby fever” can cure herself right quick by dragging 4 skool age kids around to get new shoes (which kids go through like Prince Fielder goes through donuts) and Skool Stuff. Husband made the earth shatteringly stupid (for him) mistake of asking why it always takes so long, so before he knew what hit him, he found himself with car keys in hand, taking the kids his own darn self. MWAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I spent part of Friday night watching the Happ game (until the rain came) while cutting up tomatoes/onions /cilantro for pico de gallo (to be canned) and then figuring that I might as well go on and go out with Husband, having like NO idea if/when the rain would stop. Why they ever built a stadium in south Florida without a roof I can’t figure – and I’m not even mentioning the heat. But I digress…

Saturday, I spent the morning out with kidz – and after Husband stuck his bog foor in his big mouth, I spent the rest of the time canning tomatoes/making tomato sauce/paste with the zillion bushels of tomatoes I got. THEN getting started on the peach preserves with the zillion bushels of peaches I got (and yes, of COURSE I did this in the back yard – no WAY I would steam up the house) and I FINALLY got around to watching the replays – a few observations:

Game 1 – the Happ rain delay game

- the rookies are having more and more trouble dealing with ML pitching. Wallace and Castro both look as overmatched as Tommy Manzella and CJ is swinging at all KINDS of crap out of the strike zone. Bagwell had better start working with him like NOW or he is gonna follow the Hunter Pence path and struggle like heck once teams get a little bit of video and learn that with 2 strikes, he’ll swing at ANYTHING.
- Castro is as bad at blocking pitches in the dirt as he is good at throwing.
- Bourn is struggling just as much the 6 weeks since The Baggy took over as he did the 6 weeks before The Baggy took over. Not sure why he can’t lay down a bunt this year or lay off swinging at strike 3, but he can’t. Not sure why he has regressed so badly from last year.
- Mills/Arnesberg are the exact opposite of Cooper – they just WON’T pull a pitcher who either has nothing or has lost it, even with the game on the line. Here the hitters aren’t doing much against Ani Sanchez, they are losing by only 1 run and after the rain delay, Happ, who was really unhittable and had unusually excellent control after the first inning (every hitter but one went to a 3 ball count) had to go run the bases after the 40 minute delay, then couldn’t find anything after he took the mound. He strikes out the pitcher on a 3-2 count, walks Hanley on a 3-2 count, gives up an IF single to short on a 1-1, spends a whole lot of time and energy trying to pick off the runners while walking the batter on 4 straight – and here we are with bases loaded and NO ONE IS UP IN THE BULLPEN. Then ge gest Uggle to popup on a 2-1 count and Pence, uh, well, let’s be nice and say he didn’t get it and there’s no excuse for missing it or oversliding the ball. 2 runs score, and there goes the ballgame. And STILL no one is up in the pen!!!

Should I mention how long he leaves Fulchino, who has basically nothing, in? Gives up FOUR runs. I’m surprised he didn’t leave him in to give up 11 – remember Cooper with Backe – TWICE and Garner with Jennings?

- oh yeah – and Baggy needs to teach Happ, who obviously can’t HIT, how to lay down a bunt – the little dribbler he hit towards first with Castro running to third was, uh, pathetic.

Game 2 – The Wandy Game

- in which Wandy strikes out 10 in 6 innings, but gives up 3 runs courtesy of CJ’s first error and a 2 triples in a row (one to no-man’s land gap in left center and the other down the LF line in which El Perezoso moved so slowly that Wes Freaking Helms had more than enough time to saunter to third). I listened through 5 innings – Wandy had struck out 9, given up a couple hits, 1 walk, no runs and was ahead 2-0, so I felt it was safe to go and do a few errands. Next thing You know – loss city.
- I am REALLY tired of hearing so many people call 09 Wandy’s “breakout” year. It wasn’t ANY different than 08, which was as good as Roy Oswalt’s year, by the way. And darn near every pitcher I’ve ever seen, except for Roger Clemens, gets flustered (most of the time) by fielding screwups, especially missed double plays – it’s isn’t exactly a Wandy specialty, never was.
- crappy Astros fielding, starting with, but not limited to CJ’s 2 errors, both of which let runs score – AND he didn’t drive in any to make up for it. Here and I was going to actually make sure to write about how CJ’s fielding had been more than just fine after his first week – in which he made, what, 7 errors.
- crappy Astros hitting with men on base, RISP – Hunter Pence drove in 2 in the first, and that was all she wrote until the 9th, when it was too little, too late.

