Well,
Taylor didn’t look real too good, did he? (being nice here…) giving up an RBI double to the pitcher and 2 two run homers? In TWO innings? Um, horrid!!!

This is the same guy who pitched a 5 hit shut out, came within 1 out of a 2 hit shutout, came within another inning of a 5 hit shutout. Well, it’s rookies, I guess. (Reminds me of Tom Boswell’s piece about Erik Bedard and Daniel Cabrera in the Washington Post.) Wonder if he’ll be going back down and Fernando Nieve will be coming back up…

So Matt Albers, you remember, the AA starter who has been sitting on the bench, basically, for a few weeks, had a chance to show his stuff, to see if the Astros hitters could come back again from a 5 run deficit (fat chance…) Well, he surely done himself proud. Here he is, an AA guy, had basically missed 2 starts, was rusty as heck, and he came in and threw 5 innings. Gave up 2 hits, 3 walks and 4 K, pitched himself out of trouble twice with 2 on, and got a GIDP. I guess you could say he was very very good…

Springer struck out the side. I was REAL pleased to see Brad Lidge out there in the 9th – he NEEDS some work. I’ve been noticing – he has this pattern – 2 quick outs, then trouble. Also, he HATES facing Ken Griffey a LOT moren Uncle. 1 triple, 2 little bloops to right. Dan Wheeler had to come in to bail him out. And Jason Lane looked just fine at first, hunh.

The hitters didn’t look real too good against Gonzalez. I think “horrid” is the right word here. Gonzalez struck out 7 in a row – although I sure did enjoy watching him throw 16 pitches to Biggio to finally get the job done – 12 fouled off pitches – that’s pretty awesome. The guys didn’t get going until the 8th (they’d already left 7 MOB and RISP 3 times) against Majewski and Bray, the two middle relievers they traded Austin Kearns for, remember? Luke Scott AND Munson, both leftys, got 2 out RBIs against a lefty pitcher. What shocked me the most is that Phil didn’t pull ether one of em for Eric Bruntlett. AND Lance hurt his groin again. Just great. But Adam Everett Kd on ball 3 with 2 on to end the rally.

And speaking of hitting, let’s talk about all those trade rumors.
First, all yall need to remember that BOTH Bobby Abreu and Miguel Tejada are in the middle of multi year contracts, so they DO have the right to demand a trade/ to be a free agent again at the end of the year – they do NOT have to stay. Carlos Lee, like Aubrey Huff, is a FA at the end of the year.

Second, please, let’s remember that Brad Ausmus is NOT leaving – he WILL be pitching to the big 3. Period. Get real. He has NEVER been no Mike Piazza with the bat and he never will be.
So forget that one.

Phil is in LUUUVVV with Munson, so forget replacing him too.
For whatever reason, Phil is madly in LUUUVVVV with Preston’s horrible defense and, um, below NL average bat. So Preston ain’t goin nowhere (I wish…)

Biggio ain’t goin nowhere until he gets 3000 hits.

Roger and Andy are NOT leaving, I don’t care what all them crazy NY columnists say.

Third, we do NOT need some lousy middle reliever, m-kay???!!!
If we rented Tejada, Everett would go, of course.
If we rented Carlos Lee (oh GAWD, I hope we wouldn’t re-sign him – he wants 15 mill a year for 6 or 7 years and he’s almost 31 AND his glove already sucks…) or Abreu, then they would go in right and Luke Scott, a better player than Preston, would sit. AND remember that Lance would be at first and Lamb would be pinch hitting again – please, he can NOT play third – get real. He’s Olerud at first compared to third, and he’s negative in runs saved at first.

So who might could go?
Ensberg? He’s hurt, and besides, he’s great when he’s healthy – that would be dumb.
Everett? If we get Tejada, sure. But if he goes for one of the other guys, I can hear everyone saying put Burke at short and Willy (shudder) back in center. I’m tired of hearing – Willy makes things happen. Not very often, he don’t and his bat is just horrible, especially now that he doesn’t bunt or get infield hits any more and he still won’t walk. Abreu has a bad rep as a fielder, Gold Glove or not, Preston is terrible and Willy is mediocre. Abreu’s bat/baserunning skills had better be enough to outweigh the glove-ugliness of that OF.
Lane – Phil hates him, wouldn’t be surprised.
Lidge – he’s washed up??? after tonight, he didn’t make himself look real too good to any trade partner.

AAA – I bet everyone wants Hirsh. Wish they’d take Astacio… Sampson looks pretty good, but he’s a GB pitcher, not a power guy and right now, everyone convinced that the Greg Maddux type of pitcher is, uh, second rate. Or something…

AA – Hunter Pence

A-ball – now you talk about crapshoot – they can have any A-ball guy they want – because you REALLY never know about guys in the low minors (remember back when we faced the Tigers and I posted Liriano’s minor league stats from before he was traded? He didn’t LOOK like a sure thing…) And remember Mitch Einertson?

And remember yall, we DO have to think about next year. We just CAN’T give away the entire farm for a 2 month rental. We don’t have very many good prospects, especially guys who can hit and remember that Benny Zobrist is already gone…

Oh, here’s a “good idea” trade from Yahoo’s Jeff Passan
4) Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ Julio Lugo and Elijah Dukes to the Houston Astros for Adam Everett, Fernando Nieve and Chris Sampson: While Lugo’s name hasn’t been attached to the Astros, this deal works on a few levels. The Astros could use a bat, and Lugo is among the best hitting shortstops in the game. With Roger Clemens’ salary coming off the books, they could keep Lugo off the free-agent market, too. Dukes, meanwhile, needs a change of scenery, if not a few hundred anger-management sessions. The Devil Rays’ defensive efficiency is second-worst in the big leagues, and with B.J. Upton’s imminent promotion, it won’t get any better. Everett is a perennial Gold Glove candidate, and the hard-throwing Nieve and groundball-inducing Sampson – a convert from shortstop – would both be rotation candidates.

I think that this trade will happen right about the time that George Bush endorses Hillary Clinton for President.

Lugo was released from the Astros because he beat up his wife. We’re not the Phillies – you can’t do that here. McLane would take a SERIOUS P.R. hit – and you best believe I would be one of the people complaining BIG time. And he wants 8 mill a year for 6 years? What, to buy makeup to hide his wife’s bruises? And the Organization got a thing about “makeup” – the other kind – and they don’t take guys with “anger management” problems (Carl Everett was NO trouble when he was here – don’t go there.) And for a wife beater and a troublemaker who disrespects his manager, who is STILL in the minor leagues we supposed to give up 2 ML ready starters and a GG shortstop?

I don’t THINK so…

Tags: Houston Astros, MLB

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 27th, 2006 at 11:12 pm and is filed under Fernando Nieve, Matt Albers, Taylor Buchholz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.