Posts Tagged ‘Arizona Diamondbacks’

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7/29/12: Goodbye Chris Johnson

Sunday, July 29th, 2012

And you thought no one else would want him. One of the few players who DIDN’T want to be traded. I have heard that several teams have wanted him for several years, but they didn’t want to trade him. But he’s gonna be arb eligible next year and they woulda hadta pay him. We can’t have THAT.

He’s off to Arizona – not sure what they’re gonna do with him, seeing as how they just got rid of Ryan Roberts for their new callup 3B, and Paul Goldschmidt is too good at first to be replaced.

And CJ was already announced for today’s lineup, too.

We’re getting 21 yo Bobby Borchering, AA third baseman who was the Dbax first rounder in 09. He was promoted to AA a few weeks ago and he’s 10 fer 77. He had an .827 OPS at high A over 838 AB. From reading prospect lists, he doesn’t hit for average, just power and is a lousy glove at 3rd, so he’s most likely destined for 1B. He was on the Dbax Top 10 prosepct lists, but they had a younger 3B higher.

and Marc Krauss, age 24, LH, left fielder, the second round pick in 09, hitting 917 OPS over 283 AB. Krauss isn’t even mentioned in any Arizona prospect list.

So Steven Pearce is gonna play first and Scott Moore is gonna play 3rd. And Matt Worthless Downs is STILL on this team. Brett Wallace is officially toast, I see.

I hope they aren’t going to just use him to pinch hit because he’s a really terrible pinch hitter.

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Posted in Chris Johnson | 5 Comments »

10/7/11: Berkman And Wolf Go To The NLCS: Pence And Blum Go Home

Friday, October 7th, 2011

What absolutely AWESOME game 5s for the NL!!! And no interference from the pretend baseball league today neither!!! I thought it was very interesting that BEFORE the games started today, that MLB had a pic of Ryan Braun vs Uncle – who were NOT opposing each other today – to represent the NL.

And indeed, the Brewers game was a real nailbiter. Yovanni Gallardo most certainly did NOT look like any sort of ace, but somehow, he managed to get through 6 innings giving up only 1 run, even though he had reached 68 pitches by the end of the 3rd. He was NOT exactly helped by the HP ump, Jeff Kellogg, who has a strike zone the size of his clenched fist – he called strike 3 to Justin Upton Ball 3, although it was absolutely unquestionably in the strike zone – and naturally, Upton hit the next one out. Naturally, Yuni Betancourt – who is Neifi Perez, only fatter and without the glove, drove in the go ahead run in the 6th after grounding out with 2 on 2 out int he 4th.

K-Rod looked terrible in the 8th – walk, K, single, K, walk, groundout – took him 26 pitches and it felt like 46. But he managed to get that hold.

Axford blew the save – gave up a leadoff double, a single and a run on a squeeze – although I must say that on that thre play, he and the infield defense looked like the 3 stooges. But he got a nice 1,2,3 10th and the Diamondbacks closer, JJ Putz, who got a 1,2,3 9th, gave up a double to pinch hitter Carlos Gomez, who SHOULD have been able to take 3rd on a WP, but scored anyway when Nyjer Morgan, AKA Tony Plush, singled up the middle for the walkoff.

He was All Excited for the post game show, said HECK YEAH!!! (well, not exactly “heck” but close enough for this here G-rated blog) a couple of times, said – gotta tip your cap to the Dbax, then said – I just gotta go!!! And this was all live, too and TBS didn’t really have time to, uh, bleep/censor. It was Morgan’s game – he doubled and scored the first run in the 4th. Even though Ryan Braun unquestionably had a great series. Da Prince, by the way, did not.

But you know, it was a short series and when a team only has to have 3 SP instead of 4, anything can happen.

See Cards – Phils. Halliday vs Carpenter – lots of hype and the game lived up to it. Halliday had a roughish first inning – gave up a leadoff triple to the gap to Furcal, then an RBI double to Schumaker. Uncle hit a grounder to second and Schu was thrown out easily at third – BAD baserunning. Berkman reached on catchers’ interference on what would have been a swinging strikeout – Berkman looked really sorry against Halliday all night (then again, pretty much so did everyone else) but Halliday got the next 2 outs without another run scoring. 33 pitches.

And unfortunately for the Phils, that was all the Cards needed because Carpenter was even better – 3 hits, no walk, 3 K shutout. Pence hit 4 weakass groundouts. Ryan Howard’s series reminded me of Barry Lamar in the postseason prior to 2002.

For the entire series, Pence hit .211 and Berkman hit .167 – not real too much to strut about.

So it’s 2 teams from the NL Central in the finals and didn’t none of the “experts” think THAT. Pretty much everyone expected a repeat of the 09 series between the biggest AL mopney team and the biggest NL money team and they both went byby in the first round. NO East Coast teams made it past the first round!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Me, I’m rooting for the Brewers and hoping for a Brewers/Rangers WS but I keep thinking about that Red Siamese cat – wondering if it is an omen meaning Cards vs Tigres repeat of the 06 series.

Nah – that’s silly. There’s no superstition in baseball. Just the hard, cold stats, right?

Texas is the only team without an ex-stro, so I guess I’ll have to back the Tigers.

