Archive for May, 2005

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5/25/05: If It Weren’t For Bad Luck

Wednesday, May 25th, 2005

Wouldn’t have no luck at all…
Could it get worse?
Sure.
We COULD get no hit. After all, we only managed 5 hits and 1 walk off of a AAA pitcher.

Roger Clemens had been pitching just about the best he’s pitched all year – 4.2 IP, 2 H, 6 K with 61 pitches when he suddenly looked like he was having trouble finding the plate – and walked Enrique Wilson (who doesn’t walk real too much) and suddenly Phil and the pitching coach and trainer were on the mound – dear Lord, NOOOOO, but they leave and then Roger got Mitre out and left with a groin “tightness” – wonder if that’s like Andy Pettitte’s elbow “tightness.”

He was ahead 2-0. In the 4th, Todd Self walked, Biggio doubled, then with runners on second and third, Berkman hit a weak-ass grounder toward first – Mansolino held Self at first – Biggio damn near run into him, but somehow, no one tried to throw him out. Then Lamb hits a weak ass infield dribbler and this time, Self takes off for home and scores with a great slide. Then Ensberg grounds into a weak ass FC to the SS which should have been an easy DP but the throw to first isn’t in time and Biggio scores. Two runs on one walk, one hit and lousy fielding. This is what usually happens to US.

What else can go wrong? In the sixth, Biggio hits a single to left and limps down to first – what the ??? But he’s not pulled??? (This gonna be “groin tightness” too???)

In the 7th and 8th, we have runners at third and can’t get them home.
But the worst – Brad Lidge comes on in the 8th with 1 out and a man on first – we are ahead by 1 run. This IS the time you need the CLOSER, the ACE, the STOPPER, the FIREMAN. We didn’t get the fireman, we got the ARSONIST. Brad couldn’t find the plate – 3 WP that I counted (the official scorer only gave him 2 – Ausmus must have been tagged with a PB for one of them) 2 BB, 1 single, three runs and the ballgame.

I’m trying to find something good, here.
OK.
- Roger extended his road scoreless innings streak to 22 IP.
- Berkman made 2 nice running catches in left. Todd Self looked just fine in right and made 2 nice catches and one great throw – nice to find out he has a good arm and it’s accurate.
- No plays that were errors and were called hits. No lousy fielding (except Brad Ausmus’ throw into center on a SB that fortunately didn’t matter because Roger shut them down.)
- Biggio just tied Robin Yount on the runs scored list and passed him on the doubles list – he’s now #14.)

Back to the bad.
This is the Astros worst start EVER. I mean, since we were the Colt 45s in 1962. We just passed the 1/4 of the season mark and we are at the bottom of all offensive categories in the NL (except SB.)
I don’t wanna post our “offensive” stats in May because it’s too embarrassing. It’s bad enough that we can’t hit.
But now Lights Out Lidge can’t find the plate?

Yeah, I suppose it CAN get worse. But not by much.

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Posted in Astros baseball, Brad Lidge, Roger Clemens | 21 Comments »

5/24/05: The Big Ol’ Clemens That Would vs Sergio Mitre And The Cubs

Tuesday, May 24th, 2005

Well, even if Roger strikes out every batter, we STILL hafta get some hits, and TIMELY hits. Here’s hoping Todd Self will keep hitting – I personally would like to try to keep SOME sort of set lineup and set fielders – guys NEED to get used to throwing to the same guy – we’ve seen WAAAAY too many messups out there. The batters are “pressing” – which is a nice way of saying swinging at just about anything, and the guys are starting to look desperate…

I don’t think Roger likes all this losing real too much, neither, and he kinda strikes me as a determined sort of guy. If you know what I mean…

Roger Clemens, RHP vs Sergio Mitre, RHP:
(all stats from thebaseballcube.com, yahoo.com and espn.com)
Roger -
this year: 3 – 2 in 9 GS – 2 HR, 18 BB and 63 K over 63 IP – 1.29 ERA,0.90 WHIP and a.173 BAA.
vs.CHC: 2 – 3 in 6 GS with 3 HR, 12 BB, 31 K over 39.1 IP : 3.89 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, .257 BAA.
@ Wrigley: 2-1 in 4 GS – no HR, 9 BB, 21 K in 26.1 IP with a 3.08 ERA;1.14 WHIP; .226 BAA.

Sergio Mitre, RHP – he’s being called up from AAA for this start. Was drafted in the 7th round of the 01 draft out of San Diego CC. If I remember rightly, he had a 98 MPH FB. Unfortunately, it ain’t the speed, it’s the motion and ML hitters know how to hit a straight FB at ANY speed, so when he had a few innings (8.2) in 03, he got hisself a whuppin – ERA 8.31, WHIP 2.19 and BAA.395. With all the injuries last year, he got called up for 9 spot starts (and also had 3 relief appearances) and went 2-4 with 6 HR, 20 BB and 37 K over 51.2 IP with a 6.62 ERA, 1.82 WHIP and .327 BAA.

