Archive for the ‘Felipe Paulino’ Category

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11/19/10: Hello Clint Barmes: Ed Wade Finds Yet ANOTHER Mediocre Middle Utility Infielder

Friday, November 19th, 2010

Ed Wade has made 3 GOOD trades since he has been the Astros GM: Michael Bourn and Geoff Geary for Lidge and Bruntlett; LaTroy Hawkins for some crappy nobody A-ball guy; Jeff Keppinger for Drew Sutton. I suppose some would want to add the Kevin Worthless Cash for Angel Sanchez, as he traded away less than nothing for a useful utility infielder.

We all know that Ed Wade is obsessed with middle relievers, and indeed, his forte is finding unwanted relievers on the scrap heap – he’s not near as good with trading for em or signing em as FA. Actually, he was infamous for his middle reliever obsession when he was the Phillies GM.

But since he’s been the Astros GM, his penchant for getting lousy, scrappy, not very good middle infielders has been indulged. Jason Smith. Matt Downs. Matt Kata. Jose Castillo (yes, remember him?) Oswaldo Navarro (who, like Maysonet, languished on the bench for some undetermined reason) - but they were scrap heap guys.

Wade has, I guess, decided to replace Blum, who just signed with the DBax for 2 years/2.75 mill, with Clint Barmes. Only he traded Felipe Paulino to get him.

Drat that Ed Wade – now I have to revise my 2011 pitchers entry that I’ve been working on (yes, in what little spare time I have) but I digress.

Paulino had almost no wins last year and therefore, according to stat hating media guys (the ones who didn’t vote Felix Hernandez in as AL CY Young winner this year because there weren’t enough Wins in “winner”) he must be no good. Not entirely true – Felipe was good n lousy and had terrible run support/crappy fielding, which we all know is not needed by a True Winning Pitcher to actually, you know, Win.

Anyway, Paulino had a lot of trouble staying healthy, and was out from June 10 to Sept 15 this year, along with getting run support and decent fielding. In 2010, he started 14 games and relieved in 5 more, winning 1 and losing 9 (see, toldja he’s a looozer) with an overall 5.11 ERA, 1.54 WHIP and .270 BAA. Overall, he had 9.3 H/9, 0.4 HR/9, 8.1 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9.

(Note that his numbers as a starter were better than his numbers as a reliever: 4.40 ERA; 1.51 WHIP (those walks again) but only 2 HR/86 IP, 8 K/9 IP and 4.5 BB/9 IP)

- In his win, he gave up 1 run over 8 IP.
- In his 5 ND, he gave up 4 ER/5 IP, 2 ER/6 IP (twice) 2 ER/8 IP and NO runs/8 IP
- In his 9 losses, he gave up 5 ER/6 IP, 2 ER(5 R)/5.2 IP, 2 ER (6 R)/5 IP, 4 ER/6 IP, 1 ER/7 IP, 7 ER/4.2 IP, 8 ER/4.2 IP, 2 ER/6 IP.

I keep hearing htat Paulino should be turned into a reliever – not sure why because his numbers as a reliever have always been incredibly worse than those as a starter, but it is no longer an Astros problem. The last 2 pitchers we sent to the Rox, Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsh, both spent most of their time there hurt and are now in AAA with other Organizations. Although the uas they had from Buchholz far outweighed the use we had from Jason Jennings, so they still won that trade. But I digress…

Clint Barmes will be 32 years old in March, was drafted in the 10th round in 2000 by the Rox. He had a few cups of coffee in 03 and 04, then had 377 PA in 05 (.764 OPS/90 OPS+) and 535 PA in 06 (.599 OPS/47 OPS+) – by the way, he’s the guy who had the weird accident in 05 in which he supposedly slipped on the stairs carrying deer meat for Todd Helton, but managed to come in at #8 for the ROY anyway.

