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6/26/11: In Which The Astros Score 10 Runs And Lose While Blowing 2 Saves

Sunday, June 26th, 2011

I could say that the pitching was all around terrible, but that would be kind of not really all there is to say. Happ, as usual, had trouble finding the strike zone and don’t ask me how on earth he struck out 8 in 5 innings. Well, actually, yes you can – he faced 27 batters over his 5 IP. Walked only 3, went to a 3 ball count 8 times, gave up 9 hits including 1 homer (to BJ Upton who I hear tell wants to swap out the St. Petersburg stadium for the Box – he hit a homer every game.) So Ed Wade, you ever gonna try to explain why you thought this guy was the best trade for Roy Oswalt?

Niemann, unlike Shields and Davis, was terrible and threw almost everything that wasn’t a ball up and the Astros SHOULD have hit 10 runs off just him. in his 3 innings. He was so bad that he was giving up extra base hits to Brett Wallace (who otherwise looked terrible, as usual) and these were legit gappers and hits off the scoreboard and LF bullpen. Clank hit a TRIPLE for goodness sakes.

Only pitcher they threw up there who had good stuff besides Farnsworth the closer was Juan Cruz, who got 2 straight 1,2,3 innings, the second because Jason Bourgeois got caught stealing. He isn’t running well, to be nice about it.

Astros tied the game in the second. Happ gave up 2 more runs immediately and the Astros tied it again. Astros took the lead in the 4th, 7-5, and Happ came on to pitch the 5th (so as he could get the W – never mind how lousy he was pitching) gave up a walk and a double and somehow got 2 Ks then a flyout.

Wilton Lopez comes in and gives up an infield dribbler to 3rd (like a good bunt) then a K then a homer to Longoria juuuust over the yellow line at the Crawford Boxes.

I hear tell that Longoria, who said before the series started that he felt his swing was bad and he was uncomfortable at the plate, is calling Buddy Boy to demand that the remainder of the Rays games all be played vs the Astros at the Box so he can break Ted Williams’ .406 record and Barry Lamar’s 73. Or at least have a legit race with BJ Upton.

Tie game.

Bottom of the 7th, Keppinger hits a homer into the Crawford Boxes, giving the Astros their second lead. So Ed Wade, are you ever gonna get around to explaining why you were so determined to get Keppinger off this team? I mean, just out of curiousity because the media sure as heck ain’t gonna ask, let alone criticize.

Lopez comes out for the 8th, gets an out, gives up a single, then an IF single off his leg. He gets pulled and in comes the Closer, Melancon. Gets a K, loses all semblance of command, gives up a walk, then next hitter throws 2 pitches waaay out of the zone, then gives up a 2 run double to the RF corner. Rays take the lead 9-8.

But that is just Melancon francoing Lopez to tag HIM with the L. He then gives up a 2 RBI single to give the Rays a 3 run lead.

In comes 8th inning guy Joel Peralta (actually, I’m not supposed to call him that because apparently Joe Maddon hasn’t officially NAMED him that even though he’s The Guy when the Rays are ahead in a close game) who gives up a double to CJ, then a homer to PH Downs. Barmes singles, Corporan sac-bunts (in the 4th, he hit a double to the RF bullpen, swear to GOD – had no idea he could hit a ball that far or hard) then Jason Bourgeois, second BAD night in a row, grounds out to Longoria who throws to Kotchman who gets Barmes trying to take 3rd.

jeezus gawd.

sigh

Rays lead 11-8. Melancon back out. He gives up a single to Wade Davis – last night’s PITCHER, yes, you heard that right, an American League PITCHER – second hit of the night for a Rays pitcher – Niemann got his first ever major league hit, a ball that went to the RF corner that would have been a double for anyone else, even Brett Wallace. Then a Wild Pitch – and mind, Melancon had been throwing em in the dirt, waaaay outside, waaaaay high all night – then a K, then a single, then a FC.

Gotta tell you about that FC. Downs is at second and Kepp is out. Wade Davis at 3rd, Johnny Damon at first. Zobrist, a good runner is hitting – hits the ball on the IF, Downs gets it, throws home. NOT to first for a 4-3-6 DP – and he had time, too. So instead of inning ovah, it’s Davis out at home, 2 on, 2 out, Evan Longoria up. So Melancon throws him a belt high inside FB and you’ll NEVAH guess what Mr. Home Run Hitter did to that poor ball.

Yeah, I know, not that it mattered at that point. His ERA jumped from 1.98 to 3.19.

Even Millsie-poo knew it was time to pull The Closer and in came Escalona who got the 3rd out.

Not that it mattered.

This game took FOUR freaking hours – uck, I hate these football score games. We were starting bottom of the 4th at the 2 hour mark.

Astros got 14 hits, TWO home runs in one game – yes friends and neighbors, you read that right – TWO home runs in the same GAME, not same week or even same month – and SIX doubles and one triple. In the 36 ABs – not one walk, not real too surprising.

Tomorrow is a day off, then the Rangers ride in, bats eagerly waiting.

Get used to this stuff – it’s gonna keep happening…

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Posted in Interleague Play, Mark Melancon | 18 Comments »

6/24/11: Wandy Loses His Catcher, His Concentration And The Game As Rays Beat Astros

Friday, June 24th, 2011

It was grrrrls night out and Lil Miss, my niece, and I took advantage of free tickets on Wandy night. Yes, I said I wasn’t going to the Box any more. Yes, I meant it. Yes, I fell off the wagon and won’t get my month pin. In spite of all the squalking about what a great draw interleague is, the Box had the usual Friday night crowd – about half full – and I didn’t have any trouble finding free street parking, even at 6:30.

Roof closed, thank God – got NO idea how they stand it in Dallas. Made it to our seats in time to see

the Rays have Texans on the team – Kelly Shoppach, the catcher, Justin Ruggiano, the LF, Ex-Stro Ben Zobrist (given up in one of the stupidest trades EVAH: 3 months of Aubrey Huff with no draft picks because of no arb offer for Ben Zobrist and Mitch Talbot), JP Howell (UT) and Jeff Niemann (Houston boy – remember him from the 04 CWS champion Rice Owls? Wade Townsend never made it past AA and Phil Humber, after all these years and 4 teams, is having his first significant season as a ML starting pitcher with the White Sox. Who would have thought that Lance Pendleton, the team’s best hitter, would be a minor league reliever, or that Chris Kolkhorst would only make it to A ball, but Paul Janish would be a ML regular? Youneverknow. But I digress…)

It started out pretty well for Wandy – he threw a few too many balls, but he got 1,2,3 out. Very first inning, Evan Longoria fouled off a pitch that bounced hard in the dirt in front of JR Towles and hit him what looked like under the chin – got under his mask. He kind of reeled – it was tough to see what happened exactly, but after 10 seconds or so, he got back down and Wandy finished off the inning.

Second inning, Wandy had trouble locating the changeup and walked Upton on a 3-2. With Shoppach up, Wandy threw a curve low and inside as Upton broke for second. JR seemed to have trouble rising quickly from his crouch and kind of wavered and tripped over Shoppach and didn’t throw. I wondered if he had been hit a lot harder than it looked and maybe his balance was off or something. But Wandy got the curve working and was spotting the FB inside beautifully and got Shoppach staring and Ruggiano swinging and Kotchman broke his bat as he popped up to Wandy.