Game 3 – In Which A Righty, Nelson Figueroa throws 6 innings of 4 hit, 1 walk, 7 K, 1 ER ball, Wilton Lopez throws 2 almost perfect innings for the W when Pence homers to give the Astros the lead, and Brandon Lyon makes the 9th, um, interesting.

- in which Michael Bourn had a walk, a stolen base (#40), a single AND a bunt single (FINALLY) and scored a run (FINALLY)
- in which someone FINALLY got Hanley Ramirez stealing
- in which AFTER the series, we find out that Cody Ross, who killed the Astros all weekend, got claimed on waivers by the Giants, as the Marlins were more than happy to get rid of his enormous $750,000.00 salary (hey, more money for Jeffrey Loria’s pocket, which is important, you know) and all I can say is – they couldn’t have claimed him BEFORE the homer, the triple and the 4 runs driven in?

And now we’re off to Philly – won’t face Roy-O, who threw 7 innings of 4 hit, shutout ball today – he gave up 2 hits to Nyger Morgan, who KILLZ him and to Adam Kennedy, who also always hits him well.

Tomorrow, we face Joe Blanton, who has had kind of an icky year – 5.11 ERA. Let’s hope the rooks remember how to hit.

And, by the way, I will definitely take a look – a closer look, I mean, at how hitters have done pre and post ASB to take a look at The Baggy Effect. I know about all the talk about how the Astros hitting is so much improved, but I want to leave out all the new guys who weren’t coached by Sean Berry. Removing Pedro Suckage Feliz and replacing him with CJ isn’t proof that bad hitting is Berry’s fault.

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Posted in J.A. Happ, Nelson Figueroa, Wandy Rodriguez | No 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 »

Brad Mills And Pedro Feliz Help Braves Beat Astros

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

As soon as I saw Brad Mills pull Wallace and send in Pedro Worthless Feliz to face Billy Wagner, who had just given up the tying run with a sac-fly to (of course) Chris Johnson in a 2-1 game, I said – we just lost this effing game.

WHY, WHY????? does Mills do unbelieveably STUPID stuff like this??? WHY????? Wallace hits leftys BETTER than rightys and he ALWAYS HAS!!! Better BA, higher slugging. If Mills is really truly incapable of looking at elementary numbers, such as Wallace’s career splits AND Feliz’ stats this year, he should just hang it up.

Of course in the top of the 10th, Feliz makes a crucial error with Ankiel at first – he misses an easy pickoff throw (he isn’t any good with the glove any more), Ankiel goes to second, and he throws the first of TWO intentional walks in the same inning. The ending wasn’t nice, of course, as Fulchino throws a straight FB right down the exact middle of the plate and it is deposited into the stands for a granny – second one he’s given up this year.

Obsession with leftyrighty matchups even when not indicated is Mills’ great failing – that and his obsession with insisting on using his WORST pinch hitter in critical situations.

The gane started out badly for Wandy – he gave up a double to the gap to Melky Cabrera to start the first, then Castro didn’t block a blockable ball and so Melky went to 3rd on a passed ball, then scored on a groundout. This looked even worse when Hanson, who had 3 working pitches and was hardly throwing ANY pitches outside the strike zone, went through the lineup 3 up 3 down. I thought fer SHER we were gonna get no hit.

And Wandy was just as about as unhittable – went through the 2nd, 3rd and 4th inning on 28 pitches with a great FB and a absolutely WICKED curve. He’s been absolutely ACE since Castro started catching him. Seriously. He’s had 9 starts (including this one) and 8 of 9 QS, giving up 0 ER 3 times, 1 ER four times, 3 ER once and 5 ER once. He’s throwin 60.1 innings, almost 7 IP/GS: 46 H, 11 BB, 59 K, 4 HR, 16 R/12 ER: ERA 1.79, WHIP 0.94, K:BB is 5.36; 8.85 K/9; 1.6 BB/9.

