The Astros are not in a good place right now -- if Roy O can't do it...who can? Enduring a seven game losing streak which has them tied down at the bottom of the NL Central, something has to give. Perhaps the Front Office and Phil have decided to step on a few toes by bringing up Hunter Pence who is hitting .341 with a .986 OPS -- perhaps Hunter Pence can? Let’s hope this addition is what we need to get our bats going again. Hopefully everyone in the club house is a little perturbed that Pence is already in the show, but Christ do we ever need some help. Last night’s game was another one of those instances where it is almost too hard to watch. Sorry that we don’t have more…but I am in New Mexico for the weekend away from Astros viewing and Evan is in San Antonio watching SCAC Track Championships. Have a great weekend.
Sphere: Related ContentSaturday, April 28, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Not Again
Swept by the Pirates for a second time this year. Who’da thunk it? Well, once again, the Astros spoiled a strong effort by a starter, as Wandy pitched seven innings, allowing three runs. Another run was scored in the first inning, the third time in four games this has occurred. Unfortunately, it took the team until the ninth (déjà vu, anyone?) to put up another pair of runs, as the Buccos won 5-3. Lance is showing signs of maybe snapping out of his funk getting two hits for the second consecutive day. It wasn’t enough, as so often is the case with this club of late. 3-6 for the road trip, after winning the first three isn’t the best way to come into a weekend series with the Brew Crew.
The trip was roughest on Carlos Lee. Visions of power and might filled our heads just a week ago. Now, his batting average sits at .253, after staring off at .327 before we left the Juice Box. His slugging and on base percentage (.506 and .315 before today’s game) still combine for a respectable .821, but this team is more in need of it to be around .900 than any other he’s been on. Couple this with Lance’s slugging percentage being below .300 for a period of time this week, and one can see why the Astros have failed to score more than five runs during their current losing streak. The sixteen inning loss yesterday was a revolting development, indeed, and added to our current woe. Between Morgan leaving 10 men on base, and the Astros sending another pitcher, reliever Rick White to the disabled list, the past twenty four hours have been extremely frustrating, to say the least. Roy O v. Capuano tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Walk Away
That's the attitude that Stephen and I are taking right now. Get some rest, look at the game tomorrow, when we're not exasperated. It's an early start, remember. 11:35 Houston time, so get away from the desk, classroom, work-site, etc., and watch Wandy try to avoid a sweep for this team.
Sphere: Related ContentMonday, April 23, 2007
Offensive
When it rains, it pours. No, I’m not referring to the rainout two weekends ago that caused the Astros and Phillies to play a make-up game today. Rather, this is referring to the occasions when a team seemingly gets so hot, nothing can go wrong for them. Philadelphia- that day was today. In an 11-4 Phillies victory that saw the home team collect twenty hits and the oft injured Adam Eaton collect his first win with his new team, the Astros weren’t in the game, even when they managed to respond with runs of their own. Craig and Lance both went yard, Craig’s was another lead off job. However, in the theme of this game, noted slugger Jimmy Rollins, responded in kind with a leadoff dinger of his own, not allowing the Astros any satisfaction. Every Philly starter got at least one hit, and after Eaton left in seventh inning, their bullpen came in and stifled any embers of a rally that may have been burning. So, scratch my hypothesis that we would end up at 10-8 after this game. 9-9 is where the record stands tonight.
Sphere: Related ContentSunday, April 22, 2007
Weekend Lost?
Does anyone else have this feeling? Despite the Astros losing the last two games of their series against the Brewers, and thereby the opportunity to win a third series in a row, I don’t feel all that perturbed. Yes, these games count as much as the ones in September, but losing by a combined three runs to a team that has a good deal of early season momentum seems not so bad. What I’m trying to get at is this may be good ol’ karma righting the baseball world. Phil Garner’s club had won eight of ten, and five straight before the last two games of this series. Within that win streak were the following occurrences- a Morgan Ensberg game winning hit, twofive run eighth inning rallies in as many games, a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning by Craig Biggio on Friday and Lance Berkman hovering around the Mendoza line. Call it what you will, but much of the Astros recent good fortune as far as winning baseball games has been due to pretty decent luck. I’m not trying to rain on our collective parades, half way through with the longest road trip of the year, and there’s more tallies in the “W” column than in the “L”.
Things are starting to even out, however. Morgan has been hitting consistently, upping his average today to .293. Could be better, some say. Given his recent history, could be much worse too. Still his performance exists as a positive. On the flip side(s) Wandy gave up six earned in six innings on Saturday, after recording three quality starts in his first three times out on the mound. He took his first lump of the year, bottom line. After pitching an entire week without giving up so much as a run, Brad Lidge came in to the game on Friday, and proceeded to get shelled. Call it,The meltdown on Lake Michigan. This humble blogger wrote extensively on why the Astros should not give up on him just yet. I won’t back down on my opinions concerning trade possibilities, but this is another troubling situation that will not resolve itself on its’ own.
