Archive for the ‘Jason Michaels’ Category

Wesley Has The Wright Stuff For His First W As A Starter And Michaels Slams Home The Winning Runs

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

Wesley pitched 4 perfect innings to start off the game, then Braun broke up the nono with a clean single to start off the 5th. Didn’t bother Wes a bit, he just got the next hitters out 1,2,3.

He got the first out to start the 6th, then Randy Wolf doubled over the 1B bag (they didn’t show the replay because of Patti Smith yapping about the wives gala – the fans appeared to think it was foul, but youneverknow) and a fan grabbed the ball, or Wolf might could have ended up on 3rd. Weeks flew out, then Hart hit a Fb over the RF wall to give the Crew a 2 run lead. Wesley shrugged, went after da Prince and got him on a grounder up the middle which Keppinger got and threw to Wallace, only the 1B ump got the call wrong and called him safe.

Well, he walked Braun, then got McGehee to groundout.

Losing 2-0, he came out for the 7th, blew away Gomez and Weeks, then got Hart to pop out.

A GREAT performance. He had every pitch working really well – the FB was located well, the curve was curvin and the slider was slidin. 7 innings, 102 pitches, 70 strikes, 6 K, 1 BB, 4 H (shoulda been 3 H, as I said) and only went to a 3 ball count TWICE. Absolutely superlative. I hope to heck he isn’t replaced in the rotation by Moehler. I’m gonna hafta get a Wesley shirt to go along with my Wandy shirt the boy keeps this up.

Randy Wolf pitched really well, too. He gave up a triple to Keppinger (Edmonds can’t run or throw any more) in the first, then got Pence. He gave up a leadoff single to Sanchez in the 3rd, then Keppinger GIDP. He gave up a leadoff single to Bourn in the 6th, but Sanchez GIDP. He gave up a single to Clank in the 5th, then CJ lined out to McGehee, then

BRETT WALLACE GOT HIS FIRST ML HIT

with a single to left, but Quintero and Wesley both struck out.

Wolf was in line for a 2-0 win when Pence lined a shot off his right (glove) wrist and he had to come out immediately. Then disaster struck for the Crew – Kameron Loe and his 1.97 ERA trotted in, but Kam could NOT find the strike zone and threw 8 straight balls which were not even close (you know how they almost always give strike 1 on the 4th pitch) to load the bases.

Macha brought in  Braddock, the lefty (and a GOOD lefty) to face lefty Wallace, but Mills pulled him and sent in Jason Michaels, who sent a 2-0 pitch into the Crawford Boxes for a grand slam.

And that was the game.

Pence added another run in the 8th with a triple to the RF bullpen and trotted home when Weeks, the cutoff man, airmailed the throw to 3rd into the stands, so the umps waved Pence home.

Wilton Lopez pitched a 2 swinging K 8th and Lyon came on for the save in the 9th (Lindstrom not available – not sure why…)

And, sad to say, Chris Johnson’s 14 game hitting streak came to an end when Escobar made an absolutely incredible play on a ball in the 5.5 hole – DEEP in the hole and threw him out by 5 steps. He smashed a line drive which McGehee grabbed, then grounded out in the 8th. But he DID walk and score on the JMike granny.

We head off to Saint Looey to face Uncle and Jaime Garcia, who is being overlooked for Rookie Of The Year because of all the hoopla over Da Strasburg (and Big Hittahs Jason Heyward and Mike Stanton.) Ed Wade’s little “warrior” PetsyPoo, fresh off a contract extension (10.5 mill a year for 2 years and an option) has been designated The Ace. BAH – Like at age 29 he’s gonna keep pitching 1 run under his career ERA for the next 3 years.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Jason Michaels, Wesley Wright | 13 Comments »

J Happ-y To Get Run Support To Shutout The Brewers

Friday, July 30th, 2010

Roy Oswalt pitched his first game tonight as a Phillie, gave up 5 runs, had crappy defense, got 1 run of support – must have felt right at home.

Meanwhile, J Happ threw 6 innings of 2 hit, a 2 base ROE by Clank, 4 walk ball. He doesn’t have really great stuff – a FB 89-93 MPH, a curve he seldom threw, and a changeup. It’s funny because Manny Parra has better stuff, including an unhittable changeup, but he just can’t seem to throw his great stuff consistently, don’t ask me why. Must drive Brewers fans crazy.

Tonight, no Roy, no Pence, no Berkman, no problem.

Happ just might could have been a lil nervous when he went out there – gave up a leadoff double to Weeks, then a walk to Hart. But he pulled himself together and got Braun swinging, got Prince to popup to left and McGehee to groundout to third. He started off the second inning with 2 swinging Ks, a 3-2 walk and a groundout to Pedro Feliz, playing 1B while Lance, still in uniform, took a (supposedly) planned day off.