Checked out his game logs from last year – first start was a QS 2 ER in 7.2 IP with 93 pitches against Atlanta. Then 4 ER in 5 IP against Cincy with 93 pitches, then 0 ER in 6 IP with 98 pitches against Pitt, then 2 BAD starts against the Dbax (remember how TERRIBLE this team was last year???!!!) the 2 starts, both 3 ER in 6 IP against Colorado then SD, then 6 ER /3.2 IP against Pittsburgh, then 7 ER in 5 IP against St. Louis, then back to Iowa.

He was a Sept callup and had a few innings of relief. He’s better here in the Majors than Astacio has been, that’s fer SHER. He’s only had one game where he shut out the opposition, and that was Pitt.

Problem is, that last year’s Pirates look like the 27 Yankees next to our guys… GRRRRRRR.
Anyway, this year, Mitre’s spent the entire year in AAA Iowa. So far, he’s 3-4 in 8 GS with a 4.60 ERA, 5 HR, 14 BB and 37 K in 45 IP with a .278 BAA. (The Cubbies don’t have anyone any bettern THIS? Or is it just because he’s the Experienced ML Veteran (Tm) that Dusty prefers?)

He’s never faced anyone on the Astros.
Well, the way we’ve been hitting, wouldn’t surprise me real too much if we make this guy look like Pedro. This guy usually gives up LOTS of walks and unfortunately, basically nobody on our team except Lance and Ensberg are walking. We NEED a new hitting coach…

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Posted in Roger Clemens | 7 Comments »

5/23/05: Wandy Rodriguez Looks Decent In His First ML Start vs The Cubs

Monday, May 23rd, 2005

It was hard for me to think of a good title for this entry.

I think I’ve already used
- well, at least we didn’t get no-hit
- well, at least we didn’t get shut out
- well we hardly left any guys on base, but of course, we didn’t HAVE many guys on base
- we lose on the road AGAIN – now 2-20
- we have the lowest BA, SLG, OPS, BA with RISP in the entire NL
- at least we were out of our pain in 2hr and 5 minutes
- we are on our 3rd 6 game losing streak
- as USUAL, we don’t come back if we down after the end of the 6th. And this time Wandy Rodriguez got our very last hit in the game, a single in the 5th.
- and last, but not least, we stink. we suck. 1 walk, 5 hits, RISP twice. 2 GIDP.

OK.

I AM an Astros fan – let’s think about GOOD stuff.
1 – Brad Ausmus hit a HR – thank you Brad for making sure we didn’t get shut out AGAIN.
2 – Morgan Ensberg made 2 GREAT plays – naturally they won’t make web gems – Astros don’t make Web Gems.
3 – Todd Self looks pretty good out there in left – better than Berkman, who looked good at first tonight.
4 – Wandy Rodriguez had a hit, got on base because of an error and made an incredible diving stop and throw to get Neifi Perez – of course THAT won’t make Web Gems, either.

And speaking of Wandy Rodriguez – he’s a skinny little guy who reminds me a LOT of Tom Glavine when he first came up. I remember seeing him in the Dome when I was a kid – maybe like 9, thinking how he LOOKED like a kid, too. Rodriguez is supposed to be 5’11″ (cmon, dudes, puhlease) – he looks like he’s even smaller than Roy Oswalt, who is supposed to be 6′ cuz he a righty and guys under 6′ can’t pitch if they righty – EVERbody knows that…)

Anyway, he pitched on 3 days rest and looked pretty tired after the 5th (to me, anyway) even though he’d thrown only about 65 pitches. When he came back in the 6th, he threw a ball to Neifi Perez, then another pitch that looked like a ball to me that he hit to left that Ensberg made a great leaping catch on. His next 4 pitches to DLee were definitely out of the zone. He pulled it together to K Aramis Ramirez, but then Burnitz hit the next one out of the park to make it 4-1. Basically end of game, let’s be real, here.

But the game actually lasted over 2 hours because Harville came in in the 8th, was wild and walked Jerry Hairston Jr. While Perez was up, he basically threw about 1000 pitches (well, it seemed like it) over to first and Perez’ AB must have taken 20 minutes. But FINALLY, Hairston was CS. Then Lee walked, Ramirez doubled, Harville was pulled and
FOR THE SECOND NIGHT IN A ROW – Franco comes in to face (only) a lefty, gets him out and strands someone else’s runners. See. miracles CAN happen.

But anyway, I thought Rodriguez looked pretty good. I think he’ll be a lot better with the usual rest.
And best of all, NO serious screwups on the field. NO idiot decisions by Phil (hey, it happens). The guys just didn’t hit. As usual…

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Posted in Brad Ausmus, Morgan Ensberg, Wandy Rodriguez | 6 Comments »

So WHO is the Worsetest Manager, Dusty or Phil?