He had only a few PA in 07, because Tulo won the SS job and our old friend Kaz Matsui was at second AND Barmes just plain ol uck-sayed, but he rebounded in 08 with 417 PA as a second baseman putting up a .790 OPS/98 OPS+) with a career high 23 homers ???!!! but declined in 09 to a .734 OPS/ 82 OPS+ and crashed in 2010 to a .656 OPS/67 OPS+ and was essentially benched for the second half in favor of Eric Young, Jr (whose daddy is no longer with the Astros Organization as their minor league baserunning instructor, by the way.)

Career, he has an .820 OPS vs leftys and a .648 OPS vs rightys. He doesn’t hit for spit away from Coors – a .618 OPS and he doesn’t GIDP much, walk much – BUT he does  K about 100 times/162 games average.

Naturally, he hasn’t played much SS since Troy Tulowitski came up to the bigs; 283 Innings in 08, 103 innings in 09 and 361 innings last year (whenever Tulo was hurt) but he isn’t Tulo with the glove, although he is above average at both short and second.

I have like no idea what on earth the Astros want with this guy, unless they somehow think he for some unknown reason, will duplicate his 2008 numbers – not sure why, it’s not like he’s been hurt. I suppose they figure that they would put Sanchez at SS if Manzella has a lousy ST and use Barmes as a DR. Either that, or they think that for some reason, Barmes will hit with power outside of Coors.

Anyway, this looks like an unspeakably stupid trade as Barmes earned 3.35 mill this year and is arb eligible and I have absolutely NO idea why Ed Wade and gang prefer this guy to even Geoff Blum and his steady 84 OPS+ every year. ESPECIALLY as the Rox were almost certainly not going to offer Barmes a contract and he could have been picked up from the scrap heap in a few weeks – or was Fast Eddie afraid that Sandy Alderson would grab him???

sigh

I’m not expecting Carl Crawford, but I sure would like Wade to actually make a, like, GOOD trade sometime…

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Posted in Clint Barmes, Felipe Paulino | 14 Comments »

Nationals Put Up A 7 Run Inning Against Byrdak, Paulino And Lindstrom So J Happ Loses His Shutout And Astros Lose

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

I’ve heard it a zillion times – NEVAH make the third out at third base. SOMEbody gonna get hisself a MAJOR ass-whuppin at kangaroo court, fer SHER.

John Lannan started off shaky, gave up singles to Bourgeois, who took off for second on the next pitch, then another single to Kepp and with 5 pitches, the Astros led 1-0. Pence grounded out 5-3 – guess he hurt his hip running, Clank flew out, then Jason Michaels  hit a ball into the 4th row about 4 seats over from the LF foul pole. CJ doubles and Manzella flies out to the warning track.

In the second, Castro lines out, Happ grounds out, then Bourgeois singles to the 5.5 hole, then Kepp walks. With 2 out and Bogusevic up, after strike one, Bourgy inexplicably took off for 3rd and was gunned out. Third out at third base.

Bad Juju.

And Lannan absolutely positively SHUT the Astros hitters down, needing only 8 to 10 pitches an inning for the next 5 innings, giving up only a single to CJ.

Meanwhile, J Happ threw 3 1,2,3 innings except for a walk to Adam Dunn. He ran into trouble in the 5th, giving up a single to Morse, then a “single” to Pudge on a rare Manzella total effup – the ball came straight to short but Manzella, for some reason, moved away from the ball and completely missed it. Happ then got the next hitter to hit into a FC and the runner at third was caught in a rundown, he then walked the next guy to laod the bases and got the last hitter to ground out right to CJ. 25 pitches.

He took another 23 pitches in the 6th, giving up a double and a walk, to get his 3 outs.

6 innings, 2 hits, 3 walks, no runs, 24 batters and ten of em went to 3 ball counts.

Melancon came in for the 7th, gave up 2 straight doubles, a passed ball, then got incredibly lucky getting called 3rd strikes on checked swings that didn’t look real too checked to me.

Astros 3 Nats 1

In the 8th, the Astros faced reliever Tyler Clippard, got men on first and 3rd, 2 outs, and Clank left em both there.

I had a BAD feeling.

Bottom of the 8th, Byrdak came in to face Dunn – guess Mills doesn’t trust Lindstrom (I saw why later – more on that) and Dunn walks on 4 pitches. Then Paulino comes in, gets 2 quick outs, then gives up a homer to Pudge Rodrigues that clanks off the LF foul pole.

