This deserves its own entry, dontcha think?
It didn’t go 565′
it wasn’t helped by wind
it wasn’t off a mistake pitch – was down and in, as a matter of fact.
But Michael Bourn homering off an ultra ace like Halliday – all I can say is that ah LUUUUVVVVVS baseball…
I guess Wilton Lopez, who had been perfect for SO long, was gonna throw a bad pitch sooner or later. But I’m getting ahead of myself, here.
I would have said, a long time ago, that I LUUUUVVVVV 6 PM game starts because I can watch it all and be finished writing my writeup by the time I get the last kid in bed. But things change – and between feeding kids and dogs, getting kids started on (shudder) homework and who knows what, I missed the first inning. And of course, there were lots of interruptions because Certain Kids, who had exactly zero interest in watching games during the summer, suddenly have developed this intense Astros Fanhood, in which they can’t bear to not watch a single pitch (instead of doing homework, you feelin me here).
So by the time their Daddy got home, got fed and got going, it was the 4th inning and Pence had singled and then Carlos Lee had homered. And here it is noon the next day, and I’m just getting time to going back to the replay. Babies and toddlers are easy. Kids take TONS of time.
So, the important points: once again, Brett Wallace was benched against a lefty, with Clank playing 1B. Bud Norris is looking as if he has turned the corner, he really is. One of the things that rookie pitchers have to deal with is to not lose focus/concentration when the HP umps don’t call a strike a strike – especially when they have called that exact same pitch a strike on an earlier occasion or for the other pitcher.
In the second inning, Bud threw 30 pitches. With 2 outs, he walked Victorino (and yes, those balls WERE balls) and then he got overly distracted, trying to keep him on first, then balked. He had Ruiz struck out on pitch #5, but Victorino stealing 3rd distracted the HP ump, and a pitch RIGHT in the strike zone was called ball 2 instead of strike 3 (actually, ball 1 SHOULD have been strike 2, but I digress) and the next pitch was ball 4 (it really was). Hamels was then up with runners on first and third. He swung at the first 2 pitches, and the next pitch was called Ball 1 instead of Strike 3 – it was a FB right at the top of the zone – INSIDE the zone, but noooooo. But Bud kept his cool and FINALLY got Hamels out.
Third inning, Hamels gets 1,2,3 outs on 12 pitches. Bud goes back out – gets Rollins out on 3 pitches, gets Polanco out on 2 – and Strike 1 (called a strike the last 2 innings for Bud) was called Ball 1, gave up a single to Utley on 3 pitches and got Howard out on 2 with a lineout to center. What was good is that for all 3 innings, Bud kept the ball down, except for the deliberate high FB, and only had 1 pitch mid plate – the second pitch to Howard in the 3rd, whose swing was just a leeeeeetle off – good thing for Bud.
Fourth inning, Bud was handed a 2 run lead and went out there with grim determination. He got lucky with Jayson Werth – left a ball in the middle of the plate and it was fouled off. But he got him out, then got Ibanez to GO, walked Victorino on 5 pitches (and yes they really were all balls) then got Ruiz to flyout – threw over a few pickoff throws, but didn’t lose focus this time.
Fifth inning, he got Hamels out on 4 pitches, Rollins out on 4 pitches (and Ball 1 should have been Strike 1) then watched his first 2 pitches to Polanco get called balls, even though they were most definitely in the strike zone (lower outside corner) and had definitely been called strikes before (I hate to say it, but I think that some of this is the fact that Q is lousy at framing pitches – I’ve said this for YEARS) but kept at it and got him out on the 6th pitch. I’ve lost count of how many pitches in the strike zone were called balls – AND he didn’t get any pitches OUT of the strike zone called strikes.
6th inning, at 89 pitches, he went back out, got Utley out on 4 pitches (and another strike called a ball – midplate, right above the knees) then got Howard out swinging – good thing, too, because the ump probably would have called that sllider a ball. Then Werth singled – after 2 pitches called balls which were strikes (you notice a pattern here? And watching the mlb replay, even the Phils announcers are surprised at how many pitches are not called strikes) and Ibanez doubled to the LF corner – ball 1 was strike 1 (the Phils announcers noticed) and then ball 1 was called strike 1 (Phils announcers groused) then Victorino singled. With Ruiz up and Domonic Brown on deck, Bud threw a ball, did that sillyass fake to third fake to first thingy (WHY on earth do pitchers do that? All it does is risk a balk, which you do NOT wanna do with a guy on 3rd – and it never gets anyone out anyway) then got Ruiz to flyout to Bourn.
And there you go – 6 tough, gritty innings, DEFINITELY not exactly helped by the HP umpire’s crappy and inconsistant strike zone.
Since Bud came back from the DL, he has had only 2 of 11 starts in which he didn’t go 6 innings – before that, he had only 1 start out of 9 in which he went more than FIVE innings – 8 innings against, naturally, St. Louis. One thing I noticed this game is that Bud used his changeup effectively – only 10 of em in 108 pitches, but he threw all but 1 for strikes, got 2 of his 18 outs with them. Earlier this year, he either couldn’t throw the changeup for a strike, it had no movement on it, or it was down the middle. Bud pretty much kept the ball down, painted the corners, and had good movement on his pitches.
Bud’s July ERA was 3.73 and his August ERA is 3.58. I really REALLY hope that this is something permanent – he’s beaten 4 good teams this month (of course, he’s had outstanding run support in 2 starts in which he gave up 4 runs) and so it isn’t just him beating lousy teams.
And the rest of the game?
Well, I watched Byrdak come in the 7th, walk the first 2 guys, then get 3 outs. I watched Gustavo Chacin come in in the 8th, get 2 outs, then give up a double (ahem) to Ibanez on what SHOULD have been an easy single to center, only Michael Bourn, of all people, booted the ball. Ibanez, one of the 5 slowest runners in the majors, decided to go to third and SHOULD have been dead meat, but Sanchez, the cutoff man, dropped the throw from Pence and made it into third. With switch hitting Victorino coming up, Mills pulled Chacin and sent in our best reliever, Lopez. Who got Victorino out.