Monday, May 23rd, 2005

So WHO is the Worsetest Manager, Dusty or Phil?
No one expected the Cubs to suck this much: 19 – 22 and 10 – 10 at home; they were supposed to right up there with the Cards, fighting it out for the NL Central title, with us a close third.

It MUST be Kerry Wood’s fault. Because he doesn’t want to win – or something like that. It MIGHT could have something to do with the bullpen stinking, with the fact that Dusty just CAN’T bring his little self to believe that La Troy Hawkins really really can NOT close (sounds like Phil not believing that Franco just can NOT get righties out)

Andy Pettitte’s turn in the rotation would be today, but he’s sitting out with, um, discomfort in his arm – not sure exactly WHAT that is, but I do NOT like it, fer sher.

SO, what to do? We brought up Wandy Rodriguez, a little lefty (I’ve discussed him before)
and sent down Mike Burns – boy kinda shell-shocked – 3 HR too many. Note that we’ve kept Astacio up here – wonder how many more times we gonna throw him out there… wonder WHY!!!

I can’t get any of this year’s stats on Rodriguez – he been removed from both the Round Rock and the Baseball America site, sorry. But if the boy pitches a no hitter and our guys don’t catch or hit the ball, he gonna lose, too. Welcome to the bigs…

UPDATE – thanks to Tom (see comments below) I have stats -

Wandy is 4-2 with a 3.69 ERA, 8 GS, 46 1/3 IP, 43 H, 20 R, 19 ER, 16 BB, 48 K. That is a ratio of 1.27 and a K/9 of 9.32.

So we get to face yet another lefty – we don’t do real too good against lefties, do we – only ONE victory this freaking YEAR. So much for the heavy RH lineup.
On the other hand, only Derrek Lee and Michael Barrett are hitting well against lefties – and Derrek Lee is hitting well against righties, too…

Glendon Rusch, LHP:
drafted in the 17th round in 1993 by the Royals out of HS. Came up in 97, went 12 – 24 with a 5.62 ERA in 312 IP over the next 2 years, starting 51/59 games. Looks like he was hurt the next year – pitched only 3 innings for the Royals and was traded to the Mets, where he pitched 1 inning. He went 11 – 11 for the 2000 team that went to the WS with a 4.01 ERA (his best in the bigs), then 8 – 12 with a 4.63 ERA the next, then was traded to Milwaukee for Jeromy Burnitz, a deal made in hell for both players. Rusch survived 02, going 10 – 16 over 210 IP with a 4.70 on a BAD team, but really sucked in 03 with a 1 – 12 record in only 123 IP with a 6.42 ERA. He wasn’t hurt, lets just say NOTHING went right. Fortunately for him, he’s a lefty and unhurt, so of course he managed to get a job – as a reliever for the Cubs. But because of injuries, he ended up starting AND relieving: went 6 – 2 in 16 GS, relieved in 16 more, getting 2 saves, and having the lowest ERA, WHIP and BAA of his entire career.

Oh yeah – by the way, in his column today, Ken Rosenthal says Brad Lidge would bring the best value in a trade. Oh yessss. Let’s let Franco close. After all, he’s a Proven Veteran who Knows How To Close. And if we aren’t gonna win anyhow, why bother to have a closer????

And he suggests we trade for Mike Sweeney and his giant contract. Uh, dude, if we want someone who can’t field at first we already got Viz. And Berkman. And we DO have Todd Self. And THIS dude CAN hit.

I noticed that Roy Oswalt gritted his teeth and said something politically correct in the post game radio show about going out there and doing his best. I notice that he didn’t kick Orlando Palmeiro for letting that “triple” bounce off his glove – he gave up ONE HR and that woulda lost him the game anyhow. But he has now lost TWO games – shut out 0-2 and he has hisself a temper that boy do, and maybe he needs to kick some Gary Gaetti ass and tell him the swing at anything thrown near the plate approach is NOT working and yell at Phil to get him some FIELDERS while he’s at it.

I’m gettin some noise from Cub fans moaning about Dusty and how bad their team is, etc.
Ida wanna hear it. Next to Phil, Dusty is Bobby Cox/Billy Martin rolled into one. Maybe Dusty will insist on playing his Valuable Veterans Jose Macias and Enrique Wilson, guys who Know How To Win and sit those worthless rookies like Dubois. But unless Rusch throws meatballs, it really don’t matter much, do it?????

We are, by the way, according to Lee Sinins, the worst hitting team in the majors with a team RCAA of -31. Only Biggio, Ensberg and Palmeiro have + RCAA. Gee, I’m shocked SHOCKED to discover that the stats show we aren’t hitting… GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

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Posted in Phil Garner, Wandy Rodriguez | 7 Comments »

5/22/05: Astros Get Shut Out AGAIN, This Time By Chan Ho Park

Sunday, May 22nd, 2005

I’m not happy.
We have now been shut out SEVEN times this year.
Our road record is 2-19. Dear Lord – we look like the 03 Tigers.