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Posted in 2011 NLDS, Berkman, Hunter Pence | 8 Comments »

10/1/11: Base Ball Bliss – 4 Playoff Games In ONE Day!!!!

Saturday, October 1st, 2011

I would say that it doesn’t get any better than this, but actually it could – the Astros used to be one of these teams.

sigh

I guess I am gonna root for the Brew Crew, although I could certainly handle it if the Dbax won. Man it hurt to look at Miller Park packed with screaming fans, starving for a pennant, starving for a WS they’ve never had. I remember it like it was yesterday – I mean, being one of those screaming fans in the seats, sure that this is the year we’d Go All The Way!!! Winning the pennant in spite of Lidge, losing the WS because of him – mostly.

Gonna be a long LONG time before that comes back to Houston – if it EVER does because this IS baseball and youneverknow. Look at KC, look at Pittsburgh…

Enough grousing – on to happy thoughts…

Best baseball day I can remember, besides Astros winning the WC on the last day of 04 or even beating the Braves for the first time in 05 and FINALLY beating the Cards, winning the pennant, is one summer day when I was a kid, I think in ’91, when for some reason, there were 3, or is it 4, baseball games on TV at the SAME time!!! Of course, this was Back In The Good Ol Days when ESPN and TBS and WGN and Fox all used to broadcast day baseball games. I remember sitting happily in front of the TV, holding that remote like a MAN, clicking from one game to the other. Braves, Astros, White Sox, someone else – was it the Athletics? What’s the difference – it was teh awesomeness.

Funny, I don’t remember who or what 11 year old grrrls were supposed to be into that summer – maybe Michael Jackson. But I sure nuff did keep my Dangerous obsession with baseball In The Closet…

So much easier when you are 11 to have the time to sit, entranced, watching baseball for hours. MUCH more difficult once you are a busy Mami.

The afternoon started off with the smallest market teams, natcherilly. So I got to watch Texan Yovanni Gallardo simply shut the Dbax DOWN. I understood – he’d done that so many times to us, too. Ian Kennedy had give up a couple of runs, and I guess he was tiring in the 7th – gave up a double to Ryan Braun (who is in a tight race with Matt Kemp for this year’s MVP and yeah, Kemp will probably lose because his team sucked and therefore, how could he have been “valuable”) and then, to my GREAT surprise, he pitched to Da Prince with first open. I thought right then – oh man, here it comes and sure nuff, he threw one down and in juuuuuust where Da Prince likes em and out it went.

Wonder where he’s gonna end up – probably in a C*bs uni if Uncle stays in Saint Looie. Yanks and RedSox already gots long term expensive solutions – and let’s be real, Uncle ain’t playin no 3rd base/LF full time. Anyway, I guess he could end up with the Nats, which would be INteresting. Giants now SAY they ain’t payin, seeing as how they are already out like 50 mill for the almost useless trio of Barry Zito, Aaron Rowand and Aubrey Huff; Angels are Mariners version 2 for signing extremely expensive FA who are flops – see Vernon Wells, and yeah, I know he was obtained in a trade for Mike Napoil, don’t ask me why in the name of the Good Church of Baseball that Scoscia, who really runs things there, prefers Jeff Mathis, who makes JR Towles look like Babe Ruth. Where was I? Oh yeah – they may or may not be expecting Kendrys Morales to return, so youneverknow, maybe Uncle or Da Prince will end up there.

The Dodgers? They have to find money SOMEwhere to sign Matt Kemp.

Anyway, speaking of Saint Looie, Lance put them ahead in the first with a 3 run homer off a FB that Roy Halliday threw down the middle. But after the Phils had seen Lohse twice through the lineup, they hit him – a 3 run homer and a 2 run homer and that was the end of the Cards. I see that they left Kyle McClellan off the roster. I was more than a little surprised, but maybe that’s because he kicked Astros butt this year and I might could not be real too unbiased about him.

The Cards this year have Uncle, Lance, Holliday – plus Yadi and Freese (when he’s not hurt) plus Chris Carpenter and a couple of good relievers – and let’s say I would be stunned – to put it mildly, if they survive this round. But then again, I was stunned that the 116 win Mariners didn’t survive the first round. It’s baseball and youneverknow.

So now, I’m watching the Rays trying to come back against the Rangers – they are in Arlington, the Hitter Heaven and baseballs B flyin. But actually, the Rangers are winning mostly because Big Game James Shields gave up 5 runs in the 4th, after shutting em down for the first 3 – HBP, single, single (both shallow grounders) another HBP, 2 run single, run scored on a passed ball swinging K and RBI groundout. 5 runs on like almost NOTHING. And then there was pitching change after pitching change – and in spite of Evan Longoria’s 3 run homer to center, it took the Rangers 3 hours and 33 minutes to finally end the thing. I HATE these long AL games with pitching changes every other batter and

reminds me of Millsie-poo.

Tigers are busy losing the rest of the rain delay game – or maybe it’s even Game 2 and they’ll make up Game 1 some other time, who cares.