Meanwhile, James Shields, 16th rounder in 2000, has turned into some kind of pitcher – last year, he had a 5+ ERA, 1.46 WHIP and a .294 BAA. Year before that he had a 4.14 ERA/1.32 WHIP/.274 BAA – meh. Not sure what he did in the offseason this time, but he must have developed a changeup – that’s what the board called it – but it had unbelieveable movement – guys were swinging and missing and it took him 19 pitches for 6 outs. I knew the guy had pitched 2 CG in his previous 2 games and Lil Miss said something about if he kept it up, I mean down, he’d have an easy nono.

Wandy, meanwhile, was up to 32 pitches. Third started out fine – he got Johnson, the SS, swinging, and Shields at 1-1. Then – can’t believe this – either the backswing of the bat caught JR on the face or the ball was fouled and bounced up and hit him but he got it in the jaw HARD – trainers ran out – he was upright, but they had what looked like towels over his lower jaw and we thought it might could be broken. Lil Miss asked a guy listening to Milo if they had said anything about what happened to JR, but no. They took him off the field and Corporan had to go in – no warning. Wandy threw Shields 3 pitches, all out of the zone – he fouled off the first, took the second for a ball and swung through the 3rd.

I don’t know exactly what happened, but Wandy suddenly couldn’t get movement, or locate – maybe he lost his concentration or was worried about JR’s possibly broken jaw or missing teeth or whatever, but Sean Rodriguez, hitting about the Mendoza line, singled, stole second easily – Wandy had made 1 sort of halfhearted pickoff throw. Benny Z took him to 3-2, then singled to right and Sean Rod slid behind Corporan, blocking the plate ON the 3B line, to score. Wandy then threw a FB down the middle to Longoria and you can’t do that and the ball went into the concourse next to the Conoco Pump.

Oh geez – there goes the ball game fer SHER.

Then BJ Upton fouled off a couple, then sent a line drive juuust over the yellow line to the first row of seats in the Crawford Boxes where some fan caught it. Clank had a fit, the umps came running, Millsie-poo came out and the umps went down to look at video. I told Lil Miss it had to be legit because you could see the fans near the guy who caught it weren’t yelling at him the way they do when it’s fan interference that screws the Astros.

And sure enough, it stood. Wandy threw 6 pitches to Shoppach, non of which were in the strike zone – he took 3 balls, fouled off 2, then hit the last outside pitch to Wallace.

32 freaking pitches, 4 runs after 2 outs.

Lil Miss said – good thing Uncle and Daddy ain’t here – they’d be wantin to go. I said – no, they be wantin to go after an Astro got a hit because even they wouldn’t want to leave in the middle of a no hitter.

Sure enough, Astros go 1,2,3 on 11 pitches, not quite 3 minutes. Poor Wandy.

But he came back and got 1,2,3 outs on 6 pitches. Looked as if he just might could be finding the strike zone again.

Bourn singled to lead off the 4th, a hard clean single to right. Good – there wouldn’t be talktalktalk about how some IF bunt or something broke up a nono. But Kepp grounded right to Longoria, who threw to second, and the SS made a bad throw to Kotchman and pulled him waay off the bag – no error, naturally. 2 pitches later, Pence did the exact same thing, only this time, the throw was on the money for a GIDP.

sigh

5th inning, Shields struck out swinging. Sean Rodriguez went to 3-2, then hit a ball down the LF line – CJ was playing waaay off the line and he tried to get it – ball hit off the tip of his glove and hit the 3rd base coach and bounced back to Barmes, so Sean Rod couldn’t go past first. Benny Zobrist then drew an 11 pitch walk – 1 called strike, 6 fouls. Longoria took a strike, then Wandy threw a ball in the dirt that Corporan couldn’t handle and runners advanced. Longoria singled to right and Sean Rod scored. Ah well – even if the 3rd didn’t happen, Wandy still would have given up that run – had trouble finding the strike zone this inning too. BJ Upton came up and GIDP – hit a very hard grounder to 3rd – CJ made a great grab n throw. He’s like Mo Ensberg – sometimes he’s so good I can’t believe he ever makes dumb errors. Sometimes he’s so bad I can’t believe he ever makes plays.

Clank up, hits a lazy FB to right. Man he sucks. Cleanup hitter – BAH – he should be cleaning the bench. Downs would do a better job, but he doesn’t make enough money and besides, better to save a guy who CAN hit and hit for power for those all important rare pinch hit jobs, dontcha think? Anyway, Wallace, who is ofer his last 6 games, and has been swinging and missing a LOT, swings and misses 3 pitches. CJ is hit by an errant inside changeup. Barmes up, goes to 3-2, then can’t check his swing on a slider – first one I’d seen all night – that was almost in the dirt and a good foot outside. Man he sucks.

6th inning – Wandy goes back out – he’s at 96 pitches – and gets 1,2,3 out on 11 pitches. We up – Corporan Ks, Angel Sanchez, pinch hitting, grounds out. Bourn walks – he doesn’t seem to be trying to steal – not sure why – if it is trouble timing Shields, still goin strong, or if Shoppach is all that.

7th inning – Fernando Rodriguez in to pitch – gets Johnson and Shields (yes, swinging again), then Sean Rod singles (guess the boy is loving this here park) but Ben Zobrist grounds out.

We up. Pence flies out, Clank grounds out. Wallace up – now ofer, like 24 or something goes to 2-2, then hits a little nubber to the 3rd base side of the pitchers mound – kind of like a perfectly placed bunt. Shields jumps to field it, but is way off balance when he throws and he pulls Kotchman off the bag and Brett Wallace, slow as molasses, breaks the ofer with an IF single. CJ is up and it’s a good thing that there are 2 outs because Wallace takes off with the crack of the bat and the ball flies up onto the Hill – a GOOD 420′ and by the time Upton gets it and throws it back, CJ is on second and Wallace is crossing home with all the grace of a charging hippo. Actually, I think hippos run a lot faster. But I digress.

But no shutout now – thank you CJ. So does Millsie-poo remember his little discovery that you CAN pinch hit for Barmes? Does he send in Downs, seeing as how we have started this little rally against a pitcher who has so far given up only 1 hard hit ball? No, Barmes goes to bat and naturally is out.

I’m starting to not think real too much of Millsie-poo.

8th – fans are leaving now – I mean the ones who don’t want to stay for fireworks. Francosco Rod gets 1,2,3 out and so does Shields – pinch hitter is Jason Michaels, who strikes out on a check swing – he argues – and looks foolish because even we could see that he went around – and on apitch he had no business swinging at.

9th – we get the Rodriguez trifecta when Aneury comes out. he gets a grounder, gives up a double down the LF line to Kotchman, but then gets Johnson and Shields swinging.

Yes, Big Game James has earned himself the Platinum Sombrero – 4 swinging Ks. He needed one more to beat Preston Wilson’s record, but the poor boy didn’t get the chance. He DID get 9 Ks from Astros hitters including Pence in the 9th.

Fireworks were nice – sure wish they’d replace the lame-o oldies rock/country with some hiphop, just for a change. Even Old Skool hiphop.

sigh

I wonder if this team, still with its death grip tight on last place in the majors, is gonna make it to 62 wins. I think not. Some days I worry about making it to 40 wins.