If the Astros win tomorrow’s makeup game at Philadelphia, the team will have taken three out of the past four series that they have played in. Putting the team at 10-8 over their first stretch of games means that the season is one ninth through. While it may be an arbitrary number to cite, extrapolate their current record, and…..90-72. It may be unrealistic to think that this team can win ninety games, but it’s just something that’s interesting to note. Lots of things can change. Consistency has never been the calling card of this team, but winning has.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Exhale
You saw it. I saw it. If you didn’t see it or hear about it, I’m about to fill your mind with thoughts that may cause you a great deal of grief, anger and surprise. With a 6-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, Phil Garner had the foresight to bring in Brad Lidge to shut the door on the Beer Makers. We’ll fill in the who’s and what’s of the first 8.5 innings of baseball later, but for now, all that matters is Lidge is pitching the ninth. In order to ensure the safety of those around anyone reading this post, I’ll be brief in the inning’s rundown. Tony Gwynn, Jr. got on via a walk and then stole second base. Lead-off man Rickie Weeks followed in kind, setting the stage for J.J. Hardy. Seemingly in spite of his best efforts, Hardy went down swinging. Brad got ahead of Prince Fielder, 1-2, and I thought mayyyybbbeee, just maybe, the Astros may get out the inning with no harm done. That being said, the next pitch thrown was not caught by Brad Ausmus, but rather by a fan sitting in an outfield deck seat. 6-5. After allowing a double to Johnny Estrada with two outs, Phil said, “Thanks, but no thanks” and yanked Lidge. Mercifully, Chad Qualls eventually came in and recorded the final out, saving what was a great all around performance from this team…..except for number 54.
The Astros scored a run in the top of the first, on a Lance Berkman grounder. That scored Craig Biggio who reached on a walk. The Brewers responded with a run of their own when Bill Hall singled in Hardy. Matt Albers came in before a sell out crowd, and took care of his end of the bargain. Six innings, two runs, and a K for good measure. Down a run in the seventh, Adam Everett and Brad Ausmus led off the inning with a pair of doubles tying the game at 2. Rick White was credited with the victory, going 2 innings and giving up zero runs. Before the debacle in the bottom half of the inning, the Astros had the bases loaded in ninth, with one out, and Craig Biggio stepped up to the plate. With one swing of his bat, Craig not only ended his grand slam drought, a streak that began in 1994, but his blast put the Astros up by four runs. They ended up needing them all. Albers solid first start of the year and Craig’s grand slam. That’s two impressive feats that Brad Lidge almost negated. There’s nothing else to say about this man. No other role for him to be placed in. I guess the saga continues…
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Beam Me Out, Scotty
Luke Scott came into his sixth inning at bat against Reds starter Bronson Arroyo without a hit in his first two at-bats. He would make up for lost time, by knocking a solo shot into the right field stands, cutting the Reds lead to 6-2, a lead they eventually lost altogether. The Astros completed a two game sweep of Cincinnati, beating them 8-6.
Before that home run, however, the game looked all but lost. Arroyo tossed a nice game, his line totaling seven innings, five hits and two earned runs. He recorded 12 fly-ball outs, and it seemed like 10 of them were can of corn pop-ups. That being said, Woody did not have such an easy time of it, as he gave up six runs on seven hits in six innings of work. In his four starts as an Astro, he has recorded only one quality start. His pitches were being left in the zone all evening, and when his fast-ball is topping out at only 86 mph, fans in the bleachers had better get ready.
He was bailed out of another loss by the efforts of his bats, starting with a pinch hitting future Hall of Famer. Craig Biggio led off the inning with a walk against reliever and former Astro Kirk Saarloos. After a Chris Burke strikeout, Mark Loretta followed with a single to right. A Lance Bekman single scored Biggio, and Carlos Lee proceeded to hit a grounder in the hole at short-stop. Alex Gonzalez fumbled the ball, allowing Lee to reach and set the stage for Luke Scott. Scott had a nice battle with Reds closer David Weathers and then finished it off with a bases clearing double to the gap in right. Loretta, Berkman, and El Caballo scored on the play knotting the score at 6 apiece. With Scott advancing to third on the throw to the plate, Morgan Ensberg put the Astros ahead with a sacrifice fly.
From there, the usual bullpen suspects of Trever Miller, Chad Qualls and Dan Wheeler held Cincinnati in check. Jason Lane added the piece de resistance, homering in the ninth to cap the scoring for the evening. Wheels saved it, Lidge won it.