Now I know that Castro is not exactly hitting (makes JR look like Mike Piazza) but whatever he did to get Wandy’s curve to start curvin – or maybe to get more pitches called as strikes, it’s been a bit long to call it coincidence, I’m all for it.

Bourn broke up the nono int he 4th (whew) by beating out an IF single to the pitcher (just barely), then with Kepp batting, on the 1st pitch, he stole second. And Ross is a GOOD fielding catcher. On the 3rd pitch, Hanson picked him off second (too big a lead) and there was a rundown – And instead of the 3 IF doing the rundown, Hanson took the last throw and dropped the ball, allowing Michael to be caught stealing but safe at second on an E1. On the VERY NEXT PITCH, he took off for 3rd and just barely beat the tag. Conrad and Cox argued, but even the replay showed that Michael’s foot hit the bag juuuuuust before the tag hit his leg. Maybe payback for the call on Pence last night? Anyway, speaking of Pence, he hit an tying RBI single to left and Bourn trotted home. Unfortunately, Clank, CJ (who was hitting 5th???!!! WOW!!!!) and Wallace didn’t do anything.

Wandy was sailing through the 5th, 2 out, and Conrad beat out one of those IF dribblers to third (NOT bad fielding by CJ who, by the way, made 3 difficult plays) and then suddenly, Wandy lost all feel for the strike zone. It wasn’t the ump. He walked Ankiel on 5 pitches – and Ankiel fouled off what looked like a ball – and Ankiel has never gotten a hit off Wandy. Then, with the pitcher up, Wandy STILL couldn’t get the ball over and with a 2 ball count, Castro trotted out and told Wandy – just throw one down the freaking middle, hunh? So he did, and then the next pitch, Hansen hit one of those high chops that goes down the line, landed just inside the line midway down and Conrad cruised in.

I don’t know how, but Wandy threw 5 curveballs to Infante and got him swinging.

So I figured – there goes the ballgame, because really, Hanson looked pretty much unhittable. Then Bourn grounded out and Kepp hit a long fly ball to the LF bullpen – too bad it wasn’t like 30′ further to the left and Pence hit a hangong slider – bout the only one of those Hanson threw all night – and hit it to the top of the wall in right, but unfortunately, lowe enough for Melky to reach up and catch it – too bad it wasn’t 5′ higher.

Wandy gave up 1 double to right center in the 6th and one double down the RF line into the corner in the 7th, but didn’t walk anyone else or give up more runs. Actually, after the 6th, I thought Wandy would be done and was VERY concerned that Mills didn’t have anyone warming up – what was he gonna do it Wandy had gotten 2 runners on on the first 2 pitches? Let more runs score?

The Astros hadn’t sniffed a base since Pence’s single in the 4th and 10 hitters had gone up and 10 hitters had gone down, 3 of them on the first pitch. Then CJ walked – and this makes the 24th straight game he has reached base, but Wallace and Sanchez stranded him.

In the 8th, lefty Jonny Venters and his 1.09 went out to the mound. I knew that Castro would be pulled against the most lethal lefty in the NL – heck, he isn’t hitting rightys, and was expecting to see Pedro the Suckage, but it was Bourgeois, who got to a 3-2 count before grounding out – and he had to swing, it would have been strike 3.  Then pinch hitter Jason Michaels (what, no Feliz?) walked. So with 1 out, man on first, lefty Michael Bourn up facing the best lefty reliever in the NL, does Mills order the sac-bunt? No. WHY????? I mean, of ALL the times to deal with the lefty on lefty matchups, expecting Bourn to get a HIT is a bit much. So naturally, he Ks and then Kepp grounds out.

9th inning, Lyon comes in and pitches a quick, easy 1,2,3. Billy Wags comes out (and he has already blown 6 saves this year, in spite of his low ERA) and Pence running all out barely beats out an IF single. Gots to this for the boy – he goes ALL out. Then Clank hits a clean single to left and Pence, hustling all the way, beats the throw into 3rd. Just barely. Then CJ is up and he ties the game with a long sac-fly to right. If he can’t get a hit, he figures he can drive one in.