Tomorrow, it’s Bud Norris, newfound ace, vs Wade Davis, RHP. The Rays have LOTS of pitching this year – it’s hitting they lack. But they’ll play their good hitters Matt Joyce and Sam Fuld against a righty.

I am, by the way, laughing at all the – Rays Should Leave St. Petersburg – articles. They got a contract with that stadium for 16 more years. Besides, like, where they gonna go? Who is gonna build them a shiny new stadium? Who has the money? Who has the corporations? Who has fans to spare?

please

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Posted in Chris Johnson, Interleague Play, Wandy Rodriguez | 7 Comments »

6/10: Astros Swept By Yankees To No One’s Surprise But Drayton

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days – family stuff.

I see I didn’t miss a darn thing. Wandy apparently needs Dewey back as he’s somehow gone straight back to 06 and nibbling.

And I also see that Fulchino and Daigle have taken over the Francoing – Fulchino Francoed Wandy in Sat and Daigle Francoed Fulchino on Sunday.

I also see, to my amusement (and contempt) that the Astros insisted on sticking with the same old crappy players even though the super 2 deadline has passed – heaven knows we should keep guys hitting .340 and .350 at AAA so that we can watch Jason Michaels strike out/groundout.

We’ll be playing the Royals (who the Astros are quickly beginning to resemble) tomorrow. I note that they are insisting on keeping Alex Gordon (145 AB with 10 HR, 9 2B, 1 3B;  .359/.486/641) and Kila Ka’aihue (156 AB with 8 2B and 11 HR; .327/.495/.590) in the minors to play Rick Ankiel and Scott Podsednik. They have the same old sorry excuses about how if a guy doesn’t hit like Barry Lamar in his first 20 PA, he ain’t worth spit and much better to just have some crappy overpaid major league Veteran Presence.

Same poopoo, different team. Is it good or bad to know that some other team is just as dumb as us?

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Posted in Astros baseball, fulchino, Interleague Play, Wandy Rodriguez | 2 Comments »

6/29/08:Astros Win Last 2 Series To End 2008 Interleague at 7-11

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

I don’t understand why it takes so much longer to play AL teams in an NL park even when the scores are low – 3 1/2 hours today for a 3-2, 8 1/2 inning game. The opposition managed 9 hits, 2 runs, both on solo homers, 6 walks; the Astros managed 10 hits, 1 walk and 3 runs. I guess they must be using those 3 minute commercials so popular during national broadcasts.

But it doesn’t matter so much because of the wonderfulness of mlb.com which allowed me to see all 3 games from this weekend over the past couple hours. Excluding all the gloating over the bandwagoners stuffing Unca Drayton’s pockets. Then again, I hear tell that a lot of Astros season ticket holders made a killing selling their tickets to the visiting AL fans…

smile

So the lowly lousy Astros took 4 of 6 from the 2 best teams in the supposed to be sooooooo superior (according to all the AL worshipping BBTN people) AL.

laughing
Which shows that when it comes to baseball, there is one sure thing – youneverknow.

To me, the most amazing thing is watching Brian Moehler, of ALL people, turning into the #2 guy – or at least sharing #2-hood, of you can call it that, with Wandy. He didn’t keep guys off base – he gave up 7 hits and 3 walks in 5.2 IP, but he kept em from scoring and gave up only 1 run on a solo homer to Dustin Pedroia (who reminds me of Biggio – size and all, about 1994 – 2002). Brocail and Valverde held it together this weekend, too, which, considering all the innings they’ve pitched, is great.

Backe yesterday really had only 1 bad inning – he gave up 4 runs in the 4th, but no home runs for the first time in 2 months. He should have been out of the 6th too, but Pence BADLY misplayed a fly ball he should have caught easily, which tipped off his glove, and went for a “triple.” Honestly, these scorers – there is NO way that was not an error. But unfortunately, Geoff Geary, who came in to relieve was rusty from disuse and gave up 4 runs while getting outs on a sac-fly and an out on a runner trying to advance an extra base. But fortunately, their pitchers gave up runs even faster than ours, so the Astros won there too.

Runelvys Hernandez pitched better than I expected him to, given his history, giving up 5 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings – and unfortunately giving up a 3 run homer on a night when the Astros hitters couldn’t do a thing with Matsuzaka. Sampson and Wright gave up a couple of runs, too, but it didn’t matter. Props to Reggie Abercrombie for hitting a homer offn the tracks to ensure that at least the Astros didn’t get shut out.

I don’t know, of course, exactly what went down in that clubhouse after the fallout of the Shawn Chacon debacle, but I do know that Coop shook up the lineup after Friday’s game, which, in my opinion, was a good idea, given the fact that Tejada had not been hitting like a #3 guy in a month. He bumped Pence to the 2-hole, moved Lance, the team’s best hitter to the 3-hole, Carlos to cleanup, Miggy to 5th, whoever played second base to 6th, then Wiggy, Quintero, pitcher. Seems to have worked.

Looks as if he’s going to shuffle different guys at second until Matsui comes back – seems to be working just fine.

And interesting, by the way, that Derek Jeter came out and said he hoped that Chacon could get another chance, that he’s a good guy and this must have been a one time thing. Ian Snell said that he was a good clubhouse guy and mentor, last year. Whatever else you can say about Chacon, seems his teammates in other clubhouses, not just this one, seem to have liked him. If a guy really is a jerk, you don’t hear stuff like that. I never heard stuff like that about, say, Shea Hillenbrand…

Anyway, the Dodgers come in tomorrow for a 4 game series. Their reporters are all bitterly complaining that the team is filled with young guys Who Don’t Know How To Kiss Veteran Ass Especially Theirs, so I’m hoping that maybe Smith/Wade can convince Colletti to trade Proven Veteran RBI man Carlos Lee for one of their uppity young pitchers.

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Posted in Bandon Backe, Brian Moehler, Interleague Play | 9 Comments »

6/27/08: In Which Drayton McLane Makes A Lot More Money, Part 2

Friday, June 27th, 2008

Well this weekend, Drayton is charging higher ticket, parking and food prices for the bandwagon leading team. I sure wish he’d put all that extra $$$ into turning on the AC. If not that, then into improved coaches for the minor leaguers and into the Latin American scouting, academies and BONUSES!!!

And I refuse to play that – oh isn’t it WONderful that this old franchise is coming to our ballpark – doesn’t that make us Astros special – garbage perpetrated by ESPN and our own Organization. I hope that all their fans who flew in for cheap seats here (and yeah, they are cheap compared to their own park, so I hear tell) get drowned out by Astros fans.

Here is the weekend schedule:
Friday: Runelvys Hernandez, RHP vs Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP
Should be interesting. Runelvys hasn’t faced major league hitters, even crummy major league hitters in 2 years and here he is facing the best hitting team in the majors. I remember Manny Ramirez from the 04 All-Star game – he barely swung to hit a homer into the Crawford Boxes. Anyway, Runelvys had Tommy John surgery in 03 and missed the 04 season. He wasn’t exactly an ace before he got hurt, but he was not good AFTER coming back – He had a 5.52 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP over 159 innings in 05 (in the majors) and a 6.48 ERA and a 1.76 WHIP over 109.2 IP in 06. His ML career line shows 10 H/9, 1.18 HR/9, 3.66 BB/9 and 4.78 K/9 with a 5.38 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP.