Tie game.

Then single, walk (and Mills doesn’t make a move) then another single (Arnesberg goes out – but it doesn’t help) another walk.

Then Lindstrom comes in, gives up 3 straight singles, letting all of poor Paulino’s runs score.

Then Villar comes in (I think they must have unofficially shut Lopez down) and gets a ground ball and Manzella makes a fantastic play (atoning for the earlier effup and the GIDP) to FINALLY end the massacre. Nats 8 Stros 3

Tonight, the Nats get the 7 run inning – but not because of errors – unless you want to count Castro not blocking another ball in the dirt and the runner coming home from 3rd – but it didn’t matter because the single woulda driven him in anyway.

Bottom of the 9th, closer/closer to be (not sure which, these days) Drew Storen comes in, gets Michaels to K, gives up a homer to CJ that must have gone 400+ feet into the right center stands, gets Manzella to ground out, walks Castro. In comes ex-Pirate Sean Burnett, who gets Blum to popup the first pitch.

I want to point out the the Astros hitters had 37 PA and only five 3 ball counts. Baggy sure nuff hasn’t exactly done real too much to change the hack-tastic nature of these guys.

I also want to say that Bogu did a fine job in right – caught a few tough balls, didn’t miss the cutoff man.

Tomorrow, it’s Wandy vs Jason Marquis, who missed most of this year with injury. We know Marquis only too well from his years with the Braves, Cards, Cubs, Rox. Against the Astros, he’s 9-8 over 23 GS and 5 in relief with a 5+ ERA. Of course, most of the guys on this team he hasn’t faced much, so not sure how accurate those numbers would be.

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Posted in Felipe Paulino, Ivan Rodriguez, J.A. Happ, Jason Bourgeois | 3 Comments »

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

Sunday, September 19th, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

sigh

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

youneverknow.

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

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

Lindstrom Can’t Close, Cash Can’t Throw Out Baserunners And Paulino Can’t Win

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Well, actually, the Astros can’t win. But I’m getting ahead of myself here…

Paulino pitched tolerably well, giving up 10 hits 2 walks, 6 K, 3 R, 2 ER over 6 innings. He needed a LOT of pitches/inning. Actually, I was a little surprised to see him go back out to start the 7th inning – he needed 15 pitches to finish up the 6th and he looked dog tahrd after that. Yes, I know that what is left of the bullpen is teh sukc, but still…

Somehow, the combo of Lopez, Byrdak and Lyon managed to not give up a run in the 7th, then Lyon pitched a scoreless 1,2,3 8th.

Lindstrom, came on for the save. And from the beginning, he was NOT lookin good – couldn’t find the strike zone. Gave up a 3-2 single to Kinsler, who promptly stole second (Cash couldn’t throw out Bengie Molina), went to 3rd on a GO, then scored on a single.

tie game

Lindstrom’s BAA is something like .310. NOT good. The Marlins fans warned me about this…

We’re NOT coming back against Neftali Feliz – only Manzella managed to get on base at ALL after Wilson came out – and he singled against Chris Ray (who used to close for the Orioles) so that is pretty good.

Interesting 10th. Casey Daigle trots out there to start off. Now Casey is no Frankie Francisco/Chris Ray/Neftali Feliz. He is a really lousy pitcher. He gives up a leadoff single to Borbon, who has been getting singles every AB all night. Then a groundout to Young and Borbon goes to second. Kinsler fliew out. 2 out, man on second.

Righty Vlad Guerrero, hitting .331, but ofer the game, is up. Lefty Josh Hamilton, hitting 4 fer 5 today and .315 on the year, is up after him. Your righty pitcher is Casey Daigle. Your lefty pitcher is Gustavo Chacin. Who do YOU pitch to?

Well, you DO have 2 great hitters, so you have to go by the pitcher, really. Chacin is better than Daigle. So do you walk Vlad and pitch to Hamilton? You get lefty Chacin to pitch to Vlad? This year, Vlad is hitting .303 vs rightys, .414 vs leftys. This year, Hamilton is hitting .270 vs leftys and .354 vs rightys. And Ida wanna hear how TODAY, Hamilton hit 4 fer 5 and Vlad was ofer – for all we know, this means that Vlad is now “due” – you’ve heard THAT one before.

