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6/19/11: Astros Get To Play REAL Baseball And Take Series From Dodgers

Monday, June 20th, 2011

before going to Dallas and facing our supposed rivals the Rangers in the Interleague silliness.

After getting stomped by the Pirates, who are actually starting to look like a .500 team, as opposed to a .400 team, we managed to take 2 from the Dodgers, who are currently supposedly unaffected by the little problem caused by Frank McCourt’s flagrant looting of the franchise. Remember how he got this loan from Fox of 300 mill and he said publically AND on the record that wouldn’t none of that $$$ be used for personal use, just to put into the club?

Uh hunh, suurrrre. Check out reporter Steve Dilbeck:

“The $300 million I made clear to baseball today, that the entirety of the $300 million is going directly into the Dodgers as equity,” McCourt said April 27th. “None of those dollars is being used in any personal way. I would be happy to make that commitment in writing.”

Well, he did make a commitment in writing Friday in his “divorce settlement,” though the money to be loaned by Fox up front had somehow mushroomed to $385 million.

And per the divorce agreement, out of that $385 million: $5 million would go each to Frank and Jamie McCourt to cover attorneys’ fees (hey, they stayed up to 3 a.m. Friday); each would get $5 million to do with as they please (down payment on another villa!); $23.5 million would repay Frank for the personal loan he acquired to make payroll (think that $30 mil Fox already loaned him); $80 million will be used to pay off debt (well, a little of it); and $50 million will be placed into an account subject to the court’s orders (no, not for a left fielder, it’s just-in-case money).

Grand total: $173.5 million.

Otherwise, not a cent of the TV money will be for personal use! Other than that $173.5 million.

I don’t know, other than that, I’m sure MLB is convinced Frank is reformed, has learned all those valuable lessons and will always put the Dodgers first. I mean, why wouldn’t they take Frank at his word?

- why am I mentioning all this stuff? Because Frank wants to hang on for dear life and he is constantly being exposed as a liar – and a liar who has no money except for a proposed Fox deal which might could be all KINDS of bad news in the not to distant future. Frank, you see, was highly leveraged when he was allowed to buy the franchise.

And he had more collateral than jim Crane. Maury Brown, whose expose in Forbes I linked to last entry, notes that although the Houston media is absolutely silent, that the Chicago Tribune had something to say:

“Despite an unflattering profile in Forbes Magazine, which details a long history of employment complaints from minorities and women, Houston businessman Jim Crane still appears on track to be approved as the Astros’ new owner. However, one source said Major League Baseball staffers are investigating one allegation raised in the story, with an outside chance it could complicate the transfer.

MLB long ago vetted Crane, who was involved in attempts to purchase the Cubs and Rangers, and excused him in almost all of the cases Forbes raises. But at least one element of the story surprised Selig’s staff, requiring additional legwork.

The source denied Crane is under additional scrutiny because of the troubles of the Dodgers’ Frank McCourt and Chuck Greenberg, whom Nolan Ryan and their other partners bought out within his first year of owning the Rangers.”

- Maury himself said he had another piece of information which he did NOT publish because he couldn’t find a second corroborating source, but I hope it is something that will keep Buddy boy from letting this sale go through because he just might could NOT want another repeat of what is going on in LA.

The Dodgers looked dispirited – I men, yeah, I know you don’t look happy when you get 4 hit by a guy with a 5+ ERA, or shutout by Wandy and bullpen – and Wandy didn’t have his best stuff again, but managed to throw 6 scoreless with 7 H, 2 walks and a GIDP. Bud Norris threw 6 innings of 1 hit 1 walk shutout ball and got a ND for his trouble.

Good news is that Chris Johnson has started hitting better. Not sure yet if Pence will be able to play with his lebow problem – too many athletes won’t rest injuries, then they get even worse…

Sorry about the no posts this weekend – we were enjoying a weekend off in Galveston and I just didn’t have the energy left over to stay up, watch the remainder of the late games then write. Yet ANOTHER reason why I don’t want my team in the West whether it’s NL or AL…

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Posted in Ensberg, Hunter Pence | 8 Comments »

5/24/11: Bill Hall Hits His Way Back Into The Lineup

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

Bud Norris threw 7 good innings. He had 2 outs in the 7th with 2 terrible hitters coming up. First, Dioner Navarro – ex Ray, who was gotten rid of when he wasn’t any good any more (Gerry H, you know) who hit an inside FB for a GR double. Then, for reasons completely unclear to me, Mills orders Bud to walk Russell Mitchell, a AAA guy playing 3rd because Casey Blake is on the DL – and Russell is hitting under MY weight, had looked BAD facing Bud in his 2 previous ABs – to face Clayton Kershaw.