Matsuzaka is the guy the opposition paid 50 million smackers just to negotiate with – and it doesn’t have to be counted as money spent on the payroll – a neat trick, yes? He came off the DL last week and faced the Cards, who hit him like he was pitching batting practice – barely made it out of the first and didn’t get an out in the second before being pulled. I would guess that they have watched him in several bullpen sessions and decided that he’s good to go because unlike OUR team, they have tons and tons of good young pitchers who could take his place if he wasn’t.

This year, he’s 8-1 in 12 GS: 65 IP – 51 H, 5 HR, 41 BB, 56 K: 3.46 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and a .218 BAA. He had a 2.40 ERA over 10 GS in 60 IP before the game in Seattle in which he got hurt.
Looks as if his real weakness is walking batters, and unfortunately, the Astros aren’t real too good at taking walks. He’s only faced Tejada, who is 3/5 and Wiggy who is 0/3. His lefty/righty splits aren’t particularly glaring either.

——-

Saturday: Brandon Backe, RHP vs Jon Lester, LHP
This is the second start in a row in which Brandon has had to oppose an ace de la ace and a hard hitting lineup – AND this lineup hits a LOT of homers. It would be great for Brandon to pretend this is a playoff game and the national cameras are on him.
This year, he’s 5-8 in 16 GS over 89.2 IP: 20 HR, 41 BB, 62 K: 4.82 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, .280 BAA. I hope HOPE Brandon remembers that it is better to give up a walk than a homer…
The only hitter Backe has faced in the past 4 years is Sean Casey, who is 6/14 with a double.
-
Jon Lester, LHP, age 24, selected in the second round of the 02 draft and was starting in the majors by June of 06. He was diagnosed with cancer that August, was out a year, and came back in August, just in time to lead his team to win the World Series. In case you are curious, our second round pick that year was Mitch Talbot. Unfair, you say, because he was selected before our turn? OK then, our #1 pick was Derick Grigsby. Oh.

Actually, that 02 draft (the infamous “moneyball” draft) was interesting: here are the first 10 picks:
Bryan Bullington (who?), B.J. Upton, Chris Gruler (who?), Adam Loewen, Clint Everts (who?), Zack Greinke, Prince Fielder, Scott Moore (who?) Jeff Francis, Drew Meyer (had a few AB in 06, sucked…) Oh yeah – Kazmir went at #15… And of the 41 guys picked in the first round, 17 have become good, productive ML players – I am not counting the ones who got a few PA or a few innings and were horrible. And of Oakland’s 6 picks – they got 3 very good major leaguers – Nick Swisher, Joe Blanton and Mark Teahen; Steve Obenchain and Ben Fritz were busts and Jeremy Brown left baseball for family reasons, although he did reach the majors… 50% of your picks working out is pretty darn good.

Back to Lester, he’s 6-3 in 17 GS†- 9 QS including a no-hitter against the Royals: 103.2 IP – 99 H, 7 HR, 39 BB, 65 K: 3.13 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and a .253 BAA.
Tejada is 3/6 and Reggie Abercrombie doubled in his only appearance.

——

Sunday: Brian Moehler, RHP vs Josh Beckett, RHP
Moehler this year as a starter is 4-3 in 9 GS: 50.1 IP – 8 HR, 14 BB, 32 K: 3.48 ERA, 1.32 WHIP and a .258 BAA. He’s thrown exactly one game in which he gavve up more than 3 ER and his last 2 games against the AL, he’s given up 1 ER in 6.1 IP each game.
Manny Ramirez: 9/18 with 4 doubles, 2 HR, 2 BB
Julio Lugo: 5/16 with a double
Sean Casey: 5/11
Varitek: 2/10
JD Drew: 1/8 with a HR
Josh Beckett is very familiar to Astros fans because he’s local (well, from Spring) and because we faced him when he was with the Marlins. He was the second overall pick in the 99 draft, right after Josh Hamilton and right before our old friend Eric Munson. He was called up for a cup of coffee in September of 01, then started 02 in the rotation. He struggled with blisters on his fingers, but put up a 4.10 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP on a lousy team. He was even better in 03, still struggling with the blister problems, and as we all know, he was the World Series MVP, shutting down the Yanks in their own stadium to win the deciding Game 6. He put up great numbers, although no great numbers of wins, due to Loria’s constant dismantling of teams to keep them as cheap as possible and was dumped, along with Mike Lowell after the 06 season in return for Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez.

Beckett struggled his first year out of Florida – had a 5.01 ERA, supposedly because he refused to throw anything but FB, who knows, but he certainly turned it around the next year, throwing 200 innings over 30 games with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP.

Career line: 1093 IP over 178 GS (and a couple IP in relief) – 3.77 ERA, 1.22 WHIP: 8 H/9, 0.98 HR/9, 2.90 BB/9, 8.58 K/9. He’s one of the 5 best rightys in the AL.
He’s only getting paid 10 mill a year for this year and the next 2, can you believe it?

Anyway, Beckett has pitched in the Box twice – 12.1 IP – 4 ER, 12 H, 2 HR, 4 BB, 13 K
Of the Astros hitters, naturally Tejada has seen him the most and he’s 3/20 with a double. Wiggy is 7/19 with 2 doubles and 3 HR. Loretta is 2/14. Blum is 3/8. Lance is 2/14 with a double and a HR. Carlos Lee is 2/5.

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Posted in Bandon Backe, Brian Moehler, Interleague Play, Runelvys Hernandez | 4 Comments »

6/26/08: Wandy Rodriguez Throws 8 innings Of 5 Hit 1 Run Ball To Beat Rangers

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

WAN DY
WAN DY
WAN DY
WANDY WANDY WANDY!!!!!!!
He simply ROOLZ!!!

Yes, I didn’t miss a pitch, me being the Wandy fangrrrrl I am. Man he was just outSTANDing. Ah LUUUUUUUUVVVVV that boy…

8 innings of 5 hit, 1 run 9 K, no walk 1 HBP, 1 GIDP, 105 pitches. That FB was moving, the curve was curving and the Rangers were swinging and missing left and right (hahahahaha.) And he succeeded in spite of an inconsistent strike zone, and in spite of having to throw an extra 9 pitches in the 7th because Miguel Tejada screwed up an easy 6-3 which would have been a DP ball except that it was a hit and run.

He tired in the 8th, leaving a curve up to David Murphy, who tripled into the gap, then gave up a RBI single to Kinsler. Dewey came out, Wandy told him he was fine, and sure enough, Wandy got a K and a GIDP. AND Wandy hit a single, scored a run, laid down a sac bunt, and flew into a DP because Quintero had a brain fart and didn’t bother to watch the ball to see if it fell in.

Should I mention that after the second inning, the Astros left men on base, including bases loaded every single inning except for the 7th?

And Oscar Villareal mopped up the 9th and only gave up one run and NO homers!!! Imagine that…

I guess that David Newhan, tonight’s starting second baseman, has got to be my third favorite Astro now – seeing as how he’s 5′6″ – you know how I got a thing for the little guy, and he’s hung around for 12 years now – he had a really great year with the Orioles a few years back, and he’s been up and down ever since. He’s a solid second baseman with the glove and he can play most positions, sort of like Bruntlett. Let’s hope he does a good job while he’s up here. If he does, they might could send Abercrombie down instead, seeing as how he doesn’t see to be a very good baserunner OR a very good hitter either.