So really, the best you can do is walk Vlad and use the lefty to pitch to Hamilton – the better pitcher vs the worse hitter.

And it didn’t work because Chacin let Daigle’s run score when Hamilton hit the ball to right (bout time Daigle got Francoed) and there went the ballgame.

The Rangers outhit the Astros 15-7, too, and only Manzella got more than 1 hit.

By the way – today’s RCAA totals for the NL show the Pirates team total of (-)51 RCAA and they are second to last. The Astros are dead last with (-)101. Not kidding. And we have THREE hitters in the top 4 negative RCAA: Feliz is #1, Manzella is #3 and Clank is #4. (And yeah, I noticed JD discussing how well Chris Johnson is doing, but then he hastily added something about how when you get a veteran, you have to give him time to, uh, um, earn his way – or something.

Tomorrow off.

Thank goodness. The carnage – I mean suckage, is starting to get to me…

Oh yeah – let me not forget – Quintero got hit in the head by a backswing. Fortunately, he is OK, just a cut. He must lean way too far forward to catch balls, as this is not the first time this year he’s been hit – and he’s been called for catcher interferenced, too – something I never saw with Ausmus, Towles, Coste, etc…

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Posted in Felipe Paulino | 5 Comments »

Paulino Gets Grady Pedroed By Mills And Royals Beat 10 Runs Out Of Him

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

I wonder if Paulino isn’t more than a little tired from his last few games – 3 games with 8 IP – 113, 120, 117 pitchers thrown. He wasn’t real too sharp to start the game – yes, 2 of the 3 singles were an IF single that Kepp couldn’t manage (and there were a couple more of those plus a Bill Buckner type error long after the ballgame had been lost) and one of those pop bloops to center, but he went to 3-2 counts on the first 3 hitters and it took him 29 pitches to get through the inning. He was lucky to give up only 1 run.

And he wasn’t sharper in the second – gave up a bloop double, over threw a pickoff for an error, then gave up a very hard hit double, 2 long flyouts (I noticed that they didn’t send the runner from 3rd on the flyout to Pence, but they sure did on the flyout to Clank, who didn’t even bother to throw to a cutoff man. I get so endlessly tired of that crap. Another 24 pitches to get through the second inning.

He got through the 3rd in 8 pitches, gave up another IF single and a walk in the 4th, but got out of that inning on 14 pitches without giving up a run.

The Stros scored 5 in the 4th to take the lead, 4-3, but then stuff happened. It wasn’t Quintero’s night, either. Paulino struck out Podsednik, then got Kendall to FO, gave up a single to DeJesus on a ball at his ankles, a 5 pitch walk to Butler, then Paulino, who looked almost completely out of gas, struck out Guillen. Only he didn’t because Quintero somehow reached forward and hit his glove against Guillen’s bat and Guillen got to first on catchers’ interference (a VERY weird thing because Keppinger hit the catcher’s mitt as he struck out so Bourn, running to second was also called out for catcher’s interference. Reminds me of the game in 04 where 2 guys made outs by physically running into the ball in play – a rare base running mistake for Bagwell…)

Oh no

BAD sign. BAD sign. And sure enough, Callaspo hits the first pitch for a 2 RBI single. I thought fer SHER Mills would pull Paulino who looked tired. Nope. Why on earth not? Sure enough, Paulino then gives up a game tying single to Aviles, who hits a ball juuuuust past a diving Feliz (who is old and slow) and I though SURELY Mills would come get his guy. Or even go to the mound, slow things down.

nope. WHAT?????

Paulino is having a terrible time getting pitches over for a strike and his slider is gone and he gives up an 8 pitch walk to Maier. Does Mills come and get him?

nope

I knew that would be bad. Paulino was completely gassed, looked absolutely exhausted, had thrown THIRTY FIVE FREAKING PITCHES already that inning, but Mills leaves him in some more.