Don Mattingly may not be the world’s best manager, but even HE has the sense to bring in a pinch hitter for the pitcher in the 7th with 2 on 2 out, score tied at 1.

So WHY, WHY, WHY put a guy who is an easy out on base in the first place?

I hate these POINTLESS intentional walks. Especially when Kershaw (yeah I know he’s the pitcher and yeah, he’s batting lefty vs a righty) is hitting better than the guy who was intentionally walked. It’s one thing to walk Jose Bautista to get to the next guy with 2 outs, 1B open. But a guy who can’t hit? It’s not like someone is setting up the DP – and even THEN, how many times have we seen that backfire?

IF I had any ability to use all this data, I would check and see how many times IBB a hitter who is NOT Pujols actually works. Interesting that Joe Girardi, who is taking some serious heat this year for having a roster full of Old Guys who aren’t playing like the 09 Yankees, had his pitcher issue 2 IBB in the same inning and lost the game. And he’s taking MAJOR stuff for that, too.

Anyway, Bill Hall went 4 fer 4 with 2 runs scored – Quintero drove him in once and Bourn drove him in in the 9th (atoning for a rare error) – he must have read my – who will be gone when Keppinger/Bourgeois are ready – paragraph, hunh?

The media is full of articles talking about how McCourt and his lack of $$$ is ruining the Dodgers and how Wilpon and his involvement, legal or not, with Bernie Madoff and gang, is causing the Mets to slash payroll as Wilpon disses his few good players, Wright, Reyes and Beltran. Guess he’s picked up some hints on how to spit on guys he wants gone, who are good but expensive, so that fans won’t notice that he’s gotten rid of anyone who is any good. And he and fans get to blame everything on Those Greedy Players and their HUGE salaries.

Interesting that Bud Selig and gang, who thoroughly disapproved of Jim Crane for 3 years, suddenly don’t seem to have a problem with him and his massive debt load. I can’t understand why on earth he would want an ownership group with massive debt and no money, unless the real purpose is to try to get evey team except for the Red Sox and Yankees to drastically slash payroll and force baseball players to take less money while the owners hide profit in the RSNs they are all forming, as well as their private ticket resale comapnies (see the C*bs). Which would make sense to me. Bud is one of the old cabal who participated in Collusion with the purpose of paying ballplayers the least amount possible and he’s the guy who mismanaged negotiations, which caused the 94 strike.

I know I’ve said this before, and I sound like an Old Person who wants dam kidz offn her lawn, but more and more it seems to me that MLB has been, for about 10 years, re-organized such that pretty much ALL media attention is focused on Yankees/Red Sox. Bud now wants to re-invent the playoffs with yet some additional game whose sole purpose is to ensure that neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox ever again miss at least the first round. As well as the Interleague “rivalry” series, which are all cleverly scheduled to take place on weekends in late May and mid-June, so as to attract the biggest crowds – so that he can trumpet the Great Success of interleague.

sigh

This is why there is no balance in the schedules, why some teams have a significantly more difficult schedule than others, which is, to put it mildly, hardly a fair contest. Not that Bud and owners and Fox/ESPN care real too particular much.

sigh

It’s getting harder and harder to maintain enthusiasm for MLB, let alone the Astros. And this isn’t even discussing the HP umpires and their inconstant zones.

Today, J Happ faces Chad Billingsley, RHP – so at least tonight, we can be sure that Brett Wallace, our best hitter, isn’t benched in favor of the player who is vastly inferior but makes 40 times as much money. Kershaw pitched a magnificent 7 innings last night, only to get screwed by his lousy bullpen – hmmmmm, sounds like the Astros.

Billingsley has pitched well this year – 10 games over 62.1 IP: 51 H, 25 BB, 3 HR, 54 K, 24 ER: 3.47 ERA/1.22 WHIP and a .223 BAA.

The guy has gotten seriously Clemensed by his team – last 3 games he has gotten a L: 3 ER/6 IP; 1 ER/8 IP; 3 ER/7 IP. And the 2 games before that he had 2 ND: 1 ER/7 IP and 4 ER/6 IP. And the game before that he had a ND for 0 ER/8 IP. Wandy feels his pain.

