I’ve been so, well, Up Set about the thought of Jim Crane and his debt ridden buddies decimating my baseball team – yeah, I knw it’s hard to think of this Organization getting worse – that I have hardly wanted to think about it and just needed to chill a bit, seeing how my life would be with no baseball – well, that is, no MLB in it (because me n the kidz and Dogss DID go out and play Gray-style baseball a bit). Didn’t work real too good – in spite of hating interleague, I did check the scores a couple of times Fri and Sat and NO, I didn’t listen to Senile Hamilton, now tied with Hawk Harrelson and the Marlins guys for worst announcers in MLB. Does it matter if the announcers suck if the team does too?
Anyway, I STILL luuuuvvv me some Wandy and I checked during the 6th inning just in time to see him give up his second solo homer – man, those Grackles sure hit a lot of homers, don’t they – and finish the inning, leading 3-2. Last couple of times he’s left with a lead, he’s had nothing to show for it, but even though he was only at 90 pitches, he wasn’t sent out to start the 7th – Wilton Lopez pitched 1.1 innings and Melancon had a 1.2 inning save – left with bases loaded. Wandy must have had himself some SERIOUS blood pressure fer SHER there. I know I sure nuff did.
Of note – are you ready for this? The bullpen did NOT suck for ONCE, well, actually, for THRICE – pitched 7 scoreless innings over 3 games, plus an inning in which Jose Valdez gave up a homer with the Astros already losing (the ol WB reverting to his normal lifelong suckage performance).
Anery Rodriguez managed to give up only 2 ER over 5 IP – he didn’t get freaked or flustered by umps/opposing players/his own team flubbing easy outs/his manager leaving him in to get stomped.
Wandy threw 6 innings, giving up 3 walks, 2 HR, 2 doubles, 2 singles and 6 K. Not his best performance, but still excellent.
Mills is continuing to bench Brett Wallace against leftys. Clank flashed great leather as the DH. Bill Hall was benched for 2 games in favor of Angel Sanchez, who went 3 fer 8 with an RBI, a walk and a run scored. He fielded just fine.
Barmes continues to uck-say with the bat as badly as Hall does, but he doesn’t have another ML SS waiting as Hall does with Sanchez. And NO, Keppinger is absolutely positively NOT a SS – and yes, he’s hitting fine at AAA. Gonna be VERY interesting to see what happens when Kepp (and Bourgeois) ready to come offn the DL. Now we KNOW that Bogusevic will have to go down to keep Jason Michaels – after all, look who is earning more money. Infielders are Barmes, Sanchez, Hall, Downs, Wallace and CJ. Downs is hitting. Sanchez is hitting (and has no options) and CJ has started hitting again and is fielding VERY well. Barmes + Hall = 9 mill. Barmes line is .211/.325/.324/.649 over 71 AB with 1 HR and 4 RBI (so much for the Tulowitski-like production) and Hall’s line is .221/.275/.336/.611 over 131 AB with 2 triples, 2 HR and 13 RBIs (so much for Jeff Kent-like production). Downs, in case all yall curious, is hitting .269/.339/.538/.877 over 52 AB with 11 RBI.
Chris Johnson had himself a great weekend, going 5 fer 10 with 5 RBIs and 1 run – including the game winning homer Friday night. Did great with the glove, too. Hopefully, now that his BA is back up to his weight, he’ll start gaining – although he still doesn’t walk near as much as he should – swings at too much stuff out of the zone.
JR Towles is in a terrible hitless streak – now at ofer 32 (last 7 games) which started when they put him in the 2-hole. Funny that the exact same thing happened with Brad Ausmus back in 05 – he was hitting over 300 with a bunch of walks and the rest of the team was, uh, not hitting and Phil Garner put him in the 2-hole and he went ofer 40. Weird. Fortunately for JR, Wandy likes him and there is no one killing the ball at AAA.
Michael Bourn went 5 fer 12 with 3 walks with an RBI and 3 runs. He’s been on base in every game he’s played except for 4. Pretty darn good for a leadoff hitter.
Hitter Pence had a great series, going 6 fer 14 with the game winning homer tonight (Wandy owes him a cold beveraege of choice) with 4 RBIs and 3 runs scored.
Clank went 3 fer 13 with 2 runs. And a stolen base (the usual Clank kind where they don’t notice him because he’s so fat…)
Yall notice that there was a whole lotta hittin goin on. There was also a whole lotta leavin RISP goin on, too (Towles, I’m lookin at YEW): tonight, it was 1/12; Sat it was 4/11; Fri, it was 2 fer 9.