WHY????

So Paulino throws it down the middle to Betancourt, who promptly hits it off the LF wall, driving in 3 MORE runs.

Astros down 9-6. So NOW Mills comes in to get him?

Good grief.

You know, I’m not one of those pitch counts martinets, but when a guy doesn’t have his good stuff in the first place and he is OBVIOUSLY worn out, even if he didn’t get through 5 innings, you pull him.

Naturally, Byrdak Francoes him and the runner on second scores. He gets the next out, no runs to HIS record. He gets the first out in the 6th, then Casey Daigle comes in with no one on base, gives up a double to the CF wall, then lets that guy score with 2 wild pitches in a row. He gives up another run – and THIS time, they go on his tab.

Wesley Wright pitches a 1,2,3 inning on 6 pitches. Fulchino comes in and sucks again, gives up 3 runs and gets lucky and leaves bases loaded. Fast Eddie needs to go to the waiver wire and pick his self up some more crappy relievers because we are very quickly running out of guys who can get outs. And Fulchino doesn’t look anything like the guy who was so good last year.

Astros pitchers gave up FIFTEEN runs on 20 hits and 4 walks to the freaking Royals. Not counting wild pitches, 3 errors, failure to get ground balls, catcher interference x 2, etcetcetc. This is sorry. To put it mildly.

No wonder we are the laughingstock of the ML. We are. This team went to the WS only 5 short years ago, was an Organization praised for its excellence, and with Drayton in the GM seat, have fallen like a lead balloon. The Orioles and Pirates have sucked for so many years in a row that nobody bothers laughing any more.

sigh

I suppose I should be happy that the offense scored 7 runs. Something ironic here – usually when Paulino pitches, the offense scores zero or 1 run and he loses from lack of run support. Tonight, he lost from lack of manager support.

Tomorrow, Roy-O faces Bruce Chen. Yeah, that Bruce Chen, the guy who has pitched for what seems like every team in the majors over the past 15 years – including the Astros. Only when you face the Astros, can you give up 6 runs over 3 innings and not lose.

And I promise I’m gonna get that draft entry done one of these days – when I have a solid uninterrupted 4 or 5 hours.

hahahahahahahahahahaha

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Posted in Felipe Paulino | 7 Comments »

Carlos Lee Hits Grand Slam To Power Astros Comeback Win Over Rockies: Unfortunately, Paulino Doesn’t Get The W

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Best news from the game tonight is that Paulino again pitched REALLY well. He threw 8 innings (117 pitches) gave up 8 H, 1 W, 1 IBB, 7 K. He gave up the first run on a double down the line, then on a popup to shallow right that Keppinger misjudged/didn’t get. He gave up a single to right to Herrera, the second baseman, who came around to score on another double down the RF line that hit the grandstand where it justs out and the ball ricocheted past Hunter for long enough for the run to score.

He threw pretty much just FB and the 89-90 MPH sliders with just a few curveballs, and there weren’t any really well hit balls. This was his 5th straight QS and 6th of 7. He has only given up 2 homers this YEAR. He has gone 8 innings in each of his last 3 starts, but he hasn’t seemed to be tired or struggling in any of those. And yes, I DO know that he has thrown between 106 and 120 pitches in every start except for 1.

Interesting – by the middle of May – 7 starts, he looked lousy in all but 1 of those – poor control, too many pitches thrown/inning, too many walks. But because the Astros have pimped him (and he wasn’t a Purpura pick) they gave him more rope than they have given any other young pitcher in YEARS and he’s pitching better and better. I hope this is lesson they don’t forget with Bud Norris, who has less than half of Paulino’s major league innings.

One interesting change in the pitching this year is that Arnesberg/Mills are not pulling the starters for pinch hitters in the 5th, 6th and 7th innings or after 100 pitches as a matter of routine, as was done the past few years. Unless they are having a bad game, the starters are going much deeper into games. Will be interesting to see if they are more tired out by the end of August…

I know that lately, there has been a lot made of managers using their closers in any situation that is not The Save. (Especially The Mariano – who has been left sitting while some grossly inferior pitcher tries to get out the excellent heart of a lineup) but Jim Tracy wisely sent out his closer to face Lee and Pence with the score tied in the 9th. At least I thought it was the smart move.