Isn’t the game exciting now that MLB has deadened the ball to prove that Those Evulll Steroids are finally gone?

Anyway, we didn’t face Billingsley at all last year, so I hate to give previous stats when he face a completely different team. Hard to believe this guy has been in the majors since 06 – I remember when he came up – he was a first rounder and fans/media expected him to come up and be Roy Oswalt and never struggle. His early veteran-heavy teams led by Good Guy Jeff Kent didn’t want young players on the team – they wanted them to be either benched or traded for more Proven Veterans, but Bilingsley has hung in there and pitched very well every year except for 09. He’s posted more Ben Sheets numbers, in terms of Wins, than Roy Oswalt ever did, but too many people think that if some athlete doesn’t measure up to their fantasy/projection, he is a failure, even if he does WELL instead of Great.

Oh, and before I forget – kudos to Hitter Pence for driving in the winning run last night. I like how he’s been making a habit of this. I wouldn’t be real too particular surprised if Fast Eddie, under the edict to slash payroll for our new broke-ass owners, trades Pence and Wandy for a fistful of nothing (Phils ain’t got nothin good in their farm left to trade) as well as anyone else besides Clank who earns over the minimum. Then Crane can endear himself to fans by informing them that he’s not gonna spend any money until they all go out to the ballpark and waste time on money on Pirates V2.

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Posted in Bud Norris, fulchino, Hunter Pence | 15 Comments »

Michael Bourn Makes The Catch Of The Week, Pence And Lee Homer And Astros Beat Dodgers

Sunday, September 12th, 2010

Well friends and neighbors, I wrote an entry and the computer ate it and I am too tired to re-write it so let me say that Brett Wallace is smashing the ball, Castro drove in the winning run, Bourn made an INCREDIBLE catch and tomorrow the Crew is comin to town and we’ll face lefty Chris Narveson and I hope Mills doesn’t bench Wallace as usual, but I’m not holding my breath…

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Posted in Brett Wallace, Jason Castro, Michael Bourn, Nelson Figueroa | No Comments »

Astros Help Dodgers Win With Endless Screwups And Errors In The 9th

Sunday, September 12th, 2010

First things first – Michael Bourn’s on base streak is now at 20 games!!!!

Wandy pitched great for 6 of 7 innings. He didn’t give up a hit until the 4th, although he gave up 2 walks in the first – the HP ump again had a, uh, inconsistant strike zone. But he rolled through the next 2 innings. He threw a FB down the middle to Casey Blake, first pitch, who hit it into the Crawford Boxes. Peachy. Then 2 more runs on 2 singles and a SB.

Wandy and Castro gave up THREE stolen bases – not like either or them.

But Michael Bourn, STILL on a tear – it’s like April – tripled to the same LF corner he did last night and again, Gibbons couldn’t get it. It was funny – he tripped and fell rounding second and Matt Kemp, who had retrieved the ball, had some kind of brain fart or something – hesitated at least a few seconds – and Michael picked himself up and zoomed into third. Better than in the first when he was thrown out trying to go first to third on a single to shallow left.  Anyway, Kepp hit the ball to the 5.5 hole and Furcal couldn’t get it in time to throw out either Michael or Kepp.

So at least we didn’t get shut out.

Wallace homered to lead off the bottom of the 5th. He hit 3 balls VERY far and 1 of em went out. Better than his old striking out/weakass grounding/can of corn stuff he had been doing. Then Sanchez and Castro both singled, Wandy sac-bunted them over then Michael drove in the tying run with a sac-fly. But Kepp grounded out.

I should note that so far in this series, Pence and Clank have done zippola and you are not gonna win real too much when you get pretty much most of your offense from Michael Bourn and the #7 and 8 guys. I should also note that Jason Michaels has done zip as both a position player and as a PH. Bogusevic is nervous and swinging at stuff out of the zone.

Actually, the Dodgers are playing a lot of rooks and they are obviously thinking – whoa it is a LOT tougher to hit major league pitching…

This game, by the way, also dragged.