Happ threw 43 pitches through the first 2 innings, half balls, and I had one of those uh-oh feelings, because Parra had had wicked stuff in the 1st, but in the 2nd,  he threw a FB right down the middle on a 3-2 count to Michaels, playing RF, who sent it into the middle window in left field. And with a 1 run lead, Happ never looked back.

 And once CJ hit a 3 run opposite field homer (on another one of those 2-0 right down the middle FB), he just put pedal to the metal and cruised through the next 2 innings. Mills pulled Happ after 6 innings, 98 pitches. As the guy came back from 2 months on the DL with elbow soreness only a few weeks ago, no reason to stretch him out.

Bourn went ofer – shoulda had an infield single, but Phil Cuzzi, the 1B ump got the call wrong. Then again, Michael should have run through the bag instead of sliding head first. He made a WebGem catch on Prince’s looping hit to shallow center in the 8th and basically made every tough catch look easy – just as usual. Now that his batting average is too low for Astros fans, I’m starting to hear the same sort of thing I heard about Everett – and how saving hits and runs isn’t important. Unless you are Clank and giving them up, of course…

Sanchez went ofer, but made all the plays, which were all pretty routine.

Keppinger, batting 3rd, had 2 walks and a homer off the fowl pole (chicken sandwiches all around!!!) and made all the plays.

Clank, batting 4th, was ofer (Parra saved his very best stuff for Clank), had a GIDP, and muffed a fly ball to left – near the bullpen, he tried to make a hot dog catch, turned at the wrong minute and the ball clanked off his glove. So much for Bagwell teaching him how to hit.

Jason Michaels hit 5th, went 1 fer 3 with a walk, scored 2 runs, hit the go ahead homer and made all the plays.

Feliz hit a single!!!! for his first hit in like weeks and scored when CJ hit one out. He didn’t mess up any plays at first.

CJ, as usual, hit 7th – don’t ask me to explain this because I can’t and his hitting streak is now 13 games. He’s starting to hit for power now, as he did in the minors, and so be it and shall it remain. Now, if he can just get the glove work under control. He bobbled an easy GIDP ball, but got the out at first, but fortunately, no one scored.

Quintero went ofer, and his trouble framing pitches got 5 strikes called balls, including one strikeout that went as a walk.

News – apparently Lance was packing his things and saying good-bye to everyone, so it loks as if the Yankees trade is a go. I have heard different accounts of which players we are receiving, so I am going to wait until it is official before discussing them. Last player we got from the Yankees was LaTroy Hawkins, which worked out pretty well for us.

Will be interesting to see if they call Brett Wallace right up and play him. We’ll see if he can hit outside of the top hitters parks in the PCL.

Next 2 days, it will be the attack of the little leftys, Wandy and Wesley. Let’s hope we can get Wesley his first W on Sunday and Wandy a nice W tomorrow.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Chris Johnson, J.A. Happ, Jason Michaels | 6 Comments »

Jason Michaels Gives Roy Oswalt 3 Runs And He Beats Royals

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Jason Michaels, Roy Oswalt | 1 Comment »

Paulino Breaks Up The Nono, Holds On For The Win And Lyon Blows It

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

Well, Paulino came out with both guns blazing, got through the first inning with 13 pitches, got a 1,2,3 inning with 2 swinging Ks.

It was something that gave me false hope, unfortunately.

It wasn’t that he looked bad in the 2nd – he gave up a LONG fly ball to left to Ryan Howard which bounced off the scoreboard, hit Clank on the head, and before you know it, Howard was on 3rd. No error of course. The Jason Werth hit a very long FB to the LF bullpen that Michaels, playing center in place of Bourn, barely managed to get to for a sac-fly.

PHILS JUST WON!!! shouted the guy sitting next to me, a Phillies fan. Oh yeah – forgot – I went to the game tonight with one of my Mama’s oldest friends, a woman who has been going to every home game since the team was the Colt 45s and seeing as how tonight was the night we celebrated the ‘65 team which inaugurated the Dome, I thought I’d accept her invite and see how she liked the revised game. Of course, she thinks everything was better back then, but I’m not gonna throw no stones, seeing as how she has a couple of points.

I like the unis a LOT better. Cream color with a shooting star – LOTS better than that stupid hideous brick red or pin stripes (let’s leave those to the yecchs.) And I also like the organ instead of all the other stupid music/sound effects etc – they Dome had the organ until Drayton bought the team (I think) – because I remember the organ from when I was a kid. It was a LOT quieter and I liked it a LOT better. So I’m old already. Get off my lawn.

Where was I?

