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Good-bye Roy Oswalt, Thanks For The memories And Hope You Like Philly

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

I’ve seen it coming since The Year Of The Biggio, when it became obvious that Drayton was running the club and that he had absolutely NO idea how to GM a club, just how to promote it. I’ve watched the general atmosphere deteriorate as Roy and Lance realized that they were not going to have any chance of returning to the postseason. They (barely) tolerated the ineptitude of Cooper and the rest of the coaches, but even though Mills and Arnesberg were hired this year, Roy and Lance saw the writing on the wall – Drayton wasn’t about to hire good baseball people and let them rebuild the franchise, so they said – I’ve had it.

I don’t blame em one bit.

It’s gonna be weird watching Roy pitch for some other team. I first watched him in the 2000 Olympics – my Mama called me, told me to get out of bed and turn on the games because I wasn’t gonna believe my eyes. Everyone was going on and on about Ben Sheets, but Roy was better, had better stuff – like Paulino, with superb control. I could hardly believe he was an ASTRO.

And for 10 years running, he’s been our ace. And now he’s gone.

Here’s the deal: Oswalt plus 11 mill (of his remaining 5 mill + 16 mill + 3 mill buyout) to the Phillies for 27 year old lefty ML pitcher J.A. Happ (not a FA until 2014), A ball infielder Jonathan Villar, and A ball OF Anthony Gose (who was immediately traded to Toronto for failed 1B AAA prospect Brett Wallace, a 3B turned 1B – yes you have heard that name before, more on him later.)

I find it VERY hard to believe that Wade couldn’t get a better deal – especially for 11 million dollars.

I know the fans are ecstatic about Happ, because of his gaudy win/loss record and his low ERA.

Let’s take a look: Happ was drafted by Ed Wade in the 3rd round of the 04 draft, threw 4 innings in 07, then 31.2 inningsof 120+ ERA ball in 08, 166 innings of 145 ERA+ ball in 09, and spent a great deal of this year on the DL, but threw 3 starts over 15.1 innings, giving up 3 ER/4R. ML numbers: 31 starts, 16 relief appearances over 217 IP: 8.2 H/9, 1.1 HR/9; 6.6 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 – 3.11 ERA, 1.295 WHIP. Bad number, though, is his career xFIP of 6.33 – this is an adjusted ERA kind of number, standing for fielding independent pitching, adjusted for league and parks, and, like ERA, the smaller, the better. It indicates that Happ has (supposedly) been extraordinarily lucky in having balls in play head to fielders and having them successfully turn them into outs.

I can tell you that his minor league rehab numbers this year are pretty bad.

Well, he IS cheap, but he is no ace, in spite of his low ERA.

Jonathan Villar is a 19 year old SS currently in A ball – Sally league. This year, he’s had 420 PA, 18 2B, 4 3B and 2 HR; 38 SB, 13 CS (like a 62% success rate = lousy); 26 BB, 103 K: .272/.332/.358/.690 – oh yeah, and as a fielder, has 42 (no, that is not a misprint) errors/483 chances (and the same error percent at 2B in previous years) – lifetime minor league OPS of .698 over 830 PA. This, my friends, is the definition of suckage. What the heck is Wade doing picking this guy?

And Brett Wallace? Of course you know his name. He was a first rounder of the Cards in 08 and was traded to the A’s last year at the deadline for Matt Holliday. He ended up being traded to the Jays in the complicated Roy Halliday trade in the offseason, and now he’s with us. He started his career as a third baseman, but his glove makes Chris Johnson look like Scott Rolen, so he’s been playing 1B, and I hear tell from people who have watched him, that he’s basically the first base equivalent of Clank Lee in LF. He has nice numbers in the PCL and for the past 2 years, has been at AAA with 866 PA (at hitters parks Las Vegas and Sacramento) and 45 2B, 33 HR, 21 GIDP, 56 BB, 165 K: .300/.357/.498/.855 – this translates to a major league equivalent of approximately .240/.289/.391/.698 (hitters parks, you know…)

For a guy who is supposedly a TOP prospect, he sure has been traded an awful lot. You have to ask why the Jays wanted to trade him for a lousy hitting, crappy basestealing A ball outfielder.

From Brian Cartwright:

“A couple reasons why Wallace has been a huge disappointment

 He raked in college, posting .400 BA’s in each of 2007 & 2008, with power and walks. He continued hitting well in the pros in ‘08, over .300 at every stop in the minors, 14 HR in 80 games.
 
After 32 games of 2009 he was promoted to Triple-A, where the unadjusted numbers look good
2009 Memphis    293/346/423
2009 Sacramento 302/365/506
2010 Las Vegas  298/359/511
 
But what these three have in common are the all in the hit happy PCL.
 
Looking now at Oliver’s MLEs
           BA  OB  SA wOBA Fld
2007 Coll 310/382/481  376
2008   AA 283/370/447  361  -2
2009  AAA 254/319/370  308 -14
2010  AAA 231/284/372  289  -6
 
The 376 & 361 wOBA’s in 2007-2008 are great for a 3b (putting him around 6th or 7th best in MLB), similar to Ryan Zimmerman. Then two things happened – he was moved to 1b because of bad defense at 3b, and his hitting tanked when seen i translation. He went from 60 or 70 BB in 600 or so PA to about 40, and the isolated power went from .170 range (above average but not great) to .120-.130, which is below MLB average.
 