You talk about RBI machine? CJ has now had 81 AB with runners on, has had 35 hits and driven in 31 runs – and his OPS is 1.147. With RISP, he is 18 fer 43 with 26 RBI. He has a 1.47 OPS with RISP and 2 outs and is 10 fer 21. He drives in a run 42% of his chances. Which is unbelieveable and no I do NOT wanna hear how he can’t keep it up (even if it is, uh, unlikely.)

So it’s Clank on first (who did NOT tag up and move to second when Melky threw home – BAD heads down baserunning) and Wallace, who is 4 fer 8 against leftys so far, and has driven in 2 of his 4 runs vs 19 AB against rightys – this year at AAA, he had a .978 OPS in 119 AB vs leftys (.818 vs rightys); in 09, minor league career OPS vs leftys .940 (.843 vs rightys) and SLG .502 vs leftys (.481 vs righys) in 1240 PA – and that is NOT a small sample size.

So Mills STUPIDLY and I mean criminally stupidly benches a superior hitter in favor of the worst hitter on his bench, who naturally gets out as Carlos steals second, which took the Braves completely by surprise. And Sanchez grounds out. Sanchez, by the way, has gotten on base in all but 7 of 30 games here. Pretty good.

So Lyon, who threw 7 pitches in the 9th, goes back out to start the 10th. Good idea, he shouldn’t exactly be exhausted after 7 pitches and 5 minutes in the bullpen and 5 minutes of commercials.

Conrad flies out 1st pitch. But then Ankiel walks. Not good, because he’s FAST and he steals bases. So then Feliz does the SECOND thing to lose the game – he fails to catch a pickoff throw and Ankiel is on second. This is bad because Ankiel is fast enough to score on a single that leaves the infield. So, instead of concentrating on getting ONE out, the pinch hitter Hinske, Mills has them IBB him, hoping to get Infante to GIDP, I guess. But I really don’t like walking a guy when you have ALREADY walked someone – generally is not good. So of course, Infante doubles off the scoreboard and Ankiel trots home.

BIG meeting on the mound, Mills chatting.

So far, we have had a pitcher who gave up a long fly ball, a 3-2 walk, an IBB, a double smashed off the scoreboard, men on second and third, and what do we get?

an IBB to Melky Cabrera.

So far, we have THREE walks, 2 intentional, a single and a double. He has now thrown 23 pitches, 8 of which are strikes, 8 of which were deliberately thrown out of the zone.

Time to bring in someone else?

Heavens, no. Gonzales singles home a run. Bases loaded.

It’s now Braves 4 Astros 2.

NOW we bring in Fulchino to face pinch hitter lefty Brian McCann. 2 balls, then a FB, straight RIGHT down the middle and then 3 seconds later, 400′ into the stands. Poor Lyon is Francoed by 3 runs and all I can say is – gee, what a surprise.

It was time for a REAL righty lefty decision as the only guy Bobby Cox had left on the bench was McCann (niether Chipper nor lefty Heyward were available). So you could bring in Byrdak to face Diaz, who certainly hits leftys well – at a .918 OPS, or Fulchino to face McCann who hits rightys at a .898 clip. So the question is, right NOW, who do you think is the better pitcher? Rights have a .333 BAA Byrdak and leftys have a .313 BAA Fulchino (and I am just looking at this year’s stats because most all relievers not named Mariano are not particularly consistent from year to year)

ok

I get the point, pick your poison.

And we got poisoned, all right. Funny that this particular series has focused so strongly on bad fielding and too many walks at a critical time leading to misfortune. A day off tomorrow, hopefully some media person will ask Brad Mills why in the name of GAWD he keeps platooning/pulling Brett Wallace against leftys. Then the Pirates come in for the weekend and we will have the debut of Nelson Figueroa, starter.

Jordan Lyles appears to be tiring, by the way. I’m glad they didn’t bring him up yet, he’s having enough trouble at AAA. And Douglas Arguello is sitting out at AA because his armn is hurting – we’ll see what happens with that.