And actually, I thought it was a smart move to have Matt Belisle IBB Lance with men on second and third, 2 out in the 10th, to face Carlos Lee, who was like 1 fer 20 with lots of groundouts (I guess it was like the time Phil Garner sent Brad Ausmus up to face Tom Glavine when he was like 1 fer 50 or something, saying that Brad was due, and by GUM, he got hisself a nice single) but maybe throwing 4 pitches out of the strike zone affected him because he threw Carlos a nice meaty FB mid thigh which Carlos sent 400 something feet – it would have been through the Conoco Pump window at home, looks like.

Wilton Lopez shut em down – the heart of the order – in the bottom of the 10th to preserve the W.

And he does look like another one of Ed Wade’s excellent waiver wire/trash heap reliever pickups. Ed Wade is at his best finding relief pitchers – CHEAP relief pitchers.

Tomorrow, it’s Roy-O vs Joulys Chacin.

Hope Roy has regained his temper and his form – especially if he is still trying to get traded.

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Posted in Carlos Lee, Felipe Paulino | 15 Comments »

Bourn And Berkman Back Felipe Paulino’s First Win of 2010

Friday, June 4th, 2010

YES, you read that right!!! The Astros managed THREE, yes, THREE runs (woulda been 4 if Berkman hadn’t gotten hisself thrown out on yet another baserunning booboo) and Paulino went 8 innings giving up only 1 run. He threw 120 pitches, but he really cruised through the 6th, 7th and 8th, needing only 41 pitches – only 1 really well hit ball and that was Fontenot’s drive to the LF bullpen that Bourn ran down all the way from deep center beating Clank to the ball (naturally) and making a superlative catch.

Paulino struck out 7, 6 swinging, and ended up giving up 3 doubles, 2 singles, a walk and an IBB to DLee to load the bases to face Aramis, who popped up to the Astros bullpen – Lance leaned over the railing to catch it.

And speaking of Lance, he’s remembered how to hit – went 3 fer 4 including a double hitting righty off the scoreboard (and yeah, Sori didn’t play it very well) and drove in 2 and FINALLY managed to steal a base – still looks as if he’s not exactly running well.

Bourn went 3 fer 5 with 2 singles, 1 double, stole a base, scored 2 runs and made catches all OVAH the place.

And it really was great to beat Zambrano for the first time in, like forEVAH. He had a lot of trouble with his location, but suddenly he remembered where he was and which team he was facing and he sharpened up. He looks like he’s lost his energy, looks like this is a job, not a game. Don’t know what’s happened to him, but I hardly recognised the guy.

He couldn’t find the plate in the first – gave up a leadoff single to Bourn, got Kepp out on a hitnrun, gave up a RBI single to Lance (who thought he’d go to second on the non-existant throw home to get Bourn – and he thought wrong – let’s put it like that…) then a double to Clank (who would have had another RBI if Berkman had stayed at first) then he walked Sullivan on a 3-1, then Blum on a 3-1 and then with bases loaded, Feliz popped out to shallow right to end it – only 1 lousy run.

Z was on a pitch count, I think, and Lou pulled him in the 5th after Felipe Kd, then Bourn singled and stole second, then Kepp drove him home with a single to center. The Cubs tried to get Michael out, but he was just too darn fast and he slid headfirst across home with a swipe tag, and just barely avoided getting his hand stepped on.

Then Tom Gorzellany came in to relieve. Lance doubled in Kepp, then Carlos was IBB – shows that he MUST be lookin like he’s hitting again, even if he is still batting .216, and then Mills smartly pulled Sullivan, who can barely hit RIGHTYS, and sent in Pence to PH – yeah, I forgot – Sullivan started the night in right – we need them lefty bats. Anyhow, Pence walked on 4 straight, then Blum, batting righty, struck out leaving bases loaded. Then Sweet Lou sent in a rookie reliever named Stevens, and he got Feliz out, leaving bases loaded AGAIN. Feliz DID actually manage to get a hit – but it was off Bobby Howry who is, uh, hittable (ahem – 8.75 ERA, .340 BAA) so Lou brought in Marmol who got Q and Michaels without any difficulty.