Oh yea! Lost in all of the goings on of the eighth inning, Brad Lidge pitched the seventh inning, striking out one and inducing a double play immediately after giving up a single to Adam Dunn. Just a week ago, we criticized and extrapolated upon the inabilities of Brad to get out of jams. He did so tonight, and lo and behold, the Astros took advantage. One good appearance does not a season make. Despite that fact, Lidge can make Phil Garner and Tim Purpura look a lot smarter by pitching like he’s capable of. So far, so good.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Above Water on the Ohio River
A different lineup yielded a familiar result Wednesday night for the Astros, a win, putting them a game above .500 for the first time in the 2007 season. Their third in a row came in the form of a come from behind 7-2 victory against the Reds. Chris Sampson made Stephen and I proud after pitching seven innings, giving up five hits and striking out two.
Cincinnati got off to an early 2-0 on the strength of a couple solo home runs from Brandon Phillips and Josh Hamilton. Aaron Harang was denied a decision in a game where he struck out eight in six innings of work. His only blemish was a run scored by Mike Lamb who was inserted in the lineup instead of Morgan Ensberg to face the right handed Harang. After winning all four of his starts last year against Houston, Phil Garner doubtlessly wanted to get another left handed bat out there. A Lance Berkman single scored Orlando Palmeiro in the eighth, and then the flood gates opened against a previously stout Reds bullpen. The pinch hitter, Mark Loretta then singled in Berkman and in the next at bat, Jason Lane knocked reliever Rheal Cormier’s first pitch into the seats for a 6-2 lead. Dan Wheeler pitched the eighth and ninth innings to close out Sampson’s third career win.
The game was not televised in Georgetown, but from what I can tell, the Astros are starting to do the things that go a long way towards picking up wins, yet don’t always show up in the boxscore. Carlos Lee didn’t reach the seats tonight, but he had a nice piece of situational hitting, getting an RBI groundout that scored Mike Lamb. Lance’s average didn’t rise tremendously, but his lone hit tied the game at 2. Mark Loretta did what he’s getting paid to do as well- producing when called upon. Jason Lane’s homer was just icing on the proverbial cake. Did I mention all five runs were scored with 2 outs in the eighth inning? After starting off 0-4, the boys have won 7 of 9. Not surprisingly, the improved record has been directly correlated to a doubling of their runs scored per game over the past nine. With Lance, Burke and Luke Scott yet to hit their stride, or even come close, the offense stands to improve a great deal more. On the mound, Sampson and Wandy have been pleasant surprises thus far. They will have to continue their superlative start, as Jason Jennings tries to recuperate from tendonitis. Woody starts tomorrow evening against the Reds, as the team goes for their second sweep of a series in a row.
Trades, Plans and Prognostications
A couple of our loyal readers have asked our thoughts concerning the trade possibilities surrounding Brad Lidge and others. I’ll admit that when I heard about the possibility that the Astros could get something for Lidge, I was ecstatic. He was like a toy that I used to love playing with, and now all it does it catch on fire when I pull it’s string. Rocco Baldelli is amongst the names being floated around. To which I say, we have a full outfield as it is and Chris Burke is still young- give him a season to get his centerfielder legs underneath him. Josh Beckett would be intriguing, I agree. Bring home the former Spring High School phenom, put him in Astros’ pinstripes, and watch as he helps Roy anchor the starting rotation to a date in the October Classic. This however, is doubtful, as well. Beckett has gotten off to a strong start this year (1.50 ERA, 3-0 record 9.0 K/9), and has another $20 million left on his contract through 2009, and then is due a $12.5 million option for 2010. The Astros have never been a club that has traded for a player who is under contract for more than just the rest of the current season. I think Purpura summed it up best, when he was asked by a Boston scout about Lidge’s availability. "I didn't say, 'No.' I said, 'Hell no.'” Ladies and Gentlemen, Brad Lidge may not return as our closer this year. Furthermore, until Dan Wheeler gives the team reason to think otherwise, everything should remain the same in our bullpen.
It is difficult to guarantee anything in baseball, and I will offer none here. But there’s one thing that I, a meager college student and blogger, have come to think about the 2007 Houston Astros, 13 games into the season. It is that this team may have familiar faces on it, but they are almost all in new roles. Jason Lane no longer starts, Chris Burke is in centerfield, Luke Scott has become a starting outfielder and Morgan Ensberg is often times batting in front of, rather than behind, Lance Berkman. The movement of Lidge and Wheeler has been chronicled already. Give the team some time to get accustomed to their new roles. They are professionals, true, but they are a team in flux. They are more than capable of achieving success with the team they have now.
My belief about this team lies in the assertion that,the Astros will not look the same in a month as they do now. Their players will almost certainly look the same, save for maybe Matt Albers and a few others, but they will play much more cohesive baseball on May 18th, than they did today. Adam Everett has four errors, Lidge has a K/9 of below eight and Lance has left the yard only once. That will change, and most certainly improve. Wandy and Sampson’s hot starts may cool, but they’re young, and this team will help them grow to become the kind of players they can become.