Oh yeah. So they had a celebration with some of the guys from the 65 team – no Joe Morgan though. My Mama’s friend was almost in tears. She looked at me, said – we thought the Dome was The Future. Well, for a while, it was. EVERYone wanted a Dome stadium, EVERYone wanted Astro Turf, EVERYone wanted an exploding scoreboard and colorful uniforms.

Ah well, the colorful unis are sure nuff back for the Astros FANS, at least. And speaking of unis, I saw something I have nevah seen before – a MAN wearing an Ausmus jersey. Miracles happen

And back to the game – remember I had been telling yall how great Manzella looks? Well, he made a lil mistake today – and not turning a DP by dropping the ball before getting an out at second, and Paulino not getting out of the inning cost. He gave up 3 runs before getting that last out. And I thought fer SHER that we were gonna get shut out AGAIN – even no-hit, as Jamie had needed only 19 pitches to get through 2 innings.

And sure nuff, he only needed 1 pitch to get Manzella out, then 3 pitches to get Quintero, but then Paulino hit a 1-1 slowball (giggle – I can’t get to calling a 80 MPH pitch a “fast”ball) to the RF bullpen and ended up on second. Then Jason Michaels hit a ball into the Crawford Boxes – the first Astros home run of the year. Then they showed the old snorting bull on the scoreboard. KEWL!!!
Keppinger had a 4 pitch walk (I was surprised they had him in against a lefty, but youneverknow) and then Hunter Pence FINALLY got a good swing on a pitch and hit it over the tracks onto Crawford Street. Yeah, it did go over – I saw it. Milo obviously didn’t – I heard the replay. Then the next 4 guys each singled and it was Astros 5, Phils 4 when Quintero grounded out, leaving bases loaded.

Yes, you read that right. The Astros FINALLY led in a ballgame!!!!!

Paulino struggled with his command (what IS it with the Astros pitchers not being able to throw strikes???) and gave up 4 walks, 3 hits, 4 K and 3 ER over 5 IP, going to 3 ball counts on 6 of the 23 hitters. He threw 45 pitches in the 3rd inning, and Mills hadn’t gotten anyone up. I wondered how long it was gonna be before he did…

Anyway, Moyer didn’t have any more trouble for his other 3 innings.

Sampson pitched a scoreless 6th.

Then, with the Astros leading, Brandon Lyon, the setup guy came in to preserve the W and gave up a walk to Utley, then a mammoth homer to Ryan Howard that hit the facade way over the Conoco Pump – and it went a LOT farther than the 430′ he was credited with. And he gave up 3 more singles and another run, to top it off. Good grief.

Byrdak pitched a scoreless 8th.

Then the closer, Lindstrom, gave up a single to Werth, then a homer to Victorino, who had been like 1 fer 20 with lots of 4-3 groundouts and Ks.

Great.

Michael Bourn was sent in to pinch hit for Quintero against Ryan Madsen, the defacto closer while Lidge is on the DL, and he promptly hit an opposite field double, went to 3rd on Cory Sullivan’s groundout (you note that Cory had an 11 pitch AB instead of going up there and getting his little self out on the first or second pitch, like a normal Astro) and came home when Michaels singled him in.

I hear tell that Drayton is hopping mad. Well, Drayton had best go and take a look in the mirror, is all I can say. It was HIM who wanted Old Guys and not prospects/minor leaguers. It was HIM hired Ed Wade, who is 15 years behind the times. I could go on, but what for?

Anyway, tomorrow is the Battle Of The Roys – Oswalt vs Halliday. Roy could pitch 9 innings of scoreless ball and he ain’t gonna win.

I notice that since Philly won the WS, there are a LOT more people in Phillies jerseys who come to watch games. Winning seems to enthuse fans…

Tags: , ,
Posted in Astros baseball, Brandon Lyons, Felipe Paulino, Hunter Pence, Jason Michaels | 1 Comment »

Ed Wade Killed My Mother……….’s Love Of The Astros

Monday, December 14th, 2009

I know that most of you either typed in or linked to www.theastrosdugout.com and saw a different title. I have posted at the soon to be vanished mvn.com since June 1, 2004 under the blog name The Astros Dugout, and thought that keeping the familiar name as the domain title would help people find me.

However, I thought that a new, fresh start deserved a new, fresh blog title. I chose Astros-holic Synonymous partly to explain why I am still blogging in spite of the fact that I should just go on the wagon as this team seems determined to flush itself deeper into the sewer of suckage; but I can quit being an Astros fan ANY ol time I want to. Yep, just walk away. But in the meantime, I need a support system (and I thought that naming the blog ”I Wanna Go All Shawn Chacon On Ed Wade’s Cruddy Middle Reliever Obsessed Pea Brain When He Does Idiotic Stuff Like Sign Brandon Mediocre Lyons To A Contract Three Years Too Long And 15 Million Too Much” was a bit cumbersome, you know what I’m sayin…)

I also picked a punny name to honor my late friend and mentor, the great baseball writer and human being, John Brattain, who had a superlative sense of humor and dearly loved a good pun.