Roy pitches a GREAT game – 7.2 innings, 8 H, NO walks, 6 K, 1 HR, 2 ER and loses because my team gets shut out by CHAN HO EFFING PARK. Yes, you read that right. Chan Ho EFFING Park. We got 6 hits off him, GIDP twice and didn’t get a hit after the 6th. No walks at ALL until Cordero comes on to shut it down in the 9th, is as wild as Paris Hilton – and Morgan Ensberg, up with 2 out and 2 on in the bottom of the 9th, strikes out swinging on a 3 – 2 low outside pitch. Well Gary Gaetti – is he being aggressive enough for you NOW???!!!

At least we didn’t lose by 15 runs and 10 or whatever homers again.
Look – if we gonna lose, lets do it with kids and not bench players.

Sigh.
Palmeiro is NOT a CF. Berkman can’t make ANY more than routine flies out there in left – yeah, you shouldn’t have brought him back before he was ready – too late now, but you should NOT be batting him fourth.

And you sent poor Roy back out there to throw 15 more pitches in the 8th to run his total to 120 WHY?????
Arm shredder indeed.

Good news – when Franco got sent in in the 8th, Texiera got IBB. I doubt that Phil would have had the sense to do it if first hadn’t been open. I disbelieve that he has yet figgered out that Franco can’t get righties out… I think this was the first time all year Franco didn’t let someone’s inherited runners score.

Andy Pettitte has a “tight” elbow – remember earlier this year when I was complaining about him pitching too many pitches from his second start on???!!!

He is gonna skip a start – guess we’ll call up either Rodriguez or Gothreaux – Gothreaux has done better so it will probably be Rodriguez – either one will be a GREAT improvement over Astacio. We might could consider re-calling Burke, too. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO….. I’ll bet we don’t.

I keep telling myself – the Tigers STILL had fans from 92 – 04. The Dbax STILL had fans last year.

This team is gonna be FAR worse than the 2000 team. I don’t know what the ML record is for shutouts in a 162 game season, but I’m afraid we going there…. Poor Roy. Poor Brandon Backe. Poor Roger. I wouldn’t blame them a bit if they demanded a trade.
I’m wondering how long it will be before we start firing coaches and managers.
I had the bad feeling it’s gonna be a LONG time… And a LONG summer….

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Posted in Astros baseball, Interleague Play, Morgan Ensberg, Roy Oswalt | 10 Comments »

Silver Boot 2005 Part 1 – Roy-O to the Rescue

Sunday, May 22nd, 2005

Last year, we lost the first 2 games at Coors AL, AKA the Ballpark in Arlington, and Roy rode in and saved the day, pitching a 1 – 0 shutout. I sure hope he does the same today…
Roy Oswalt, RHP vs Chan Ho Park, RHP:

Oswalt this year: 5-4 in 9 GS with 6 HR, 18 BB and 47 K over 61.2 IP with a 3.50 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP and a .248 BAA.
Like Brandon Backe, he LUUUVVVVSSS the Box -
Away, he’s 1 – 3 in 4 GS with 2 HR, 9 BB, 26 K in 26.2 IP with a 4.39 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and a .263 BAA.
vs.TEX: 3-0 in 4 GS with 5 HR, 4 BB and 33 K in 28 IP with a 3.86 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and a .252 BAA.

Chan Ho Park, RHP
- sigh – yall know the story – he was basically not much more than a .500 pitcher in Pitcher Heaven, AKA Chavez Ravine, and Scott Boras somehow talked Tom Hicks into paying Big Bucks for him. Probably one of the worst free agent contracts EVER. Park has spent most of the time hurt, and when he has pitched, he’s looked like Astacio did yesterday. I hear tell they threatened him with releasing him unless he had a change of attitude and quit throwing the 4 seamer down the middle, so he started throwing a 2 seamer/change and has actually managed to pitch a few decent games.
This year, he’s 3 – 1 with a 5.32 ERA (when your hitters hit the number of HR that these guys hit, you can win some games giving up 5 runs/9 IP) with 5 HR, 25 BB and 37 K.
Career vs.HOU: 4 – 3 in 10 GS (and 4 in relief) 7 HR, 33 BB and 66 K over 67.2 IP with a 3.99 ERA, 1.42 WHIP and a .247 BAA.
@ the Ballpark this year, he’s 2 – 1 in 4 GS 23.2 24 13 13 2 HR, 10 BB and 22 K over 23.2 IP with a 4.94 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and a .258 BAA.

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Posted in Astros baseball, Interleague Play, Roy Oswalt | No Comments »

5/21/05: Home Run Records Or Is It Record Numbers Of Homers?