By the way,
remember Jimmy Barthmaier? No? He was an Astros prospect who was waived in November and picked up by the Pirates, has pitched well in AAA and has been called up and will make his first ML start tomorrow. He was waived, in part, because the Astros Organization did not like his attitude, believed him to be “uncoachable” – hmmmmmmm, seems as if someone in the Pirates Organization managed to coach him – and that is an Organization which has been very hard on pitching prospects.

Chacon has been released, or at least, put on waivers to give him his unconditional release. I know a lot of folks think that no WAY will any team ever sign him, but hey, youneverknow. And at least he didn’t do steroids like that evil Barry Lamar. I would guess that whether or not he is picked up by some other club will not only have to do with that club’s desperation for pitching, but on how Ed Wade is perceived in the GM world, too.

Here’s an article about Ed Wade’s infamous bad temper during his Philly tenure, written by Randy Miller in phillyburbs.com (note – a direct link will not work, so when you click, go down to the last item on the page, which is the article, reprinted in its entirety.)

Wade, by the way, is denying that he either raised his voice or cursed at Chacon there in the lunchroom. I’m havin a REAL hard time believing that. Problem is that none of the players who witnessed the entire thing are talking to the media, so we can’t know for sure what really DID happen.

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Posted in Interleague Play, Wandy Rodriguez | 10 Comments »

6/24/2008: Time To Give The Rangers The Boot

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

Yes, I know. I think I’m just sooooooo punny.

First, still no idea who is going to get cut on Thursday when Runelvys Hernandez (and yeah, we FINALLY got a REAL Fat Elvys) comes up, although I STILL suspect it is Abercrombie.
Second, Kaz Matsui, unsurprisingly, has some sort of hamstring something or other. Remember, when he was signed, I said – several times – that the most games he had ever played in a season was 114 and he had been injured and out on the DL every single year since he came to the ML? Not sure if he will be playing tonight, but Loretta is not too bad at second.

OK, here are the matchups. No, their pitchers are not aces. Unfortunately, Milton Bradley, who, by the way, has the most RCAA in the AL – 36 to Hamilton’s 24, is available to play this series. Peachy.

Here are the matchups:
Tuesday: Brian Moehler, RHP vs Eric Hurley, RHP
Moehler, this year, is 3-3 in 8 GS with a 3.89 ERA over 44 IP (5.2 IP/GS) – 45 H, 8 HR, 12 BB, 27 K: 1.30 WHIP, .262 BAA.
Brian, historically, has been a lousy pitcher at the Box – over 68.2 IP – 5.37 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and a .289 BAA. This is as reliever AND starter. This year, he’s had 4 starts at the Box: 3 ER/5 IP; 2 ER/6 IP; 0 ER/7 IP and 7 ER/4.2 IP (his ONLY bad start this year.)
—
Eric Hurley, age 23, was the Rangers’ first round pick in 2004 (yall notice we don’t have any first or second or third rounders WE picked in any draft except for Berkman and Pence) out of HS. He has started 100 games in the minors and is 33-30 over 573.1 IP – 8.18 H/9; 1.18 HR/9; 3.08 BB/9; 8.35 K/9: 4.02 ERA; 1.25 WHIP. These numbers are a leeeetle deceptive bcause his AAA numbers are significantly higher than his lower minors numbers. In AAA, he started 26 games over 148 IP: 96 R/84 ER, 28 HR, 57 BB, 131 K: 5.10 ERA, 1.41 WHIP; 1.70 HR/9; 7.97 K/9.
He was called up on June 12 and has pitched 2 games, has 2 ND, gave up 4 ER/6 against the Royals and 2 ER/5 IP against the Braves. Over 11 IP, he has given up 11 H, 3 HR, 2 BB, 8 K.
—
Wednesday: Roy Oswalt, RHP vs Scott Feldman, RHP

Roy has FINALLY gotten his ERA under 5 for the first time this YEAR. Hard to believe I’m actually writing those words with almost half the season gone. Over his last 5 starts, he’s had only 1 bad start, and that was against the Yecchs, and let us say, he was NOT helped by his defense. But anyway, he seems to be locating his FB and youneverknow whether or not the curve, slider or changeup will work. But I guess he’s been listening to his new pitching coach Lance Berkman and throwing a LOT more strikes and nibbling a LOT less.
This year, he’s 6-7 in 16 GS: over 102.1 IP (6.1 IP/GS): 119 H, 62R/55 ER, 17, 27, 80: 4.84 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, .287 BAA.
Lifetime vs the Rangers: 4-4 in 10 GS over 69.2 IP – 4.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, .290 BAA

Scott Feldman, age 25, RHP, was picked in the 30th round by the Rangers in 2003 out of JUCO (and, by the way, picked in the 41st round by the Astros in the 02 draft.) He spent 2 years in the Rookie league throwing a TOTAL of 13.1 innings, the next year threw 9 scoreless innings at high A, then was advanced to AA where he was a reliever and closer, thrwing 61 innings over 46 games with a 2.36 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP.

I am NOT making this up. You have a 30th round draft pick who throws 13 innings over 2 YEARS in the rookie league, 9 innings in high A then goes to AA and excells. We sure as heck do NOT see this in the Astros Organization, where they seem to firmly believe at having draftees spend an entire year at LEAST at each level – with darn few exceptions.
Anyway, to continue, he†was called up for a cup of coffee as a reliever in 05, threw 9 innings over 8 games and gave up 4 hits and 1 ER.

He started 06 in AAA, relieved in 23 games, had a 1.98 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP, then was called up and threw 41.1 innings over 36 games with a 3.92 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP (yeah, the majors a LOT tougher than AAA, a little point which seems to escape a WHOLE lot of fans.) But it sure didn’t escape Feldman and he spent 07 bouncing back and forth between AAA and MLB, as he had trouble adjusting to ML hitters adjusting to him and he threw 39 innings over 29 games, with a career high 5.77 ERA and 1.95 WHIP.
After a minor league career as a reliever, the Rangers this year decided to convert Feldman to a starter and he spent the first couple of weeks in AA – he started 2 games, went 6.1 innings in each, giving up 6 ER. He was called up at the end of April, has started 10 games and relieved in 2 over 68.1 IP – 64 H, 8 HR, 22 BB, 34 K: a .248 BAA and a .726 OPS against: as a starter his ERA is 4.33 and he’s averaging a little over 6 IP/GS.