The game stayed tied into the 9th and Lyon came on to pitch after his 25 pitch outing last night. Let’s say that it did NOT go well. First he walks Oeltjen, the pinch hitter. And those pitches were outside the strike zone for ANY ump. Then Reed Johnson comes on to sac bunt – and let me be kind here and just say that Wallace made a monumental effup – grabbed the bunt when it was fair way too late to get anyone out. Either grab it early or let it roll foul. Then Ellis, hitting Mendoza line, also went to sac bunt – oh jeez – Lyon goes to get it, makes a terrible throw, Kepp doesn’t get it, Pence, backing up makes a terrible throw to third, which goes into the bullpen and Ellis is on third.

Note that Lyon has lost 6 games so far this year. No one has noticed. If he had been the closer when he did most of the losing, everyone would notice, but he has somehow slid under the radar. If he was Brad Lidge, everyone would be screaming about how he is a “head case” or something. If he was Wandy, we would be hearing all about how “bad Wandy” has come back because he’s mental anyhow. Or something.

Anyway, Mills pulls Lyon and sends in Byrdak to face Loney, who sends a fly ball to left, but Pence gets a bad jump, slides and the ball clangs off his glove (do NOT ask me why this is not an error) and the run scores.

Of course, you CAN’T leave Byrdak in to face a righty!!! (horrors!!!!) but Fulchino comes in and gets the next 2 outs. But it doesn’t matter because the Dodgers’ closer is Kuo who is basically Eric Gagne, only smaller, older, Asian and un-noticed. The Dodgers are going to have a nails setup/closer next year with Jansen/Kuo – now all they have to do is replace Manny Ramirez 08/09.

This afternoon, it’s Figgy vs Carlos Monasterios, who is a rook who has not pitched particularly well. So I hope we can even it up.

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Posted in Michael Bourn, Wandy Rodriguez | 2 Comments »

Lefty Gibbons Homers Off Lefty Abad To Beat Astros

Friday, September 10th, 2010

Brad Mills is more obsessed with platoons than Phil PLUS Coop. He pulls more pitchers for being the wrong hand than TLR ever did. But I doubt that a lefty beating a lefty is going to do anything to his obsession.

I was, by the way, gonna title this one – In Which Hunter Pence Is The Goat – but hey, baseball is all about failure. Pence misplayed the go-head triple in the 6th, grounded out weakly with bases loaded in the 5th, and struck out stranding Bourn, who drove in the only Astros runs, in the 10th.

The game draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaged. It took 3 1/2 hours to finish the bottom of the 9th and I was glad that I hadn’t gone, fireworks or no fireworks (forget the harmonica thingy for the record – they couldn’t pay me to have to listen to that)…

Anyhow, JA Happ had trouble finding the strike zone – not entirely his fault, as the HP ump didn’t really have one to speak of. He gave up a 1 out double in the first and stranded him. He then gave up a single to Barajas in the 3rd, then with 1 out, Furcal singled him to third. With Jamey Carroll up, Furcal tried to steal second, but Carroll hit the ball up the middle and Keppinger, moving to cover second for the SB throw, grabbed the ball easily, stepped on second and threw out Carroll. If Furcal hadn’t started running, that would have been an RBI single and there would still be men on first and third. Like I said, baseball is a game of failure.

In the 5th, Barajas singled, Kuroda sac-bunted him to second, Furcal Kd then Carroll, making up for his lost RBI his previous AB doubled home Barajas and the Dodgers led 1-0. Blake then hit a bullet to first, but Wallace just didn’t move in time and the ball hit his glove and dribbled into left – DUDE!!! WHAT THE HECK!!! And I don’t know why that was a hit and not an error. So Happ threw 5 more pitches and struck out Ethier to strand 2 runners.

I’m getting worried about CJ – he’s getting awfully swing happy – and yes I do know that he walked today – dude walks about as often as Tejada. But anyway, I swear that CJ swings at almost every single pitch in the zone, AND he seems to have caught Craig Biggio disease, which Pence had for like 1 1/2 years in which he swings at low and away sliders. Baggy had better start working with the boy. I don’t mind strikeouts as much as GIDPs, but CJ had better increase his power numbers to Mark Reynolds/Adam Dunn levels he gonna swing like that all the time – AND Dunn walks over a hundred times a year and only grounds into 10-13 DPs a year.

Where was I? Oh yeah. Manzella got benched (guess it is gonna happen if he ever goes ofer) and Sanchez had 1 hit, but left MOB and Kd to end the game. Kepp drew 2 walks, had no hits, and left Bourn at 3rd in the 10th. Clank hit a single, the first Astros hit, in the 4th to break up a nono, but then did nothing.