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Posted in Brett Wallace, Chris Johnson, Hunter Pence, Pedro Feliz, Wandy Rodriguez | 3 Comments »

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 »

Wandy Pitches 8 Shutout Innings Against The Brewers For Win #9

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

I was writing headlines in my mind, like Wandy Pitches A 5 Hit Complete Game Shutout, when inexplicably, Mills pulled him after 105 pitches and a 6 pitch 8th inning. I hope Wandy told him he was tired because I have no idea why he couldn’t have finished up.

He started off a little shaky, had trouble finding the strike zone with the FB, gave up an IF single to Weeks leading off and then a single to left, but then got Da Prince to pop out to left on another 3 ball count, then got Ryan Braun to ground into a FC (unfortunately the ump was right) and suddenly, Wandy found that fastball and struck out McGehee on 3 pitches.

From there, he was off and running, and except for the 7th, when Braun hit a high inside FB down the LF line for a double and Escobar walked, he just cruised. He had 9 Ks, 2 looking, 7 swinging and the curve was curvin and the FB was hopping. He only gave up one well hit ball and that was to deep center by the Reliant Energy sign by the RF bullpen – naturally, Bourn ran it down. (Now that Berkman is gone, Bourn is doing all the ads on KTRH…)

I noticed that Wandy only threw 4 changeups the entire game – and 2 of em were hit for singles.

Jason Castro was called up on June 22 and caught Wandy’s game on the 24th and all of his games since then.

He threw 14 games to Quintero, went 3-10 with a 6.09 ERA over 75.1 IP (average 5.1 IP/GS)with 6 QS – 7 HR (0.8 HR/9), 95 H (11.3 H/9), 34 BB (4 BB/9), 52 K (6.2 K/9)

He has now thrown 7 starts with Castro: 47 IP (6.2 IP/GS) and is 6-1: 33 H (6.3 H/9), 4 HR (0.8/9), 10 BB (1.9 BB/9), 43 K (8.3 K/9).

That is a statistically significant, whopping difference (even if you omit the2 games he threw against the Rangers and Yankees).

Castro’s new at bat song should be (apologies to Justin Timberlake)\

I’m bringing Wandy back
Them other catchers don’t know how to act
I think it’s special what’s behind your back
So turn around and i’ll pick up the slack. 
Send em’ to the bench

And speaking of the bench,

I hear tell that Clank refused a trade to the Red Sox (again) and tonight, he was benched in favor of Jason Michaels.

heh

Brett Wallace made his debut tonight. He sure drew a crowd – I bet there were actually some 37K people in the stands (either that or it was the Bagwell bobbleheads or the post-game Faith and Family Night concert).

First AB he was visibly nervous, poor guy. Naturally, the HP ump wanted to humble him and called 2 borderline FB off the plate as strikes, so he swung wildly at Ball 1. Dude is the human rain delay up there – makes Nomar Garciaparra look speedy. He got 1 good swing on a long fly ball to center, but other than that, no. He did reach on error on a dribbler in front of the plate that Lucroy overthrew, and he struck out twice. I’m not surprised – he is replacing a franchise type player and he’s never had a ML AB before and there are really BIG expectations for the guy. Everyone else in the lineup had at least 1 hit and CJ went 3 fer 3 with a walk.

Dave Bush had one of those bad luck kind of days – the hits against him were either seeing eye singles in the 5.5 hole or those bloop hits over the heads of the infielders. Bourn smashed an opposite field double to the LF bullpen with CJ on second and Castro on first. For some reason, Clark held up the stop sign for Castro, even though he was on CJ’s heels and Braun had barely retrieved the ball (and he would have scored easily and given Michael another RBI).

It was actually a fun game to go to – the most people I’ve seen in the stands since Opening Day – and more enthusiastic, too. And Wandy was at his absolute best for everyone. I know Wade SHOULDA traded him, but I’m selfishly glad he didn’t.