When Lopez came back out in the 9th, I knew that Lyon wasn’t gonna pitch tonight, but figured, no problem, Lopez is Da Man. So I let the kids stay up to watch him get the last 3 outs, even though it was most DEFINITELY bedtime on a Tuesday night, and he breezed through the first 3 outs, then went to 3-1 on Rollins, threw a mid-plate, thigh high FB, which Rollins popped up into the RF seats, just left of the foul pole to tie the game.
sigh
Then, of course, I had to get the kids settled and into bed – and they, uh, resist this, not seeing why on earth a good night’s sleep is necessary for skool, and by the time I got everyone in bed, I was tired, it was late and Fernando Abad had managed to throw 2 scoreless innings (which I didn’t think possible – GLAD to be wrong) giving up a single, no walks and 3 Ks, watched the top of the 12th in which Michael Bourn came in with 2 on, 2 outs, the game on the line, and grounded out. Melancon came in to pitch the bottom of the 12th, gave up a bloop single but got 3 outs, and I was just too tired to stay up and watch, having been up since around 4:30 AM.
So I missed the 14th. JMike struck out swinging, CJ singled, then Tommy grounded into his SECOND DP of the night – hadn’t been his night at all – he’d been called out on strikes his last AB on a FB at LEAST 4″ off the plate. Then Melancon came back out, got 2 outs, gave up a single and a walk and it was Ryan Howard at the plate.
He fouled one off, then checked his swing on the next pitch. Only the 3B ump thought he’d gone around and called it a strike. Watching the replay, it sure nuff looked to ME as if he’d checked it – and I’m an Astros fan. Ryan was NOT happy and started yelling. The 3B ump looked grim, but Ryan calmed back down, went back into the box after walking around a bit to shake it off. He fouled one to the 1B line, then Melancon threw a breaker in the dirt, which Castro didn’t block (HIS weakness as a catcher, just like Q’s weakness is his lousiness at framing pitches) and both runners moved up, even though the ball didn’t roll far. Howard fouled another one off, then checked his swing on Ball 2. I mean, he didn’t even go as far around as he did the first time, but the 3B ump IMMEDIATELY called him out.
Howard immediately turned to him and screamed (and it was not the bad word that starts with F or C) and the 3B ump IMMEDIATELY tossed him. And Howard is not a guy who gets tossed – in fact, I think that Berkman has gotten tossed more often. Victorino, like a foot shorter and 100 lbs thinner, came in kind of grabbed Howard, tried to shove him backwards with his shoulder. There was a WHOLE lot of yelling, no contact, and finally a furious Howard stormed down the dugout stairs. I don’t blame him. It was a bullstuff call – and the 3B ump OBVIOUSLY did it because Howard had had a fit about the FIRST checked strike call.
Interesting because the 3B ump was the HP ump for the previous night’s game and I thought he had done an EXCELLENT job behind the plate with balls and strikes. INCREDIBLY better than tonight’s HP ump.
And some guy in the Phils dugout got tossed too – even though he’s on the DL. Pretty silly, you ask me.
So Roy Oswalt got sent in to play LF. And sure nuff, first out, top of the 15th, he catches a nice can of corn from Jason Castro. I love stuff like this – Kevin Cash pitching, pitchers fielding and pinch hitting (Wandy grounded out) when everyone has already been used up. As long as the season is not on the line, that is. It’s not like 05, when it seems that 1 of every like 4 games went into extra innings – and we lost them all…
Melancon ended up with 3 scoreless and Herndon, pitching his 3rd straight inning, gave up a single to Pence, then hit Wallace with the 9th pitch, then IBB Michaels to pitch to CJ and hopefully get an inning ending GIDP. And CJ hit a ball to 3rd, but it was smashed, Polance couldn’t handle it and Pence trotted home with the go-ahead run. Then Tommy Manzella, going for the trifecta in GIDPs was up. I mean, not even Brad Ausmus or Miggy Tejada had managed THAT feat. And sure nuff, he hit the ball RIGHT to short, but a sliding CJ broke up the DP and Manzella beat the throw into first and Wallace scored the insurance run. Fulchino struck out for the 3rd out. Yeah, the pitchers had to hit for themselves by then, you know.
So Fulchino had to slam the door – got the first 2 outs, then walked Polanco, IBBd Utley, and then Roy-O was up. And even though he isn’t on our team any more, it would have been teh KEWL if he had gotten a hit and tied it up again, but he grounded out and the Astros won after 5 something hours.
And tonight, all those tired guys have to go out and play at least 9. Happ faced Halliday. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get shutout.
The game started off VERY well – Michael Bourn, who has suddenly remembered how to walk, hit and bunt, led off the game with an opposite field single, then stole second on the very next pitch. When he’s ON, he’s really just fun to watch. Angel Sanchez singled to right – dave Clark held up Bourn at 3rd because Werth can throw VERY well. Pence then hit a sac-fly to deep right center, Bourn trotted home, but Sanchez didn’t bother to tag up and go to second, which he really SHOULD have done as Victorino was at the deepest part of the park and moving backwards as he caught the ball. BAD baserunning. Carlos then hit a double which split the gap in deep right center, Victorino had to chase the ball, and somehow, Sanchez took off late or wasn’t running fast enough, and didn’t make a good slide, and Victorino hit Utley, the cutoff man, who threw a bullet to Ruiz and Sanchez was dead meat.
CJ then hit a fly ball to the RF line and with the ball falling fast and slicing away from Werth, he made a GREAT sliding catch to rob CJ – which was a shame because it was the only ball he hit all night. Dude has just GOT to stop swinging at and swinging through most of pitches thrown to him – he got called out in the 4th on a checked swing on a ball in the dirt – and when you swing at bout most ANYthing, the ump ain’t gonna give you the benefit of the doubt.
