Well, tonight’s game showed why I wrote “Coop” in last night’s entry when I should have written “Clark.” Second verse, same as the first.
He pulls Bourn because we’re facing a lefty – nevermind that Bourn hits leftys VERY well and puts Jason Michaels in center – might as well put Clank in center. He won’t let Chris Johnson, Maysonet or Manzella start, but hey, a pinch hitter? Yeah, let’s goooooooooo.
Then, in the SECOND inning, he has men on first and second, NO out, and he has Kepp at bat. Keppinger is hitting .330/.379/.468/.847 and he has him freaking sac bunt??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? So that Jason Freaking Michaels, hitting .260/..315/.440/.745 can hit??? Sure his lifetime OPS vs leftys is .799, but Kepp’s is .899!!!
Too stupid. Just absolutely TOO stupid. So you give up an out, depend on a guy who is doing crappy, then have him followed by a guy who is hitting a buck something then the AA pitcher, who doesn’t hit at all. SO absolutely FREAKING stupid I couldn’t believe it. Coop all over again. Naturally, neither runs scores, and yes, that was partly due to the HP ump’s complete inability to call a strike a strike or a ball a ball (and there were multiple errors for both sides, to be honest.)
And I haven’t gotten near mentioning his forgetting the double switch when Fulchino had to relieve the injured Paronto, who was pitching well, for once. And if he didn’t forget, then he is doing the Coop thing of having as many pitchers as possible pitch in a single game, unless the starter goes 7 innings and he can just plug in Hawkins and Valverde.
BAH
Three strikes and Clark is O U T.
And of course, Michaels costs Lopez his first run by not getting anywheres near a ball hit to center which Bourn would have been all OVAH, allowing the first run to score.
And actually, Lopez wasn’t near as bad as I thought he’d be.
He got through the first 2 innings on 22 pitches, then gave up a run by walking the #8 guy, who was sac-bunted to second, then having Michaels not get near a fly ball to center. The 4th was one of those unfortunate things – gave up one of those squiggly IF hits to 3rd when Ryan Howard hit a ball with a check swing, and of course a shift is on, then a single up the middle that took one of those funny bounces on the IF, then a walk. No outs, bases loaded and he hangs a slider and when any pitcher, not just Lidge hangs a slider, the hitter will go all Pujols on its ass.
So Astros are down 5-1 and there’s the ballgame.
Lopez gets the next 2 outs, then gives up a single to Rollins, and then will all those leftys coming up, Clark pulls him and sends up Wesley Wright, who gets Victorino.
Wesley did fine with Utley and Howard and “walked” Ibanez and I have that in quotes because Ball 2 and 4 were right in the middle of the freaking strike zone (remember what I said about the ump) and then Werth hit a good pitch, a low outside FB over the fence.
The Astros left men on base all night. In the second – well, that was Clark’s eff-up. There were 2 on for the pitcher in the 4th (but Michaels and struck out and Kepp grounded out without advancing the leadoff hitter.) 2 were left in the 5th when Pence flied out (almost made it out) and Keppinger struck out.
And Carlos and Pence BOTH struck out in the 9th with the tying runs on base – and Carlos swung at a pitch at his neck, too.
sigh
Tomorrow, it’s Pedro vs Brian Moehler
Wonder who’s gonna win THAT one…
Tags: Houston Astros
I’m sure Coop wasn’t poop-canned for his in-game moves. Y’know how they say some players are a cancer in the clubhouse? Coop was a valium. By all accounts, hardly anyone got along with him, he didn’t fire up the guys, and he had no political pull. He’s a fellow with some great skills except not having to do with the managing of 25 baseball professionals.
Dave Clark is a spark plug. He’s more gregarious than Coop, always ready to go, has the players’ backs, and is probably just learning his strategies by the seat of his pants. He makes the moves Coop makes so as not to rock the boat in his last few days as manager. They’re going to interview a bunch of potential skippers, and he will be one of them. He’s probably holding back now, staying quiet, not making waves, so as to blow them away with a monster delivery, complete with flipcharts, PowerPoint presentation, and gifts for the panel.
So, I’d feel more confident judging his abilities as a manager in 2010 than right now when the games don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
Cooper’s primary problem wasn’t that he related poorly with the players. It didn’t help matters, but the players don’t have to like their manager or even be fired up by him. They do have to trust him to make the right decisions.
Cooper never did, and he never learned from his mistakes. Now Clark is repeating history, losing ballgames with terrible strategy.
I don’t understand why he would want to try not to rock the boat. The boat is upside down! It’s sinking! Dave Clark is getting an opportunity none of the other candidates will get, and that’s a chance to demonstrate his skills as the manager of the Astros. This is the best interview he will ever have, and he’s blowing it.
I don’t want to see him back next year. He was a bad third base coach and over the course of this past week he’s been a bad manager. Maybe he could be better, but do you really want to take that chance based on his performance so far? I sure don’t.
Bring on Manny Acta or Tim Bogar.
Dave Clark was a “tough nosed” individual during his playing days in the major leagues. He continues to impress me with his work ethic and attention to detail, as a coach. I’m sure he will be chosen as the next Manager-Houston Astros. As a player how can you not play, your hardest, for a manager such as Clark. GO Dave and don’t worry about the critics they are not going away.
Towles got an IBB and got solid hits in his next two at bats. Keep it going, JR!
coop has had SERIOUS trouble in the clubhouse almost since the beginning of last year – and it was FIRST made public in that game in AZ when micah owings hit that homer ofn borkowski
if you can unite a team in their hatred against you, that is one thing, but this team just is, well, aimless. and his obvious dislike of every young player didn’t help. things were ALREADY waaaayyy out of control by the time of the chacon incident in june
managers are almost never st-canned for in-game moves unless they are obviously against Conventional Wisdom AND they don’t work. and coop did a LOT of that AND badly misused the bullpen to such an extent that those guys had a SERIOUS problem with him AND his strategies weren’t winning.
True that Clark is more gregarious, but then again, so was phil garner
and phil garner was the same kind of hard nosed that yall are touting in clark. AND the players played hard for him AND liked him. he lost them the year he was forced to kiss Saint Biggio’s Asss in the farewell tour