Brett Wallace went 4 fer 5 with 2 RBIs. And he’s getting benched all the time with lefties because – WHY?
Bogusevic went 1 fer 9 and didn’t make what turned out to be a crucial catch on Sat – not that the game wasn’t already lost, but it just might could stick in the minds of certain GMs.
And it’s the Dodgers in town – tomorrow, it’s Bud Norris vs Clayton Kershaw.
Bud has faced LA twice – 2 GS over 10 IP: 10 H, 8R/7 ER, 1 HR, 7 BB, 10 K: 6.10 ERA/1.65 WHIP. Bud has been great at home this year – 5 GS over 33 IP with a 2.18 ERA/1.05 WHIP – so be it and shall it remain.
Kershaw is a lefty, so expect poor ol Brett to be benched. Anyway, he’s thrown 3 games over 17 IP vs Houston; 16 H, 9 ER, 1 HR, 5 BB, 12 K; 4.76 ERA/ 1.24 WHIP/.258 BAA.
Matt Kemp is still killing the ball, so Bud had best not “challenge” him….
Tags: Houston Astros, MLB, Toronto Blue Jays
BWallace has the best OPS of any regular player — why you would EVER want him out of the lineup for any reason is beyond me. Stupidity, pure and simple.
Lisa: Its as if we are looking at the Astros Organization/sale/management through the small end of the binoculars. Everything seems tiny and far away, yet we still try to make sense of it all. And, of course, we do that by what seems logical given the information we have, which we’ve obtained by watching all those minute little figures making all those puzzling decisions.
Take Carlos Lee for example. How curious it is that he even gets to play. What part of this scenario can we not see? Some think its about the investment already made. I have a suspicion it is much deeper than that, but other than a business agreement/partnership no one knows about, I just can’t imagine what allows him to be on the field.
And how can it be that a manager is hired for @ 1M a year and not allowed to manage? What part of that scenario can we not see? Is it the same with every MLB team? Do Joe Giardi/Charlie Manuel/Dusty Baker, etc. get to do their thing without interference? I’ll bet so.
The whole thing gets curiouser and curiouser just like Alice in Wonderland.
Let’s hope that Jim Crane, et.al. have such huge egos and competitive drives that he/they will do all in their power to win. And take no bull shitty nonsense from their hired hands.
Wouldn’t it be fun, win or lose, to support a team whose players are on the field based on merit?
zagger
PS Giving credit where credit is due: I was so delighted to see our manager act like a grown-up and yank Lopez mid-inning/mid-at bat and DO something to salvage our win.
Didn’t get to SEE the game, but I listened to it! I told my baseball hating husband
they would hold on to win, and THEY DID!!!!!!! Wandy was not at his best, but
even with a few walks, he was WANDYFUL!!! Talk is the Phillies want Pence…….
if they trade Hunter Pence, the sound of empty seats at MM park will be deafening. Since he is the ONLY one who’s actually hitting, trading him would
doom this new owner. Becky
zagger,
the manager not being allowed to, you know, manage – best i know, started with billy beane and art howe. now we see it ALL the time – the FO tells the manager who to play. they allow the player (see saint biggio) to state where he will hit in the lineup and whether or not he WILL play. first time i saw with the astros that the manager was being told who to play where was with brad lidge getting yanked from the closer role after Opening Day 06. then, of course, The Biggio Farewell Throwaway Year.
i would guess that TLR plays who he wants to pretty much almost always. i would guess same with mike scoscia. and bud black. and best i can tell, extremely expensive vets like clank get more playing time than they deserve, as well as getting to hit cleanup if they want to. clank would NOT be getting playing time like this if he was a 3rd year guy who was 26. we ALL know this.
becky,
the phils really don’t have anyone worth trading pence for. and right now he and bourn are the ONLY draws this team has. no one cares about clank anymore except for that guy with the handlebar moustache andpony stick out by the conoco pump window. no one is a special fan of the ol WB and wandy doesn’t even have jerseys/tshirts at Union Station (or on line)
i wouldn’t be real too surprised if crane, if we are unlucky and gets the team, trades off every veteran he can and calls it “rebuilding” so that he can have the lowest payroll possible – although he still stuck with Clank, let’s be real
steve,
sigh
you are the math guy. 19 mill + whatever OPS >>>>>> 1/2 mill + higher OPS = 19 mill guy gets all the playing time he wants
19 mill is sunk cost. don’t matter. don’t help ya win. gotta look forward.