Thing is – roofs are great. Too bad ours wasn’t retractable back in 05 – the *(%T*#%@! Bud Selig…

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Posted in Berkman | 5 Comments »

8/12/11: Astros Play Lousy, Melancon Blows Another Save And Dbacks Win

Friday, August 12th, 2011

Sorry Jeff Keppinger, we didn’t do your new team real too much good, did we?

I hear tell that Jim Crane (if he is confirmed and I think it’s gonna be bad news, yall) is gonna fire Brad Mills, Fast Eddie and Tal after he installs his basketball guy to run things.

My GAWD that game was a complete and total screwup. Gives me a headache just thinking about it.

It wasn’t just Melancon blowing yet ANOTHER save – he threw a FB down the (swear word) middle of the plate and even a AAA callup can hit THAT out - Astros 21st blown save. It was stuff like Jason Michaels starting AGAIN – why WHY is this guy getting so many starts? He’s the pinch hitter/5th OF fer goodness sakes. He should NOT be a platoon partner for either Shuck or Bogu who NEED PA against leftys in the majors. And how about him BUNTING in the second inning?

Mills is acting as if this is the 60s with the bunting stuff when even guys like Mickey Mantle were told to lay down the sac-bunt (no I am not kidding.) He has absolutely NO sense about when to call for a bunt/sac bunt – since when has Jason Michaels been a bunter???!!! or the intentional walk,

And speaking of bunting, Jimmy Paredes completely missed a squeeze bunt and the runner was a dead duck. On the basepaths, he reminds me of Charles Gipson – VERY fast runner, but minimal baserunning sense. At AA he was 29 fer 41 – and that is not a good ratio for a base stealer at AA.

So far, the one new guy who looks like a major leaguer with feet, bat, arm and glove is Jose Altuve.

Paredes is not a 3rd baseman and is clearly not used to the ball coming at him that fast. He’s made a couple of amazing plays – even beating Barmes to a ball in the 5.5 hole. He has a rocket arm, gotta say that for him. We’ll have to see if he can adjust to ML pitching, but he seems to have too many holes.

JD Martinez appears to be doing quite well with ML pitching so far – his weakness appears to be chasing pitches on a 2 strike count if there are men on. I have got to say that I am thrilled with the way he works counts – unusual for players on THIS team. He is an average runner, at best – not Brett Wallace slow, that’s fer sher, but Chris Johnson can outrun him. His ability to chase balls is not good – seems to not have a good first step and arm appears average at best. He isn’t slow/lumbering like Clank and he tries to get everything – no deliberately letting balls drop in front because it’s easier to play a hop.

JB Shuck is fast, so far is decent on getting jumps on balls, average arm. He’s always been a singles hitter, high average, and he better learn FAST how to hit an inside pitch because that’s all he’s getting. I’d like to see him play a few more games before I decide.

Bogusevic is faster than he looks – was surprised he got thrown out stealing as he’s usually pretty good at that – and he also has been decent at working counts and not swinging wildly on 0-2. Fielding has been decent – good arm, decent jumps on balls, throws to the cutoff man (that is important).

Oh yeah – and Brad Mills – the guy with the lefty/righty obsession – just hit rock bottom for his bullpen use – leaving Escalona in to face Chris Young, who KILLZ lefty pitching (and yes, Steve, the minute I saw him leave Escalona in, saw young’s face light up, I knew the game was OVAH.

I know that lots of these bullpen guys have low ERAs – but it is ridiculous that ERA is used to judge a reliever because it doesn’t count the runners he inherited he let score.

sigh

Tonight, we’re in LA and it’s Bud Norris, trying to recuperate from his beating by the Brewers. He faces 21 year old righty Nathan Eovaldi (he’s from Alvin, just like The Greatest Pitcher Who Ever Lived, The Hero Nolan Ryan who pitched at a high level until age 47 without EVAH touching steroids) pitching his second big league game. He was drafted out of Alvin HS in the 8th round in 08 by the Dodgers and he threw 5 innings against the Dbax 5 days ago, giving up 4 hits, n2 walks, 7 K and 2 runs over 5 IP.

He was promoted directly from AA (Dodgers in deep financial doodoo, just like the Astros gonna be the minute Crane takes over). Last year, he pitched at high A (Inland Empire) a hitters’ park like Lancaster, and did – well, don’t have anything like ERA+ but he had a 4.45 ERA/1.15 WHIP with 3.4 BB/9 and 6.1 K/9.

This year at AA, in the Southern League, he threw 103 innings, had a 2.62 ERA/1.18 WHIP. But mind, he gave up 30 ER and 11 more UER – hits/9 an impossibly low 6.1, o.3 HR/9, 4.0 BB/9 and 8.7 K/9.

Bud Norris better not “challenge” Matt Kemp…

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Posted in Jose Altuve, Mark Melancon | 4 Comments »

8/11/11: Tommy Manzella Released And Immediately Signed With Dbax

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

We all knew that Tommy Manzella (signed by The Hated Tim Purpura) wasn’t going to get any sort of second chance after he broke his wrist last year, even though his hitting picked up in the few AB he was given. Did he get traded so that we could get SOMEthing for him?

HECK no. And don’t believe that last year wasn’t no other team interested in him.

