sigh
I don’t know what to say. Dave Bush is no longer a good pitcher and should lose ballgames by a good 5-6 runs. The Astros SHOULD have beaten him but good. Absolutely NO excuse for only scoring 2 unearned runs on o0nly 3 walks and 4 hits over 5 innings. NO excuse.
Of course, the lineup included stalwarts Cory Sullivan and Kevin Cash – when on WHEN – or at least HOW could Astros fans even begin to convince the Organization to dump Sullivan and call up Bourgeois? I mean, what more can the guy POSSIBLY do in AAA – batting .350 with 8 doubles, 3 triples, 4 homers and 14 SB over 41 games???!!! I don’t have any problem giving Clank a day off, even after a good day at the plate and on the bases, but replacing him with Cory Sullivan is NOT a win/win. And Bourn went ofer, even though he did walk and steal a base and get stranded.
But actually, I place the blame SQUARELY on Berkman and Blum as both left SIX guys on base, doing basically nothing and yeah, I know Berkman walked once and Blum drove in 2.
Fact is that the score SHOULD have been so lopsided that Lindstrom, who needed work, should have cruised through the 9th with a 5 runs lead. And of course, he wasn’t helped by the fact that Kevin Cash couldn’t get up in time to catch a high one that even Towles woulda caught so that the runner advanced to third. Castro is just a singles hitter, but even HE is supposed to be able to catch wayward balls and block well. (Of course, you KNOW he’ll be up after the Super 2 deadline and won’t have to worry about being sent back down no matter WHAT he does/doesn’t do – unlike, say, poor Navarro…) Anyhow, he shouldn’t have thrown a 2-1 FB to Gomez, who was sitting on it – and Blum wasn’t able to field it – and there was the blown save after 22 straight saves.
He just didn’t have it tonight. And really, there was no one to send in for the 10th, seeing as how Fulchino and Sampson are suddenly having trouble with finding the strike zone/keeping pitches out of the MIDDLE of the strike zone, really, and Lyons and Lopez had already been used.
sigh
Really, I don’t know what to say any more.
We’re off to Cincy, and hopefully hitting at his favorite ballpark will get Lance really going. Everytime I think he’s got it together, he absolutely is lousy the next day.
And by the way, I hear tell that bout every team not named the Royals or Pirates or Marlins are MUCHO interested in Roy – Fast Eddie is a sittin back, watchin the offers pour in. I just hope he is a little better at making a good trade than he was with either Schilling or Rolen, but I’m not holding my breath…
Tags: Brewers, Houston Astros, MLB
I wouldn’t assume Castro is “just a singles hitter”. Scouts think he will have about average power, which means around 15 homers per year. He also walks a LOT, which is obviously pretty valuable. He’s gotten his power stroke going a little more lately at AAA, and he’s batting .308/.426/.436 in his last ten games. But, I suppose it doesn’t matter when we call him up since we’re going to stink either way. Might as well let him get a little development time. Now, sending Towles down… no excuse for that one.
christian,
christian,
castro IS gonna come up once the super 2 deadline is past. no matter HOW he does. we’ll see about those supposed 15 homers – he doesn’t hit balls in gaps or 400′ fly ball outs, best i can tell. i hope the ability to not swing at lousy pitches remains. of course, it’s different Up Here…
and towles best hope is to get packaged in a trade to some other team cuz he ain’t playin on this one ever again
Pence is really beginning to come on as he did just about all he could today to help the stros to get a win, but steal home which is i guess what he should have tried to do seeing 2 of the killer bees couldn’t get him home for love or money.
It won’t be long before hunter will be leading the team in most all offense stats.
Drayton McLane will N E V E R pay another team money in a trade for Roy.
: ( 
He just will not do it, Lisa. Ed Wade might be getting “calls” from 29 other
teams, but trust me, Drayton will want at LEAST 5 MLB ready players, AND
money for Roy. When was the last time Drayton traded a veteran player?
2007! AND that was Morgan Ensberg. Yeah you’re right about Towles. He has
said something to someone that put him in the “twilight zone”. The thing no one
noticed, was how Cooper yanked him around for a year and a half…THEN threw
him under the bus on camera!!
I watched Castro play, Lisa, and I was very impressed with his bat speed. He has strong hands and good rotation from his hips, and he stays through the ball well. The day I watched him play (this was a couple weeks ago) he hit his first homer of the season which was an absolute BOMB 400+ feet out of straightaway center field. I think his lack of power so far, statistically speaking, is more of a small sample size thing, than anything else.
Also, Castro still has a little more filling out to do, and that should add to his power, plus any minor tweaks he makes to his swing along the way to add a little more loft.
With his combination of plate discipline and bat speed I think he could eventually (not right away) be a .300/.400/.450 type hitter in the big leagues. It will take some more maturation and experience before that happens, but remember, he’s only 22 years old.
jimbo,
i hear tell that scouts are watching pence, too. and he really DOES look as if he has gotten himself together – not that he’s getting hits, but he is not swinging at the first or second pitch every single time and he is also not swinging at pitches olut of the strike zone any more – ESPECIALLY on a 2 strike count.
becky,
drayton needs medicine if he thinks that any ML team THESE days is gonna pay HIM money for a 33 year old pitcher. not even mark tiexiera, who was younger and a LOT cheaper fetched that kind of haul. unless when you say “major league ready players” you mean “cory sullivans”
billy wagner – and this was in 03 – fetched 2 AAA pitchers and one (lousy) ML pitcher – AND no money.
- trust me on this – i most positively DID notice how cooper did towles – and throwing him under the bus after that dbax game. i have watched how lots of other Organizations do this with young players, too – see casey mcgehee when he was with the cubs. they also diss the player to the media before they get ready to ditch him.
christian,
oh boy i just HOPE you are right. that is different from what i have heard from a couple other people who watched him and i hope HOPE you are right. i know only too well that a whole lot of minor leaguers get themselves out on swinging at pitches out of the zone, but even if they don’t swing at pitches OUT of the zone, they got to be able to do something with pitches IN the zone.
but thing is that i know that most ML catchers don’t hit much – and i can handle a singles hitter, even one who hits like ausmus, as long as he doesn’t keep GIDP. but he better be a HECK of a lot better than cash with the glove…
I’m almost certain Castro will be a better hitter than Ausmus, who was a career .613 OPS hitter in the minor leagues. Castro is a career .796 OPS hitter in the minors.
In Lindstrom’s defense, he’s gone well over what was expected of him when he was brought in…
do you mean to the Astros?
because he WAS brought here to close
christian
and JR towles has a .861 minor league OPS with a .480 SLG – better than castro by a LONG shot – especially his AAA numbers
it doesn’t always translate. and then again, castro will not be sent down the first time he has any trouble. when he’s brought up, he won’t sit on the bench and be sent in to pinch hit vs closers every 6 days. he’ll stay in the majors no matter HOW he does because he was a first rounder and by GAWD ed wade is gonna keep his first rounder in the majors. it does help a players confidence when he knows that no matter what, he will NOT be sent down
Don’t forget, Clemens still has that personal services contract. He’ll ride in on his white horse for the daring rescue. Everything will be okay.