Wandy gave up just 5 hard hit balls, but one of em was a Crawford Box popup – just got under a curve that hung just a lil and another just made it over the fence in right – FB was high and outside, too – for one of those 350′ homers and just like that his Win was gone. He had only given up one run on a triple on a thigh high inside FB to the left of the RF bullpen to Joey Votto and then a long RBI single to the LF bullpen – and THAT FB was right down the middle – he’s lucky it didn’t go out.
It was great watching Bogusevic play LF instead of Clank. He didn’t get a hit, but he drew 2 walks and scored a run. In fact, every starter in the lineup except Wandy got on base tonight – the guys drew NINE walks. That must be some sort of record for 8.1 innings – I mean, since Bagwell and Berkman were both drawing 100 walks a year. What is really kewl is that every run scored was by a guy who drew a walk and went hitless. Bet THAT is pretty rare with this team, too.
Pence played hero tonight too – hitting the game winning double – reached for a low, outside FB (poor Leake – it is just exactly the pitch he should have made that Hunter usually swings at and misses) and just kind of golfed it to the RF corner – plenty of time for JR, who runs VERY well, to easily score standing up. Had a couple of great plays, too.
But we really got lucky – they guys went 1 fer 6 with RISP. And left at least 1 MOB in every inning of the 4 innings Volquez lasted: man on first in the 1st; man on 3rd in the 2nd; men on 1st and 3rd with 1 out in the thrd; man on second in the 4th (second time for JR leaving a RISP). Then Sam LeCure came on (he kicked Astro ass in the game he started against us before he got put in the bullpen. Went 1,2,3 in the 5th, left man on first 1 out in the 6th. Logan Ondrusek pitched the 7th, loaded the bases with 2 out and Downs left em all. Nick Masset got 1,2,3 in the 8th and – well, yall know what happened to Mike Leake. Wonder why he got put in the bullpen – he had 4 of 5 QS in April and of course, he had that 7 ER/3.2 IP against us in the beginning of May, but not sure why he got pulled from the rotation. He doesn’t seem to be doing real too well there.
We have a day off tomorrow, then the Mets come to town.
Jim Crane is apparently attempting to buy this ballclub with only 75-100 mill of his own money – he is going to “finance” 250 mill of the 680 that Drayton wants. That is even worse than Frank McCourt and I sure hope that Bud Selig refuses such a highly leveraged offer. I’m not surprised that Drayton will try to push this through because he’d end up with about 50-100 mill more than he would with offers from the other groups which are NOT leveraged. Bud didn’t like Crane when he went to get the Rangers and he put in more money than this. And anyone who thinks that Crane will be this great owner – all I can say is Frank McCourt. Drayton didn’t have a debt load and Crane is going to have to put incoming money from MLBAM/RSN toward the debt load – and I’m not sure that he wouldn’t exceed it.
This is very bad news.
For ONCE, I hope that Bud doesn’t screw the Astros franchise.
Tags: Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, MLB
Lisa, Wandy was AWESOME today! Aaaaaaand he did NOT walk ANYBODY!!!!
VERY good game, I’m just sorry he didn’t get the win
If Jim Crane doesn’t get the ok from Selig……..THEN what???? The guys are
starting to get real worried, about who stays and who goes. I don’t think it’s fair
to the team to keep the sale of the team up in the air. Just my opinion.
Becky – It would be way better to keep the sale up in the air a while longer than to get stuck with a lousy new owner. I understand some players might be anxious, but let’s face it: no more than five of these players (if that) are a part of the team’s future.
Nice win. One of the things I really liked was that Lee and Hall were on the bench. They still had Barmes in the lineup, of course, and he was 0-3.
I’m looking forward to Keppinger getting back. I’m starting to think that the best move when he comes back would be to send Johnson to OKC to get himself straightened out. The season is far enough along now that hitting <200 isn't really acceptable.
Once all return from the DL, I see Kepp at 3B, Bourgeois at 2B, and Angel at SS. Allow Bougosevic (sp?) time in LF and see what happens.
No answers for the bullpen other than Melancon is the heir apparent closer.