Over the past two years, he has produced at a level below replacement for MLB firstbaseman.

sigh

I guess Drayton and Fast Eddie are thinking of having him replace Berkman, instead of promoting Koby Clemens.

Looks as if Drayton gets to pocket 12 mill over the next 2 years and we get to wonder why J.A. Happ can’t keep his H/9 at such a low level.

To put it mildly, I’m not exactly very HAPPy with this here trade.

I’m just surprised that Wade didn’t manage to get a middle reliever out of the deal. And I have this very VERy bad feeling that they are not going to trade the Wifebeater and are going to give him a huge multi year deal, which they are going to regret very quickly. And they are not going to trade Pence, who is rapidly going to become expensive and not a better ballplayer, or Wandy, or anyone else who has any trade value. I wouldn’t be surprised if Berkman is the only other player traded before the deadline.

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Posted in Roy Oswalt | 21 Comments »

Roy Oswalt Loses His Second Career Game Against The Reds As He Gives Up 6 Runs And Gets Shutout

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

Roy didn’t pitch very well. To be nice about it. First inning, he gives up a single, then a homer over the CBoxes, then a double to right (but no mroe runs) then a solo homer in the second, then 3 runs on singles/doubles in the 3rd. 6 ER (no botched plays) and that was more than enough for Johnny Cueto, who held the Astros to 3 singles,a double, a walk and a ROE over 8 innings.

The hits, by the way, were 2 singles for CJ, 1 double for Sanchez and a single for Pence. As usual, Clank and Berkman looked old and worn out. It just might could be time to move them down in the lineup and move CJ up, know what I’m sayin?

Jason Castro is hitting .167, but I don’t hear fans screaming for blood as they did with JR Towles (who is still out on the DL with a broken hand). Not that I’m screaming for blood, neither, but I keep pointing it out to show how the Organization’s PR machine affects how fans react to players.

This trade deadline is gonna be interesting  to see what Drayton lets Fast Eddie do. I hear tell that Ed doesn’t WANT to trade the ol WifeBeater, but he has a mutual option, meaning he can be a FA if he chooses. The guy has a LIFETIME ERA (in the NL) of 4.40 – and you just watch Fast Eddie go and sign his luuuuuvvvv to a long, expensive contract, in which he immediately reverts to mediocrity (aren’t you glad we didn’t end up with Randy Wolf???!!!) These guys do NOT understand the concept of selling high.

They won’t trade WB and I hear tell they won’t trade Wandy, neither.

ah well

I’ve become almost numb. But I must say that I am beginning to appreciate the few wins a lot more than I used to.

Tomorrow afternoon, it’s Mike Leake vs Wand-Man and I hope Wandy stops the slide.

Also, Andre Dawson gets inducted into the HOF. It’s too bad that guys from the 80s who deserve to be in, such as Tim Raines, Lou Whittaker, Alan Trammel and Bobby Grich can’t get in because they are being held to the self same opffensive standards of the 90s that the media are now convinced are ONLY due to hitters and 1 pitcher using steroids.

It will be only a few years until Biggio goes in – too many media aren’t impressed with him because he didn’t play for one of their Real Teams(Tm) but he’s got the magic number and he didn’t LOOK like a roider, so in he goes. Larry Walker sahould be going in with him, but I bet he won’t get no respect neither.

Baggy?
Well, in case you don’t know, he had a decline phase at age 33 and was OOB by 35 which proved he used steroids. Also, he hit homers in the Dome which proved he used steroids because he is so much smaller than that giant of a man Jimmy Wynn, who hit 90 in the Dome during the years of the high mound. Oh yeah – and he hit more homers/AB in the majors than he did at AA which proved he used steroids. Plus, he had arthritis in his shoulder which proved he used steroids. And after he got the arthritis and he couldn’t lift weights no mo, his muscles shrunk which proved he stopped using steroids.

Ergo some suck

says Bryant Gumbel (and probably a whole lot of other media guys). Which means that Baggy MIGHT could get in, but I doubt it, which is a shame because he was a genuine 5 tool guy – and I have EXTRA appreciation for guys like Baggy and Larry Walker and even HotDog Edmonds – MUCH more than I do for the Jim Thome/McGwire guys who can’t do anything besides walk or hit home runs.

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Norris Loses It In The 4th, Berkman Never Finds It And Astros Lose To Reds

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

Bud Norris was absolutely unhittable NAILS the first 3 innings – 32 pitches, 5 K, 1 double barely down the RF line. Every FB was perfectly placed, sliders were sliding, even an occasional changeup was changing.

Then it happened. 4th inning, he gives up an IF single to 3rd, Chris Johnson makes a bad throw instead of just holding onto the ball, runner on second. No big deal, he did fine with the runner on second LAST inning, right?

nope.

Next hitter, 3 straight balls, then a strike, then a strike called a ball (yeah, the zone was tight).

Next hitter, 2 borderline pitches, both balls, then another ball, then a strike, then another ball.

bases loaded, Arnesberg runs out.

Next hitter, 3 balls, sac-fly to left, runners advance to second and third on Clank, who can’t throw from the LF bullpen, naturally.

Next hitter, ball, strike, foul, HBP

Bases loaded again.

1st pitch (thank you, hitter) 6-2 FC, no run scores

Next hitter, 7 pitch 3-2 AB with single to shallow left, 2 runs score, because Clank casually lobs it into 3rd. Clank never cares if runs score or runners advance. Well, I shouldn’t say that. Every now and then he actually TRIES to catch a runner and every now and then, he actually, stunningly succeeds. It is hard for me to believe that he started his professional career as a SS, seeing as how much he hates to actually, you know, like, move.