Their future brand of baseball may not be better, but it will be different. The players will grow into their new roles, and Phil Garner and Dave Wallace will learn how to best utilize them. Hopefully if it comes down to a trade making the difference Tim Purpura will be able to pull the trigger, and give the team a boost. I like this team, though. I like their chances, their potential and the unknown that surrounds them. This next stretch of baseball (nine games on the road against four teams) will be a starting point on which to judge this team. A new face, Matt Albers, has been called up to face Ben Sheets in Milwaukee on Friday. This may be a tough match-up, but it’s time to find out how this team reacts to tough times. They’ve overcome a sluggish start, now we can see how well the Astros swim with their heads above the water.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
How to catch a Fish with a Broom
After hitting his fifth home run of the season, Carlos Lee rode a toy horse in the dugout, living up to his nickname “El Caballo”. This was fitting, seeing as how the Astros rode his back in a 6-1 win over the Marlins on Tuesday night, giving the team their first series sweep of the young season.
Roy Oswalt earned victory number three, as he went 6.1 innings giving up six hits and striking out seven. For his career, Roy O has given up two runs or fewer in seven of his eight starts against Florida. After recording their first win of the year by more than three runs, the Astros and their fans could rest a little easier for the duration of the game.
Things didn’t start off so well, however. After flirting with an inside the park homerun last night, Hanley Ramirez decided to go ahead and make sure he could jog around the bases tonight, hitting his second homerun of the season. It was his eighth career leadoff homer. After that however, Roy and Carlos saw to it that the Astros would not be denied of reaching the .500 mark. Marlin starter Sergio Mitre did not help his team’s cause, after being forced to leave the game after recording only one out, due to a blister on his finger. After struggling to do much of anything off of closer turned spot starter, Kevin Gregg, the Marlins inserted the struggling Jorge Julio in the fourth inning. Carlos Lee hit a classic 317 ft Crawford Box homerun, scoring the still struggling Lance Berkman to give the Astros a lead they would not relinquish.
Lee would collect two more RBI in the fifth, on a smash double to left field that caromed oddly off the wall. Adam Everett and Brad Ausmus both aided the effort with a single and groundout respectively, both scoring a run apiece. Craig Biggio had two hits himself, putting him at 2,944 for his career, passing another Hall of Famer, Frank Robinson. The Astros bullpen was airtight, not allowing a run in 3.2 innings of relief. Chad Qualls, Trever Miller, Brad Lidge and Dave Borkowski came in and did the job, making the plane ride to the Queen City a pleasant one. Wednesday, Dome Dog fave Chris Sampson looks to build off the success of his first start of the year against the Reds and their ace (and one of my fantasy starters….ahh confliction) Aaron Harang.
Putting Roy into perspective
This past Friday, Roy Oswalt won his 100th game as a starting major league pitcher. His career record of 100-47 puts him amongst the best in baseball as far as winning percentage (.680) and victories before age 30. Despite his gaudy stats, Roy is doubtlessly overlooked by journalists and fans alike. Pitching his best seasons while being a teammate of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte virtually necessitate a comparative anonymity. His story is not a provocative one, either. Almost all of his contemporaries offer a better read, or a more interesting expose. Chris Carpenter, Johan Santana, Barry Zito and Roy Halladay are four pitchers who have similar years of major league service, similar rates of success, yet all of them are better known than the Wizard. The attention is well deserved for all these men, as they have been adorned with Cy-Young awards, All-Star game starts and humongous contracts. That is all well and good, but in light of his milestone win, it would be prudent to take an objective view of Roy’s career in comparison to not only his contemporaries, but to those who paved the way for the kind of success he’s had.