As for the new owner situation, I do not know diddly-pooh about Jim Crane. I have been critical of Drayton on more than a few occasions, but the fact is that he has been the best owner the Astros have ever had. He both drained and neglected our farm system and that is the chief reason we are where we are right now. That I do not like, and as a fan I saw it coming all the way back to ’04. If the offer is indeed $680 mill, I do not see how it could not be approved by MLB, and what a windfall return for Drayton! I remember when he bought the team from McMullen.
It’s bad enough the Astros were allowed to decay from the Majors on down, but if Drayton McLane sells to Jim Crane, that will be his biggest and worst betrayal yet. Back in November, Drayton claimed he was in no hurry to sell, and that even more important than the sale price would be the strength and character of the next owner. But now, McLane is apparently on the verge of selling to Jim Crane, who massively fails both the “strength” and “character” tests. Unless Drayton has second thoughts or MLB smells another McCourt and says no, Astros fans are about to get screwed.
Anonymous:
What do you know about Jim Crane to make such claims about his “strength” and “character”? Is he the second coming of Donald Sterling {Clippers} or Bill Bidwell {AZ Cardinals}?
Roger Korby – Since, by your own admission, you don’t know “diddly pooh” about Jim Crane, here’s some starter reading:
http://www.houstonpress.com/2000-05-25/news/transferring-assets/
https://www.citizen.org/documents/afl.pdf
You can also Google the old Chronicle coverage of Jim Crane’s long battle with the EEOC.
becky,
there are 4 other groups i know of (there may be more) who have real actual money to buy the team.
drayton is selling out astros fans – the next highest offer i heard about was somewheres between 500-550 mill. and seeing as how drayton is supposedly putting in 65 mill to make sure the debt load doesn’t go over 250 mill, this means he is screwing us for 80 mill because he wanted to sell the team for 700 mill.
drayton always was a liar – he cares about getting the money he wanted, not about astros fans. he can’t get the original 800 mill he wanted, but he’s gonna try and get as much as he can even though it will kill the ballclub.
selling a baseball team to a owner who doesn’t have much money to run a ball club is a disaster – to put it mildly. i HOPE that all the runors i heard about selig not wanting crane are correct.
and yes, drayton WAS the best owner we’ve had. lots of fans always had this fantasy that he’d sell and we’d get another steinbrenner for an owner who would spend his own fortune or even lose money to buy all the best FA/prospects/whatever for the club. owners who did stuff like that are all dead.
it will be VERY interesting to see what happens when kepp comes back – he’ll have to rehab. i was pleased that they sent inglett down, not bogusevic. wonder what they’ll do when bourgeois is ready to come back.
i’m sure that fast eddie is gonna try to use brad mills as a scapegoat for his idiocy in signing barmes/hall. we’ll see how long they actually stick on the team…
Lisa – Well said. I’m hoping this is all just a scheme by Drayton to leave Crane at the altar like Crane did to Drayton back in 2008.
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Roger Korby – I just re-read my last message and the first sentence seems kind of snide. I didn’t mean it to be; sorry about that. I was just trying to give you some links re: Crane.
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Anyway, the latest news tonight is that former Rockets prez George Postolos will be a part-owner and CEO. As bad as Tal Smith might have become, I don’t see how a basketball guy — with no known baseball background — will be an upgrade.
I hate to be a downer, but it’s impossible to describe how much I dread this Crane/Postolos deal becoming reality. These two have “disaster” written all over them.
Anonymous-no offense take. I meant what I said in that I want information about Jim Crane. The Astros are my favorite professional sports franchise, so the changing of the guard in ownership means a lot to me.
Lisa-if Bourgeois is not at 2B, I will be howling. As much as I want to see someone else, anyone, in LF but Carlos, I know it Wade and Drayton will not allow Mills to do it. And I would be willing to send you to Outback for dinner that Mills wants to do just that. Kepp has played some 3B for the Astros before, and CJ needs to rediscover his swing in OKC for a little while. Now, will Ed let Mills play Sanchez everyday at SS and let Barmes and Hall be utilitymen? I hope so.
We are on the exact same page about the Barmes/Hall signings. Considering we are in an obvious state of rebuilding, why bring these two in at the expense of allowing AB’s to players who may be part of the future?
Drayton a liar? I don’t know about that, but a shrewd and successful businessman he is. My fallout with him as owner began when he very unwisely did not patch his differences with Hunsicker and keep him as GM. Gerry put the ’05 team together that won our only pennant. We have never been the same without him, and that is Drayton’s fault.