Pitcher pops out.

33 pitches, 3 runs. Mostly walks, the only solidly hit ball was the sac-fly. It’s all about the strike zone problem.

Norris hands a slider in the 5th and Joey Votto (whose production is topping even Uncle this year) hits it out. Other than that, a nice, smooth inning. 6th inning, GO, another walk, GIDP. Dude seems to have these Big Innings in which he loses command every single game. NO idea why, doesn’t seem to have anything to do with how many pitches thrown, how many innings thrown, where he is in the lineup. Ah well, good thing this is a learning year in which he actually gets a chance to work things out seeing as how even Drayton has GOT to admit we ain’t gonna be no champeenzzz!!!

Bourn, of course, was seated against a lefty and Bourgeois got the start, and went ofer. But Berkman and Clank were the goats tonight – Berkman struck out with men on and GIDP with RISP. Clank hit a single and left 4 men on. REALLY sorry performances, to be nice about it.

Pence had a great night – went 4 fer 5 and yeah, he did flyout to end the game with 2 on, but Clank did the same right before him.

And, to my shock, Mills brought in Michaels to PH instead of Feliz, with man on 3rd in the 6th, 2 out.

I should also note that CJ did make up for his error by driving in Pence with a high popup to shallow right – GREAT, gutsy baserunning by Pence.

Angel Hernandez had his first PH – went ofer, and new pitcher Figueroa let his inherited runner score – not that it matters because Byrdak had already lost the game. But it is not like we just got 2 great pickups.

Tonight, Roy goes for his pimped win – to tie Niekro for the Astros franchise wins!!!!! OK. Then Drayton can trade him. I hear tell from all over that Fast Eddie and Drayton are being extraordinarily difficult to deal with – media are complaining that Roy wants his option picked up – although Roy is very straightforward in saying that he will work with any team about the $$$ to restructure a contract. The media always thinks that any player should just eat poopoo when traded, that no-trade guys should always have to agree to be traded “for the good of the team” and are selfish if they don’t want to give up their bargained for rights.

The fans always think that the other team should give up its best your players/prospects in huge quantities ( like the Teixiera trade between Atlanta and Texas) and ignore minor nagging things like money.

sigh

I also doubt that Drayton is going to get really serious about trying to trade any tradeable players we DO have, such as Myers, Lindstrom and Lyon. Not sure who he thinks is gonna take Clank in the offseason. Not sure who is gonna take Berkman THIS trade deadline (and Lance is now saying that he is gonna try to play next year – he KNOWS that he ain’t getting no 15 mill option picked up) and I don’t see Bagwell making this miraculous difference in the hitting of either Clank or Lance with his magic “leadership” maddd skillllzzzzz.

I am gonna mention, once more, that Douglas Arguello is still outpitching the Hyped Jordan Lyles down at Corpus, but you think he’s gonna get a sniff?

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Posted in Bud Norris, Roy Oswalt | 3 Comments »

Paul Maholm Throws 3 Hit Shutout To Beat Lastros

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

I was shocked to see Roy on the mound when I went to check the replay – missed the game with family stuff – because I thought that Wesley Wright was starting. Turns out he won’t be called up until Tuesday. Too bad for Roy, because he gave up 2 runs over 4 IP for the L because the only guys who managed to not look bad against Maholm were Angel Sanchez, who had 2 singles, and Chris Johnson, who hit 1. Castro and Roy GIDP – Clank didn’t because there was no Berkman to draw a walk first. Pedro Feliz, as usual, sucked – played 1B because of the lefty righty thingy.

Where was I?

Oh yeah – Roy left after 4 because of taking a hit off his ankle and the bullpen came in. Let me tell you who did NOT uck-say: Byrdak, who gave up 2 hits, but no runs in his inning. I won’t say EXCELLED, because even HE couldn’t get a 1,2,3 inning.

Sampson gave up 2 runs in an inning (on a 2 run homer) and Wilton Lopez gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and Casey Daigle gave up THREE runs on 4 hits over 0.1 IP. And those 4 hits were not exactly IF singles neither. We be better off if we had sent his WIFE up to pitch. At least she can get the ball over the gosh darn plate (and unlike some guys on the team, she really IS 6′ tall – I know because I saw her at the Box the other day, walking right behind her, and she was very noticeable because she was wearing a Daigle jersey. Interestingly enough, no one was bothering her or her son as they walked down the hall…)

So anyway, Daigle was FINALLY sent back down (he shouldn’t have been called back up i the first place, but it was already all about the Benjamins) and we are now calling up Gary Majewski, who hasn’t pitched worth a flip since he was traded from the Ex-Spos to the Reds 5 years ago.

This year, he made 27 appearances over 35.2 IP with a 4.04 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP: 1 HR, 11 BB, 21 K.

And although everyone else appears to be suckage, we just CAIN’T call up nobody from AA!!!

Which reminds me – anyone know what is going on with Sergio Perez? He got called up to AAA, made 6 great starts of 7 innings each, then for some reason, was used in relief for 3 games, and then another start. He was teh UltraSukc in the relief appearances. To be nice about it.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we had to call up Josh Banks again – heaven forbid we give Danny Arguello a start and jordan Lyles has to be kept down to make sure we screw another FA year out of him

sigh

Tomorrow, we’re off to Wrigley where Wandy will face the surprisingly unsucking Carlos Silva. Wandy had better watch Aramis Ramirez – this month, he remembered how to hit.