Andrew Cashner, RHP, local boy (who Justice says offered to sign with teh Astros for like 175 K – a big hometown discount -the year before he was drafted by the Cubs in the first round for almost 2 mill and was sneered at by Timmy P, Drayton or both) pitched the 7th, and except for giving up a single to Lance, looked VERY good. The boy made it to the ML after spending a little over 1 year in the minors. He has a crisp 97 MPH FB and a very nice breaker. The Cubs I guess are keeping him in the bullpen for a little to break him into the majors – I hope he doesn’t get Joba’d.

Anyhow, Matt Lindstrom was brought in to close, even though Byrdak and Lopez had been warming up, and I held my breath, seeing as how he’d had such poor control his last 4 outings, but he got 3 outs with 8 pitches and only threw 2 balls.

The only problem with winning is there is no real incentive for Drayton/Fast Eddie to get rid of Feliz/Sullivan and bring up minor leaguers.

Tomorrow, it’s Roy-O vs Ryan Dempster

Dempster is 4-10 in 19 GS and 26 in relief vs the Astros with a 4.57 ERA, 1.41 WHIP.

This year, he too has been the victim of lousy run support, so he has a 3-5 record, but he has a 3.72 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and a .213 BAA. We faced him back in April, he gave up 4 hits, 2 BB, 1 R over 7.2 IP and didn’t get a W because his bullpen blew it.

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Posted in Berkman, Felipe Paulino, Michael Bourn | 4 Comments »

Wandy, Paulino And Chris Johnson In Astros Fantasy Ball 6/2/2010

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Mark Schreunder, who runs Fantasy Baseball Hotstove (no, NOT my kind, which involves Brad Ausmus and Grady Sizemore and Carlos Pena and a few others and is NOT suitable for a nice G-rated blog like this) has asked me a few questions about the Astros, uh, lack of, uh, shining excellence in a few (ahem) areas.

Check it out.

Chris Johnson, by the way, has now played in 21 minor league games since coming off the DL. He’s come down a bit from his smoking hot start, but can’t nobody keep hitting .400 – he’s hitting .326/.357/.596 with 7 doubles, 1 triple and 5 homers over 96 PA with 17 RBI, 4 BB and 14 K.

STILL better than Pedro Suckage Feliz.

Oh – and by the way, I was dead right about Chris Sampson – he WAS injured. They do this to the poor guy every year, I SWEAR – after he is OBVIOUSLY hurting and ineffective, they don’t just put him on the (swear word) DL, noooooooooo – they have to wait it out until he gives up a kabilliion runs in a couple games and quintuples his ERA…

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Posted in Chris Johnson, Felipe Paulino, Wandy Rodriguez | 1 Comment »

Paulino Pitches 8 Shutout Innings Against The Reds, Doesn’t Get The W, But Lance Drives In The Winning Runs

Monday, May 31st, 2010

Poor Paulino – even when he gives up NO runs he still can’t get that elusive W. Dude now has THE lowest run support/start in the MAJORS! He’s gone under Roy O. But Roy gonna get his own entry…

And the day before, Tommy Manzella drove in both runs.

Maybe he should get his own headline, too…

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Posted in Berkman, Felipe Paulino, Tommy Manzella | No Comments »

Quintero Drives In Pence To Prevent Shutout As Astros Reach Tombstone Time Again

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

In Which Paulino Gets Oswalted And Loses #7 To Ex-Stro Randy Wolf In Milwaukee.

It used to be Clemensed, but I thought it was time for an update, dontcha think? At least Roy is keeping the Astros from completely falling off the media radar, as speculation about his trade destination grows.

Felipe can’t ask for a trade, poor guy. He got “run support” from Manzella (2 singles and a walk), Quintero (single to center) and Feliz (given a single on what should have been an E6 and a walk?!?!); he himself left bases loaded in the second – but hey, he’s a pitcher – gotta give him a bye here; Jason Michaels struck out looking with 2 on in the 7th. Paulino also had terrible luck in that the umps mistakenly called a foul off his foot as a ball in play, and it went for a GIDP – it CLEARLY went off his foot.

