Brandon was just awful – hung sliders, threw FB in the middle of the plate -sure didn’t look like a guy determined to pitch for his job next year. And yeah, the ump DID have a constantly changing strike zone, but the middle of the plate IS the middle of the plate.
He started the game off in BAD style, giving up a leadoff homer to power hitter Josh Anderson, who sure does like hitting here at the Box. Then a single, then 2 outs, then a double to Jeff Freaking Francoer, who has been one of the 10 worst offensive hitters in the majors this year, then a 2 run double, then the 3rd out.
Down 3-0.
Second inning, a FO, a single, then NL leading home run hitter Josh Anderson hit ANOTHER homer – and that, folks, is
Brandon’s ML leading 36th.
Great. Tejada continues to pad his GIDP lead to 32 (but he won’t be able to break Jim Rice’s record of 37) and Brandon leads the NL in homers allowed.
Where was I? Oh yeah. One out in the second, Astros already down 5-0. Next batter singles on an 0-2, then a WP, then a single, then a walk to load the bases.
Coop has seen enough, brings in Jack Cassel.
Who promptly gives up a 3 run double, Francoering poor Backe. He gives up another run scoring single, then holds the Braves scoreless for another 2 innings.
But by then, it’s Braves 8 – Astros zip.
The Astros chip away, but leave men on base in every inning but the 5th and the 9th.
Borkowski managed to pitch 2 scoreless, Nieve pitched 1 inning, striking out all 3 batters and Wesley pitched a 1,2,3 inning, striking out 2. It was Geary, of all people, who gave up 2 more runs.
Pence hit a homer, but it was Berkman who reached on a swinging strikeout on a ball in the dirt!!! and promptly stole second for his 18th SB of the year who had the play of the game. Lance is REALLY swinging at a LOT of pitches not in the strike zone – something he didn’t used to do.
sigh
And tomorrow is Brad Ausmus Day. Of course I am joining the Million Woman March to the Box to tell Bradley that he is The Hottest EVAH!!!
Brad gets a lot of, uh, disrespect from a lot of Astros fans who really don’t think that a catcher does much of anything besides produce (or not produce) the 5 stats for a fantasy team. He does a LOT more for a reality team – ask Roy or Roger or Andy. I’m going to write up a Brad career retrospective either during the playoffs or after the season. And for all the people who have been wanting Brad gone and saying how they’ll take Quintero, might could I suggest you compare stats: Q has even worse stats this year than Brad did over the last 4 years when so many were complaining so bitterly about his BA.
And it’s Wandy’s last start of the year vs ex-Astro Mike Hampton, who has spent most of the last 4 years injured. I remember Mike Hampton VERY well. He was good. And he was traded because he didn’t like Houston and had informed the Organization that he was going to be a FA and Houston was not on his list of NL teams he would agree to sign with.
He was a great success in Colorado all right – remember the GREAT public skoolz his kids were gonna go to?
Root Root Root for the Wand mannnnnn.
Tags: Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros
“how do you lead the majors in HR allowed when you
They gave away a truck after the game using a contest entirely made up of Brad Ausmus career statistics, with Brad offering the multiple choice questions via video. And many people stayed around to see it before the fireworks.
“Brad gets a lot of, uh, disrespect from a lot of Astros fans who really don
Matt, I again agree in part and disagree in part. I think Ausmus’s defense USED to make up for his lack of offense. He still calls a good game, works with pitchers well and frames pitches very well. But he sure doesn’t block the plate well, and his arm has been DREADFUL for a couple of years. People run on him like he’s Javy Lopez. I really hope, for his sake and the Astros’, that this is his last year.
As for Backe…how do you lead the majors in HR allowed when you’ve only played in like 8 games? Holy cow. What happened to that guy?
Sure wish we had Zobrist with his .830 OPS for $330,000 instead of Tejada with his .730 OPS for $14,000,000+. sigh.
yeah, all we got for benny zobrist and mitch talbot was aubrey huff at his suckiest AND we didn’t even get any picks for him when he went to FA.
stupid drayton and his cheapness
backe said his arm was dead this sept – so i’m gonna check out his games, see how he did besides giving up waaaayyy too many homers.
i ALSO think moehler got lucky and i sure don’t expect him to be BETTER next year. as for paulino, i never understood why people expect him to be this ace. and he will haadly have pitched for an entire year next spring, so i’m not expecting real too much from him either.
hampton told reporters sure, he’d listen of the astros called. he just luuuuvvvved it here.
right
some of us got better memories than u think…
–
matt,
the pitchers THINK that ausmus makes a difference – even if YOU don’t think it matters whether the catcher is matt lecroy or brad ausmus. why do you think that roger made his re-signing in 2005 contingent on having brad ausmus resigned? kickbacks? blackmail?
you know there is virtual mutiny in seattle with the pitchers hating to throw to johjima – and they hated him BEFORE he forgot how to hit. and last year there was virtual mutiny in milwaukee – the pitchers did NOT want to throw to estrada – they HATED him and preferred chad moeller who hits worse than my niece. you don’t think there is a reason for this?
you ever watch quintero catch? he’s TERRIBLE at framing pitches, terrible at getting close calls, especially on curves (which is why i think wandy hates throwing to him)
sorry, but a catcher is significantly more than a bat, which is why almost all good hitting catchers are moved to some other position
lisa
well looking at all you say how bad quintero is the astros still had a much better track record this season when he caught than when brad or towles caught. as close as i could figure the stros were 30 and 20 when quintero started. 33 and 33 when ausmus started and 23and 22 when towles started and quintero didn!t have the luxury of catching oswalt .I know you will come up with some flemsey excuse to why that was but it remains the fact and i for one still think win and losses stat is still the most important.
Well, I’m not as down on Quintero as Lisa is, but here’s something that’s important to point out – Quintero was doing the majority of his catching when the Astros were hot. Towles did most of his catching in April and May, when the Astros were 30-26. Ausmus did most of his catching in May, June and July, when the Astros were 37-41. That includes the 8 game losing streak in June, and the stretch at the beginning of July when they lost 8 of 10. Quintero did most of his catching in August and September, when the Astros were 35-18. Even with that horrible 5-game losing streak in Sept, Houston was 15-9 on the month.
So, you can chalk the whole team playing better up to Quintero if you want. Or, if you actually want to support yourself with pitching stats, okay. But I do think it’s important to realize that the team was playing better as a whole when Quintero caught them, and they were miserable as a whole when Ausmus caught them. I think that’s just a coincidence. Again, if you can prove me wrong with pitching stats, okay. But I’m not going to hold Ausmus single-handedly responsible for all those one-to-three-run losses in June and July.
OK AUSTIN
I will give you that and agree you have a point well taken, my only argument is that quintero is not near as bad as lisa makes him out to be, thats all.