Saturday, May 21st, 2005

Well, I sound like Lee Sinins (the guys who sells the Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia) about HR here -
guess I should start from the beginning…

Husband wanted to get a bet on bout the number of HR Astacio would give up – he was kinda, um, prone to the long ball in AAA and I knew this was the AL Coors Field, so I wisely said, I don’t THINK so, boy!!!!

I have a little bit of hope when I see Todd Self in the lineup in left and Lamb at first (he might not be hitting real too well, but at LEAST he can catch the damm ball) and in the top of the first we get 2 singles (at LEAST we won’t get no-hit) and Chris Young Ks 3, leaving 2 MOB – stop me if you’ve heard this before. But it takes 22 pitches – at least we’re makin this guy work. Then David Dellucci steps up. Astacio’s first pitch is wide, so is the second, the third is in there and the fourth is outta there – over the fence. Looked to me like a FB down the middle. I look at Husband. He looks at me hopefully and offers to sweeten the deal. Boy must think I’m even bigger an idiot than Phil. S then it’s GO, double, RBI double, FO and FO. 22 pitches. Well, Young didn’t look great. Maybe this will look like a HS football score.

Top of the second – takes Young 21 pitches to get 1,2,3, out. Bottom of the second. Oh dear Lord, do I hafta???!!! Nix Ks. Then all hell breaks loose. Hidalgo singles. On the 8th pitch, (somewhere in there, Hidalgo got hisself picked off trying to steal second – whatever for???!!!) Barajas homers. Dellucci walks, Young walks, Teixiera homers into the RF seats. Blaylock takes 3 balls and the called 1st strike, fouls off the next one and then sends the FB 431′ into the right upper decks. Soriano singles, Mench hits an RBI double. 44 pitches, only 2 outs. Astacio’s ERA is back up to 10.61.

This is hopeless, but we aren’t allowed to throw in the towel, so in comes Harville to pitch to Nix after having like 3 minutes to warm up. Nix fouls off the first, then sends the second into the right field stands. Harville can’t believe his eyes. Brotherman wanders in from the backyard where he has been cleaning out the BBQ – man, he sez, your Astros SUCK. I sez – just for that, you can go wash the dishes, too, boy!!! FINALLY Hidalgo Ks.

It’s 10 -0 after the second freaking inning – 1 hr and 12 minutes into the game. I look at Husband – I sez, why don’t you watch WNBA (it’s the Sparks – he LUUUVVVS Lisa Leslie) – he sez (big ol leer) – gonna be another shutout????!!!! hmmmmmmmmmmmmm??? You wanna bet? Cmon Baby, these balls juiced in Coors AL, betcha we hit at LEAST one. Me, I figger if I bet we get shut out, we’ll hit something so we won’t be TOTALLY embarrassed like the Mothers Day Massacre, so I say fine, OK.

Third – Chavez singles (good it’s been like freaking forever since he got a hit) then Taveras is called out on a bunt single – replay shows he was safe, but that’s our luck in these games. No runs. Harville back in – gives up ANOTHER HR – David Dellucci again, and now it’s 11 – 0.

Fourth – Lamb doubles – he thought he had tripled, but it’s ruled a GR double, then Ensberg homers to deep right center. Not shut out, but Husband wins the bet. Jason Lane then hits a long fly ball to deep right center – bounces off Hidalgo’s glove, but he’s not given a hit like Mench was last night when HIS liner hit off Biggio’s glove. So of course our luck ends right then and there. HARVILLE GETS A 1,2,3, OUT INNING!!!!!

Fifth – Biggio pulled, Bruntlett in. We don’t hit. Burns in – Hidalgo homers, GO, 2 Ks.

Sixth – Young is gone after 93 pitches, 2 ER. We’ve left guys on left and right. He wasn’t that good – it’s not like he was Mr. Ace out there – it’s that we suck. Anyway, Burns back in – Blaylock singles, Soriano GO to Ensberg, Bruntlett doesn’t turn the DP, Mench homers. This is just too freaking unbelievable. 14 – 2. The announcers are talking about AL HR records/ game, per team, etc. We look like a AA team out there.

Seventh – Everett homers – his third of the year – good for him. He’s only hitting .230 – way below his usual average. But then again, he has like NO freaking protection in the lineup like he did last year… Then Taveras and Self single, but Bruntlett (he has NO business hitting third, BTW) and Berkman PO and GO. Yecccch. Then Springer comes on – he manages not to give up any HR, but he DOES give up 3 hits, 2 BB and a WP so 4 more runs score.
Then no more runs score!!!! WOW!!!!!!! Brad Lidge comes in for an inning of work and gets the FIRST 1,2,3, out since the 4th.

This is ridiculous. I HATE AL ball. I was bored out of my mind. And to be honest, I would have been JUST as bored if it had been us winning. What can I say – it’s like Coors. HR should be something rare and difficult – not 10/ game.