Am I hearing that no other team is interested NOW? Seeing as how he had a terrible year at AAA batting 8th, sandwiched between lead gloves Koby Clemens and Anderson Worthless Hernandez.

Fast Eddie wanted a guy HE just traded a GOOD major league player for on the 40 man, and he DFAd Manzella and within 24 hours he was claimed by THE FIRST PLACE Diamondbacks. The Astros got zero, not even salary relief because they are now paying Henry Sosa what they were paying Manzella.

I’m sure that Chris Johnson and JR Towles are also praying they get DFA’d and a second chance.

Will be fun to go through Fast Eddie’s drafts 07-10 and all yall can see what a terrible job he did – our prospects were obtained by trading our actual major league players, not through the ASTROS drafts. And don’t point out Jason Castro. Once Fast Eddie is gone, he’ll have to actually, you know, hit and block balls. Don’t point out Jeff Mathis and Mike Scoscia – Mike has Bobby Cox power as a manager to keep a pet who can’t hit…

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Posted in Tommy Manzella | 9 Comments »

8/10/11: Henry Sosa Makes ML Debut Losing To Diamondbacks

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

Astros Major League debut of Henry Sosa – one of the minor leaguers Ed Wade just traded Keppinger for. He is trying to look good for his next job.

Ed Wade, I mean.

Henry Sosa started off bad – gave up a leadoff homer to Willie Bloomquist (gritty White Guy type), then a double, then a walk, then a blessed flyout, then another walk, then a popup, then a 2 run single to left that jimmy Paredes didn’t get – glove at wrong angle (you KNOW if it was CJ that Milo would be ripping him) and then another popup to left. 25 pitches, 13 balls.

Second inning, got 3 straight groundouts. He hasn’t thrown a first pitch strike yet.

Third inning – grounder to left off Paredes’ glove for a single. By the way, I’m not slamming jimmy, but pointing out that Chris Johnson was constantly criticized for the exact same thing. Paredes has a GOOD arm. Where was I? oh yeah – HBP on 0-2 and yeah, Sosa is now throwing first pitch strikes. Then 2 popups and a swinging K, his first.

And at the end of 3 innings, Astros haven’t had a hit although Bogu walked to break up the perfecto.

4th inning, Sosa gets groundout, walks the pitcher, GIDP 6-4-3. Astros still don’t have a hit.

5th inning: Bogu breaks up the nono with a single which goes under the first baseman’s glove.  He should have gottyen that – but of course, no error. Then Paredes hits a double to the RF corner and it’s men on second and third. Clint Barmes hits a popup into shallow right, Bogu scores and for some reason, Upton throws the ball home and Barmes goes to second on the throw. No error given, not sure why. Quintero popsup to shallow center – Chris Young completely misses that catchable ball – again, no error (because his glove didn’t touch it) and Paredes scores. Mills has Sosa sac-bunt, but didn’t put the squeeze on and so Astros scored only 2 runs because JB Shuck apparently can’t hit an inside pitch and Altuve grounded out.

Sosa back out – Gets a swinging K, gives up a double to Upton past a diving Paredes, a groundout then a 0-2 RBI double on a FB down the middle, then a groundout.

Dbax 4 Astros 2 – at least we won’t get no-hit or shutout. For a team THIS bad, we have only been shutout 5 times, which is surprising. The year we won the pennant, we were shutout over 20 times.

6th inning: Stros 10 pitches, 3 outs. Dbax 10 pitches, 3 outs – 2 K and a flyout. The slider started sliding around the 3rd inning and he got hits on FB that caught too much of the plate.

Conclusion about Sosa – he’s bettern Happ-less. Which isn’t saying much. He has a OK fastball and a very good slider. He’s got some other cutter/changeup that is OK. I see why his walk rate in AAA was over 4/9 IP. The reason he’s bettern Happ is that his pitches have better movement and aren’t being fouled off constantly.

He earned another start, in my book. If he gives up 4 runs/6 IP – hey, that is a GOOD 5th starter.

7th inning: Colmenter has a seriously wicked curveball and he gets 1,2,3 out. Sosa is done and Wilton Lopez comes in. It doesn’t matter if he gives up runs NOW – stupid Millsie-poo shoulda sent him in to START the 6th inning yesterday – but it’s a lil too late to do the right thing now. Then again maybe not. He gets a flyout and 2 straight singles and he’s out. I almost wish that someone lets HIS runs score – I’m tired of him Francoing the starters.

In comes Escalona to face lefty Montero and gets him.  But Millsie-poo doesn’t trust him to get Chris Young, so in comes Fulchino. I don’t have much hope that Fulchino will get out of the inning without giving up runs. Correctamundo – Upton starts off for second, Fulchino turns to throw to second, but there’s no one there, Barmes comes over, drops the ball, Upton is safe as Roberts comes home to score. Fulchino gets the error, not Barmes, who dropped the ball thrown RIGHT TO HIM. The scorers are nutty.

But Wilton-ie gets tagged with a run, for a change.

Dbax 5 Stros 2

8th inning: Bryan Shaw relieves. PH Angel Sanchez GO, JB gets only inside FB and bloops the second one into left for a single. Altuve singles. JD walks. Clank hits a RBI groundout then Bogusevic GO. Apparently the Dbax game plan is to throw pretty much everyone inside FB and cutters.