Now Wallace had a good game with a single and GR double which hit the Hill so hard it bounced over the fence – and we are talking a GOOD 430′ – woulda been out in every other ballpark in the majors, but hey, the Hill giveth and the Hill taketh away (Pence hit one on the Hill too, but Kemp got there in time to catch it) and Bourn drove in Anderson Hernandez, who pinch ran for him.

Lopez pitched the 6th, giving up a run, then in the 7th, Mills did the lefty righty thing for each batter. Good grief. Wandy better pitch a CG tomorrow – Mills went through every reliever tonight except for Gustavo Suckage Chacin. Mills even pulled Melancon to face Ethier – if he doesn’t think Melancon can get leftys out, he sure as heck ain’t gonna be no go to guy.

sigh

tomorrow, It’s the Wand Man vs John Ely. Ely is a 24 year old righty who has been up and down all year between the ML and AAA – in the majors, he’s started 14 games over 79.2 IP with a 4.63 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and a .264 BAA. He beat us in May, going 7 innings, giving up 2 runs. He just got called back up (got sent down in July after 2 seriously terrible starts of 2+ innings each) so I’m sure he’s hoping to duplicate his May success.

I’m hoping the Astros duplicate his July failure.

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Posted in Brett Wallace, Hunter Pence, J.A. Happ, Michael Bourn | 2 Comments »

Chris Johnson And Bud Norris Beat Ted Lilly And The Dodgers!!!

Thursday, September 9th, 2010

I gots to take my hat off to Bud Norris – he had his usual difficulty finding the strike zone and he battled like heck through 4 walks, 2 doubles, a single, a ROE and a 2 run homer. He gutted it out through 6 innings, giving up only 2 runs, somehow, 1 earned. He faced 26 hitters and went to a 3 ball count on 10 of em. But somehow he got 7 Ks and his hard hit balls mostly went to deep straightaway center where Jason Bourgeois, subbing for Bourn in tonight’s all righty lneup, made some really nice catches. He showed how hard it really IS to play center field here – trouble is that Michael makes it look easy and too many people gots no respeck for him because of that.

Clank played first – I had to go out for a while, turned on the Dodgers broadcast – to my disappointment, no Vin Scully, but his replacement, whoever he is, isn’t bad at all – and I don’t think there was a “color man” sidekick. Anyway, the guy observed tartly that Clank uh, has very little range, slow feet and a lead glove. CJ was charged with an error in the first, but the Dodgers broadcaster observed tartly that any uh, competent first baseman would had that throw. Um, yeah.

Bud gave up a double to Loney in the 3rd – was a bit surprised because he’s a lefty, he hit the ball to right, and Pence was standing practically in center, and couldn’t get the ball. But with 2 on 2 out, Bud got a flyout to deep left – good thing that Michaels was playing left, or Bud woulda given up tons of runs.  In the 5th, he gave up a double to Podsednik (amazing how many people really REALLY think he’s a better ballplayer than Manny Ramirez – of course, he keeps his hair cut nice and short and doesn’t have those HORRID long hair thingys – they are so, so BLACK) but then got Loney to K and Mitchell, their new 3B, to fly out to deep center, almost the Hill – and Boogy did a fabulous job running that ball down. The guy hit 3 balls REALLY hard and all he got for his trouble was 3 outs.

Meanwhile, Ted Lilly was doing his usual job of throwing 88 MPH fastballs belt high down the middle and Astros were doing their usual job of not being able to hit them worth a darn. Don’t know what it is about that guy – Even in the one game where the Astros FINALLY hit him – he gave up FIVE solo homers, he STILL won because our pitchers gave up more runs. And he damm near no-hit us the day after Carlos Zambrano did – Mark Loretta singled in the 7th or 8th. And today, at least, Kepp singled in the first, so I didn’t hafta worry bout THAT.

But then Pence hit this blooper to the Rf line – The Riot tried to catch it, failed, but picked it up lightning quick and threw to second to force Kepp. Pence immediately stole second – and yes he HAS been incredibly better on the basepaths after the ASB, NO question – but Clank stranded him. 

Then in the 4th, Clank singled and Jason Michael doubled off the scoreboard – Podsednik tried to jump and catch it, failed, had to run after it, and for some reason I do NOT get, Dave Clark held up Clank at second, even though Podsednik has a weaker arm than Clank does and he hadn’t even picked the ball up when Clank had rounded second. I know that he’s slow, but cmon. It’s just TOO over cautious and we ARE playing Lilly, we don’t want to get shut out let alone lose, and the wait for the 3-run homer thingy is great when it works.