For the next 4 innings, the Astros went down 1,2,3 as Joe Blanton pumped in strike after strike. Bourn singled to start the 6th, then stole second again, but was stranded on 3rd by Pence and Clank.
Meanwhile, the Phils, who went down 1,2,3 in the first and second, tied the game on a Carlos Ruiz homer. Then Valdez, the utility IF grounded out, Blanton singled up the middle, and Jimmy Rollins singled to shallow left center, and Clank booted the ball, allowing both runners to move up a base. Victorino hit a ball to first, and Wallace thew home to get Blanton trying to score. Wallace is deft and graceful – surprising in such a blocky looking guy. Then, of course, Utley singled home Rollins and the Phils led 2-1 and held the lead until the end of the 7th.
I most certainly Do have to give props to Quintero. In the bottom of the 6th, Werth doubled off the wall, Ibanez Kd, then they IBBd Ruiz, who has a nasty habit of pounding the ball with 2 outs and RISP. Q noticed that Werth haed wandered off second, and wasn’t really paying attention, and he fired to Sanchez, waiting at second and they picked off Werth to end the inning – not that Valdez was much of a threat, but just the same, better to have him leading off the next inning than a pinch hitter.
And indeed, he didn’t get a hit to lead off the bottom of the 7th, but pinch hitter Domonic Brown singled, then Jimmy Rollins singled (sometimes I check that guy’s BA/OBP and am surprised to see that he makes outs), then Victorino GIDP to end the inning and keep the lead at just 1 run.
Which really mattered because Ryan Madsen, who hadn’t given up a run (or let one score) this month, gave up a single to PH Jason Michaels. I know you are wondering why on earth Mr. LeftyRighty Matchup Manager let a righty bat against a righty – it’s because Blum’s neck is sore and Jason Castro isn’t hitting. Anyway, then the breaks went the Astros way. Bourn laid down a bunt single toward first – Ryan Howard fielded it and tried to tag Bourn out, but Bourn eluded the tag – stepped slightly outside the baseline to avoid it, managed to do so, and was called safe by the 1B ump – not that the HP ump, who was watching, disagreed.
Oh, and heck broke loose. Charlie Manuel wasn’t happy, although he didn’t pull a Pinella and scream or kick/throw bases, and finally got hisself tossed. I know you have to step more than just a couple of incles outside of the lines, as Bourn did to evade the tag, and the ump was actually right.
So then Sanchez laid down a nice sac-bunt to 3rd and there was a Meeting On The Mound to discuss whether or not to walk Pence and pitch to Clank or just pitch to em both. Finally, they decided to pitch to Pence, and Madson struck him out on a FB around the shoulders. But the very next pitch, low, at the knees and inside, Clank poked over the third baseman into left and Michaels, with Bourn 10′ behind him, came roaring in to take the lead. CJ grounded out weakly to short.
Byrdak came in to pitch the 8th – actually, he’s pitching VERY well this year – Since June 1, he’s given up runs in exactly 2 of 31 appearances. He gave up a single to Werth, but got out leftys Utley, Howard and Ibanez.
Brad Lidge came on to pitch the top of the 9th, and I didn’t recognise him. Well, I mean, of COURSE I know what he looks like, duh, but I mean that his mechanics are completely different. He throws his FB around 90 and his slider around 81-82. I guess this is the result of all his knee/arm problems, but he is quite effective at lower velocities. The slider still had wicked movement and guys couldn’t hit it and couldn’t lay off. I know that everyone is supposd to hyperventilate and get all hex-cited about the MPH, but it ain’t the speed, it’s the motion.
Brandon Lyon came in to close out and immediately threw 3 pitches to Ruiz that weren’t even close. He then threw a gimmee strike, then another ball and I thought – oh noooooooooooes. But Valdez popped out, pinch hitter Polanco flew out to Bourn and Rollins lined out to Michaels in left.
Tomorrow, Bud Norris faces lefty Cole Hamels, who is 7-10 with a 3.51 ERA – proving that no matter how well you pitch, iffn you don’t get no run support, you might could Know How To Win, but you won’t.
Well, I’d heard that the Marlins eat lefty pitchers alive and they surely did.
This weekend was a little crazy for us – getting kidz ready to start skool, and any female who has “baby fever” can cure herself right quick by dragging 4 skool age kids around to get new shoes (which kids go through like Prince Fielder goes through donuts) and Skool Stuff. Husband made the earth shatteringly stupid (for him) mistake of asking why it always takes so long, so before he knew what hit him, he found himself with car keys in hand, taking the kids his own darn self. MWAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I spent part of Friday night watching the Happ game (until the rain came) while cutting up tomatoes/onions /cilantro for pico de gallo (to be canned) and then figuring that I might as well go on and go out with Husband, having like NO idea if/when the rain would stop. Why they ever built a stadium in south Florida without a roof I can’t figure – and I’m not even mentioning the heat. But I digress…
Saturday, I spent the morning out with kidz – and after Husband stuck his bog foor in his big mouth, I spent the rest of the time canning tomatoes/making tomato sauce/paste with the zillion bushels of tomatoes I got. THEN getting started on the peach preserves with the zillion bushels of peaches I got (and yes, of COURSE I did this in the back yard – no WAY I would steam up the house) and I FINALLY got around to watching the replays – a few observations:
Game 1 – the Happ rain delay game
- the rookies are having more and more trouble dealing with ML pitching. Wallace and Castro both look as overmatched as Tommy Manzella and CJ is swinging at all KINDS of crap out of the strike zone. Bagwell had better start working with him like NOW or he is gonna follow the Hunter Pence path and struggle like heck once teams get a little bit of video and learn that with 2 strikes, he’ll swing at ANYTHING.
- Castro is as bad at blocking pitches in the dirt as he is good at throwing.
- Bourn is struggling just as much the 6 weeks since The Baggy took over as he did the 6 weeks before The Baggy took over. Not sure why he can’t lay down a bunt this year or lay off swinging at strike 3, but he can’t. Not sure why he has regressed so badly from last year.