In comes Aneury, who lost out on a start to Sosa. He gave up a run on a walk and a RBI triple.

Dbax 6 Stros 3

9th inning: In comes David Hernandez – that’s funny, I thought Putz was the closer. But he did fine – 3 outs, 11 pitches.

Tomorrow, it’s lefty Joe Saunders. Don’t guess Shuck or Bogu will be in the lineup…

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Posted in Bogusevic, Henry Sosa | No Comments »

In Which Jordan Lyles Gives Up 7 Runs But Does Not “Lose”

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

It’s tough to be an Astros fan these days.

Jordan Lyles is a 20 year old kid. The pennant (I mean postseason) is not on the line. Learning should not consist ONLY of having his head beat in as his manager leaves him in to get pounded.

sigh

At the end of the 4th inning, Jordan was leading 7-1. Yes, you read that right. Jason Marquis was throwing batting practice – the score COULD have been even higher, but Jason Bourgeois, who did not have a good night, left 2 on in the first; Quintero left Paredes on 3rd with 2 out in the 3 run third; Angel Sanchez left Bogu at second in the 3 run 4th.

It’s not that Jordan had been untouchable – in the first, he got a GO, K, single, RBI double and a FO to deep right center. In the second, he got a FO, GO, single, then GO from the pitcher. OK, this finishes the first time thru the lineup. In the 3rd, GO, FO, lineout to Clank. In the 4th, Montero singles, Young singles to left and JD throws out Montero at third (good throw, better tag by Paredes)

5th inning – Marquis is gone and Micah Owings is in -  I remember Micah only too well, the pitcher who can hit (career .828 OPS) - I remember him from the infamous game the first year of Cooper – he was called in to pinch hit and hit the go ahead homer off Dave Borkowski and Cooper absolutely LOST it with Bork – also, this was the game in which JR Towles was robbed of a homer – incorrectly called a double and Cooper went off on him too and that was the end of him too. The “Brooks Kieschnick” experiment with him in Cincy worked great in 09 but he didn’t pitch OR hit well last year and he came home to Arizona. Which worried me because I remember him as an Astros killah.

Anyway, he gets 1,2,3 out and then Jordan is back in. He’s starting off with the #8 hitter, who hits a clean single to center. Then Owings is up – and I’m remembering that this is the guy who has hit 9 HR in 201 AB – and he Jordan jams him and he hits this little popup behind first base – Clank barely stirs himself, kind of halfheartedly jogs over to where the ball will probably fall foul, BUT IT DOESN’T. It should, SHOULD have been 1 easy out, maybe even doubling the runner off first, but no error, no out and this is BAD juju.

No one goes over to Lyles to say anything, calm him down, nothing. He’s not a seasoned vet, he’s a 20 year old kid.

We’re starting the 3rd time through the lineup – and we all know that everyone has now seen Jordan twice AND have seen all his pitches and this is when hitters have figured out how to adjust, IF they can. And, mind, it’s CB Bucknor behind the plate and we all know THAT guy. Isn’t it interesting how we know the names of most of the umpires these days? And how 15 years ago we didn’t know/care? Unless it was some SERIOUS something that affected a pennant race or the WS (say, Eric Gregg calling every pitch thrown to Indians batters as a strike no matter where it was)  - or a tragedy like Dave Pallone getting shot or John McSherry having a heart attack on the field during a game.

I’m not a big fan of instant replay but I sure would like to have a Questec/pitch fx type machine calling balls/strikes – every single pitcher and hitter have exactly the same zone regardless of the quality of pitcher/hitter, regardless of the score/inning. As I’ve said before.

Anyway, it’s men on first and second, no out. Willie Bloomquest singles up the middle – IF can’t get it and it is bases loaded, no outs. Ryan Roberts pops up on the IF fly rule – one blessed out.

The infield fly rule, by the way, is simple – it happens with 0 or 1 out and men on first and second. The UMPIRE calls “infield fly” and the batter is automatically out whether or not the ball is caught or dropped. If the ball is dropped, the runners ARE allowed to run if they tag up first, but this would be as rare as a triple play – probably even rarer since, oh, say 40 years ago when gloves started improving. I’m saying this about the rule because I can NOT believe how many people don’t know what this rule IS. It does NOT apply with 2 outs. It does NOT apply with men on second and third, men on first and third.

Where was I? Oh yeah – bases loaded, 1 out, Justin Upton is up. Justin is a GOOD hitter – actually, he’s the only guy I’ve ever seen hit a baseball OVER the 435 sign in deep center. Jordan throws 3 outside pitches, goes to 1-2, then throws a changeup down the middle and Upton hits it off the LF fence and 2 runs are in – when he hit that ball, I thought it was gonna be OVER the fence, but I guess he juuuust got under it a bit.

Stros 7 Dbax 3, men on second and third, 1 out and Montero is up – and Montero is a GOOD hitting catcher. So he hits a blooping single off a GOOD pitch, an inside FB, over the IF, Bogu has to run forward to get it and both runs score – and a perfect strike wouldn’t have nailed Upton neither because he’s FAST.