While defining a starter’s career in terms of wins vs. loses is difficult in this era of abbreviated starts and elongated bullpens, it may offer the best starting point for this journey through Oswalt’s tenure as an Astro. Roy has recorded two straight 20 win seasons, in 2004 and 2005. No pitcher has achieved that feat since Curt Schilling in 2001 and 2002. Before Roy turns 30, he also has a very good chance of winning 115 games. If he is able to accomplish this, Roy would be ahead of the pace that someone like Tom Glavine is currently on. The same Glavine who is chasing 300 wins. This is not to say that Roy is going to pitch long enough to pursue that sort of milestone, but it is something worth thinking about. Does Roy’s career look as favorably compared to someone from his own baseball generation? Someone like Roy Halladay is as close to Roy Oswalt in age (turns 30 on May 14) and games started (194), as any pitcher who is worth mentioning. While Halladay did win the Cy Young in 2003, while logging an astronomical 266 innings, it cost him, in that the following two seasons he was able to start only 40 games for the Blue Jays as compared to the 36 he toed the rubber for in the ’03 campaign. Durability aside, the career statistics for the two are pretty revealing, and on some levels surprising:
ERA (Career): Oswalt: 3.05----Halladay: 3.60
Strikeouts: Oswalt: 1029 in 1223 IP----Halladay: 955 in 1359.3 IP
WHIP: Oswalt: 1.178----Halladay: 1.226
Strikeout/Walk: Oswalt: 3.80----Halladay: 2.83
It is worth mentioning that Halladay has played his entire career in the AL East, which has been exponentially more difficult to traverse, pitching wise, than the NL Central, but this fact cannot overcome all of the statistics that Oswalt has the comparative advantage. What Roy Oswalt has done thus far in his Astros career deserves a bit of recognition, and the Dome Dog boys would be remiss if we were not to pay special attention to his most recent accomplishment. Good luck to Roy in his start today against the Marlins. Every Astros fan is looking forward to watching you collect another hundred victories, while displaying the class, modesty and grit you have come to personify as our ace.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Ensberg’s second chance gives Astros the win
In a game that saw a season high 10 walks by the Astros, it was easy to assume that number 11 would come via Morgan Ensberg with a 3-2 count in the ninth inning. Instead he accomplished something much more unlikely than accumulating a fourth walk in a game, he singled through a drawn in
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Lane blast not enough to power Astros past Phillies
If
The Astros ventured outside of the Juice Box for the first time this season this past week, and finished with a precipitation shorted 3-1 record. Let’s all put our cumulative 4-6 record into perspective. Last Easter Sunday, the Astros were a team that had clearly seen better days. After dropping a 10-1 decision to the Cardinals, Brad Lidge was removed from his role as closer, and Dan Wheeler was named as his replacement. We were 1-5, and things looked grim. However, the change at closer, coupled with some interesting developments in other areas was a breath of fresh air. The day after this switch, with the Astros and Cubs deadlocked at three in the eighth inning, Adam Everett battled reliever Bob Howry for nine pitches, and after being down in the count 0-2, Everett knocked a two run home run to left field. This was important in the sense that after having nothing go our way at home, our first big hit of the season was achieved while staring a 1-6 start in the face. That this blow was struck by Adam Everett made it just as unlikely as it was timely. Next up on the list of second week improvements, the previously dormant bat of Morgan Ensberg came alive, to the tune of seven hits, five runs, four RBI’s and a homerun. This included a 3 for 4 performance on Saturday, which followed his three run bomb on Friday. In similar regard, Carlos Lee shook off a slow start (5 for 20 at the plate) at home, and put together a 7 for 18 road trip, which was highlighted by his three home run day on Friday. After admitting to pressing in front of the home crowds, this trip was perfect timing for our 100 million dollar man. The aforementioned Dan Wheeler has converted both of his save opportunities, once against the Cubs and Phillies each. More importantly, he has done so with relative ease, having not allowed a base runner in either appearance as closer. Craig has not done anything spectacular, but has moved within 60 hits of 3000.
Those were the highlights now let’s look at the more troubling aspects of the trip. Chris Burke still isn’t hitting. Save his RBI double on Monday, Burke has hit a paltry .077 the past four games. While I admit this is based off a small sample size, the fact that he didn’t hit well in Spring Training has to make Astros fans worried a least a little bit. For a player to struggle the way Chris has really hurts our offense. He is a guy that can bat in a lot of different positions in the lineup and is a solid all around offensive contributor. His struggles are magnified when somebody like Lance Berkman doesn’t perform up to his All-Star standards. Against Phillies relief pitcher Francisco Rosario on Saturday Lance looked overmatched, swinging and missing at three fast balls down the heart of the plate. This was striking in that I’d never seen Lance look lost at the plate. Here’s to hoping he can start to spray the ball to all fields, drive in runs and solidify the middle of this lineup the way everyone knows he can, and will. Finally, the injury to Jason Jennings must be mentioned.
A Look Ahead
The Astros will play a short two game series at home against
Sphere: Related Content
Friday, April 13, 2007
Roy loses cool, Phillies lose game
Friday the 13th certainly was an auspicious day for the Astros. In by far the most entertaining game of the season, our boys came out on top 9-6. If anyone missed the game, here’s a quick rundown of what transpired (it’s quite a bit):
-Phillies starter Brett Myers gave up seven earned runs in only 3.1 innings of work
-Roy O did not fare much better giving up six runs in five difficult innings, including a run that was balked in – yet he still collected win number two. Apparently karma does exist. On the play, Phil was thrown out, and
-Craig collected hit number 2,939 with a double in the sixth inning. No big deal though…he only moved past some dude named Honus Wagner in the doubles column. I hear he has a really pricey baseball card, or something of that nature.