I want to thank my friend and fellow Primate, Coot Veal And Cot Deal, for sparing me the time from running his web design firm, www.unrepentant-design.com  to help me set up this wonderful new site. He’s an especially awesome male human being, because he did what I wanted, not what HE wanted (he must be married, dontcha think?) I welcome any comments/suggestions you have for me about the appearance of my blog, as I am learning what works and what doesn’t, but understand right here and now that I am NOT changing my mind about no Astros icky brick red on the header. If you want to see an Astros player up there near the title, you have a choice between Kevin Bass and Jimmy Wynn. If Wandy isn’t traded this off-season, he can go up there, too.  Forget Bagwell/Biggio/Mike Scott/Nolan Ryan - I prefer the underappreciated.

Also, the rules about no bad language, no libel and use of good manners at all times still stands.  One of my Giants fans friends warned me, “Once Astro fans watch Pedro Feliz ‘hit’, they may increase the pressure to waive the bad language limit” and trust me, I understand. But if I held that limit in force for Dan EFF Miceli all the way up to Cecil (Worst Manager EVAH) Cooper, I will be able to keep it in place these days.

And thanks right now to Dan Szymborski, inventor of ZIPS prediction system, co-owner of Primer, for helping me get pub to launch this blog and to Matt H. for its clever entry title.

Speaking of the title, it refers to the fact that many fans are enraged by the ineptness of Astros ownership and management since the day that Drayton McLane talked Roger Clemens into un-retiring. Houstonians talked about (almost) nothing but the Astros all winter and spring and season ticket sales sky, um, rocket ed. This year, with Ed Wade’s obtaining Matt Lindstrom and his 100 MPH straight FB for a couple of low minor leaguers and Brandon Lyon, a middle reliever, for 5 MEELYUN dollars a year for THREE years and Pedro Feliz and his vanishing bat for 4.5 mill, furious Astros fans are refusing to re-up their season tickets to fuel Ed Wade’s lust for overpaying for relievers and obtaining Ex-Phillies.

Let alone re-upping Jason Michaels – ex-Phillie, natch, (-) 1 RCAA over 152 PA: 12 doubles, 1 triple, 4 HR, 16 BB, 38 K, 2 GIDP: .237/.322/.430/.752 for a 98 OPS+ to accompany a glove that is only slightly better than Clank’s. And, by the way, I should note that Michaels is supposed to be primarily a pinch hitter, and his numbers with men on base are .231/.286/.385 and with men in scoring position are .216/.293/.378/.671. You see, we needed Michaels back because this team is SOOOOO sorely lacking in Veteran Presence, seeing as how he is a 33 year old journeyman and the youngest position player is the wet behind the ears Tommy Manzella, age 27.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Anyway, back to the subject of even MORE wasteful expenditures (yes it IS possible) Ed Wade obtained Miguel Tejada, a suspected steroids user, the DAY before the Mitchell Report was made public. Had he waited a day longer, he most likely could have obtained him for significantly less than 3 cheap major leaguers and 2 minor leaguers. Two days after Fast Eddie threw money at Lyons (and no, I don’t believe that some other team offered him 2 years at 3.5 mill/year), the list of non-tenders was revealed.

Let’s take a look at that there list and see if Eddie could have gotten someone just as good and a WHOLE lot cheaper:

- Jose Arrendondo, RH RP, age 25, Angels: fabulous 08, horrific 09 - worth at least a minor league contract
- Brian Bass, RH RP, age 28, Orioles: 90 ERA+ over 2 years, 4.87 ERA/ 1.59 WHIP – NRI at most
- Lance Broadway, rhp, Mets (good looking MAN, bad looking pitcher)
- Matt Capps, RH RP, age 25, Pirates; was their closer for 3 years – had a  TERRIBLE year last year, increase in H/9 IP from 8.1 from 06-08, to 12.2 last year. Increased BB/9 a bit as well as HR/9. Maybe he was hurt – with the Pirates, youneverknow. DEFINITELY worth a try.
- D.J. Carrasco, RH RP, age 32, White Sox: looks a HECK of a lot better than Lyons: last 2 years with Sox, 3.82 ERA/1.36 WHIP – a real horse of a RP – pitched 93 innings over 49 games with only 1 start.
- Clay Condrey, RH RP, age 33, from Beaumont, Phillies: do you need to know anything more? Hows about 6 years, 6 mill a year? Cheap at the price. The guy’s a WINNAH with a RINGGG!!!!!
- Neal Cotts, LH RP, age 29, C*bs: he’s the guy who killed us in 05, but he rapidly detiorated – 11 terrible innings last year.
- Mark DiFelice, RHRP, age 33, Brewers: GET THIS GUY!!! we should sign him to a ML contract – he was extremely effective, pitching 51 innings of 110 ERA+ ball with a 3.66 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 8.4 H/9, 1 HR/9, 2.3 BB/9, 8 K/9. No idea why the Crew is letting him go (oh yeah, he DID shut the Astros DOWN every time he faced us) and keeping Carlos Villanueve instead…
- Phil Dumatrait, LH SP/RP, age 28, Pirates: first rounder from the RedSox B.T. (before Theo) relieved in 13 innefective innings last year. Walks too many, strikes out too few, gives up too many hits.  
- Seth McClung, RH SP/RP, age 28, Brewers: 4.04 ERA (105 ERA+) 1.41 WHIP was his career high in 08. Meh.
- Adam Miller, RH SP, age 25, Indians 1st rounder in 03, never made it out of AAA with good reason. But someone will give this guy a minor league contract because he used to be a prospect.
- Dustin Moseley, RH SP, age 28, Angels: Cincy’s 1st rounder in 2000, traded to LAA for Ramon Ortiz (remember how he was supposed to be the next Pedro Martinez? Ummm, no.) 168 ML innings over 4 years, 5.41 ERA, 1.554 WHIP.