- Mills/Arnesberg are the exact opposite of Cooper – they just WON’T pull a pitcher who either has nothing or has lost it, even with the game on the line. Here the hitters aren’t doing much against Ani Sanchez, they are losing by only 1 run and after the rain delay, Happ, who was really unhittable and had unusually excellent control after the first inning (every hitter but one went to a 3 ball count) had to go run the bases after the 40 minute delay, then couldn’t find anything after he took the mound. He strikes out the pitcher on a 3-2 count, walks Hanley on a 3-2 count, gives up an IF single to short on a 1-1, spends a whole lot of time and energy trying to pick off the runners while walking the batter on 4 straight – and here we are with bases loaded and NO ONE IS UP IN THE BULLPEN. Then ge gest Uggle to popup on a 2-1 count and Pence, uh, well, let’s be nice and say he didn’t get it and there’s no excuse for missing it or oversliding the ball. 2 runs score, and there goes the ballgame. And STILL no one is up in the pen!!!
Should I mention how long he leaves Fulchino, who has basically nothing, in? Gives up FOUR runs. I’m surprised he didn’t leave him in to give up 11 – remember Cooper with Backe – TWICE and Garner with Jennings?
- oh yeah – and Baggy needs to teach Happ, who obviously can’t HIT, how to lay down a bunt – the little dribbler he hit towards first with Castro running to third was, uh, pathetic.
Game 2 – The Wandy Game
- in which Wandy strikes out 10 in 6 innings, but gives up 3 runs courtesy of CJ’s first error and a 2 triples in a row (one to no-man’s land gap in left center and the other down the LF line in which El Perezoso moved so slowly that Wes Freaking Helms had more than enough time to saunter to third). I listened through 5 innings – Wandy had struck out 9, given up a couple hits, 1 walk, no runs and was ahead 2-0, so I felt it was safe to go and do a few errands. Next thing You know – loss city.
- I am REALLY tired of hearing so many people call 09 Wandy’s “breakout” year. It wasn’t ANY different than 08, which was as good as Roy Oswalt’s year, by the way. And darn near every pitcher I’ve ever seen, except for Roger Clemens, gets flustered (most of the time) by fielding screwups, especially missed double plays – it’s isn’t exactly a Wandy specialty, never was.
- crappy Astros fielding, starting with, but not limited to CJ’s 2 errors, both of which let runs score – AND he didn’t drive in any to make up for it. Here and I was going to actually make sure to write about how CJ’s fielding had been more than just fine after his first week – in which he made, what, 7 errors.
- crappy Astros hitting with men on base, RISP – Hunter Pence drove in 2 in the first, and that was all she wrote until the 9th, when it was too little, too late.
Game 3 – In Which A Righty, Nelson Figueroa throws 6 innings of 4 hit, 1 walk, 7 K, 1 ER ball, Wilton Lopez throws 2 almost perfect innings for the W when Pence homers to give the Astros the lead, and Brandon Lyon makes the 9th, um, interesting.
- in which Michael Bourn had a walk, a stolen base (#40), a single AND a bunt single (FINALLY) and scored a run (FINALLY)
- in which someone FINALLY got Hanley Ramirez stealing
- in which AFTER the series, we find out that Cody Ross, who killed the Astros all weekend, got claimed on waivers by the Giants, as the Marlins were more than happy to get rid of his enormous $750,000.00 salary (hey, more money for Jeffrey Loria’s pocket, which is important, you know) and all I can say is – they couldn’t have claimed him BEFORE the homer, the triple and the 4 runs driven in?
And now we’re off to Philly – won’t face Roy-O, who threw 7 innings of 4 hit, shutout ball today – he gave up 2 hits to Nyger Morgan, who KILLZ him and to Adam Kennedy, who also always hits him well.
Tomorrow, we face Joe Blanton, who has had kind of an icky year – 5.11 ERA. Let’s hope the rooks remember how to hit.
And, by the way, I will definitely take a look – a closer look, I mean, at how hitters have done pre and post ASB to take a look at The Baggy Effect. I know about all the talk about how the Astros hitting is so much improved, but I want to leave out all the new guys who weren’t coached by Sean Berry. Removing Pedro Suckage Feliz and replacing him with CJ isn’t proof that bad hitting is Berry’s fault.
Angel Hernandez was the HP ump – yeah, one of the 4 worst umps in baseball and one of the other 3 was the HP ump last night – what a crew. He didn’t call 12 pitches which were no question in the strike zone as strikes, and Bud had to throw more and more pitches. It And, by the way, it’s not as if Bud had exquisite command – he DID throw a lot of pitches out of the zone, but not THAT many. He went to six 3-2 counts and Frenchy, of all people, required 12 pitches to get himself out in the second.
But the blow to what SHOULD have been a scoreless outing happened when the maroon at second, Rob Drake, called David Wright safe, saying that Sanchez’ foot didn’t touch second (and the replay showed CLEARLY that his foot had most CERTAINLY touched it) which meant that the GIDP was just a FC with runners at second and third - and the subsequent groundout, which SHOULD have been out #3 scored a run instead. Then the 1B ump MISSED A CALL – called the runner safe when Sanchez had thrown him out (could it be that Clank looks clumsy or was it just that it was an unusually suckulous throw from Sanchez) and ANOTHER run scored.
Bud looked like one of those cartoon guys with steam coming out of his ears. And after that, filled with absolute seething fury, he set down every batter 1,2,3 through the end of the 7th – they couldn’t do NOTHIN. No more walks, only one 3 ball count and a K of the pitcher.
Meanwhile, the Astros swung early and swung often and easily got themselves out. They were looking like the Sean Berry All-Sucks instead of the supposed New Improved Jeff Bagwell All-Studs. At the end of the 6th, Misch had thrown only 62 pitches and it looked as if he would have a 90 something pitch shutout.