And Wandy hasn’t exactly been nails at Wrigley, neither – a 5.96 ERA/1.61 WHIP/.310 BAA over 38 IP. Lil Dude best be throwin peas n curves if he wants to get his little self traded to a decent team. And no, I do NOT want to see my favorite player traded away. But I sure see bout NOTHIN in either AAA or AA and we have GOTS to get some more young players…

I notice that Richard Justice has finally lost it with Drayton and gang and is letting them have it with both barrels. He mentioned that the last straw was the day that Drayton told him X then went and told other reporters the opposite of X. Had to laugh – reminded me of how enablers are with alcoholics/drug users, WANTING to believe that they drank their last drink are really ARE sorry and gonna be good – then finally snapping when they have that come to Jeezus moment when they suddenly realize that they been played for years and the user has like zero intention of being different – just of persuading you that things will be different so they can go on doing what they always have done, being who they always have been.

Of course, Drayton doesn’t HAVE to care what anyone thinks, seeing as how his real interest is in filling the Box and making $$$, not in winning. Of course, anyone who didn’t realize that by the time The Year Of The Biggio Self-Important Farewell Tour rolled around was in serious denial – and yes that DOES mean you, Richard…

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Roy Oswalt Pitches A 1 Hit Shutout Against The Pirates

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

After not getting a W last week after pitching 7 innings of 3 hit shutout ball against the NL leading Padres, guess Roy was bound and determined to make absolutely freaking sure that he didn’t get clemenssed or francoed or lyonsed this afternoon. There’s a WHOLE lotta fight and not one ounce of quit in that boy.

Today was – Take A Ton Of Kidz To The Ballpark Day – and at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the people in the Box were kids. Which, by the way, was how I ended up going with 2 other females and a total of 10 kidz. You are right, I NEVAH learn. First lesson – no matter HOW much food you stuff into a kid, no matter HOW close they are to the complete FILL line on their little stomachs, somehow, 5 minutes later, they are empty enough to want popcorn/soda/hotdog/cotton candy (like I am stupid enough to have FOUR kidz wired to the eyeballs on that stuff)/ice cream/snowcones. And my kidz KNOW that if they come to the ballpark, they jes AIN’T gettin nothin except for the free soda you get for being a designated driver (best promo EVAH). But
 Kid Day is a good idea for getting butts in seats – seats might could be cheap/free, but the kids most spend more on stuff than an adult paying full price for the seat does.

And you KNOW it was kids day because they turned up the volume and had a lot more stuff.

And believe it or not, it was actually COLD in the upper decks. Yes, really. It was. As in thank goodness I had a rain poncho because i needed it. Husband woulda loved it.

They now make this announcement after the 2nd inning about how it is “criminal trespass” to run onto the field and if you do, you get up to 1 year in jail and you get up to $2000 fine and Yew Will Be Persecutid To The FUUUULL Extent Of The Lauwwww!!! So naturally, with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, some ultra maroon (a guy in shorts and a white shirt) jumps ovah the railing at the bottom of the stands at 3B/LF and runs across the field and up the Hill partway, but he got all tard out and lay down lahk a good lil boy when the cops got near. No tasing. Some of the guys near us were chanting _ Don’t Tase Me Bro, Don’t Tase Me Bro – but cops usually don’t tase unarmed drunk maroons who are already lying down with hands behind head, even for extra bonus points from the crowd. I was a little disappointed in the guy – guess he was too drunk to run well or maneuver much. I would appreciate it if someone with a Y chromosome would please explain to me the point of running on the field and getting arrested cuz I’m missing a lil understanding here…

I actually expected the Astros to kick some Ohlendorf Ass, but truth is that he was very good – he just got no run support (Paulino feels your pain, dude) and Roy was ice. He only gave up 7 hits (2 HR) and a walk, got 6 K. But unfortunately for him, even 1 run was 1 run too many – and there were only 2 really hard hit balls. He only got into trouble once – men on first and second, no out, but then got Castro, CJ and Sanchez out.

Bourn singled, stole a base (but got stranded) and stranded a man on 3rd with 2 out.

Keppinger didn’t get on base and had his 9 game hitting streak snapped. He didn’t get good wood on any ball. But he DID make a great play on a ball hit just to the right of second – dived, stopped, threw from his knees. And Lance made a stupendous scoop of that throw to get the out. It’s the little things and yes, fielding DOES matter.

Berkman got the Astros on the board in the first with one of his 320′ popups into the Crawford Boxes – first row, 5th seat from the foul pole. He hit a gen-u-wine homer to left OVER the Crawford Boxes in the 4th – and THAT one would gone out anywhere. He singled and popped out. He said on the pre-game show that he thinks his back leg (the one his knee was oeprated on) is getting stronger. I’ll believe it makes a difference if he starts driving the ball to the bullpens again and stops swinging through good pitches he used to kill. He also flashed some awesome leather – not just those scoops, but he also reached up to get a bad throw from Sanchez and didn’t lose contact with the bag. And he made a great diving stab of Jose Tabata’s liner in the 9th.

Clank hit 2 singles, NO GIDPs and no stupid Ks.

Pence went to 3-2 counts 3 of 4 ABs, walked, singled and stole a base (Clank could run on Doumit – heck, Quintero could run on Doumit) and stranded one.