Stros 7 Dbax 5 – Young flies out to deep center and Kelly Johnson Ks.  27 pitches and he faced 8 batters.

Time to pull him, dontcha think, let someone new start a fresh inning? Yeah, I know he’s only thrown 80 pitches, but he barely escaped the 5th – let the guy have his W. (And don’t give me any let’s see how Aneury does because Ed Wade made it plain that we were gonna call up a guy he’d traded Keppinger for – gotta show how good he is at trades, even if he can’t draft guys who are any good).

But noooooooooo. He’s put out there to start the 6th – Mills should catch holy heck for that, but this being Houston, it ain’t gonna happen (just imagine 7 years ago if Jimy Williams had done that) and sure enough, he gies up a single, then a double.

And then Mills sends in the WORST reliever possible, Wilton Lopez, who lets over half of his inherited runners score. So you’ll NEVAH guess what happened. Yep. But fortunately, he gave up 2 runs of his own – the guy who he let single in Lyles’ runs and Upton, who hit a changeup down the middle over the wall.

I shrugged, sighed, cursed Mills and went to bed – I hate these late starting West Coast games and am NOT looking forward to being put in any West division (you wanna bet it happens within the next 2 years – I bet it was a condition for agreeing to let Crane buy the team with so little money and keep the payroll down and the team in the cellar_

Owings pitched 3 innings, giving up 1 run, Jimmy Paredes first ML homer – over the CF wall. Astros loaded the bases in the 8th with 2 out, but Bogu struck out.

Froddy gave up 2 runs (one of em an IBB who scored) and then Stros are screwed by Bucknor in the bottom of the 9th. Well traveled closer JJ Putz comes in, gives up a FO, 2 straight singles, a RBI GR double. Men on second and third. PH Downs is up. He goes to 3-1. Ball 4 is WAY inside and is called Strike 2. Downs tells the ump it was inside. The ump says he better swing at the next pitch cuz it’s gonna get called Strike 3. So naturally he swings and misses, Altuve then strands both runners and Astros lose.

Now you might could say that Downs could have hit that very hittable pitch he swung at and missed for strike 3, or Altuve could well have GIDP and the game would have been ovah anyhow, but youneverknow.

Of course Aneury is not starting today’s game, Henry Sosa is. Henry pitched 2 good games at AA Corpus and 7 shutout innings his last start at AAA. This makes him ML ready, you see. He’s a 26 year old righty with 2 years of AAA experience – ERA 4.89/WHIP 1.60 over 145 IP: 9.7 H/9, 1.4 HR/9. 4.6 BB/9 and 6.6 K/9

Whoopie like do

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Posted in Jordan Lyles | 20 Comments »

8/8/11: Wandy Pitches 6 Scoreless, JD Martinez Homers Again And Astro Beat Diamondbacks

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

The Astros batted around in the FIRST inning. Note that for once, there was no Clank. JB Shuck led off – glad to see him and not Jason EFF Michaels out there, Altuve batted second, Nourgeois 3rd (you EVER think you’d see him in the 4 hole???!!!) and JD Martinez hit cleanup.

Started out great – Shuck GO to Cody Rasmus – remember him? He’s one of those AAAA guys who gets 20-40 games every year in the majors for some team and he was with the Astros in 07, signed as a 6 year minor league FA – his 10th year in pro ball – and was the Round Rock AAA player of the year. Joe McEwing, a guy just like him, had been the AAA player of the year in 06 and it was right then that I KNEW that the Astros minor league system was in much MUCH deeper doodoo than I had realized, although I had been quite aware that it was NOT exactly the 01 system.

,Where was I? Oh yeah, 1 out, then Altuve doubled down the LF line (he’s STILL hitting over .300), then JD hit a changeup off the END of his bat which went over the RF wall into the bullpen.  Whoa. 4 run lead.

Then Matt Downs grounded out – he had a bad game with the bat and he made 2 MAJOR baserunning mistakes – and I mean – there’s no excuse for THOSE mistakes, he didn’t just come up from the minors (more later), then Paredes and Barmes singled, Corporan doubled them home, Wandy blooped a single into left !!!!! But Shuck made the 3ed out.

5 run lead!!!

Wandy, we know, is pitching in spite of a sore shoulder, and he looked a little stiff out there – came out throwing FB – got a single, popup. Then he started throwing chngeups and curves, couldn’t get em in the zone, but fortunately Upton got himself out on a popup, Wandy gave up a “hit” to Chris Young, who hit what should have been an easy line drive to the left of Paredes, who let it clank off his glove (CJ would have caught holy heck if it had been him) and everyone was safe. Wandyf walked the next guy – Corporan wasn’t getting him any borderline calls on the outside black, and the curveball asn’t curving much. Fortunately, the next hitter just got on top of a curve in the zone and grounded out. 25 pitches – I was afraid he was picking up where Happ-less left off…

Second inning, Altuve singles, Bourgeois lined out to third – a tougher play than the one Paredes didn’t make, then Altuve stole second without a throw, JD singled to shallow right after a 9 pitch AB – something the Astros are PARTICULARLY bad at – not the singling, the extending ABs by fouling off pitches. Downs doubled down the LF line scoring Altuve. JD stopped at third – not sure if even Bourn could have scored from first on THAT one unless he had a good lead, and JD didn’t.  Paredes hit a hard GB to second and JD couldn’t score.