But then, a miracle happened. Sanchez hit a little blooper to right. Then Pence had a broken bat blooper to left that landed. The entire Mets team, just about and the pitching coach all swarm the mound - there hadn’t been a hard hit ball since Sanchez’ flyout and Pence’s double in the first inning. So after the powwow, Misch gets himself back into the stretch and first pitch Clank promptly Pujols that Lidged slider onto the tracks. Stros lead 3-2 and Bud is in line for the W – he CERTAINLY didn’t deserve that L.
Manny Acosta comes in and gets the remaining 3 outs. Then in the 8th, Pedro Feliciano gives up a 10 pitch single to Q, a single to Bourgeois and a sac-bunt to Bourn. He is pulled, in comes righty pitcher Iganshi and he gets Sanchez and Pence swinging to strand 2.
So Lopez has come in to pitch the 8th, gives up a single to Reyes, who goes to second on a passed ball, but gets the 3 outs, no sweat.
Lopez has been one of Ed Wade’s best pickups – he’s GOOD at getting relievers, that is fer SHER (well, except for Braves rejects – but with any luck, he’s learned his lesson)…
And Brandon Lyon comes on to close with a 1 run lead and gets Wright swinging, Davis grounding out to Blum at second, and then Frenchy hits one of those high pops which Pence, screaming IGOTITIGOTIT catches it in shallow right center on a sliding catch. A lil drama to end the game never hurts.
Should I mention that CJ has taken the sombrero for the last 3 games and is swinging at crap – looks as if he needs a day off…
So now we are off on a 10 day trip to the East Coast, starting with Miami. JA Happ faces Anibal Sanchez and his 3.38 ERA this year and his 0.96 ERA over 18.1 IP/ 3 GS vs Houston.
The good news is that we DON’T face Josh Johnson and his 1+ ERA. Then off to Philly, then to NY.
The Cardinal’s GM said they needed Feliz for – get this – an UPGRADE – at third base. He thinks that Feliz has a great glove (like, he hasn’t watched the guy during Cards games? he hasn’t bothered to check ANY defensive stats and yes, I know they don’t ALL agree) and will provide some – get this – “pop.”
Well, what can I say? Last time the Cards picked up a washed up crappy player from the Astros (Preston Wilson in 06) they won the Series. So who knows, maybe McGwire will teach him to hit and Jose Oquendo can get him to not suck with the glove.
youneverknow.
The Carpenter we got in return is not Chris, but an A-ball pitcher – a 25 year old righty named David Carpenter. He started out as a catcher, couldn’t hit, and converted to pitching in 08. He spent 08 at rookie ball, 09 at A-ball and this year at high A in the Florida league: He’s a reliever with 49 appearances, 44 games finished and 20 saves: 2.36 ERA, 1.13 WHIP: 7.6 H/9, 2.5 BB/9, and 8.4 K/9.
With any luck, this will turn out well. Ed Wade has been VERY good at picking up relievers offn the scrap heap and out of other Organizations minors. He’s really only been wrong with the 2 ex-Braves and the guy he got from the Rox.
Tommy Manzella was brought back from the DL today – looks as if he’ll be on the bench – pretty silly, he’s had only 1 1/2 weeks worth of minor league AB – 6 games at AAA in which he went 9 fer 27 with 2 BB; 5 games at AA in which he went 6 fer 14. So now he can sit on the bench, come in to pinch hit against top relievers and look bad.
ah well…
The hitters had a really tough time with RA Dickey’s knuckleball – but I’m not throwing stones, because so does the rest of the ML. After all, the guy has already thrown two 1-hit games this year.
But Michael Bourn got on base immediately with a single up the middle and I thought – well, at least we won’t get no-hit. Then Angel Sanchez hit what looked as if it could have been another single up the middle, except it hit Dickey’s glove and deflected straight to the second baseman, who then had an easy 1-4-3 DP. Pence walked, Clank hit a dribbler to third that couldn’t be fielded, but CJ, who had his second in a row hitless/no reaching base/no driving in runs game. He also GIDP in the 4th with El Perezoso on first – I liked the way that he didn’t even bother to try to run to second to even think of trying to break up the DP but just peeled off for the dugout about half way down…
GASB!!!
I guess it’s time to put Feliz back in, hunh Ed? (yeah, sar-chasm…)
It was also a very, uh, er, INteresting (ahem) game as it was Cowboy Joe West, the Ultimo Prima Donna of Lousy Umpires behind home plate – and his strike zone, as usual, was both nebulous and unpredictable – both Astros and Mets pitchers and hitters – uh, um, “asked” where the pitch was more than a few times.
Astros FINALLY managed to get enough hits to string together to get a run in the 8th – Q singled, pinch hitter Michaels singled, Bourn sac-bunted, then Angel Sanchez hit a single up the middle hard enough for Castro, pinch running for Q to score, but Michaels, unfortunately, had to be held at third, as he doesn’t exactly run like Bourn/Pence. And neither Pence nor Clank could get him home.
Blum hit his first home run of this year to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th and Jerry Manuel IMMEDIATELY pulled him. (Over ONE flat knuckleball??? The guy looked as if he could stay out there and throw another hundred pitches. But I digress….)
And then it became the Battle Of The Relievers for both sides.
And I would like to know why Mills is so allergic to having his relievers pitch multiple innings if they cruise through one with a lowe pitch count (yes, I know that Lyon blew up the other day after 1 quick inning, but really, that is ONE guy, ONE inning…)
So Melancon pitched a 1,2,3 quick 8th with 11 pitches, then Byrdak pitched a quick 1,2,3 9th – ok, 17 pitches there, then Lyon came on for the 10th and ran into trouble. You note he is having trouble getting 1,2,3 out lately, right?
Anyway, Reyes singled, Pagan bunt-singled (a perfect one, too, just past the pitcher’s mound on the 3B side and no one could get to it in time – and someone needs to tell CJ that he comes in too far when he goes to field bunts.) Wright was up and I thought – oh noooooooo, but he flew out to shallow left (the boy is in a bit of a slump over the past few weeks and the NY media, who for some reason hates him, is screaming about how the team needs to trade him and get A Real “Leader” who, naturally Knows How To Win – or something.) Then, with Jackal at the plate on a 3-1 count, Reyes and Pagan pull off a double steal. Quintero is steaming.