Astacio looked TERRIBLE. Burns looked, well, bad. Harville looked, well, bad then good. Springer looked lost. Lidge looked like the old BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDD. Thank Goodness – ONE good pitcher. Gee, where was Franco???

Ensberg, as usual, had the only walk. Berkman didn’t have good swings. Lane’s double gets ruled an error. No one made any stupid looking plays or errors. Bruntlett can’t hit, but Todd Self sure can.

Gaetti SUCKS as a hitting coach. Phil is a lousy manager. This team just looks like it could use a new pitcher – I recommend THIS one.

So back to Lee Sinins, in this game, the record was tied for most HR/ 9 inning game by both teams (10,) record set for the Rangers – most HR by different players, 7.

Most consecutive minutes of one man trying his damndest each second not to smirk at his wife – 123. Cuz he fer SHER don’t want to set record of most consecutive minutes begging wife not to make him spend one more sleepless night on that couch…

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Posted in Astros baseball, Brad Lidge, Ezequiel Astacio | 5 Comments »

Silver Boot 2005 Part 1, Game 1: Phil Garner Grossly Mismanages And Astros Lose

Saturday, May 21st, 2005

The G0od Lord only gave me one head and banging it against walls ain’t gonna transfer any of my brains into Phil’s head.

What was it that Brewer’s fan warned me last year?
Phil hasn’t got a clue?
He doesn’t know a good player from a hill of beans?
He had Mark Loretta (translation- Viz, Mike Lamb) in more positions than the Kama Sutra?
Mansolino don’t seem to have a clue when to hold a runner and when to send him and remember – he’s Phil’s guy. I disremember Gene Lamont making really dumbass decisions last year.

I felt sick when I saw Viz at first. AGAIN. I felt even sicker when I saw Bruntlett in left. So many poor plays and mess ups and bad decisions, I don’t even wanna write about it. This is SO not fair to our starters, let alone our fans. I already hate interleague play. Berkman should not be hitting fourth, I don’t care what his salary is. There is NO freaking excuse for having Viz out there instead of Self. There is NO freaking reason for having Bruntlett in the majors and Burke in the minors.

I couldn’t bring myself to watch after the second – we won’t talk about Lane getting waved home after Ausmus hits a shallow ball to center when Nix has a GREAT arm and Mansolino waves Lane home – we WON’T talk about Ausmus getting waved home after running from first – we are talking about AUSMUS, not Everett or Taveras here – 0n a double down the left field line – you could see Brad hesitate, then pick up speed and of course he was out by a mile – we will NOT talk about Bruntlett’s poor fielding of Soriano’s fly to left and not getting an error on the play, then Biggio’s error not getting called an error on Mench’s “hit” that let Sori go to third when he should have been out, or at the very least, still at first, then scoring an earned run on Nix’s grounder – Backe charged with an earned run.

I’m sitting there watching, trying not to scream, Husband sez, gently, cmon Baby, lets do something else, they can’t beat the scorers AND Phil, and for once I don’t argue. I DO turn it back in the 8th – yeah, I’m a sucker – I watch Young single to left (remember who’s out there, please) and Backe has thrown 94 pitches – remember this is a guy who tires FAST at just about 100 pitches and he just threw a 109 pitch complete game just 5 days ago, so Phil pulls him cuz Texiera is coming up, even though Backe has EASILY gotten him out three times already – NO well hit balls. Texiera is a switch hitter. This means he bats from the left AND THE RIGHT. So do we send in Dan Wheeler, who has been our best reliever this year? Heck no. It’s Franco. I just I JUST can NOT believe my eyes.

Please. Someone tell me. HOW is it possible that Phil Garner doesn’t know what a switch hitter is or WHO the switch hitters are? HOW is it possible that Phil is the ONLY person in the entire world who hasn’t figured out that Franco can’t get righties out? PLEASE can we fire this clown (and that idiot Mansolino) and hire Tony Pena???!!!

Of course, the SOB loads the bases. What is bad is that poor Brandon’s run scores. What is good is that THIS time, Franco’s worthless ass ain’t rescued and he gets charged with 2 ER.

OK, I knew from the get-go that this team wasn’t going anywhere but down. I KNEW I wasn’t gonna hafta worry about getting playoff tickets. I didn’t expect the rookies to all be the second coming of Albert Pujols/ Junior Griffey. But iffn the players don’t revolt like they did when they pressured ownership into getting rid of Terry Collins, we ARE gonna end up worse than the 62 Mets. Cuz after a while, the guys will just figger they a losing team and why bother to even try.