Which actually, it did. In the 6th, Pence singled, Clank walked, and CJ came up. He’d stranded 2 in the 3rd and had Kd twice against Lilly. I swear that boy has GOT to have the highest percent of swinging strikes (not strikeouts) in the major leagues. But he went to 1-2, didn’t swing at 2 balls, fouled a couple off, then swung at one – didn’t look like a particularly hard swing, but that ball traveled farther and faster than the shot from Pujols which supposedly turned Brad Lidge from a Manly Man into a pregnant grrrl. It went WAAAAAYYY over the train tracks and looks to me as if it hit the bottom of the Citgo sign – I’ve watched the replay 10 times and I’m STILL not sure – but if the roof had been open, it would have landed on Crawford Street – across the street.

So the Astros led 3-2 and Bud was in line for the W.

Brad Mills sent in Gustavo Chacin in the 7th to protect a 1 run lead – and he has not exactly been very good. He gets out pinch hitter Lindsey, making his ML debut at age 33 (like Chris Coste did) then walks Podsednik, gives up a single to Jamey Carroll, walks Ethier to load the bases. I didn’t see how we were gonna get out of it, but Loney pops up to short and then Melancon came on to face righty PH Gibbons. Why wouldn’t Torre send in his BEST hitter – Kemp or Furcal? I mean, you talk about clutch – makes more sense to send in someone GOOD, but nooooooo. And Gibbons hits an easy roller to Clank who feeds it to Melancon for the out.

He got 1,2,3 in the 8th, too – walked Riot on 4 pitches, got Kemp to fly out to deep left, then got Blake swinging – but Blake’s bat hit Q, so Riot, stealing second, was out on hitters’ interference.

Lyon, who has had plenty of rest, came in for the save with Bourn in center and Boogy in left and  got 1,2,3 out – the last out thanks to Boogy, who made a GREAT running catch on a ball hit to left center in front of the bullpen that Clank doesn’t get NEAR. As JD says, it’s great to have speed in the OF.

Friday night, it’s J Happ vs Hideki Kuroda. The Astros have never beaten Kuroda, who is 2-0 in 4 GS over 24.2 IP with a 2.55 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. I say, if we can beat Ted Lilly, we can beat Kuroda too!!!

GO STROS!!!!!

The stadium wasn’t even half full tonight, but I would bet it’s packed this weekend, especially on Sat night with Wandy pitching and a Hunter Pence bobblehead giveaway…

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Posted in Bud Norris, Chris Johnson | 4 Comments »

In Which Carlos Lee Comes Up With Bases Loaded And Drives In 2

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Here and all yall thought I nevah have anything good to say about El Gordo Caballo – untrue. He broke open the nono in the second with his homer over the LF wall, and then, for the first time this year, with 2 out and bases loaded, he hit a single up the middle to drive in 2. This is the old Carlos Lee and I hope he’s back for good.

Husband had tried to get me to agree to turn off the game as soon as the Dodgers went ahead by 2 runs. So we could, uh, find something more interesting.

Man,he being Man. Or is it Man,he being He-Man?

Anyway, so I told him – don’t be silly. You gotta give me at LEAST 5 innings to see if Kuroda is gonna get a nono.

So naturally, Bud gets the first 2 guys out, then walks Manny on a 3-2 count (he should just pretend Manny is Pujols) then gave up a GR double to the far right hand corner to Kemp – and that balls was almost gone, then decided to pitch to Loney – good, I HATE IBBs, especially in the first inning, but Loney drove in both runs with a single. Then, with Blake batting, he steals second – and with a not so good jump while Q bobbles the ball. Blake then hits a single to center, Michael Bourn grabs it, fires a perfect line to Q, who, the ump says, misses the tag on Loney sliding home. Q objects, but looks to me as if the ump got it right. De Witt Ks.

And just like that, it’s Dodgers 3, Astros zippo. Husband carefully doesn’t say anything.

Then Carlos jacks out a 2-0 pitch and there goes the nono. Pence lines out, Feliz pops up and Kaz strikes out swinging – he looks beyond sad. But I guess Ed Wade is determined to keep running him out there, don’t ask me why, he’s got zero trade value. Bud goes back out there and gets 1,2,3 out.