Then – I could hardly believe this – Barmes hits a high chopper up the middle – JD is already breaking for home – the SS grabs the ball, fires to first to try to get Barmes, and STUPIDLY, Downs didn’t stop at second – and remember, this is NOT a guy who is fast, is chugging home, the first baseman has an EASY throw to the catcher and Downs is a dead duck by 15-20 feet. I can’t tell if Clark was waving him home or if he ran through a stop sign, but all I can say is – you gotta be freaking kidding me!!! This is similar to the boneheaded baserunning thingy that Barmes did the game before.

Fortunately, we’re ahead 7-0.

Wandy is having the same problems with control – w walks, 2 K, 1 groundout, no runs, 27 pitches.

Hudson manages to get through the 3rd inning giving up only a single to JB. NOW he singles…

Wandy gets 2 groundouts, 1 walk and a popup on 18 pitches. STILL struggling to get pitches where he wants em.

4th inning – Hudson out, llefty ex-Pirate Zach Duke in for long relief. Looks like the old Zach Duke – 3 groundouts and a GB single. Didn’t know he wasn’t starting any more. Wandy has decided to slow down the ol FB a couple MPH (or maybe he DIDN’T decide to) and from then on, whatever DID come in the zone, the couldn’t do anything with – a couple of lazy FB and routine grounders. He left after 6 leading 7-0/105 pitches, 2 hits, 4 walks. Didn’t like the walks, but better than grooving one and giving up something awful like a RBI XBH.

Another Astros baserunning screwup – top of the 6th – GO, single, WP, FO, walk, Downs singles, bases loaded 2 outs. Paredes singles to SHALLOW left, men on second and third score, LF throws ball home from SHALLOW left, Downs tries to advance to third on the throw.

Of course he’s out by 30 feet – the catcher would have had to throw the ball back into LF for Downs to not have been caught off base. I don’t know if this is Downs doing his own thing or obeying the coaches, but this is a SLOW guy who has no business trying to go to third on a ball hit to SHALLOW left.

Fortunately, we’re ahead by 9 runs, but it isn’t a good idea to have baserunners doing stupid stuff. And Downs at first base makes Clank look like a Gold Glover – he couldn’t even get to an easy popup in foul ground.

sigh

Fulchino pitches the 7th and 8th, giving up only a solo homer to Chris Young and Wesley Wright mopped up the 9th, getting a groundout, a single and a GIDP.

We’re fast approaching 40 wins – but not to fear, even the Pirates, in spite of their 10 game losing streak, are far FAR ahead and not threatening to grab last place. It will be FUN to see what Crane will do next year if the ol cheapskate finds out that he gets first pick and will be expected to pick the best prospect available who will most likely be represented by Boras. Will he pull a Padres and pick a piece of crap like Matt Bush, making an ass of himself complaining about “signability” to excuse having to pay only 3 million for nothing instead of more million for something?

Tonight, it’s Jordan Lyles, trying to see if he can do the unthinkable and win again – and we’re facing Jason Marquis, who was traded from the Nats. The Dbax, by the way, not only gave the Nats some good prospects, but paid ALL of Marquis’ remaining salary…

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Posted in fulchino, JD Martinez, Wandy Rodriguez, Wesley Wright | No Comments »

5/28/11: Quintero Hurt In Home Plate Collision as Astros Lose To Dbax

Saturday, May 28th, 2011

Just the other day, a Young Handsome Star Catcher was badly injured in a collision at home plate. Buster Posey was blocking the plate, waiting to receive a throw and the runner coming home barreled into him to push him off the plate. Unfortunately, Posey was balanced in such a way that he couldn’t move nimbly enough and he landed awkwardly on his ankle and it broke. It wasn’t in any way a dirty play or a bush move. Home plate collisions happen ALL the time, in spite of the fact that the rule book is quite clear about fielders not being allowed to block any base.

I want to point out, right now, that Brad Ausmus, no fire plug, was VERY good at tagging out runners without putting his body in the runner’s way such that a runner had to act like a football tackle.

I also want to point out that players AND fans, for the most part, have NO problem with the violation of the Rule Book which explicitly states that fielders may NOT block the base. You never see first basemen standing in front ot the bag – and imagine trying to push Prince Fielder out of the way to reach the base. Anyway, even GRRRRRLS playing baseball were into the dramatic home plate collision stuff – remember Kit and Dottie in the movie (guess it wasn’t exciting enough watching females have to slide with bruised bare legs)…

Anyway, the Astros were leading 6-0 in the 5th when “Astros Ace” walked a man, then threw a high outside FB to some AAA guy, who promptly deposited it in the RF bleachers. And 6-2 in the 6th when aforementioned ace walked a guy then threw a high outside FB TO THE SAME GUY WHO HIT IT OUT THE INNING BEFORE. And then it was 6-4.

And in the 7th, Wilton Lopez, made a crappy throw home and the runner from 3rd hit Q, who was blocking the plate – runners scored, Q on DL, Robinson Cancel called up from AAA.