And Cubs fans, idawanna hear it bout no Dusty – Phil makes Dusty look like a genius. (Ain’t it funny – turns out all those years it was Barry making Dusty look like a genius…)

Phil really IS an idiot. I don’t guess that McLane will do anything until either the attendence really drops, ESPECIALLY during Roger’s starts – the park is usually packed for him, and remember, the attendence figures you see count all 20,000 season ticket holders, so the figures will never be below that, no matter how few actually bother to go. Will Roger, Andy, Biggio (remember, it was ONLY McLane who wanted him back this year – maybe the owner will listen to his future HOFer) and Baggy have the stones to go to McLane and tell him that Phil has to go? Will Roger have the stones to go to McLane and say, Phil goes, or I publically ask to be traded back to the Yankees and you KNOW you won’t get nothin but some worthless crap and BAD publicity in return?

Roy and Brandon are great young pitchers – they don’t deserve to be made to look this bad. Why is Self rotting on the bench and Burke rotting in the minors?

Look, I figger that there were some, what, 10,000 Brewer fans who stayed fans for the 4 years they stuck with this idiot and there were probably the same number of Tiger fans who stayed thru Phils years of bumbling. So I’m gonna stick because it’s not like it’s the Supreme Court and we stuck with this clown for life. So sooner or later, the guys gonna get paroled and hopefully, THIS time we’ll get somebody who knows his butt from a hole in the ground in there…

Tonight, for Game 2, it’s Ezequiel Astacio, RHP vs Chris Young, RHP:
(as usual, all stats from thebaseballcube.com, yahoo.com and espn.com)
This year, Astacio is 0 – 2 in 3 GS and 1 in relief, with 4 HR, 4 BB and 17 K over 17 IP with a 6.88 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and a .279 BAA.
Of course, he’s never faced the Rangers before.

Chris Young, yet ANOTHER Native Texan (and Dallas Homeboy) was drafted in the 3rd round in 2000 out of Princeton by Pittsburgh – don’t guess they thought too much of him cuz he was in the Montreal organization after spending 2 years in the Sally League. He started in the FSL and was in AA by the end of the year. Not sure how he ended up with the Rangers the next year, but he was OK in AA, then promoted to AAA where he went 3 – 0 in 5 GS with a 1.48 ERA and was promoted to the ML where he went 2 – 3 in 7 GS with a 4.71 ERA.

This year he started slowly, but has been doing better and better as the year has gone one, has 2 QS in 8 GS, is 3 – 2 with 1 HR, 12 BB and 29 K over 40.1 IP with a 3.18 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and a .274 BAA.
at home, he’s 1 – 2 in 4 GS with 1 HR, 6 BB and 16 K over 25 IPwith a 3.60 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and a .245 BAA.
He has never faced Houston or anyone in our lineup.

And unless Astacio strikes out every single batter he faces and someone on this team hits a HR, we ain’t gonna win nothin except the El-Sucko Supreme award…

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Posted in Bandon Backe, Interleague Play, Phil Garner | 3 Comments »

Silver Boot 2005 Part 1- Game 1

Friday, May 20th, 2005

This is the baseball contribution to the Houston – Dallas “feud.” Well, I guess there’s more of a feud than our bitter enemies the Mariners or the Royals… or those Hated Avians, the Orioles or the Blue Jays…..
I HATE interleague ball. (As if I needed one more reason to think that Buddy Boy should be bawwwldd in awwwwllll, as we say here…)
I HATE the DH. (and YES, I know that Mike Lamb is a born DH…)
I HATE football score in baseball games, even if we win. I think 8-6 score by the 4th inning is as boring as watching old folks in wheelchairs play t-ball. I guess I’ll probably be watching some of it – I’m a hard core addict, I know it, and freely confess that I’d probably be watching them old folks with wiffle bats, too…

The fact is that the Silver Boot Trophy ain’t worth a bucket of warm spit, as far as I’m concerned. The ONLY trophy I care about is the WS one, which we ain’t never got in sniffing distance of (so I don’t wanna hear it from the Chicago fans cuz at least they’ve HAD one before) and this year, men will get pregnant before we will break .500, let alone get within eyesight of the playoffs…

So it’s gonna be:
5/20 – Brandon Backe vs Kenny Rogers:
5/21 – Ezequiel Astacio vs Chris Young :
5/22 – Roy Oswalt vs Chan Ho Park:

Game 1:
Brandon Backe, RHP vs Kenny Rogers, LHP:
this year: Brandon has just come off a 4 hit CG shutout of the Giants last Sunday.
3 – 2 in 8 GS with 4 QS and 5 HR, 13 BB and 37 K in 50.2 IP (6.1 IP/ start) with a 4.97 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and a .268 BAA.
vs.TEX: 3 G in relief, 2 HR, 4 BB and 8 K in 5 IP with a 12.60 ERA and a .391 BAA

—
Kenny Rogers, LHP

drafted in the 39th round in 1982 by the Rangers from a Savannah, Ga HS. Was called up in 89 and spent 89 – 92 mostly as a reliever. Converted to full time starter for good in 93 and went 44 – 25 over the next 3 years. He (stupidly) signed with the Yankees as a free agent after 95 (was Boras his agent back then, I wonder???) got hisself a ringgg in 96, although he didn’t do real so good, bombed (hahaha) in 97 – started 22 G and relieved in 9 more, with a 6 – 7 and a 5.65 ERA.