Kuroda gets out Q and Bud, goes to a 3-2 count on Bud, by the way, the first Astros hitter to get a 3-2 count. Then Bourn goes to a 3-2 count and singles, Kepp singles, Lance walks, Carlos drives in 2, Pence beats out an IF hit and bases are loaded again. But Feliz grounds out and strands everyone, but it’s a tie game.

Bud goes back out there. Paul lines out, Manny grounds out, Kemp smashes a liner off Bud’s arm. Dude has been hit on the leg in the first and now hit on the arm in the 3rd. Mills trots out, Bud INSISTS he’s fine, Mills finally trots off. Bud throws 2 pitches which miss the strike zone – by a LOT, then Kemp decides to steal on the next pitch, only Quintero throws him out. Well, actually, Quintero doesn’t throw him out because Kemp clearly beat the tag, but it doesn’t matter because he’s out anyway.

4th inning – Kaz tries to bunt his way on, but grounds it weakly to the pitcher, who easily throws him out. He’s now ofer his last 18. Good grief. They are sitting Manzella, who at least is young and has SOME promise, to play THIS guy??? Q singles, Bud sac-bunts, Bourn GO – almost beats it out. Then Bud goes back out – having some control problems – walks Loney on a 3-2, Blake singles Loney to third, DeWitt Ks, Carroll flies out to right – Pence fires to Quintero, who can’t get Loney, but he then fires it to second to get Blake sliding into second. Double play 9-2-6. Dodgers lead 4-3. Uh-oh.

5th inning, Kepp singles, then Lance goes all Clank and GIDP on the first pitch. sigh. Carlos goes to 3-2, hits a long fly ball just about 5′ foul of the LF pole, then strikes out on the next pitch. sigh. Bud goes back out, and he throws 2 balls to the pitcher, who, by the way, hits like Kaz, and then WALKS HIM!!! This SHOULD have been the signal for Mills to come and get Bud out RIGHT away as there is absolutely NO reason he shouldn’t have thrown 3 FB for a K. Then Martin singles. Arnesberg went out BUT HE DOESN”T PULL BUD!!!

He gives up a sac bunt to Paul, then, with 1B open, Manny is up. WHY WAS BUD LEFT IN TO PITCH TO HIM????? I mean, I can understand pitching to Manny instead of loading the bases and pitching to Kemp, but WHY WAS BUD LEFT IN TO PITCH TO HIM???

So naturally, Manny singles the 2 runs and THEN Mills pulls Bud. Sorry, but that was BAD managing. Moehler comes in, walks Kemp, then gets out Loney and Blake.

End of 5th, it’s Dodgers 6 Astros 3, it’s 10:55 and Husband gives me THAT look, you know the one. So I don’t argue (imagine that) and decide to finish up the replay in the morning. It was the right decision. Except for a Bourn single, the Astros go down limply in the 4 remaining innings.

sigh

I don’t know what to say about Bud. Looks as if his throwing this year is unrelated to his catcher – he shook him off quite a few times last night – or anything else in particular except that sometimes he is able to throw strikes. And he looked off it after he got hit in the arm – but that still doesn’t explain the first inning.

Gonna be hard to blame Manzella. And heaven knows we can’t blame Feliz for not being able to do much more than hit grounders to the left or blame Kaz for being more ineffective than your average NL pitcher. But it’s time to shake up this team. We need to send Manzella down and bring up Kata (and his awesome .759 OPS at AAA). And send Norris down and put Moehler in the rotation. And if Paulino doesn’t beat some unknown lefty from Colorado tonight, who has an ERA over 8, why then, it’s time to send HIM down and put Chacin in the rotation.

RIGHT??? Drayton/Eddie/Tal???

At this rate, we’re not gonna even GET to 15-30 to get another one of those infamous tombstones – not that it would like, you know, HELP this year. Gonna be VERY interesting to see what happens when we get home and the park is, like, empty – except for all those groups who get discount tickets…

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Posted in Brian Moehler, Bud Norris, Carlos Lee, Wilton Lopez | No Comments »

Astros Sink To 13-25 As Wandy Is Defeated By Astros Hitters And Fielders

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

I just don’t know what to say any more.

It’s not that Wandy was terrible, although he only struck out one guy, the first hitter – although I think he threw WAAAAYYYY too many curveballs in the first inning. He wasn’t ace-like, even though he got through the next 5.2 innings giving up only 1 run.

sigh

Trouble is that the infielders who can, you know, like FIELD (Manzella and Kaz) aren’t hitting, and the infielders who are hitting SOME, can’t field.