But the real problem was that Lance, Clank, Pence and Feliz (supposedly a good hitter – acccording to Fast Eddie) all looked bad against Wolf. Even though Pence and Lance both went to 3-2 counts twice – well, at least Pence took Ball 4. They didn’t do anything against righty reliever Villanueva (Kepp had a single, then Lance struck out swinging on a pitch in the dirt and Clank grounded out weakly.) Pence, with a bloop double up the RF line, then Quintero, with a double to the gap vs Todd Coffey (yes, the ex-Reds closer) kept this laugher from being a shutout.

Felipe pitched pretty darn well – gave up 3 walks to the Prince, struck out 4 and gave up 2 runs over 6. He had a tough time getting his slider and curve to work when he first got out there – gave up a leadoff single, then a 10 pitch out, then threw a FB waist high straight down the middle and Ryan Braun hit it like 800 feet to dead center – it would most definitely have easily cleared the CF wall at the Hill if we were at the Box.

And he lost the ballgame right there in the first – just like Roy last week.

Very disheartening. He just can’t win.

hahahahahaha

Chris Sampson had his second really terrible outing in a row – none of his pitches had any sink and they got hammered. He hit the pinch hitter, then Rickie Weeks hit a sinker that didn’t opposite field off the facade of the second deck. Gomez had a weak grounder (that one worked) and then Braun laid down a perfect bunt single to third (Clank, Lance and Feliz really ought to think about doing something like that seeing as how they either strike out, GIDP or ground out weakly to third/second/first) and the Prince hit a bullet up the middle. McGehee singled to fairly shallow left and Braun was waved around third – everyone knows that Clank has an arm like a wet noodle.

Fulchino came on (he hasn’t really pitched very well either) and immediately gave up a long fly ball to deep center and Michael made a GREAT running catch – he didn’t hit today, but that catch was freaking AWESOME. Then Escobar hit a good pitcher’s pitch – down and inside – actually, out of the strike zone, to the RF corner for a GR double – and Sampson ate 4 ER. His ERA went from 1.14 2 days ago to 4.66 today (7 ER over 1.1 IP is not a good thing…)

sigh – not sure what on earth is wrong with that boy, but I hope he’s not hurt again and not telling people.

Tomorrow, it’s Roy vs Chris Narveson. Randy Wolf came into tonight’s game with a 5.17 ERA and lowered it to 4.52. Narveson, a RHP, has a 5.17 ERA and a 1.59 WHIP over 5 GS and 9 in relief – and he’s pitching better as a starter than he was as a reliever – has a 4.45 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP over 5 games – and he has also beated both the DBax and the Dodgers, who the Astros rolled over for…

Oh yeah -

Chris Johnson earned the PCL Player of the Week award. From the RR Express web site:

“Johnson led the hit .458 (11-for-24) in six games during the week with three home runs, nine RBI, 11 runs scored, three doubles and a triple. He currently rides an eight-game hitting streak, during which time he is hitting .469 (15-or-32). Johnson hit safely in six consecutive at bats and reached safely in nine consecutive plate appearances during the first two games of the Express series against Reno, both season bests for Round Rock.

A Naples, Fla., native, Johnson has hit safely in 11 of 12 games since rejoining the Express two weeks ago; he produced a sacrifice fly in the lone hitless game. Johnson is tied for seventh in the PCL with 11 extra-base hits this month, despite missing the month’s first nine games. He is hitting .380 (19-for-50) with three homers, 14 RBI, 14 runs scored, seven doubles and a triple in 12 games with the Express.”

I think he needs more seasoning in the minors, don’t you? After all, we couldn’t POSSIBLY think of replacing Proven Winner and Clutch Hitter Pedro Feliz, with someone who can, like HIT, could we?

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Posted in Felipe Paulino, Quintero, Randy Wolf, Tommy Manzella | 9 Comments »

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