Castro popped out twice and Kd twice and stranded 5. He hit a lot of fouls, seemed to always be just a little behind. The boy is lucky cuz if he was JR Towles with his going 1 fer Pittsburgh, he’d be on his way down.
CJ Kd twice, flew out to deep left and got robbed on a hard liner which almost went over the 3B. He went ofer Pittsburgh – interesting how he didn’t do nothin vs lousy pitchers, but hit the heck out of the Padres VERy good pitchers. He didn’t make any mistakes or misplays with the glove, although he almost made a bad throw, which Lance stretched and scooped up.

Sanchez is OK with the glove (CERTAINLY better than Blum) and did his usual groundout to short thingy except for his last AB – Ohlendorf threw him a changeup down the middle and he hit it WAAAAAAYYYY out in left center – and naturally, the CF was playing shallow and had to run a LOOOOOONG way to get it and Sanchez chugged into 3rd with a triple. He isn’t a fast runner, for a SS – about the speed of Keppinger/Berkman, surprisingly enough.

And Roy got a single, too – gots to keep that BA around your weight when you’re a pitcher, you know.

Roy pitched even better than he did 5 days ago – went to 3 ball counts only 3 times, walked 2, Kd 8, gave up 1 hit (in the first) and a HBP. He had one hiccup when he thought that McCutchen had been caught stealing to end the 6th, but I guess he had balked on that pitch. The ump came and talked to him, Mills was out for a second, then trotted back. Why on earth they never put what the ump’s decision was on the scoreboard, I do NOT know, but they won’t.

sigh

He had a pitch count of 92 at the end of the 7th and came up in the bottom of the inning with a man on 3rd – and I was surprised there was no squeeze, but ah well, he just flew out to shallow center, so Sanchez, no Bourn, couldn’t tag and score. So anyhow, I was pretty sure he’d be pitching the 8th – especially as no one was warming up. First hitter hits the ball back up the middle for a 6-3, and Roy looked as if he might have grabbed at the ball as it went by because the trainer and Arnesberg were out there in like 3 seconds, but Roy told them to go away, and they did. Next hitter was HBP on an 0-2 curve, but Roy came back and Kd the last 2 guys.

He was at 106 pitches, and the heart of the order was coming up for the 9th, and I couldn’t believe I didn’t see Lindstrom warming up, let alone coming out. Guess Roy and Mills had, um, a little, uh, chat – I can picture Roy remembering Cecil Cooper sending in Valverde to lose Chacon’s 4 hit shutout because “you pay closers to pitch the 9th, shutout or no shutout” and Lindstrom, uh, likes, uh drama – ahem – in the 9th. And Roy doesn’t…

So out trotted Roy, got the first out on a screaming liner which Berkman somehow stabbed, then 2 swinging Ks on 0-2.

It’s funny because I didn’t realize until I went to write this up that Roy had actually pitched a 1 hitter – probably because there were a total of 4 MOB and the hit was in the 1st inning. But this is teh kewl and no I do NOT care that it was against the worst team in the majors. You notice that they have not been no-hit and the Rays, one of the 5 best teams in baseball over the past 3 years have been NO hit like 4 or 5 times since then.

Tomorrow night, the Cards are comin to town – the second place Cards, that is, (behind the Reds – still) and it is Cards-killah Bud Norris, coming off 7 shutout innings vs the Pads, who has less than a 1 ERA in 4 GAMES vs the Cards. So be it and shall it remain…

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Posted in Berkman, Roy Oswalt | 4 Comments »

Roy Oswalt Returns To His Ace Form Against Padres, But Gets No Support And No Win

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

Roy returned.

I mean, to his old ace self. The FB was back up to 94-95 and every other pitch was just as crisp and lethal. He gave up 3 piddly singles, 2 walks and got 7 Ks. He only had a little trouble in the 5th when he gave up 2 straight singles with 1 oout, then a sac-bunt, but he struck out the next batter to strand both.

He threw 98 pitches over 7 shutout innings and was pulled for pinch hitter Pedro Feliz with a man on first in the 7th and Pedro hit as well as the rest of the Astros against Mat Latos, who was just as lethal against the Astros this outing as he was the last. He gave up 2 singles to Carlos Lee – and Pence GIDP once and Kd the other time, a single to Kepp – and Lance GIDP, but The Pest bobbled the ball, so they only got a FC, but it didn’t matter because Kepp was stranded, and a single to SS Angel Sanchez, who was added to the roster even though Bourgeois, not Navarro was sent down. THIS one I do not get. At least Bourgeois can hit and run, neither of which Navarro or Sanchez can do.

Brandon Lyon coughed it up with 2 outs in the 8th – a single, then an RBI double to

you guessed it

That *(%&#%@! Pest. That guy absolutely KILLZ this here team, and I know he doesn’t hit baseballs over the tracks, but like, you don’t HAFTA hit baseballs over the trax to KILL this team, just to get pimped on BBTN.

And yeah, 2 more runs scored when Byrdak Francoed Lyon, but, like, so what? All Latos needed was that one and as usual, the Astros couldn’t come back against Heath Bell.

Interesting that Latos is getting like ZERO media notice. It would be one thing if he was like so many other guys who had success only against the Astros (see Sam LeCure, Reds) but he seems to have the same kind of success against everyone else – well, yeah, he does give up a run or 2 to teams whose big hitters are somewhat more hitter-ish than Bourn, Kepp, etc.

CJ went ofer but had a flawless night with the glove – but I still wouldn’t be surprised if he gets benched again for The Great Feliz.

sigh

I had a lot more written here, but my computer screwed up and apparently, not only did the rest vanish, but it dodn’t get posted.

sigh

Anyhow, tonight, it’s Bud Norris (and I hope St. Louis Bud shows up) vs Kevin Correia. And unlike Latos, Correia is uh, not as good usually. The Astros have had some success against him over the years and have even drawn walks!!!