A 30th rounder, age 25. In case you are curious, the Rangers’ first rounder that year was lefty John Danks, now the White Sox #2 starter because he was tossed in favor of Brandon McCarthy, now on the 60 day DL, who threw 101 sub par innings for the Rangers last year. That Organization sure has a TERRIBLE track record on trading away good pitchers for bad – remember the Adrian Gonzalez + Chris Young for 2 suckage months of Adam Eaton and Okinori Otsuka. If it wasn’t the Rangers and Padres, it would have to be near the top of terrible trades over the past 25 years list…
—
Thursday: Wandy Rodriguez, LHP vs Kevin Millwood, RHP
Wandy this year: lead the Astros is RSAA with 11. You ever think you’d read THAT?
He’s 2-3 in 9 GS: 51.1 IP – 47 H, 5 HR, 16 BB, 42K: 2.81 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and a .235 BAA
lifetime vs the Rangers, he’s 2-0 in 2 GS over 11.1 IP – 6 ER, 0 HR, 4 BB, 10 K.
——
Kevin Millwood, hellaciously expensive RHP, age 33.
He’s supposed to be the ace, and in the 3 years he’s been pitching for the Rangers, he’s had a 109, 87 and 89 ERA+ over 215, 172 and 80 innings. Meh.
This year, he’s 5-3 in 14 GS over 80 IP (not that in May, he only appeared in 3 games – and in 2 of those, he pitched 3 and 0.1 innings, then went on the DL, coming back on May 30) He’s pitched 5 games since May 30, going 3-0 over 32 IP – 37 H, 15 ER, 4 HR, 10 BB, 25 K: 4.22 ERA, 1.47 WHIP.
He likey pitching at the Box – he’s 4-0 in 5 GS: over 34.1 IP, he has 25 H, 2 HR, 6 BB, 29K: 1.83 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and a .203 BAA
Astros vs Millwood: Loretta is 12/34 with 2 doubles and a homer: Blum is 6/25 with a double and 2 HR: Berkman is 6/22 with a double and a homer: Wiggy is 7/22 with 4 doubles: Miggy is 3/19 with a double and a homer: Ausmus is 4/13: Erstad is 2/9 with 2 doubles: Kaz is 3/9 with 2 doubles.

Looks like he’s a guy who throws strikes and the ones that are hittable are HIT.
If any of all yall want to know why, besides the price tag, that Drayton didn’t sign Millwood before the 06 season to augment Pettitte and Oswalt, I give you 2 words – Scott + Boras…
And speaking of Drayton, any guesses as to whether or not he’ll have the AC on tonight?

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Posted in Brian Moehler, Interleague Play, Roy Oswalt, Wandy Rodriguez | 5 Comments »

6/24/08:Why NL Baseball ROOLZ!!!

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

As all yall know, I believe the DH is to baseball as a plastic doll is to loving intimate relations.
But too many people care only for batting average, hating the sac-bunt, sneering at ballplayers who are defensive geniuses unless they hit .300. And, of course, since pitchers don’t hit all through high school, college and the low minors, it’s pretty hard for them to suddenly hit like Berkman when they hit the majors, even those pitchers who are good hitters and WANT to hit.

And I’m thinking about this, watching and re-watching the video of an AL pitcher, Felix Hernandez, hit a grand slam off of Johan Santana. Pitchers hitting homers are absolutely the best when they hit them off of Cy Young winners. But hey, pitchers hitting unexpected homers off of ANY ML pitcher is kewl. Sometimes even if the pitcher is an Astros pitcher.

Favorite pitchers hitting AB I can think of offhand:
1 – Roy Oswalt hitting his first career homer off Shawn Chacon 2 years ago
2 – Some 38 year old Korean lefty relief pitcher whose name I can never remember coming to bat against Randy Johnson (in one of those Mets vs Yankees contests that get the Bud Selig and the networks as excited as a 13 year old boy seeing his first nekkid female) and then McCarver saying contemptuously that this was the most unfair contest evah and why the DH was so WONderful and then that anonymous lefty, hitting for the first time in 15 years, hitting a triple off the Unit.
3 – Roger Clemens driving in the go ahead, winning and ONLY runs in his 4th start for the Astros
4 – Dontrelle Willis hitting a homer 440′ into the upper decks in right here at the Box
5 – Micah Owings hitting the game winning homer off Borkowski right after Coop pulled Wesley Wright AFTER Owings was announced as PH – and THEN screaming about how terrible it was that a pitcher should give up a homer to some freaking PITCHER. So either it happened to be pure coincidence that Coop happened to pull Wesley for another pitcher to pitch to a pinch hitting PITCHER, or Coop doesn’t think Wesley can get a pitcher out.
6 – ANY hit that ANY pitcher gets with 2 out and especially ANY hit that ANY pitcher gets with 2 outs and men on base.

- and by the way,
Right along with Tim McCarver for saying dumb stuff about hitting pitchers, I give equal marks to all the moron reporters who are covering AL teams who are bleating about how WONderful it is that fewer homers are now being hit (HAS to be because of the sudden absence of steroids between last year and this year) and how baseball is fortunately getting rid of home run hitters so that we are now going back to The Way The Game Is Supposed To Be Played.

Hello you brain dead morons. The DH was NOT included in “The Way The Game Is Supposed To Be Played.” Pitchers hit until 1973. And the grossly inferior AL had to do SOMEthing to come up with some stupid gimmick to bolster its sagging attendence caused by years of stubborn insistence of waaaay too many AL teams to sign players who had the misfortune to look like a Negro…

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Posted in Interleague Play, Pitchers | 6 Comments »

6/20/08: Drayton McLane, GM vs Gerry Hunsicker, SVP

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Today, the Mariners fired manager McLaren the day after they fired their GM. They decided to override Bavasi’s decision to continue with Johjima as the starting catcher – AND this is a guy to whom he just gave a 3 year 16 mill contract extension. There are rumors that they are going to release Richie Sexson, who has been simply awful since being signed as a FA 3 years ago, Jose Vidro, who has not been a very good DH – and even more changes. Absolutely none of their FA signings have panned out and they have a poor minor league system and traded their best good young player for Erik Bedard, who has, um, not been exactly ace-like.

So exactly why am I talking about some AL team?

Because the Astros are 3 fer 13 in June. Because they are 3 fer their last 20. They aren’t hitting for spit with men on base – that is, WHEN they get men on base (left 8 on tonight and had 2 GIDP.) I very seriously doubt that Ed Wade is getting fired, mostly because the fans aren’t angry with him YET and I very seriously doubt that Cooper is getting fired, as he’s Buddy’s boy and you know how Drayton feels about doing whatever Buddy boy wants.

sigh

BBTN says that the Reds are putting basically everyone except for Votto, Bruce and Volquez on the trading block. Will be interesting to see what Drayton does. At this point, I have a very hard time believing that he will tear down the team and rebuild. I think he’s going to have to be a loser and be booed for being a loser for quite some time before he comes to his senses and understands that you can’t even compete without a farm. And that he will NEED a Chris Antonetti/Grady Fuson/Dan Evans/Mike Arbuckle to run things.

Ah well. Do I need to re-cap Chacon’s poor performance – he couldn’t find the strike zone and he did NOT get squeezed. When you give up a homer to Alex effing Cintron, you suck. Do I need to point out that once again the Astros left men on base in every single inning in which they got men on base? Do I need to point out that the homers were solo ones? Do I need to point out that Carlos and Miggy are back to their GIDP ways?

nah

So this weekend, the Astros – or, should I say – what happened to the Astros after Drayton threw Gerry out in a dumpster because he was SOOO sure he could be a better GM than Gerry with his hands tied behind his back – face Gerry Hunsicker’s new team. Yeah, I know that some other guy has the GM title, but since Gerry joined the team as “senior vice-president” in 06, this team has picked up VERY good players and gotten rid of its lousy ones: they picked up Dan Wheeler (remember him? he had a bad year last year and is now back to being Dan Wheeler. Guess Jim Hickey was juuuust the ticket…) and Troy Percival and Jorge Cantu and Carlos Pena and – well, they got pitcher Matt Garza (and starting SS Jason Bartlett) for†Delmon Young†and traded Elijah Dukes (Dukes, the Quicker Knocker-Upper) for some minor league guy. And these here Rays have kept their good young pitchers. And DRAFTED INTELLIGENTLY!!!!!!!