My, we sure have a lot of failed first rounders, don’t we? Where was I? Oh yeah…

- Jackson Quezada, RH RP, age 23, Padres: not sure what an A ball pitcher is doing on this list, but he had a 2.12 ERA over 63.2 IP with 27 saves with a 0.958 ERA and a 11.2 K/9. Heck, I’d give him a try and I don’t CARE if he is “too old” for A ball. He fits right in with the Astros, anyway.
- Tim Redding, RH SP/RP, age 31, Mets: no thanks
- Anthony Reyes, RH SP/RP, age 28, Indians (ex-Card, on TLR’s poopoo list because he is too limp or something) but his numbers are all over the place and they were terrible last year – of course, he was hurt. I’d give him a minor league tryout. Just to, uh, irritate TLR… 
- Jose Veras, RH RP, age 29, Indians: below average reliever with 4.42 ERA/1.38 WHIP, 99 ERA+ over past 4 years/128 innings. Pass
- Chien-Ming Wang, RH SP, age 29, Yankees: has had very serious injuries, and will probably sign some sort of deal with the Yanks anyway. Most pitches with seriouship injuries don’t come back anyway…

I’d definitely prefer Carrasco to Lyons and I’d grab Matt Capps, as well.

But truth is that I’m tired of the Astros just signing cromulent players because they have some sort of ML resume. I’d rather see more Wesley Wrights, seeing as how this team really has no more chance of being any better than last year’s.

And my mother, and many more people are trying to tell the front office this by refusing to re-up their season tickets, but seems as if the front office prefers the casual fan to the loyal one.

UPDATE 11 AM:   Arredondo is having TJ surgery and DiFelice is having shoulder labrum surgery. So they are out.

Tags: ,
Posted in Astros baseball, Ed Wade, Jason Michaels | 15 Comments »

Evaluating Astros Players At The 2009 ASB

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Apologise for this taking so long (kidssss!!!!!!!!) Also, this particular software won’t make nice neat charts and it takes me like forever to get the columns lined up even a little bit, so sorry that they don’t look real too good.

(Stats from ESPN, Hardball Times, baseball-reference.com)

B/R is BA with RISP (and you notice it isn’t RBIs/PA – IBB with MOB – an extremely useful stat which, if it existed, I can’t find…)

Player                PA  R H  2B/3B/HR RBI SB/CS BB SO GDP ——- B/R OPS+ RCAA   
 
C I Rodriguez — 260 26 60 - 11/2/7 — 30 – 0/2 – 11 54- 11 .183 245/.278/.392/.670 – 77 (-)12
1B Berkman —- 362 49 79 – 18/1/18 – 55 - 6/2 — 66 59 — 9 .260 271/.403/.526/.929 -147  23  2B K Matsui —  252 28 56 —  8/1/3 — 21 – 9/3 — 19 43 – 2 .262  252/.313/.338/.651 – 75 (-)8
SS M Tejada — 375 48 116– 30/0/7 - 49 – 2/2 — 10 26 - 14 .318 329/.357/.473/.830 – 120  9
3B Blum ——— 226 19 56 —- 8/1/2 – 27–  0/1 — 19 27 – 4 .263  281/.350/.362/.711 – 91 (-)1
LF C Lee ——– 357 35 101 –17/1/13- 49 — 2/2 — 24 28 – 10 .257 308/.353/.485/.838 – 122 10
CF Bourn ——– 376 57 95 — 15/8/3– 25 –32/8 — 38 72 –1  .391 286/.360/.407/.767 -105  11  RF Pence ——- 358 45 95 —-15/4/11- 37 - 9/6 — 36 50 - 12  .274 298/.366/.473/.839 -123   9