But it IS baseball and youneverknow…

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Bourn Gives Oswalt His Only Run, But Roy Gives Up 7 Earnies To The Rangers And Looks Sorry In His ?Tryout?

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

OK, Chris Johnson gave up an unearned run, and Chris Sampson let one of 3 inherited runners score, but hey, we are talking a drop in the bucket.

I had a feeling Roy was off from the beginning – his “fast”ball was registering at 90/91 and even though he got through the first inning 1,2,3 on 13 pitches, I had a BAD feeling. And I was right. Second inning, Roy had a pitch up in the zone and Vlad smashed it to left center off the wall for a double. Then he threw a belt high mid-plate FB to Josh Hamilton who hit it like 500′ into the upper deck. Last time I saw a ball hit that far was one that Berkman hit in Arizona – or maybe the one Wily Mo Pena hit off Duckworthless at the GAB back in 05.

Down 2-0, no outs. He gets Cruz to GO to the 5.5 hole where CJ makes a VERY good play to get the out (seems that it is balls hit right to him that give him fits)  then he walks Smoak on 5 pitches, then gets the #8 and 9 guys out on 5 pitches. But he is not throwing any slider I can see and his Fastball is not really moving.

3rd inning, he starts throwing his curve, but he is not getting it called for strikes. And he gives up another homer – this one a Crawford Box type cheapie – on an 83 MPH change, mid thigh, middle in. WAAAAYYY too much of the plate, not enough movement. Next batter, Kinsler smashes ANOTHER belt high mid plate FB to right center for a double – he eventually scores on another CJ error, but hey, it didn’t really matter, because it’s not like the Astros were hitting or anything.

 Navarro made some REALLY good plays that Blum/Kepp wouldn’t have, and Michaels, who was playing right while Pence got the night off, made a really REALLY good catch on a hard hit ball to the wall in foul territory – yeah another pitch down the middle, and Bourgeois, playing left, made a great diving catch on a ball that Clank doesn’t get near – it would dropped in for a single fer SHER.

The 5th inning was weird – Roy could NOT find the plate at all – well, first batter, the ump didn’t give him calls on 2 pitches at the knees (at least they are clearly in the strike zone on Gameday – they looked low on TV) but with 2 outs and a man on first, Roy threw 2 WP in a row that Castro didn’t/couldn’t block and the runner ended up on 3rd. He then walked THAT guy, then the next – but even though Roy couldn’t get NEAR the strike zone, and was CLEARLY tired – and this is Roy walking around the mound, calling for new baseballs, shaking off the catcher, and Arnesberg is out, Roy is left in to pitch to try to get that last out (don’t ask me why – can’t use that idiotic stuff about The Win) and naturally, he can’t get it and gives up a 2 run single.

Every now and then, even a great pitcher will have The Game From Hell – and this one was Roy’s fer SHER. And he can’t blame his defense for throwing it down the middle. Although he might could blame Castro for not getting calls to go his way, or not blocking pitches in the dirt or something. (Wonder if he’s missing Towles – yes, sarcasm…) Maybe it wasn’t Castro’s night – he also didn’t block a Sampson pitch in the dirt that went for a WP and led to a run.

On the other hand, Byrdak and Lopez both threw 7 pitch 1,2,3 innings. That is good.

Anyhow, 1 bad game for a usually good pitcher doesn’t mean he can’t/won’t get traded, unless him throwing his fastballs at 91 is an indication that he’s not feeling healthy. (And Justice says he hears tell that Nolan is gonna hire Gerry Hunsicker to run the Rangers. Well, they gonna be good for a long LONG time, then…)

where was I? Oh yeah

Hitting? Well, Bourn grounded into his third DP of the year – he’s hitting WAAAAYYY too many balls to the 2B this year – considerably more than he did last year. But he did drive in the only run of the game. And he’s done THAT considerably more than he did last year, too.

Castro went 2 fer 2 at the plate and made the (ahem) unforgiveable sin of committing the 3rd out at 3rd base (tried to advance as the ball got away from Trainor when Blum scored, but it didn’t get far enough away and Hunter, backing up the play, threw to Young to get Castro. But hey – down that many runs, I would have done the same thing. Castro is darn lucky – if it had been Navarro, who got his first hit as an Astro today, he be back down in AAA already.

CJ hit another single, smacked a ball to left that Hamilton (who, remember is actually a CF) made a Web Gem catch on to rob him, he hit a ball to the wall in straightaway center, and GIDP to end the game – not sure why on earth Blum hadn’t already taken second on FI, because they weren’t keeping him on at ALL.

Michaels, Clank, Bourgy and Lance all went ofer. I hate to say this, but Lance is looking absolutely awful – he is reminding me of Mo Ensberg in 07 at the end. Taking as many pitches as possible, hoping for a walk, swinging and missing pitches he used to KILL and not hitting many balls to the OF, let alone OVER the OF. His fielding is still very good – just like Mo.

I honestly never in a zillion years expected Lance to tank like this – last year, he had a .908 OPS and this year, he is down to .750. And Clank? His OPS is .674(???!!!) and yes I know it was down last year, from his 5 year average of .895 to .832 – but a dropoff like THIS? Well, he does have an .880 OPS for June after unprintable OPS for the first 2 months, so maybe he has figured out how to decrease the suckage. At least Lance can field.

sigh

Off to Milwaukee, where Bud Norris will resume his spot in the rotation – I presume Moehler will go back to the pen and Banks will go back down to AAA.