And at this time, they just swept the ML leading Cubs and are 1 game behind the bandwagon leading Red Sox.

Coop has announced that born DH Carlos Lee is going to DH this series (yeeeeee HAH!!!) and Lance will be back at first – just hope he doesn’t hurt himself more on that turf. And I’ll bet that the Ray’s owner turns on the AC in THEIR Dome even though they attract 1/3 to 1/2 as many fans each game!!!!!!!!!

where was I? oh yeah

Fun with stats: guess which team has the fewest walks in the majors? Yep, the Astros. Guess which team made the fewest errors? Yep, the Rays. And speaking of errors, who would thought that Kaz Matsui would have the same number errors (11) as Wiggy (5) and Miggy (6) COMBINED???

Anyway, here are the scheduled matchups for this weekend:

Friday, it’s Roy Oswalt vs Matt Garza
Too bad Roy can’t talk to his old pitching coach. You know, the one he had before someone decided Roy should “pitch to contact” with the gawdawful defense. Anyway, Roy has had significant trouble with both slider and curve this year, as we all know, as well as difficulty locating the FB, especially when squeezed by umps with respect to the upper inside corner. And IF McLane is shopping Roy and IF Roy happens to want to be traded, (which he might could, as I get the impression (putting it nicely) he doesn’t care for the pitching coach or the manager) then he best look like the old Roy because won’t nobody pay 14 mill a year for a sub 100 ERA+ pitcher.

Matt Garza, age 24, RHP, was the first round pick of the Twins in 2005 (the Astros first rounder was Max Sapp – looks like the Astros who were the saps in that one, but I digress…) Anyway, he was called up for a cup of coffee in 06 and started 9 games, threw 50 innings with a 5.76 ERA. Did the Twins completely give up on him? Nope. They called him up again the next year and he threw 15 games over 83 IP with a 3.69 ERA, but with a 1.54 WHIP and a .294 BAA. This offseason, they decided they needed a big bat more than a #4 or 5 pitcher, so they traded him to the Rays for Delmon Young – a deal which, so far, has been better for the Rays.
This year, he’s 5-3 in 12 GS over 68.2 IP – 64 H, 8 HR, 26 BB, 37 K: 4.33 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and a .233 BAA (looks like maybe we shouldn’t have gotten rid of Jim Hickey, who Gerry immediately went out and acquired, hunh?)
——-
Saturday, it’s Wandy Rodriguez vs Edwin Jackson, RHP
Edwin Jackson, age 24, RHP, was selected by the Dodgers out of a Ga HS in the 6th round of the 01 draft by the Dodgers. He was called up as a 19 year old in 03, where he threw 23 outstanding innings, and unfortunately, people thought fer SHER he was the next Dwight Gooden (minus the cocaine.) But no. He struggled in both AAA and in his 20 something innings in the majors with poor command – gave up more walks than Ks/9 IP and after the 05 season, the Dodgers just gave up on him and traded him to the Rays for Danys Baez and Lance Carter (gee, THAT worked out well, hunh?)

In 06, Jackson continued to struggle with control at both AAA and MLB, giving up too many walks and too few Ks, BUT lowering both his hits/9 and his HR/9. Last year, the Rays decided to leave him in the majors to sink or swim, pitch or pitch himself out, and he struggled all right – 5-15 with a 5.75 ERA, a 1.76 WHIP – BUT he lowered his walk rate from 6 to 4 and managed to average almost 5.2 innings/GA over 161 IP.
This year, he’s 4-6 in 14 GS over 82 IP: 84 H, 8 HR, 39 BB, 54 K: 4.46 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and a .267 BAA.
He’s faced the Astros before, when he was with LA – Berkman is 1/5, Tejada is 2/9, Ausmus is 0/4 and Abercrombie is 2/3.
-
Sunday, it’s Brandon Backe, RHP vs Scott Kazmir, LHP
You talk about an unfair competition. Kazmir is the best lefty pitcher in the AL – probably THE best pitcher in the AL (you talk about the worst trade of ALL times – the Mets got rid of him because some of the veterans didn’t think he was obsequious enough or something – for Victor yeccch Zambrano, about whom Rick Peterson, the now deposed pitching coach of the Mets supposedly said – I can fix him in 10 minutes…)

Backe was actually drafted by the Rays in 1998 in the 18th round, as an infielder, but was converted to a pitcher when he couldn’t hit well enough to be a position player. He was traded to the Astros in 04 for Geoff Blum, converted to a starter, and the rest is history.

Brandon, best I can tell, is trying to break Jose Lima’s homers given up in one year Astros record. Or maybe even the ML record. He has given up at least one homer in every single game he’s thrown this year except one. He hasn’t thrown an ace game since May 23, back when the Astros were still winning. Then again, that ace game was against the Phils, so maybe he can get it up for the Rays, you never know.
This year, he’s 4-8 in 15 GS (5 QS) over 83 IP (5.2 IP/GS): 94 H, 19 HR, 37 BB, 57 K: 4.99 ERA, 1.58 WHIP and a .281 BAA (his worst ever line as a starter, by the way…)
He hasn’t pitched at the Trop since he was a reliever there back in 03, so I’m not sure that those numbers really have any relevance. He didn’t give up many hits or homers, but he walked a lot of guys.
—-
Scott Kazmir, local boy, was picked in the 1st round in 2002 (15th pick) by the Mets. No the Astros didn’t reject him because they picked 29th and they chose Derick Grigsby. Round 2 was Mitch Talbot. Round 3 was Rory Shortell. Round 4 was Mark McLemore (who has spent most of his minor league career hurt – and he’s the only guy drafted and signed in 02 who spent as much as one day in the majors). Round 5 was Pat Misch, who did not sign. And you get my drift.
where was I? Oh yeah.

So Al Leiter and John Franco wanted that insolent little **** the heck offn their team and so his ass was shipped off to the Rays. And here is what he’s done for them since: 41-31 in 106 GS (and remember that until this year, that team routinely lost a minimum of 90 games) over 627 IP – 3.47 ERA, 1.36 WHIP and a .242 BAA – and 9.2 K/9 IP. That is a 128 ERA+ just in case you’re wondering.

In case you’re curious, Zambrano threw 201.2 innings over 2 1/3 years, started 35 games and relieved in 4 more, went 12-14 with a 95 ERA+ which is what all yall just might could call a seriously dumbass trade. And it is what you get for letting self-important knowitall vets run your ballclub.

Anyway, this year, Kazmir started the year on the DL, and since he came back, is 6-2 in 9 GS (7 QS) over 56.1 IP (6 IP/GS): 37 H, 2 HR, 20 BB, 61 K: 1.76 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and a .181 BAA.
I just hope the Baseball Gods will have a sensa yuma and let the #4 guy beat the AL’s best.