ADDENDUM:

I thought this post posted fine until I noticed it didn’t and that most fo the post was missing – sorry. computer is having trouble – just like Bud Norris tonight – balking home a run – grooving a FB to the pitcher for a 3 run homer. Just like Bill Hall make another error (bobbbled the throw from Towles which would have caught Stephen Drew stealing – and maybe all those other runs wouldn’t have scored and youneverknow…

But that was the absolute best I have seen Zach Duke pitch in like 3 years – I thought he was gonna throw a nono.

Wandy got put on the DL with elbow problems (ohmi GAWD) and so phenom Jordan Lyles was called up ahead of the Super 2 deadline. Over the last 7 games, he thrown at least 6 innings and has had only 1 bad game in which he gave up 5 runs. In 3 of those starts, he gave up no runs, in 1 he gave up 1 run and in the other 2 he gave up 2 runs. In any case, he’s sure to get us SOME media – maybe an extra 5 seconds on BBTN, youneverknow.

It’s J Happ tomorrow, and I’m not holding my breath…

By the way – posts will be sporadic for a few days – comp[uter trouble

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Posted in Wandy Rodriguez, Wilton Lopez | 3 Comments »

The Astros And The Grays Have A Good 2010 Labor Day Weekend

Monday, September 6th, 2010

Why yes, we DID go away for the weekend, however did all yall guess? Went to see relatives and unfortunately, they live in Rangers territory, so watching games wasn’t an option for me. I DID sneak out and quick listen to snippets of the games on XM – and one important thing I heard was the Arizona announcers, who knew Chris Wallace QUITE well from his days at Arizona State University, saying that Wallace is being fed a steady diet of inside pitches because he apparently can’t handle major league stuff inside.

Interesting – lessee if that is correct. I went back, just to August 27 (Mets series) to see what he was hitting and what he was being fed and, first, this is what he hit for his 5 hits:

single to L – midplate, outside the zone FB
double to L – FB right down the middle
single to R – FB low outside corner just outside the zone
single to L – FB midplate just outside
single bloop popup shallow right – inside hi FB

I should note that he swung at 9 pitches outside the zone, got hits on 3, fouled off the other 6 – and none were close enough to be called strikes.

So, by the 9 zones, here are the strikes he was thrown and took/swung at/fouled off or got out on:

hi inside: 2
hi midplate: 5
hi outside: 4
middle in: 10
midplate: 5
middle out: 12
low in: 4
low midplate: 0
low outside: 1

Well, looks to me as if he’s missing all OVAH the place and they certainly aren’t concentrating on throwing inside, seeing as how he can’t seem to hit anything but a FB and he is just getting around on stuff on the outside. Not exactly sure what is off or if it is that his swing is too long/too short or what. The opposition is not just throwing him breaking stuff neither – he isn’t hitting fastballs very well. Maybe is it just making the adjustment from minor league to major league pitching. I sure nuff hope so because Clank is getting enough starts at 1B to make me think that Wallace isn’t going to be our 1B next year and Clank is just as dreadful with the glove at first as he is in left.

I checked out a few plays from Wandy’s game and saw how Clank’s incredibly lousy stop n throw of what should have been a simple 3-1 cost Wandy the game. Wandy tried to desperately stop the ball with his bare hand – must have stung, because he immediately threw a hanger which left the yard and that was the ballgame. You wouldn’t think that it is that hard to play first, but apparently it actually DOES take some skill.

And Bud Norris lost again. This time, he didn’t even make it 5 innings. I wondered if his previous lousy game happened because he threw to Castro and not Quintero, but this time he had Q back and it was the same old Bud not being able to locate – 3 walks, 1 homer, 8 hits, 5 ER with 1 fewer inning pitched. 

Bud wait!!!

Let’s check out what he threw and what got hit – 102 pitches, 58 FB, 25 sliders and 19 changeups. He actually, really threw only 1 bad pitch. The 2 doubles and the triple he gave up were all on changeups at the knees and inside and they all went down juuuuust inside the RF line. Sorry, but those were good pitches – had bad results, but the location wasn’t off. The 5 singles were ALL at the knees, 3 inside, 2 midplate. But the 3 run homer, which done him in, was a changeup smack dab down the middle and those pretty much get hit out.

So actually, he threw pretty well – 1 of every 3 pitches was fouled off and it looks as if the Dbax hitters are low ball hitters, and they really should have done the climb the ladder type game plan. That and Bud shouldn’t throw changes down the middle, but hey, it was his last pitch and he was tired.

The Astros came back to win 2 of 4 games, Wilton Lopez has now lost 2 straight games – might could he be tired? And Lyon appears to be staying in the closer role – and not sure if he is gonna stay there or not.

Today, it’s Figgy vs Carlos Silva.

Silva has faced the Astros 3 times this year and is 2-1: 7 IP, 0 ER/2R; 5 IP, 1 ER; 1 IP, 5 ER.

I got scolded for saying that Nelson Figueroa is a lucky pitcher. OK, let’s hope he ends up pitching with the same results he got the last few times, luck or no luck (meaning very few runs given up…)

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Posted in Brett Wallace, Bud Norris, Wilton Lopez | 2 Comments »

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