And by the way – bad news – Ed Wade signed his ex-Phillie petsy-poo to a multi-year deal – gee, what a surprise that Fast Eddie is in LUUUVVVV with the guy he drafted and isn’t able to see that this is a year that is out of line with the guy’s career stats. I hate Ed Wade and hope that Drayton sells this team and the new owner’s first act is to get rid of Tal, Ed and trade Petsy Poo.

sigh

Wesley Wright (fast becoming my second favorite Astro) starts against ex-Phillie Randy Wolf, who beat the Astros soundly his last time…

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Posted in Brett Wallace, Jason Castro, Wandy Rodriguez | 8 Comments »

Wandy Throws 7 Innings of 1 Hit Ball, Beats Mike Leake’s Reds

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

It wasn’t the best I’ve seen him throw, and he gave up 2 walks and went to 8 pitch counts twice and 9 pitch count once, but he kept em off the basepaths fer SHER. He only had 2 hard hit balls – one by Hanigan to the LF bullpen (thank you Michael Bourn) and one to the Hill (thank you Michael Bourn) but the Danger in this Park (ask Roy last night or Leake today) is to left, where the Crawford Boxes beckon so invitingly.

Pence gave Wandy a 1 run lead with a solo homer to the CBoxes in the second, and that was all he needed. CJ added another solo homer with a smash above the CBoxes onto the tracks and Michael Bourn, hitting against a LEFTY!!! (YOU SEE THAT MILLSY???!!! A LEFTY!!!) drove in Castro and Jason Michaels with a double to seal the deal.

Poor Castro – he should have had another hit and an RBI, but Johnny Gomes trapped his liner to left with man on second 2 out in the 4th and sold it as a catch.

Lyons and Lindstrom came in and got em out in the 8th and 9th even though thre was no save – hey, the bullpen is teh sukc these days.

Speaking of sukc, Chris Sampson was sent down today – he still hasn’t recovered from the shoulder problem. Meanwhile, we’re trying out Fernando Abad, a 24 year old lefty. He was called up from AA, where he was a swingman – started 4 games, relieved in 10 over a total of 39.2 IP with an ERA of 2.50, Whip 1.41 and a .306 BAA. Although he gave up a lot of hits, he gave up only 6 walks/39.2 IP and 3 HR/39.2 IP – so we’ll see how he does.

He can’t be worse than Majewski/Daigle.

Can he?

Oh yeah – check out this nice article on Danny Arguello. Wonder why Jordan Lyles would merit a callup and he wouldn’t…

Anyway, we got to see Anderson Hernandez starat at SS today. Isn’t any better with the glove and he got a nice GIDP and nothing else.

By the way, Ed Maysonet came back from the DL a couple of weeks back and is hitting like crazy over the past 2 weeks. Would be nice to see him get called back up again (he spent almost the whole year on the DL – and didn’t get many ABs because of Matt Kata, who has lately returned to his normal level of suckage…)

Tomorrow, it’s lefty Wesley Wright vs lefty Ted Lilly – yes, the C*bs are back in town. Makes the beer guys happy…

Anyway, Ted Lilly is supposed to be on the trading block – and wouldn’t be real too surprised to see a lot of scouts – he always KILLZ the Astros, it seems. Even the time he gave up FIVE homers, he still won.

Hopefully, the guys will get it together for Wes tomorrow, and Millsy won’t leave him out there to throw 40 pitches in an inning. Anyway, Ted can be an example to Wes of how a very small lefty (and Lilly can’t be an inch over 5-9) can be a very successful ML pitcher.

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Posted in Chris Johnson, Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, Wandy Rodriguez, Wesley Wright | 6 Comments »

Chris Johnson FINALLY Hits His First ML Home Run!!!!!

Monday, July 19th, 2010

So I’m a fangrrrrrl. CJ falling 1 double short of the cycle was teh kewl!!!!!!!

Tonight, it was all CJ and Jason Castro (hitting a 3 run bomb to complement CJ’s 2 run job) providing the POWAH!!!!

And it sure nuff was really something to see 10 Astros come to the plate in the 1st inning. I disremember that ever happening before. Too bad Sanchez ended the inning with bases loaded.

Wandy was not exactly at his best and as usual, DLee and ARam were not kind to him. Wandy was obviously tired when he started the 6th – probably as a result of his hitting a double and running the bases the previous inning (yeh, he’s batting .286 – a LOT higher than some other high paid guys I could mention) and gave up a solo shot and a 2 run shot. He got lucky that inning because Soriano ran his fool self into an out at second for the last out.

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Posted in Chris Johnson, Jason Castro, Wandy Rodriguez | 2 Comments »

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