-Carlos Lee. The man played so well, he deserves his own sentence, so I gave him one. Three homers, six RBI’s , including his first grand slam as an Astro
-Luke Scott, with a runners and first and second and zero outs, threw out Shane Victorino at the plate after Ryan Howard smacked a single to right field. This changed the entire complexion of the game, because…
-With runners on first and third and one out and the Astros holding onto a precarious two run lead, Chad Qualls came in and induced a clutttchhh double play to Wes Helms with a one pitch effort. Efficiency, thy name is
-Finally which of the following is more shocking, at this point: Brad Lidge pitching the sixth and giving up zero runs, or a streaker making an appearance in the Astros half of the sixth? I’m not even going to venture a guess.
-Following the same line of reasoning as Brad Lidge, Morgan Ensberg hit a three run home run in the fourth inning. Proving that on a night like this, with the wind blowing in at 20 mph an hour, the date being the thirteenth, and the day being Friday most anything is possible.
A Few Days Late, but we hope only a dollar short still
My (Stephen) internship this semester in the Texas State Legislature has already provided some perks. However, Wednesday night, my slave labor paid off in full – well it had already had several times, but it really did this time. Generously, the Round Rock Chamber of Commerce and the Round Rock Express collaborated to have Legislature Day at the Diamond. Evan was my date for the event and it was glorious. We ate a combined 8 hot dogs and probably more Coca-Cola…for free.
As we sat in our seats (free), we decided to go see who was warming up in the bull-pen as we had no idea who was actually starting for us. Much to our collective delight, Matt Albers was tossing some balls to Eric Munson. We would later watch Miguel Asencio warm up before he converted his two-inning save. Matt pitched well, mixing up his pitches and reaching 94 mph and consistently hitting 90+. He got a lot of guys swinging on these out of the zone and threw a good two-seamer around 90-91. Asencio looked pretty good, wicked slider, good fast ball.
Hitting wise…it’s still early for these guys. On a sadder note, we realized the two Erics, Muson and Bruntlett, really don’t have a future with our ball club, but hopefully somewhere else as they have been loveable at certain points to us.
All and all, Evan and I were as giddy as the six and seven year olds running around like heathens the entire game. Thank you to the Round Rock Chamber of Commerce, and thank you baseball for being awesome.Update on Jason Jennings:
Offseason addition and number two starter Jason Jennings was diagnosed with tendinitis in his right elbow on Friday, and was in Houston tonight getting an MRI. There isn't much to say at this point, other than Jennings has told manager Phil Garner that he has experienced similar discomfort in the elbow in previous seasons, around the same time as this year. Garner doesn't expect to scratch him from more than one start, and Woody Williams will move up a day and pitch tomorrow against Phils. His opponent on the mound will be Cole Hamels.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Brad Lidge, Victim??
Well, yesterday Evan and I mentioned that we might have something of note to say about Brad Lidge’s woes of note. Evan and I did some “digging” today. What we found speaks to the fact that Brad Lidge is, as just about everyone not Phil Garner and Tim Purpura suspected, Brad Lidge is not the victim of bad luck as Phil was quoted yesterday as saying. What we found is pretty interesting and has caused us much head scratching. We started off by thinking about Brad Lidge’s BABIP because Phil was citing bad luck as Brad’s biggest foe. So we looked at that, and what we found is that Brad has a pretty large BABIP in both 2005 and 2006. Yet, we thought for a minute about BABIP and Brad Lidge’s role in it. Brad Lidge was known as a Houdini act making people look down right silly and over powering people with his heat. So then we looked at his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching (Hits, Walks and HR – K; look it up if you’re still confused). Evan and I assumed that if Brad’s Lidge’s BABIP was high when he was doing well and when he wasn’t, that obviously the only factor that was variable could be him. Well, here’s what we found
Brad Lidge---BABIP----FIC 2005----------.355-------2.05 2006----------.329-------3.70
Essentially what you see is that he wasn’t getting the job done for himself a lot in 2006. We took this further and decided to see, just in save opportunities, how often he surrendered hits, and how often he allowed those hits to turn into runs.
Brad Lidge------Save Ops w/hits--------Hits become runs
2005-------------25 ------------------------8
2006-------------18-------------------------11
This correlates with what we saw in his FIP, but we think this speaks louder than just giving up more hits. It says that Brad Lidge has lost his ability to work himself out of a jam or provide a minimal level of containment. While what we are saying probably isn’t shocking for most of you who have been watching, seeing a 91% increase in Brad’s inability to not let hits turn into runs is relevant because his FIP essentially is telling us to have expected on average about 1.5 extra runs. Yet, looking at the number of runs he allowed in 2005 and 2006, this is striking, because his RA (in save opportunities only, again) was 1.93, a 24.5% increase from what was expected of him (and his BABIP dropped 70 points). What this all boils down to is this- not only does Brad get himself into trouble with a greater frequency, he no longer bears down the way he once did in order to remain unscathed in such situations. This is seen in his higher real ERA, BABIP and FIC. Most importantly, this is seen in a less stable Astros bullpen, smaller numbers in the “W” column, and more sports clichés uttered by Phil Garner.