Out comes Arnesberg, and they put the Jackal on. I usually don’t like intentional walks, but Lyon was having more than a bit of trouble finding any umpire’s strike zone and Arnesberg knows only too well how much the Jackal likes hitting in this here park. And I hate bases loaded, only 1 out, because unless there is a popup in the infield or a K or an EASY GB, usually at least 1 run scores. But lefty Davis hit the ball down the 1B line and Wallace, very smartly, instead of going for the DP, fired the ball home to get Reyes for a FC. Then Francoeur flied out. And believe it or not, that was only 20 pitches.
Lyon, by the way, has already thrown 56 innings, and he usually throws about 70/year and we haven’t even hit September. He’s thrown 11 innings this month 0ver 11 appearances and he usually throws 12-13 innings per MONTH and here we are only at August 19. So I can go along with not overusing him right about now.
Lopez came in and threw 2 quick and easy 1,2,3 innings – except for giving up a seeing eye single to David Wright, who hurt his leg or back swinging – I think – and was removed for pinch runner Mike Hessman - with 20 pitches. Fulchino pitched the 13th, giving up a single and a walk. With Lindstrom unavailable, the only reliever remaining was Gustavo Chacin, who coughed it up.
Walk to Reyes, sac-bunt. Steal of 3rd, walk to Mike Hessman, hitting less than MY weight (this is bad, BTW), then an intentional walk to the Jackal to load the bases. With 1 out, again. I hate this, ESPECIALLY when the pitcher is having trouble throwing strikes in the first place. I know they are hoping from a GIDP from Ike Davis, but Chacin hasn’t done anything but walk hitters and give up a sac-bunt. So Davis naturally hits a sac-fly and there goes the ball game.
The Astros managed exactly ONE hit off 6 innings worth of Mets relievers and if you can’t hit Manny Acosta and Elmer Dessens – not good.
Am I allowed to say, at this point, that I am seriously doubting the ability of Jason Castro to hit ML pitching? And yes I most certainly DO want to give him the rest of the year.
Matt Lindstrom was put on the DL to rest his back – WHYYYYYYYYYYY can’t they do this in the first place???? as it seems to still be bothering him – DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH – and called up lefty Fernando Abad, who has so far this year thrown 6 good innings at AAA over 5 appearances. He also threw 39.2 innings at AA with a 2.50 ERA (including 4 games started) and a 1.36 WHIP – low BB/9, 7.5 K/9, 10.9 hits/9.
Tonight it is Bud Norris. It ain’t the Pirates he’s facing, but I’m still hoping to see that filthy stuff he threw, just so I can say he threws filthy stuff, not just that he gets Pirates out, just like everyone else in the league.
He faces lefty Pat Misch, who was drafted in the 5th round of the 02 draft by the Astros (who prolly lowballed him because he didn’t sign – what a surprise) – then signed after being drafted by the Giants in the 7th round in 03. He was called up in 06, has been a swingman/long reliever/spot starter with a career 4.67 ERA/ 1.46 WHIP.
The Mets picked him up on waivers June 09 and he filled the same role – reliever, spot starter, and threw 59 innings of 101 ERA+ ball with a 4.12 ERA/ 1.37 WHIP. His numbers are slightly better as a reliever than a starter, which is pretty much true with almost every pitcher. This year, he has spent mostly in AAA and has thrown one start, 6 innings, given up 1 ER.
Nelson Figueroa battled bravely – got to give him that. It took him 35 pitches to get through the first inning – gave up an infield single on the first pitch to Jose Reyes, who went to second on a passed ball which bounced in the dirt before reaching Castro. (Interesting that that was only the 4th passed ball assigned to Castro – he isn’t the best pitch blocker, and a few other “wild pitches” in my opinon, should have been more accurately called passed balls. But I digress…) Anyway, Reyes scored an unearned run on a single up the middle. Figgy gave up 2 walks, but Kd Wright and Frenchy to escape from the inning with only 1 run.
He gave up his second run in the second – Thole hit another IF single to short (no, not bad fielding by Sanchez – even Adam Everett couldn’t have gotten an out there), then after Ruben Tejada flied out, Johan Santana was up. The infield came in, expecting the sac-bunt, but Santana chopped a ball over the head of Chris Johnson, and it rolled down the LF line. El Perezoso (when Clank won’t move faster than the 3-toed sloth, he’ll get called that) moseyed over to eventually get it and Santana had himself a double, then Reyes grounded Thole home.
Somehow, Figgy found conmtrol of the fastball, which had been completely missing for the first 2 innings, and had 1,2,3 outs for the next 3 innings, with the exception of a walk to Reyes in the 5th. And I want to point out that Chris Johnson made 3 really excellent plays, including his grabbing of Thole’s hard smashed liner in the 4th.
So Figgy threw 5 innings, 89 pitches 3 walks, 4 hits, 4 K, 2 runs, 1 ER. Not bad. I was surprised that he didn’t go back out for the 6th, but I guess he was on a pitch count, or he was tired – most likely the first, because Mills doesn’t seem to be able to tell when a pitcher is tired.
Fulchino came on for the 6th and I held my breath. But although he gave up a walk to Frenchy???!!! (what IS it about Astros pitchers giving up walks to a guy who usually walks fewer times than Miggy Tejada) and a single to Reyes, he faced only 4 batters in each of the 2 innings he pitched and needed only 24 pitches. Hopefully, he’s back, and in 2009 shape.