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Posted in Michael Bourn, Roy Oswalt | 6 Comments »

Lincecum Beats Oswalt For The 3rd Time This Year

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Here’s the story:

Part 1 – Roy got exactly 1 run of support thanks to Bourn’s RBI double. Lance GIDP with 1 our, bases loaded, Kepp stranded Bourn on 3rd with 2 out, CJ and Castro stranded Pence in the 4th and Castro left 2 on in the 6th.

Part 2 – Roy was absolute NAILS until he ran into Uribe with 1 out, man on first in the 7th. He only needed 70 pitches through 6, but Uribe kept fouling off pitches – had an 11 pitch AB before walking. Roy forgot Roger’s plan – better to walk him and go after the next guy than to get yourself all frustrated. And Pat Burrell hit a game tying single to left, then Sandoval grounded out, but too slowly to get a DP – so there was the winning run.

And Da Freak came back in and shut em down – Brian Wilson did the same in the 9th.

Same story, different day.

I was not real too happy to see Feliz PH – I was hoping it would be Bourgeois, but no luck. Feliz did what he usually does which is hit a grounder to third.

The new guys?

Well, Castro got a single his first AB and scored the only run. He runs pretty well, too. He threw out 2 basestealers – First throw right on the money to Manzella, second throw off, but Manzella is good. He throws INCREDIBLY better than Kevin Cash. It was the first time he’d caught Roy – Towles mostly caught him in ST – and Roy seemed fine with him – but with Roy, who knows. Not sure if Roy asked to throw to him or was told he was GONNA throw to him.

Chris Johnson hit a single, went to two 3-2 counts before getting out and it took Lincecum 9 pitches to get him out one of those times. At least he isn’t swinging at the first pitch to get out. He also made a throwing error – overthrew 1st. But the game was already lost at that point.

Manzella made 2 fantastic plays, got a single (although it SHOULD have been an error on one of the 3 OF who couldn’t get to that popup). He also looked a lot less uncomfortable now that he’s not the only youngun.

And Bourn went 2 fer 3 with a double and a single (guys NEED to hit balls to the LF bullpen because Burrell makes Clank look like a gold glover) and was catching fly balls all OVAH the place. Hopefully, this is the end of his slump. No SB, but he took second on an overthrow, then 3rd on a Lincecum pickoff throw that got by. Got stranded – shoulda stolen home, I guess.

And speaking of Clank he actually threw out a runner at second. YES!!! You Read that right. Instead of lollygagging the way he usually does, he actually got the ball and threw it to second as hard as he could (and he has an arm like Juan Pierre.) And it was an accurate throw RIGHT to Manzella.

Lance walked and singled and Pence had a bad night.

BUT

I noticed that Drayton was back behind HP and that the stands were considerably more full for a Tuesday than they have been the last month – announced attendance was 29K and I bet there were actually 25K people there. I’ve noticed that this year I am not seeing Los Caballitos out there at the Conoco Pump. Or the Little Pumas neither.

I haven’t heard one word on the Roy/Lance trade rumor front – Lance himself told a reporter from Yahoo last week that it was probably going to be tough to trade either himself or Roy because of the cost of their contracts. Youneverknow. Too bad we  couldn’t trade Clank LAST year when he could still hit – but then Drayton was still pretending that the team didn’t uck-say.

And Chris Sampson is back off the DL and Wesley Wright is back in Round Rock. And speaking of Round Rock, I sure would like to know why they are not playing Ed Maysonet and why Sergio Perez has been put in the bullpen in favor of Brad Thompson and his 7 ERA (and this is with only the Express, by the way…)

Will be interesting to see if they put Wesley back in the rotation…

Tomorrow, it’s Barry Zito. Now watch – now that Bourn has started hitting, he’ll be benched for Bourgeois, not Clank or Pence…

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Posted in Chris Johnson, Jason Castro, Michael Bourn, Roy Oswalt | 6 Comments »

Jason Michaels Gives Roy Oswalt 3 Runs And He Beats Royals

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Roy gave up a run in the first without giving up an out – Podsednik tripled, then Jason Kendall (who has always hit Roy like a punching bag, don’t ask me why) drove him in with a sac-fly. DeJesus, who considers Astros pitchers to be just BP type guys singled, Butler Kd, then Guillen reached on error by Manzella, who bobbled the ball, then hesitated on the throw, then Roy got Callaspo looking.

He gave up another run in the 3rd – and that was entirely the fault of Kepp, who made a very bad play and throw on what should have been an out – Podsednik was given a single – shoulda been an E4. Kendall GO and Pods moved to second, then scored on another single by DeJesus. Roy gritted his teeth, then struck out Butler swinging and Guillen looking.

He had a 1,2,3 inning in the 4th, 6th and 7th – he got stronger as the game went on – and he either had the benefit of an incredibly fast radar gun, or he really was throwing 95-97, somcthing he hasn’t done consistently in 3 or 4 years. He also got 3 strikeouts on 3 pitches, something he hardly ever does any more. I have no idea why so few pitchers can throw 3 straight strikes, but for some reason, at least with Astro pitchers, that the very next pitch after 0-2 is a ball. If I were an opposing hitter, I would never EVER swing at the 3rd pitch.