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, April 10, 2007
Sampson Wins, Astros Go Streaking
Despite not solidifying our closing situation, the Astros put forth a well rounded performance on Tuesday Afternoon. With my blood pressure, and buddy’s fantasy ERA slowly rising, Dan Wheeler mercifully ended the Cubs threat, inducing a pop up by pinch hitter Matt Murton to preserve a 4-2 win by the Good Guys. The Astros offense got going early, scoring three runs in the first inning. Luke Scott did most of the damage, hitting a two run double in that first inning, and chipping in with an RBI grounder in the fifth. Mr. Sampson was also impressive, albeit in a weather induced short performance. Not wanting to risk injury, Phil Garner decided to pull the young righty after only five innings of work. Sampson did about as much as anyone could ask out of him while he was in the game, however. In his first start of the 2007 season, his control was excellent, as he threw 40 of his 63 pitches for strikes. Like any successful Chris Sampson start, Chris had excellent defensive back-up, walking away today with an extremely low BABIP of .213 on 7 ground-outs and 5 fly-outs. The good news is that he pitched well today, the bad news is, he has a great propensity now to get roughed up a lil’ bit the next time out. He puts a lot a balls in play and isn’t an over powering pitcher. That being said, we still like him. BABIP isn’t entirely out of a pitcher’s control, but it is a good indicator of what’s to come – just a little heads up.
A Valid Excuse?
Some more food for thought on the BABIP trail, everyone’s boy Brad Lidge might just be suffering from some of the worst luck this side of well….Brad Lidge. Maybe Phil Garner wasn’t completely off base with his continued backing of his ex-closer. While Brad’s comments in response to his poor performances have been enough to make any Astros fan upset, this may go a long way to explain just why he has been so exasperated. We’ll, as usual, be crossing our fingers to the point of carpal tunnel. However, let’ all remember that pitchers cannot control their BABIP, but he can control his location. Stephen and I have some interesting ideas concerning this man’s career, in association with his BABIP. It’s going to take a good deal of research (sounds like a good excuse to fake illness for excused absences) to tie together loose ends and to confirm our initial thoughts, but we hope to get back to you by tomorrow. It will be worth the wait, trust us.
Hesitantly Getting the Brooms Ready
Our Baseball Nine will be going for their first sweep of the young season on Tuesday afternoon at 1:20 Central Standard Time. Rich Hill will be making his second start of the year, and he will square off against, Wandy. Our karma points have been growing the past few days, so it stands to reason that we’ll have some wiggle room tomorrow. Hey, with all the factually based information we’ve provided, I feel that we can mix in some spiritually based prognostication every now and then.
Wha, wha, wonder….
For what it’s worth, does anyone care that the famed Wrigley ivy is now strewn with multiple advertisements? It’s not our stadium, and I’m not much of a purist, in terms of caring whether or not stadiums promote corporations (the bourgeois capitalist in me I ‘spose). But seeing as how we have Chick-Fil-A® adorning our foul poles, I figured it would be interesting to see what the consensus is about the changes in Chi-town.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Road Magic?
Today was a stressful day for Evan and I. A day game forced us to make some pretty heavy decisions: go to class or watch a potential Astros victory. After much deliberation (and maximum number of absences accumulated) we decided to go to class. Both of us brought our laptops…but thankfully, our limestone walled buildings prevented us from picking up wireless. This is when we really felt the heat. Both of us ran back and forth from our rooms to class in order to check the score of the game. Knowing that we’re 3 runs up in the top of the 6th (the last score we saw before getting out of class) was cause for us to hustle like Carlos Lee down the base path back to Evan’s room.
Here’s our report of the game based up on spotty viewing and studying the box score (we witnessed personally innings 1, 2, top of the 3, 7, 8, and 9):
The Friendly Confines certainly lived up to the name on Monday, as the Astros managed to earn a 5-3 win, as the Cubs made their home opener a downer for Northsiders. Woody Williams pitched effectively in his six innings of work, giving up two runs on six hits. The game started off about as well as any ‘Stros fan could want, with Craig doubling down the left field line (for hit number 2,937) and scored moments later as Chris Burke followed in kind, with a double of his down in the left field gap. Morgan Ensberg singled up the middle in the fourth inning to deliver our second run, and ,Lance, while not hitting for power…or average, thus far, had a sac fly in the fifth to knock in our third run. With the Astros clinging to a 3-2 lead in the seventh, Chad Qualls was brought on in to spell Woody, and promptly gave up the tying run, on a pretty heady play by Alfonso Soriano. While on second base, Soriano scored on a chopper off the plate by Jacque Jones. Jones beat the throw to first, and as Lance bobbled the ball, Soriano went all the way home. With the score tied in the eighth at three apiece, Adam Everett put up one of the best battles you’ll ever see outside of a Mexican cock-fight- battling back from being down 0-2 to eventually hitting a 2 run bomb on the ninth pitch of the at-bat against Bob Howry -- incredibly, this HR makes him the club leader in HR for SS at 34. In a true anomaly, the Astros managed to have scoreless relief in both the eighth and ninth inning! Rick White overcame a leadoff walk to Aramis Ramirez to continue his streak of scoreless relief. Newly instated closer Dan Wheeler was like the owl from the Tootsie Roll Pop commercials: A one, a two, a three.