Mark Melancon came on as the setup man and promptly coughed up the lead to David Wright, who homered into the Crawford Boxes – he’d been aiming there all night and had almost made it in the 5th, except the ball went juuuuust a little too far towards center. (I will never understand the NY media’s disdain for Wright. Not sure why so many of them INSIST on blaming the team’s best player for the fact that he is surrounded by suckage – as if he were the GM or something. Sort of reminds me of the Astros fans blaming Berkman for the fact that Wade filled the team with guys who couldn’t hit, but I digress…) He gave up a single to the Jackal, then got 3 outs, but it was too late – Figgy had already lost his hard earned win.
And he lost it to Melancon, who was rescued by Hunter Pence and his second homer of the night – again into the Crawford Boxes – again, like 345′ – but hey, it’s not as if Wright’s went much further. And the Crawford Boxes giveth and the Crawford Boxes taketh away, as we all know. I absolutely HATE the way the wins rule works – it leads to stupid remarks from BBWAA and radio types talking about someone just “knowing how to win” – yeah, by having a guy on your team bail you out.
So Johan Santana, who pitched an 8 inning complete game, lost to the Astros AND didn’t even have a QS.
Pence, I should mention, drove in ALL the runs tonight. Brett Wallace went ofer, which will probably convince Millsy that he should be platooned against leftys from now on. CJ also went ofer – his second ofer in the past 3 games. Guess he should be benched for Pedro Feliz, now. Bourn went 2fer 4, but killed a rally in the 8th with men on first and second by GIDP to first. His 4th GIDP this year. He also made a few really dazzling catches, as usual (and he woulda made that catch to left center that Jason Michaels didn’t last night – but I digress…)
Santana had a really tough first inning – needed 30 pitches – had a hard time locating his changeup, but he got himself together and gave up 3 singles, a double (to Castro), a walk to Jason Michaels over the next 6 innings. Everyone but Sanchez left at least 1 guy on base.
Blum played second, and will be for a while because Keppinger has injured his toe – possibly broken it. Although he hasn’t yet been put on the DL, he probably will be and I guess we’ll be seeing Anderson Hernandez or (shudder) Matt Kata soon.
Matt Lindstrom has been relieved as closer as he has been ineffective basically, the month of August. He did have 3 of 4 blown saves between May 27 and June 2, but managed to get back on track – and then after giving up no runs for 10 straight appearances, he struggled – his back was supposed to be the reason, but after supposedly healing his back, he still had no feel for the ball. (And, as I mentioned before the season started, this is exactly what happened to him as the Marlins closer last year – he was replaced by Leo Nunez for the same reason.)
Mills has not specifically named either Lyon closer, and in fact, tonight Wilton Lopez shut the door, except for an IF single off his glove. Melancon throws hard, all right, but the Yankees, who need bullpen help and are still looking for that infamous “bridge to Mariano” didn’t think enough of him to keep him. And the 3-2 pitch that Wright hit out was a FB right down the middle. I would guess that he went in because Lyon is a bit tired and needed a night off.
We’ll see how it shakes out over the next few weeks.
Oh yeah – and you best believe I booed that Jackal every time I saw him. Always will.
Wandy gave up only 4 hits (3 singles) and 1 homer by that Jackal into the Crawford Boxes – about 350′ but it was good enough.
Lindstrom is still doing the Lidge – his back is supposed to be fine, but he couldn’t even get Jeff Francoeur, on the edge of being released, out. He might could have, if Bourn had been fielding instead of Michaels, but that was just an insurance run.
So Wandy didn’t win, but at least he didn’t lose. Can’t imagine what is worse than losing a game 1-0. I suppose losing a game 1-0 if the run reached every base on errors not made by the pitcher.
sigh
And tonight, Nelson Figueroa gets his first start of his Astros career against his old team. I’m not holding my breath here. We’re facing Johan Santana, the guy who coulda been an Astro, who has 3 starts and 1 relief (gee that was a LONG time ago) appearance against the Astros with a 2.52 ERA/1.36 WHIP and .260 BAA. At this point, he has a 2.89 ERA – but interestingly enough, he has 15 starts in which he gave up 0 or 1 run, 1 start in which he gave up 2 runs and 9 starts in which he gave up at least 4 runs – the last time being August 1. So he is not unhittable.
Right now, I am looking over the list of this year’s Astros draft picks to see who did/didn’t sign, and I’m going to write up how they’ve done so far, if anything. We didn’t sign Jacoby Jones, that I can find.
You know that Sundays are designated “kids days” at the Box, right? They have all this kid-friendly stuff in Union Station – face painting, fake wax hands, one of those enclosed inflated trampolines thingys, as well as some sort of free gift for kids, kids run the bases after the game, etc. It is smart marketing because bring kids cost you a zillion times more than going with adults – all the endless junk food and the souveniers, etcetcetc.
And the Astros ran this promotion this weekend of $9.00 field box tickets (along the first and 3rd base line, on the OF side of the bases – usually $39, but they took off $$$ based on how many runs the Astros scored on a game in the St. Louis series and they scored like a zillion – and the stros stopped at 9 bucks.) Anyway, a certain person wanted me to take her kids to the game and gave me tickets for the 2 kids, husband and me and our kids. Worst part was that that person, in front of my kids – gave me some money and said for me to buy the kids some food.
I swear I’m like Charlie Brown with Lucy and the football. I NEVER learn. I should decide to never ever ever ever ever take my kidz to a ballgame until they are at LEAST 10. Because the kids aren’t interested in the actual baseball game. Not sure how getting kids to want to go to the ballPARK has anything to do with them eventually becoming Astros FANS because they don’t pay the slightest attention to what is supposed to be the main event.
Ah well, free tickets are free tickets and sugared, wired, hyper kidz were the price.
So at least I had something to hold over them – they misbehave, no goodies after the 5th inning and they really misbehave, we leave and no junk food at ALL. Of course, this meant I got – is it the 5th inning YET??? about a zillion times…
And oh my GAWD did this ballgame DRAG because JA Happ is the Human Rain Delay on the mound. I haven’t seen any starter take so much time between every single pitch since Steve Trachsel. Thank GAWD Karstens worked fast and threw strikes. And the Astros swung early and swung often, too. Happ, as usual, gave up a LOT of walks – I was gonna write 6 or 7, but I looked it up first and turns out is was only 4. Happ faced a total of 24 batters and went to 3 ball counts on 10 of them. In fact he was so wild that the HP ump called 5 strikes as balls – and the original HP ump wouldn’t call any high inside pitches as strikes, even the ones in the zone, so after that Happ threw almost everything outside to almost every hitter – the strikes, I mean, as the balls went ANYwhere.
