It’s not that Matt had super stuff, as Roy did last night – he gave up more walks (4) than hits (3) plus 1 WP, but no homers, and somehow managed to get the last out with men on base. As Roger Clemens taught me these past few years, if you go to 3-1 or 3-2, especially on a guy who seems to be seeing your stuff well, much better to walk him than give him something good to hit and worry about getting the next guy out. Matt used only 94 pitches to get through 7 innings, a pretty darn good and efficient job.
Astros hitters didn’t do very well – fortunate that Lance has picked this time to get hot – he hit another monster shot to right to win the game. And Lee and Lamb left bases loaded in the 8th. But not hitting against Joel F. Pineiro? Good grief.
I see that Cooper is going to continue Phil’s leftyrighty thing. Mike Lamb is going to spend most of what is left of the season on the bench, so it really does look as if they are definitely cutting him loose and keeping Wiggy. I sure would REALLY like to know if they ever even tried to keep Lamb next year – I all I read are vague things like – well, the club didn’t think they’d be able to keep him next year. I’m cynical enough to translate that into – the club didn’t WANT to play the few extra million it would take to keep Lamb instead of Wiggy….
I’m not surprised that Biggio is again telling the manager where and when he’ll be playing. I’ll be glad when this season ends – I’m REALLY tired of his stuff. I’m just grateful the team is so bad this year so it really doesn’t matter, except to the careers of Scott and Burke.
And today, Bud Selig “enthusiastically” endorsed Coop. Yecccccccccccchhhhhh. Bud Selig, far as I’m concerned, is (how can I put this) someone for whom I have exactly zero respect (yeah, I can put it like that) and hearing him endorse Coop is bad BAD news, far as I’m concerned. Cooper taking orders from Biggio, playing Loretta at short, getting kudos from Buddy Boy – I got a bad BAD feeling about this…
We’re off on a 9 game road trip – Chicago (all afternoon games!!!!!), rapidly sinking Milwaukee (hard to believe with the talent on that club) and then a day off before visiting The Jackal and friends.
Tomorrow is Troy Patton vs Jason Marquis.
Tags: Houston Astros, MLB, St. Louis Cardinals
All I know is that Lamb has been in the middle of every miracle run the Astros have had in the last few years.
like dude, what can i say?
i really REALLY don’t understand replacing him with wiggy. how much more could he POSSIBLY cost?
you lose with the bat, don’t gain with the glove.
sigh
I read the commisioners endorsment of Cooper on the Astros website. Apparently he is just happy that Cooper is black.
I guess he figures Cooper will be able to convience McLane to bring in some more dark skinned people then everything will be peachy…or not so peachy, y’all know what I mean.
well, i am happy to see a black manager.
now how about some black ballplayers!!!!!!!
Okay, here we go!
Sweep the Cubs and we’re 6 out.
Wanna know something weird? Listen up. So, note that if we were at .500, we’d be in second, 2 games out of first. Okay.
So, we played .500 ball from the start of the season to May 19th. We played .500 ball from May 30-June 21.
And believe it or not, we’ve played .500 ball since JUNE 27. That’s right — the Astros have played .500 baseball for the entire season except for two short periods totally just 16 days: May 20-30 and June 22-27.
And while I love Roy, the fact is that he didn’t get it done during those two losing streaks. Roy started and lost three of those 15 games when we really needed our ace to step up and stop the bleeding. The team scored 8 runs for him, and while that’s not a lot, it’s enough for Roy when he’s on his game. If Roy breaks up the bad juju, maybe we squeak out another couple instead of the continued losing streak and we’re in the race now.
I know y’all don’t want to hear this because you think Drayton is in la-la land and needs to face he music about how bad the team is. Fine. But it’s interesting to see how close things could be to something very different.
Think about it.
Although I don’t totally agree with your assesment of Roy in the last post, I think that what you said earlier was true. it is amazing that if you take away our 10 game losing streak in May, and the losing streak in July we would be .500. I also remember another 5 or 6 game losing streak earlier in the year. I Dusty Baker said on baseball tonight the day Garner and Tim were fired, a lot of people would want to manage a team with Berkman, Lee, Oswalt and Pence. The core is in place, but we need pitching. Momentum (winning and losing) is only as good as your next days starter, and only 1 or 2 out of every five games do we get a good performance, and thats why we have so many losing streaks. Our starters, I guess even Roy, although seeing as he has been consistently our best starter for 2 years i’m pulled to give him a pass, our starters need to be stoppers. We need SP.
steve schramm,
darling boy, it’s not that i don’t want to win. you know me better than that. it’s that i don’t want drayton to think that all the astros need to do is get to the playoffs as a 1 or 2 games over .500 team. billy wags said it best…
BH1984
roy has been our best pitcher since 2001. long may he ROOL
dusty is right in that the team isn’t simply horrible, but with mclane meddling and with basically zero talent in the farm, this team isn’t going anywheres until things change
I know Roy numbers wise has been our number 1 since ’01, but Clemens was better overall in ’04, Pettite was unbeatable in the second half in ’05 and Wade Miller had his moments in ’01 and ’02. To me Roy entered into the role of unquestioned staff ace in Ocotober ’05 Game 6 NLCS. May that game never be deleted on my DVR. Anyway…
With a better bullpen, and a healthy Jennigs we probably would only be 3-5 games out right now. To me in the NL all you need is 3-4 core guys and some good extra players. Obviously we have a huge hole in the pitching department behind, but with Backe back, and pitchers usually improve from Tommy John, and maybe a healthy Jennings or a fit replacement, the pitching should be better. If Cooper or whoever the manager is can stop platooning guys and get a set lineup of Pence, Lee, Berkman, Scott or token CF, Wigginton and Everret are we really that far away from competing for the comedy central crown next year?
Lisa,
To me, to compete in the NL all you really need is 3-4 core guys, 2-3 good pitchers, and competent players around them. Although the ‘Stros have a huge hole in the pitching department, with Backe coming back, usually better from Tommy John, and Jennings healhty or some other able replacement #2 in, our pitching should get better. With hopefully no more musical positions, and a set line-up of Pence, Berkman, Lee, Scott or token-#3 Outfielder, Wigginton and Everett, and guys like Oswalt, Jennings (healthy) ?? or another guy, Woody (he’s been good in the second half), Backe and Wandy (home only) and Lidge improving every year from the disastrous ’05 postseason, are the Astros really that far away from competing in the Comedy Central.
Also, to me Roy Oswalt truly became the Staffs unquestioned ace in October ’05, NLCS Game 6 when he made Pujols fall down swinging in the first inning. Althought collectively he has been amazing since ’01, he was always a co-ace, at first with Wade Miller, and then with Clemens in ’04, and both Clemens and Pettite in ’05, especially Pettite in the second half.
lisa what do you think the rotation will look like next year? and what about the bullpen?
Sorry for the two seemingly similar comments. My computer had a seizure and I was not sure if my last comment saved or not.
Yeah, I thought that was awfully lame on Selig’s part. If he thinks Cooper is qualified, fine. But for him to come out and be like, “my stars, it’s exciting that a Negro can manage a baseball team” is a little insulting, in my opinion.