He must have been happy to be in Oakland in 98 at the beginning of the Big Run and went 16 – 8 in 34 GS with a 3.17 ERA. Had a LOT of ND the next year, went 5 – 3 in 19 GS with a 4.30 ERA and got hisself traded to the Mets for Izzy and Terrence Long – remember, that was back when Billy Beane was still a Genius… Anyway, finished up the year OK, going 5 – 1 in 12 GS (remember, that was the Septmeber that Chipper Jones won hisself an MVP killing Mets) and after the season, he re-signed with the Rangers as a FA.

Guess he was glad to Be Back Home Again – he missed 14 games on the DL in 01, but went 31 – 28 for pretty lousy teams with a 4.31 ERA. He wanted to re-up, but Boras tried his usual stunts on John Hart, who after A-Rod and Park, didn’t trust Boras as far as he could throw him, so because the imaginary team willing to pay Rogers 10 bill for 20 years or whatever didn’t show before the cutoff, Rogers ended up signing with the Twins – went 13 – 8 with a 4.57 ERA. Last year, he re-upped with the Rangers, went 18 – 9 in 35 GS, pitched 211 innings with a 4.76 ERA.

This year, he’s 4 – 2 in 8 GS with a 30 scoreless innings streak still going – ERA of (I’m not kidding) 1.49 in 54.1 IP with 1 HR, 18 BB and 22 K.
vs HOU: 2 – 0 in 5 GS with 1 CG over 35.1 IP with 2 HR, 12 BB, 17 K and a 2.80 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and a .210 BAA.
At the Ballpark: :48 – 26 in 103 GS with 8 Cg and 3 SO.He has given up 72 HR, 217 BB and 402 K over 683.1 IP with a 4.00 ERA, a 1.36 WHIP and a .268 BAA.

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Posted in Astros baseball, Bandon Backe, Interleague Play | 3 Comments »

The REAL Texas Showdown: Halsey And Snyder vs Clemens

Friday, May 20th, 2005

I was gonna call this “a comedy of errors” cuz our team had 5 of them yesterday, mostly involving plays at first, but it wasn’t the least bit funny, and a “tragedy of errors” is kinda a little excess, so I decided to say it like this -
PHIL, YOU IGNORANT SLUT!!!

What is it gonna take for you to stop putting Viz at first? You got ANY evidence that Todd Self can’t hit lefties? Cuz we got PLENTY of evidence that Viz does NOT belong at first.

Never mind the interleague hype – the REAL Texas showdown happened last night. Brad Halsey, Native Texan (and Houstonian) and his catcher Chris Snyder, Native Texan and Houstonian, who by the way, catches Roger in the offseason) vs Roger Clemens, (well, not Native Texas, but close enough and Houstonian.)

Roger started off the first inning not sharp. Counsell hit the second pitch for a clean single. So Roger throws to Viz for a pickoff, throw in the dirt and Counsell on third. You need a good target to throw to – the glovework of first basemen is disrespected, unfortunately. So there is a RBI GO, a single, a double, another error and the score is Dbax 3 Astros 0 with only 1 out. I had a BADDDDDDD feeling about this game. In spite of 3 more errors and a home plate ump that didn’t want to call any of Roger’s pitches strikes, somehow, Roger managed to pitch well enough over 6 innings not to give up any more runs. But I also somehow knew this game was already lost. And I was right.

In the 7th, Phil brings in Franco to face Halsey and Counsell, both lefties. OK. But WHY leave him in to face Cintron, a righty??? Franco can’t get righties out – how is it POSSIBLE that Phil has not yet figured this out????!!!! So of course Cintron singles on the first pitch then Franco walks Gonzales on 4 straight pitches. Sigh. Then Qualls comes in and strands Franco’s runners – his ERA is 1.50, not because he’s good, but because the other relievers have come in and gotten his asss out of trouble. Qualls is having a LOT of trouble locating BOTH his FB and slider – I noticed that more and more, hitters are laying off the slider. He better develop another pitch right quick.

Wheeler pitches a scoreless 8th – got out of trouble even after Ausmus’ throwing error. Errors were contagious last night… Wheeler has been our ONLY consistently good reliever. Sigh.

Mike Burns had a BAD 9th – single, single, then a 3 run HR, FO, single, single, K, LO – guess he better throw those strikes lower…

All around a BAD game for us. 7 hits, no walks, NO timely hitting, errors all over the place. Morgan Ensberg kept his hitting streak alive, Jason Lane had some pretty bad swings.

So Halsey pitched great and let us beat ourselves, but Snyder went o fer Roger…
We have to win 26 more games to beat the 62 Mets…

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Posted in Astros baseball, Roger Clemens | No Comments »

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