Karstens wasn’t unhittable, but somehow, he only gave up 4 singles and no really hard hit balls until the 6th, when Pence hit a hanging slider for a ground rule double just in front of the RF bullpen.
Happ, as usual, gave up more walks than hits, and all 3 were singles. I can never figure out how on earth guys like him succeed.
But it is now time to sing the praises of Hunter Pence, who did absolutely everything right today. He reached on error in the first – ran hard out of the box on a chopper hit to third, which the 3B bobbled. In the 3rd, he singled, then stole second, then came around to score on a single up the middle by Clank. It wasn’t a hard hit single, but the middle IF and the CF haven’t really worked out who is gonna get what ball and no one went after that ball hard. Hunter took off at the crack of the bat and never stopped running and didn’t get a close throw.
He led off the 6th with a GR double to the RF bullpen, went to third when Clank flied out to right, then scored when Kepp hit a sac-fly to deep right. In the 7th, he hit an RBI double on what should have been a single up the middle to drive in Sanchez. And he made a GREAT running catch on a fly ball hit to the RF foul line and sinking fast.
If this is all due to Bagwell, all I can say is GO BAGGY!!!! And I wish he’d fix Michael Bourn, who wore the Sombrero with a flyout and a walk (late in the game).
CJ restarted a new hitting/on base streak with a single, an IF single and a solo homer into the Crawford Boxes (which, unfortunately, I missed, but I’m getting ahead of myself.)
So the Astros took the lead 1-0 on an RBI single by Clank, but then Happ coughed it up in the top of the 4th when he gave up a single, then a walk, then an RBI single from Milledge and a sac-fly from Snyder. So with the way Happ was pitching, I felt sure that the Bucs were gonna tack on more runs, so I missed most of the 5th inning taking the kids for food and bathroom – and yes, I DID say ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to cotton candy, I’m not completely stupid.
I missed Keppinger’s incredibly diving stop and throw of a sure base hit for Garrett Jones to end the 5th, but I didn’t miss Bourn’s awesome running grab of Tabata’s flyout to right center. But then Happ walked Alvarez on 5 straight pitches (he fouled off the first ball) and then Walker on 4 straight pitches and Arnesberg came running out to the mound, as guys were just getting up to stretch in the bullpen. Peachy, I thought, but Milledge took a ball, then fouled off a borderline pitch, then got over a hanging slider, which he rolled straight to Kepp for a perfect 4-6-3, only Angel Sanchez made a very wide throw to Wallace and Milledge was safe. Only Alvarez started running for home just a leeeeetle too late and Wallace threw home and Castro tagged him. So Happ escaped by the skin of his teeth and mamaged to eke out 6 innings.
Karstens, who had thrown 70 pitches by the end of the 5th and was goin strong, came back out for the 6th and made his first bad pitch - a hanging slider to Hotter Pence, who would have had a stand up triple if the ball hadn’t skipped over the fence. Then Clank came up, took a ball, fouled one off, then swung through one and the ump went down like he’d been shot – wasn’t sure what happened, whether he was hit by the backswing or by a foul tip, but the trainer immediately came running out, then the other trainer came running out and there was like a 15 min delay as the ump finally got up and left the field under his own power with what looked like a towel held to the side of his head or neck. Of course, another ump had to replace him at home plate, which meant a different strike zone.
Aaaaaaaaaaand, it had been quite a delay, and Karstens had tossed a few to Snyder, but when the game restarted, It was apparent that Karstens had lost his, uh, grip. He threw a cookie to Clank who was a split second late and he flied out to deep right. Then he started Kepp with 3 balls, and he’d only had one 3 ball count in the entire GAME, he threw a fat slider for a strike, which Kepp took, then got a called strike from the new ump on a pitch that had been a ball all night, then Kepp hit a FB up in the zone to deep right for a sac-fly.
I knew that the Pirates manager is oblivious to a rapidly tiring pitcher, or a pitcher who has lost his stuff, and sure enough, Karstens threw a ball to Wallace, then hit him with a curve, a pitch he’d thrown for strikes all night. NOW the manager starts to get someone up. CJ hits an IF single to short, then Jason Castro hit his second single of the night (getting his BA to the Mendoza line!!!!!) to drive in Wallace.
So Russell pulls Karstens and sends in righty Sean Gallagher to face pinch hitter Pedro Feliz. I groaned. No, not true, I screamed out NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. So my Husband, who was getting more than tired with 6 kids continuuously buggin for more junk food, said – make you a little bet – if Feliz reaches base – hit, walk or error, you agree we leave.
Hey, dead easy Win, right? Heck no, he hits a 2 RBI double to center and Husband smirks. Don’t look like that, he sez, Pirates ain’t coming back.
So I missed the debut of Mark Melancon, who threw strikes and got 2 staring Ks – one on 3 pitches, the other on 4, and a groundout. He threw to one batter in the 8th, hit him, then Byrdak came on and got a GIDP and a flyout.
Byrdak was left in to hit for himself – why not – and then he started the 9th with a single to left and a walk. Fulchino came in and got 3 straight outs – no grand slam.
So tonight, we face the Mets, who just lost 2 of 3 to the Phils. It’s Wandy vs Jonathan Niese, LHP (so I guess Wallace will get benched again in favor of Pedro Feliz or Clank) who faced the Astros once last year and threw 7 innings of 4 hit 1 run ball. This year, he has a 3.50 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. He’s a pretty good pitcher, hasn’t had much run support and has only 7 wins. Let’s hope they are all tired out from last night’s game and the long plane ride.