3B Keppinger —189 20 44 –10/2/3 — 15  0/2 —- 19 16 – 6 .189  273/.353/.416/.769 -106 (-)1 
UT Erstad ——– 95 10 14 — 3/2/1 —  5  0/2 —–  8 17—  2 .143  165/.234/.282/.516 - 38  (-)9
OF J Michaels — 82  6 13 — 8/0/1 —  6  1/1 —–  7 21—- 2 .158  176/.256/.324/.580 – 54 (-)5
C Quintero ——– 79  3 19 – 3/1/0 –  9  0/0 —–  1 15 —  3 .162  247/.266/.312/.578 — 54 (-)6
IF Maysonet —— 61  7 17–  2/0/1 –  7  0/0 —–  4 13 —- 0  .300  315/.356/.407/.763 -104… 1 UT Matt Kata —- 35  1  6 — 1/0/0 —  4  0/0 —–  0  3 —- 1 .300 182/.200/.212/.412 – 11 (-)4 
IF Jason Smith —27  1  0 –  0/0/0 –  1  0/0 ——  0 9 —– 1 -0- – 0  -  0 -   0  -  0  (-)100  (-)5 
C J R Towles —- 13  2  2 — 0/0/0 —  1  0/0 ——  0 4 —-  0 .333 182/.250/182/432  46      (-1)
C Chris Coste —–2  0  0                                   0                  0

You will notice that the SB/CS for all players not named Bourn is 28/23. This is bad. This is called giving away outs. Bourn is the only guy who steals at a success rate of at least 75% and this means Erstad, Pence, Keppinger and Carlos better cut it out. And Lance had best be darn careful.

You will also notice that the Astros have 81 GIDP. This leads the majors. You will also notice that the 2 young players who Coop doesn’t want on the team both have a higher BA/RCAA than the 2 veterans Coop DID want – Kata and Smith. You will also notice they both have higher BA than either Michaels or Erstad (seing as how BA is to be worshipped.) I will also remark that Mike Hampton has better hitting stats than either Erstad or Michaels. Yes, I know – small sample size…

You will also notice that Berkman is the only guy on the team with more walks than Ks. He also is the only guy with over 40 walks at all. Tejada has the highest BA, but Berkman has a higher OPS+ and higher RCAA and higher WS. He is also leading the team in RBIs because Carlos hasn’t been doing his share, not at all.

Checking fielding:

Pudge: 3 Errors/570 innings and 2 PB. FPT .994 and 25% CS. (He’s worse than that, as this doesn’t count all the bad throws that were not called errors)
Quintero: 5 errors/186 innings (highest in the majors) and 2 PB, FPT .971 is worst in the NL – also has 10% CS. (As I’ve been saying, he is NOT good. And why Coop prefers him to Towles I do NOT get)

Berkman: 6 errors/735 innings – and just like last year, he’s second to Uncle in fielding – 27 out of zone plays (but Uncle has 45) and 117 plays on balls in zone (but Uncle has 138) and he’s turned only 5 DPs – but that is NOT his fault as he’s had to deal with Miggy and his, uh, lousy fielding.

Matsui is 5th in the NL in RZR at .822. He doesn’t make many plays on balls out of the zone (only 11) and yeah, it is a little harder to compare him to some of the other second basemen who have around 150 more innings played. He is doing quite well with DP started – tied for the lead with 22, and is in the middle of the pack with DP turned, with 27 (Freddy Sanchez leads, with 42.) He only has 2 errors, which is hard to believe.

Maysonet, with only 102 innings, had a MUCH higher RZR at .854 and Keppinger, no surprise, has a much lower RZR at .733

Third base is a little tough – only 8 guys in the NL have played over 450 innings, and Wright, the leader, has played 758, so direct comparisons are a bit tough.
- Blum’s RZR is .745, which is surprisingly good, behind leaders Pedro Feliz, Casey Blake and leader Andy LaRoche at .781. However, his OOZ plays are quite low – only 12, compared to Ryan Zimmerman with 48 plays in 735 innings. I was also surprised to see that Pedro Feliz, who has an outstanding rep with the glove, has only 13 OOZ plAYS OVER 711 innings. Blum has only 2 errors and a .983 FPCT. In fact, I think he hasn’t made as many errors as he did last year. He’s just fine if balls go near him, but has like zero range to either right of left.
- Keppinger, playing in half the innings Blum has (275) has more OOZ plays, 13, but a lower RZR, .730, and more DPs started, 12 to 9. He also made 4 errors. I’m not surprised about the OOZ plays because, unlike Blum, at least he tries.