Anyway, Bourn had a bad night with the bat. Lance didn’t hit, but he walked twice and scored twice. Clank FINALLY played DH (where he belongs, seeing as how we have to play with a DH) and Michaels played left. Not that he’s this great fielder, but he looks like Carl Crawford next to Clank. Anyway, Clank drove in Kepp, who doubled, in the first.

In the 3rd, Lance walked, then Pence singled. Feliz flew out to center, and somehow, the fielder dropped a dead easy can of corn fly ball that was in his glove, then, instead of throwing to second to get Pence, tried to get Berkman at third, who had already tagged and was running. Michaels then hit a ball which SHOULD have been an inning ending 6-4-3, but somehow Betancourt didn’t get it and Michaels and Feliz were both safe and Lance and Pence scored the go-ahead runs. Sometimes you’re good, sometimes you’re lucky. Sometimes, you’re unlucky, which was what Tommy Manzella was – he hit a hard line drive which Aviles grabbed, then doubled off Feliz.

Then in the 4th, Chen, who had made the Astros look bad for 5 innings, walked Lance then Clank on 9 pitches. He struck out Pence swinging on a ball at his neck, then got Feliz to popup, then Michaels doubled home Lance with a hit over the third baseman.

And that was it for Astros offense for the rest of the game – their bullpen easily retired every hitter.

Roy went out to the mound to start the 8th, but didn’t throw a pitch before he was pulled and Lyons came in. Lyons got Kendall on a grounder to second – Keppinger made a terrible throw that Lance somehow managed to grab. Then that ^*%$^@! DeJesus hit another IF single, to second, of course, that Keppinger couldn’t handle in time or get a good throw off. Man, I am gonna name that guy The Pain In The Butt. PIB, for short. Then Butler was kind enough to GIDP to Tommy and we were out of the 8th.

Lindstrom came out for the 9th – and I was VERY nervous, seeing as how he has been hurting (something about his back – but naturally, not on the DL. Fortunately, the Astros had been losing rather badly for quite a while, so he got some rest…) Guillen hit a clean single to center and I thought – oh NOOO. But Callaspo hit the ball right back to Lindstrom for a nice 1-6-3, then Aviles flew out.

So Roy gets win #5. He has 8 losses, and in all but 2, he has given up 1-3 runs.

Tomorrow, we face a guy just called up from AAA, Anthony Lerew (Hochevar just got put on the DL with elbow pain). He’s a righty, has started 11 games, relieved in 3 over 73 IP. 2.84 ERA/1.33 WHIP. 3 HR, 27 BB, 41 K. He’s just the kind of guy who killz the Stros…

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Posted in Jason Michaels, Roy Oswalt | 1 Comment »

Manzella And Quintero Power Roy Oswalt To His 4th Win

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

Yes, you read that right.

Bourn, Kepp and Lance went ofer and didn’t even so much as reach base. Clank and Pence went ofer, but Clank walked once and Pence walked twice. Feliz grounded out to third, as usual, but reached on error, then came around to score on Manzella’s sac-fly.

Yep – Tommy drove in 3 and Q drove in 2 – doubled in Pence and had a solo homer.

Yessiree, the bottom of the lineup was all it took today. I love baseball. I should also mention that Tommy has been fielding like Adam Everett and that yesterday, Q picked 2 guys off – Seth Smith at second and Cargo at first (only the ump screwed up and thought he was safe – Lance argued, but that never works…)

Roy was awesome – went 7 innings (96 pitches) gave up 4 hits, 2 walks and struck out 9 – and only one hard hit ball – Tulo’s flyout to the warning track. He gave up 2 runs on back to back singles, a groundout and a sac-fly. I’m sure he was feeling a little queasy when Wilton Lopez came in to start the 8th and gave up 3 straight singles. Chacin, then Daigle let 2 of his runs score. Daigle is turning into the 2010 version of Franco.

Tomorrow, they go traveling to AL stadiums for – yeccccccchhh – interleague. So I think that this weekend, I’m gonna work on a few entries about this draft and check and see how the guys are doing from the last 4 or so drafts. Better than watching the evil that is the DH…

- I forgot – I got a few emails asking me why I didn’t comment about Strasburg. Besides the fact that he’s not an Astro and he’s not pitching against the Astros, well, he’s another guy who is being hyped as this God-like figure. I’m incredibly tired of the endless media crap – it’s like those old circus barkers – INCREDIBLE COLLOSSAL STUPENDOUS TREMENDOUS – blahblahblah. I will be impressed when the guy pitches well against GOOD teams with GREAT hitters, not just Pirates. I remember being awed by Kerry Wood’s 20 strikeout 1 hitter against the 98 Astros – who were the best hitting team in the NL. And of course, we were fed all this stuff about how Kerry was going straight to The Hall, the best pitcher singe Walter Johnson/Cy Young, etc. Then it was how Mark Prior was gonna be the best pitcher who EVAH lived and was gonna take the Cubs to the Series year after year and be the best of the best of the best. Or something.

Frankly, I’m more impressed by Jamie Moyer’s 2 hit shutout at age 47 – the guy doesn’t throw fastern 84 or 85. I’m more impressed by Dallas Braden’s perfect game against the best hitting team in the AL.

Before I agree that Strasburg is the best pitcher since Walter Johnson or Sandy Koufax or something, I’d like to see if the guy can pitch at a high level for a MINIMUM of 5 years. Talk is cheap and hype is cheaper…

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Posted in Quintero, Roy Oswalt, Tommy Manzella | 7 Comments »

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