In the first, with one out, Reed Johnson (who I remember only too well from the C*bs) singled, then Manny Ramirez had a 10 pitch AB in which he fouled off 5 pitches (all curves, by the way) and then Matt Kemp hit what SHOULD have been a GIDP, only Blum wasn’t in a good position to start with, was slow as molasses with the jump, and his throw to second pulled Kepp off the bag (or at least the ump SAID it did – didn’t look that way to ME, from the camera angle, but when you are a mediocre at best fielder, you ain’t gonna get the benefit of the doubt, fer SHER…) Then Loney hit a sac-fly, then Casey Blake doubled juuuuuust inside theRF baseline, Lance dived juuuuuust a lil too late and 2 runs came in.

And there went the ball game. 3 unearned runs – but hey – runs are runs.

I guess I could mention that Bourn led off with a single, Kepp got part of the hitnrun right, hitting a slow roller to third that advanced Bourn, then Lance drove him in with a single, then Clank GIDP.

First inning, ballgame OVAH.

Dodgers pitcher went 8 innings, walking NONE, going to one 3-2 count.

Wandy went 6.2, walking 2, giving up 7 hits. Sampson came in with 2 out, man on first, got Reed Johnson out.

I should give kudos to Michael Bourn for yet another great OF assist, getting Manny out at home on a Kemp double to deep center.

I wonder how long Fast Eddie is gonna insist on sticking with this absolutely execrable team. The stands were almost empty at Dodger stadium – who wants to see THIS team? Why fight the traffic when you KNOW your team is gonna win? And tonight? It’s Bud Norris facing Hideki Kuroda – who has absolutely shut DOWN the Astros in 3 previous starts.

sigh

I just don’t know what to say any more that I haven’t already said. I WOULD talk about how the minor leaguers are doing, but what’s the use? Fast Eddie/Tal/Drayton prefer old suckulous vets, so what’s the difference how they do?

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Posted in Michael Bourn, Wandy Rodriguez | 10 Comments »

10/10/08: In Which A Pitcher Outhits And OutRBIs MannyBManny And Lidge Slams The Door

Friday, October 10th, 2008

In other words, NL baseball ROOLZ!!!!!

Not that I am exactly a Brett Myers fan, but the guy has provided more excitement and runs at the plate than he has with his pitching.

I enjoyed his 9 and 10 pitch ABs vs Cy Young wannabe Sabathia more than ANY hitting display. And today he created 1 more run than Manny. Myers went 3 fer 3, drove in 4 (got credit for only 3 because of an error) scored 2 and stranded none.

Manny wannaBMannyVP went 1 fer 4 with a BB, drove in 3, scored 1 and stranded 2.
This is simply the KEWLest. And it is why, in spite of the AL spending incredibly more money and all the Boston/NY media people going on and on and on about how much more better the AL is, NL ball is STILL better.

And Brad Lidge struck out the side, walking Manny and Loney. And the slider slid just great. Yeh, I’d enjoy Loney and the Dodgers making it to the Series, but you know, I think I’m enjoying watching Brad Lidge prove all the haters wrong.

And Go RAYS!!!!!

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Posted in 2008 NLCS, Brad Lidge, Brett Myers | 3 Comments »

10/2/08: Houstonian James Loney Hits Slam To Beat Cubs

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

heh heh heh

heh heh heh

An exhausted Astros team flying to “Wrigley North” immediately post Ike, got its butt handed to it two days in a row, essentially putting the end to any faint Astros playoff hopes. (And I DO mean faint – going anywheres with Roy the only ace – well, we didn’t get far enough in 04 with Roy AND Roger.)

The Cubs media and Cubs fans as well as Carlos F. Zambrano booed the Houston club, heaped invective upon the guys.

And now, James Loney, Houston boy made good, made 40 something thousand Cubs fans go as quiet as Uncle did to us 3 years ago and yes, I know Uncle doesn’t play for the Cubs.
But I sure nuff did enjoy seeing James do his thing, I surely did.

oh yeah

I ALSO enjoyed watching Jim F. Edmonds hit a ball to deep center – like he did off Dan F. Miceli – only this time, it wasn’t deep enough.

heh heh heh

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Posted in Astros baseball | 3 Comments »

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