Miggy Tejada – well, he looks like the 07 version. He’s only been tagged for 12 errors and really, there should be at LEAST 10 more – or at least 10 DPs not turned that I can think of offhand. His RZR is second lowest among SS at .775 (The Riot is best at .855) and Miggy has been about average with the others at fielding plays on balls OOZ – 25. Fileding % is .968, 3rd lowest among SS. Ah well, no one cares (except the pitchers) because he is hitting .320)

Carlos Lee. sigh. Clank. Let’s say that he doesn’t drop balls hit right to him, but about any ball not hit right to him is going to go for a double. And he has a very weak and inaccurate arm. He’s been hit with only 2 errors, but at the end of the year, he’s gonna lead the majors (LF) with plays not made. RZR is .843 and he has 27 OOZ plays – Nyjer Morgan, naturally, leads with 51. He has 6 assists (how did THAT happen) which leads the league..   

And, by the way, here we are at the break at .500, which I personally thought was a miracle. Matthew Carruth, however, prefers to call it “luck” and mathematically “proves” that the Astros are THE luckiest team in the majors AND by 13 games. We are 22-18 in close games, but we have allowed 30 more runs than we have scored. Hardball Times says that by RA/RS, we should be 41 – 47, which is not exactly the 31 – 57 record that Matthew calculates.

This year, the only really GOOD team in the NL is the Dodgers, but we all know that means exactly zero after the playoffs start. I seriously disbelieve that Roy, Wandy and whoever could go head to head vs Cain/Lincecum and whoever and come out on top. But then again, they could get hurt, Pujols could get hurt and when it comes to baseball, younverknow…

 

Posted in Berkman, Carlos Lee, Edwin Maysonet, Erstad, Geoff Blum, Hunter Pence, Ivan Rodriguez, Jason Michaels, Kaz Matsui, Michael Bourn, Quintero, Tejada | 11 Comments »

Miggy Tejada And Chris Sampson Have An Excellent Game

Friday, May 8th, 2009

ACCentuate The Positive (try like heck to ignore all the negative…)

Miggy hit the ball with serious authority 4 of 5 times – hitting his first homer of the year into the CBoxes, stroking a double to the RF bullpen, a ground rule double to right and a smoked single to left.

Chris Sampson pitched three 1,2,3 innings, needing only 34 pitches.

As for the rest,

groan

sigh…

Ortiz, naturally, had a lousy first inning. So what else is new? He gave up 2 walks and 2 singles and got lucky he didn’t give up more because Pudge picked off Riot leaning offn third. He was better in the second – Fontenot reached on error because Matsui threw very wide of the bag and Lance (who had a TERRIBLE game – more on that later) barely gloved it then dropped it. Soto singled, Lilly popped up his bunt and then Sori grounded into a rare DP (Sori had himself a great night – dude has only 20 hits at the Box, but 9 of em are homers and 2 of em were hit tonight.)

Anyhow, Ortiz starts the third at 37 pitches with the Astros ahead 2-1. Riot singles to center as Jason Michaels, who is NO Michael Bourn with the glove, can’t get anywheres near what should have been an easily caught single to shallow center. Then Fukudome walks, then Aramis Ramirez singles Riot home, Hoffpauir pops up and Bradley singles to right.

To my absolute shock, out walks Cooper. Ortiz is at 57 pitches, Fontenot, Sost and Lilly are up, the bullpen is worn – they have pitched even more innings this year than the Yankees bullpen. But he pulls Ortiz and in comes Byrdak.

You know, it would be one thing if he used any pitcher as a long man. But he doesn’t, preferring to tire out a whole lot of guys, pretending that it is more important to do batter/pitcher matchups. Even in the third inning.

Byrdak actually did a decent job, except for giving up a homer to Sory off the Conoco Pump, but he was only left in 1.2 innings. Oh yeah – he did let an inherited runner score – he got to a sac-fly in shallow center, but made a terrible throw home. Why pull him? Yeah, I know – a pinch hitter. But there were 5 more innings to go and that HAS to be considered.

Then Sampson pitched 3 awesome innings and he was pulled – also for a PH with only 1 out. He can’t bunt? The Cubs couldn’t TOUCH him.

Next inning, Wesley Wright comes in and, like yesterday, no trace of the Wild Wesley from 2 games ago. He gives up a single to ARam (which Keppinger, if he wasn’t a Kent-like statue, would have gotten, but Miggy had to get and try to throw from deep in the hole at third), then a double to the bullpen which Bourn woulda had, then 2 Ks. But Coop won’t let him finish the inning (WHY???) and brings in Paulino who has his only good matchup tonight.

Paulino

sigh

Remember last week I was talkin some talk bout maybe Paulino looking incredibly better than I remembered and he might could be closer material etc?