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Posted in Bandon Backe, Interleague Play, Roy Oswalt, Wandy Rodriguez | 7 Comments »

6/19/08: Valverde Loses First Overtime Game Of The Season

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

AND his second in a row, I might could add. He came into the game bottom of the 9th with the score ties 1-1. got an out, then gave up 3 singles and there went the ballgame. Dude isn’t making himself look good for prospective trade partners, gotta say that – giving up game losing hits to the Kevin Millars and Melvin Moras doesn’t shout ACE!!!

Moehler pitched great – 6 hits, 2 BB, 1 ER on a Luke Scott homer, 4 K over 6.1 IP. He’s thrown exactly one bad game as a starter. Hard to believe, but true. Wesley Wright, Chris Sampson and Doug Brocail (and HE is lookin good as trade bait, too) kept the game tied, but no one but Lance Berkman hit – and his big hit was a solo homer out of the park.

Even the Chron beat writers are noticing that Miggy and Carlos are not gettin it done. Don’t guess I hear Ed Wade talking about how Miggy looks like he’s 25… Using them for trade bait? Don’t see how, but youneverknow.

The fans are starting to get really upset – not just because the team can’t/won’t win, but because there really isn’t a Designated Scapegoat like Burke/Everett around, now that Towles is in Round Rock. So lots of people have focused blame on Cecil Cooper. And yeah, I have to agree that he’s done some strange things and his bullpen use hasn’t been, um, optimal, and he throws his players under the bus too much, but the real problem is that the hitters have NOT been hitting with men on base. At the beginning of the year, the Astros came back often to win. Now, if a reliever gives up a run, game OVAH. Just like the bad ol days.

And the farm is empty – AAA is filled with crummy ex-ML Joe McEwing/Cody Ransom type guys who hit their ceiling at AAA. And there really is no one to call up, unless you expect miracles. Which I don’t – I know better.

I don’t know what the Organization is going to do – Drayton has made the VERY bad mistake of trying to increase his profit by not turning on the AC much – in spite of Pam Gardner protesting that the AC is just as low as ever; she must REALLY think that Houstonians can’t tell the difference between 75 and 85-90. Click here to read what Tom Kirkendall has to say about the cooling problems.

Without Biggio to fill the seats, angry fans are just going to stop coming to watch this lousy team. But even IF Drayton could get rid of Carlos and Miggy and Roy for some AAA players/supposed to be ML ready young guys, he still isn’t going to get any Ryan Braun/Evan Longoria/Jay Bruce guys and the fans are going to be even angrier that they are now paying to watch a rebuilding team if every single new guy doesn’t immediately hit as well as Pence did last year when he came up. Look at all the people who already want to get rid of Bourn because of his difficult first 6 weeks – the fact that he picked it up over the past months and is hitting better than anyone else on the team ever since means zero and will continue to mean zero until he hits .300, like the sainted Willy Taveras did.

sigh

It’s like that old nursery rhyme about for the want of a nail a shoe was lost. Drayton didn’t want to pay for prospects, didn’t want to pay for Latin American academies to produce, didn’t want to listen to Gerry – he really obviously thought he didn’t need no stinkin farm didn’t need no stinkin GM – look how successful he was with Clemens. And now look where we are.

The trouble with a Psychobilly Cadillac is that although you might could get it to run for a while, a bunch of spare parts thrown together are going to break down after a while and when you have nothing else available, all you got is a broke-ass coulda been sorta car.

sigh

Jose Ortiz wants to know if we fans are angry. Nope, not any more, although I sure as heck would be if I had bought season tickets and was being forced to watch this lousy team in the sweltering heat. I’m not delighting in the failure of the 08 Astros – don’t get me wrong. I’m just not as upset as I was with the 04 team. Or the 98 team. It will be interesting to see what Drayton/Tal decide to do, and IF they manage any trades, to see what they can get for what we have.

I’m starting to feel like a Royals/Pirates fan. Just appreciate the few wins because that is all you gonna get. And say at least you will win more games than the 62 Mets. Actually, this franchise has never lost 100 games – its worst record is 64-97/65-97 in a non-strike year. Wonder how THIS year’s team will end up. Actually, I think that if this team ends up being worse than last year’s team, it just MIGHT could move Drayton to re-think his stupid attitude about refusal to pay for young players or to go get GOOD young players.

But youneverknow. I’m hoping it will do some good because Drayton, unlike a few other owners, hates losing even if it makes him money.

anyway

Today, It’s Shawn Chacon vs Brian Burres
Chacon actually did quite well in his last start against the AL East – the hitters and bullpen let him down.
He’s 2-2 in 14 GS: 9.10 H/9 IP; 1.65 HR/9 IP; 4 BB/9 IP; 6.05 K/9 IP (how’s that for looking at stats a lil differently?!) His line: 4.69 ERA/1.46 WHIP/.265 BAA/.479 SlgA/.821 OPS against.
In spite of his pitching on the East Coast for a few years, he’s only pitched at OPACY once – gave up 4 H, 3 BB, 1 HR, 1 ER in 6.1 IP.
Jay Payton is 5/9 with a double; Aubrey Huff is 4/9; Luke Scott is 1/8; Brian Roberts is 2/5; Kevin Millar, Nick Markakis and Melvin Mora are 0/3. Yeah, I know. Small sample size.

Brian Burres, age 28, LHP, was srafted in the 31st round of the 2002 draft out of JuCo by the Giants. After a very undistinguished career in the minors as both starter and reliever – 4.11 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 3.65 BB/9, 8.11 K/9 over 616 IP, never reaching higher than AA, he was waived by the Giants after the 05 season and picked up by the Orioles.

One more time I am going to stress that assessing other teams’ minor leaguers and picking up guys off waivers was EXTREMELY poorly handled after Gerry Hunsicker left – and again, THIS time I blame Purpura and the minor league development people, as Drayton isn’t going to quibble about which minor leaguer gets 30-40 K/year. And once more, I am NOT going to hold Ed Wade to the fire and blame him for obeying instructions he was given when he got here about who Drayton/Tal did and didn’t want on the ML team. But I AM going to hold him very VERY accountable for not grabbing the Dan Wheelers/Jack Custs off the waiver wires. Unless I find out that Drayton/Tal prevented him from doing that. I know where the buck stops in this Organization, I’m not fooled like too many other fans are.

But I digress…

Burres spent all but 8 innings of 06 in the Baltimore AAA club and did decently, starting 26 games over 139 IP – 3.76 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, o.91 HR/9 IP; 3.69 BB/9; 7.65 K/9. He was finally called up to the ML team last year, started 17 games, relieved in 20 more, and struggled. He went 6-8 over 121 IP – 5.95 ERA, 1.70 WHIP, but kept his homer rate low at 1.07, but struggled with commant, giving up 10.41 H/9 and 4.91 BB/9.
This year, he’s 5-5 in 13 GS and 1 in relief over 75 IP: 89 H, 10 HR, 25 BB, 36 K: 5.28 ERA/1.52 WHIP/.298 BAA/.452 SLG against/.802 OPS against.

Your typical #5 guy.
It sure would be nice to be able to beat the #5 guy. So let’s hope Chacon has a good outing, that the hitters hit, the fielders catch and throw well and the bullpen doesn’t collapse.

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Posted in Chacon, Interleague Play, Valverde | 10 Comments »

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