Well, he came in to start the 9th. Miles fouled off 6 pitches, took 3 balls, then laced a midplate FB to right. Sori came, he saw, he homered (off the facade in left). Riot doubled to left on the first pitch (and hey, Clank actually hustled after this one and made a hard throw.) Fukudome went to 3-2 then popped up to Carlos. Ramirez took two balls, fouled off a couple, then laced an RBI single to left. Hoffpauir walked after fouling off 4 pitches. Joey Gathright lashed a single to left on his first pitch. Fontenot walked on 5 pitches that weren’t even close.

43 pitches, 24 strikes, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 4 ER in 0.2 IP – and he left with bases loaded.

He got lucky – Alberto Arias came in and got Soto to GIDP, so no inherited runners scored.

And there was the score, Cubs 8 – Stros 2.

Stros scored a couple in the bottom of the 9th off Chad Fox, who I didn’t even realize was back in baseball. He had some pretty hellacious arm/shoulder injuries and I can’t remember seeing him since 03 (with Milwaukee), but he did appear in a couple dozen games in 04 and 05 for the Marlins/Cubs. But of course Sweet Lou brought in the closer and the Astros folded.

In no small part thanks to Lance Berkman, who had the Golden Sombrero tonight and was waving at almost everything. He looked more lost than Mo Ensberg in 06 after his shoulder injury. And that is BAD.

sigh

The Ortiz Experience is not very good, in spite of his “wins” and it just might could be time to put Sampson back in the rotation. Yeah, I know – over The Organization’s dead body. After all, a middle inning mopup guy is more important than a good starter, right?

And please – we simply CAN’T trade the expensive vets for prospects. Nobody wants Tejada. Lee refuses to leave (and so does Berkman, except to one team and I don’t think that team needs a first baseman) and Roy might agree, but we would replace him with WHO?? The Mets? They don’t have any prospects, and even though the media doesn’t like David Wright, the team isn’t dumb enough to dump him. Valverde is injured and nobody wants Fragile Matsui.

sigh

I love my Astros. I’d rather watch a whole bunch of young guys get their heads beat in learning how to play than this bunch of stiffs.

Tomorrow, it’s Chad Gaudin vs The Magic Wandy.

And here’s hoping he pitches a CG because GAWD knows the team needs it.

 

Posted in Astros baseball, Berkman, Cecil Cooper, Chris Sampson, Felipe Paulino, Jason Michaels, Russ Ortiz | 13 Comments »

Astros Add Final Piece Of The Puzzle In Jason Michaels

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Hello there fellow Astros fans!!! I’m sure you are sharing in the incredible excitement of acquisition of the newest Astro, Jason Michaels!!!!!

Yessiree, the Astros just signed Jason Michaels to be the 5th OF – JUST what we needed after losing Ty Wigginton and Mark Loretta and, uh – well, um, well, why NOT sign an unnecessary OF when we actually NEED an infielder and, uh, um, well, let’s look at the stats:

Remember how I used to grouse about Phil Garner and his fetish for ex-Tigers? Well, Ed Wade is getting the players and you know where he used to be and seem he’s got a fetsh for acquiring ex-Phillies…

Jason Michaels, RHB, will turn 33. He was a 4th round pick of the Phils in 98 and had a cup of coffee in 01. He made the ML roster in 02 as a 5th OF, had a 120 OPS+ over 121 PA. 15 of his 28 hits went for extra bases and he drew 13 walks.

In 03, he had a better year, a 162 OPS+ over 125 PA with 16 of his 36 hits going for extra bases and he drew 15 walks (yep, another Astro who won’t/can’t walk.)

He played more in 04, but didn’t do as well with the bat, a 98 OPS+ over 346 AB with 42 BB and 80 K.

He had a breakout year in 05, still as a 4th OF, 343 PA, 110 OPS+, .304/.399/.415/.807 with 22 of his 88 hits going for XBH and 44 BB/45 K.

Fast Eddie traded him to Cleveland after the 05 season for middle reliever/failed closer Arthur Rhodes. The Indians intended to use him as a fulltime RF, and they did, before discovering that he wasn’t a full time guy – either that or he was wiped out by the awesome pitching of the Royals. He had an 85 OPS+ over 548 PA – 32 doubles and 9 HR, 43 BB, 101 K.

He essentially repeated his numbers in 07 in half the PA (.714 OPS 85 OPS+)

The Indians traded him to the Pirates last May for some nobody, and in 254 PA, he was even worse, an 82 OPS+ and a .228/.300/.382/.682 line.

Doesn’t look as if he’s much of a fielder, has pretty low zone rating numbers. But for some reason, I seem to remember him having a pretty good arm, although I might could be mis-remembering.

Ah well. Yet another “proven veteran…”

 

Posted in Astros baseball, Jason Michaels | 2 Comments »