Movin’ on Up…Innings Wise
In case anyone missed it, the much maligned Brad Lidge was removed as closer in favor of the aforementioned Dan Wheeler. Lidge will not be sent down to the minors, but will instead fill in as a middle reliever for the foreseeable future. While I have no problem with the demotion, I’m not quite sold on his taking up a roster spot. At the end of the day, one has to ask him/herself: Does having Lidge on the Astros make this team better? Would Fernando Nieve, Matt Albers or
Also, keep your fingers crossed (we are for sure) as Dome-Dogs' favorite Chris Sampson gets his first start of the season.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
I will look for the silver lining….(repeat as necessary)
Well, the euphoria that accompanied our first win of the season was tempered with a less than praiseworthy 10-1 drubbing at the hands of the Red Birds. So while the Astros will not finish 0-162 this season, Sunday’s performance was bad enough, where…well, it’s gotten to the point where allusions to our one victory is about all we have to hang our hats on. That being said, let’s break down loss number five:
Jason Jennings pitched admirably enough. He struck out King Albert! And then preceded to give up a monstrous home-run to him in his next at bat. That put them up 3-0 in the 3rd inning, and they never looked back. Former Baylor Bear, Pittsburgh Pirate and Texas Ranger, Kip Wells, came in and performed like a man possessed, giving up one hit in seven innings of work, striking out seven. Scott Rolen collected 2 hits, 4 RBI, and touched home plate one time as well. One of those hits was off of Brad Lidge who, for all intents and purposes, is quickly approaching the end of his tenure as a Houston Astro. Side note: when did the chinks start to appear in his armor? Not against Mr. Pujols in game 5 of the 2005 NLCS, but in Game 3 in that same series against the Cardinals. John Mabry had a key double in the 9th inning to score Pujols, and cut the Astros lead in that game to 3-2. It doesn’t matter, but for all those who point to Game 5 as the beginning of the end, they should look back 2 days prior. Anyways, I digress. Watching Lidge get interviewed at his locker after the game was more sad than anything else. His body language spelt out the following: r-e-s-i-g-n-a-t-i-o-n. It was almost as if he has pronounced this season as done, and is thinking about whether or not it would be prudent to invest in a mutual fund with Mark Wohlers, Rick Ankiel and Chuck Knoblauch.
Well, we titled this as our search for a silver lining and thus far we’ve stuck to the clouds of grey – it doesn’t help that they just keep gathering. Yes, we played pathetically today. Every lesson we learned yesterday, the team unlearned today. Morgan Ensberg didn’t do his job, he struck out twice, Lance and Carlos couldn’t get their bats going. Most importantly, we played Bad News Bears quality defense. For a team that has a rotation full of non-power pitchers, we HAVE to play better defense. I hate to say it, but Craig showed his age today and that’s not an issue that goes away – also can Craig not swing at every slider that gets thrown to him? But, here’s some good news: In the ninth inning Morgan Ensberg drew a walk (which is what he gets paid to do), so did Carlos Lee. Guess what happened when we got Morgan in scoring position? We drove him in. It’s a pretty simple formula. Last night we got everyone on base at least once and we cleaned up. Today we only had six base runners over a nine inning ball game; that just can’t happen. Good news too, I’m pretty sure that’s not going to be the case for the next 156 ball games. We’ll get in a groove at some point.
Well that’s enough optimism for me. The dire news we got today, the potentially season crushing news we got today: Even if we get a lead (and they’ll be slim most of the time) there’s a very, very good chance we won’t hold onto it. There are three guys in the bull pen who are getting paid handsomely to do one thing, get people out over the course of one inning. These guys play a sport. In sport, sometimes we perform dismally. The hallmark of a true athlete is the ability to rebound. Yes, I’m speaking from vastly different athletic experiences, but as a former track runner, I am intimately familiar with screwing up in big ways (entire track meet losing ways), but if some scrub 17 year old can bounce back the next week through some grit, I am baffled as to how Brad Lidge continues to behave like a scared puppy. If there is nothing physically wrong with Brad Lidge, then it is all in that five inches between his ears. There is little space left for Brad Lidge to sit around and either make excuses or shamelessly admit to his wrongs. I am tired of it, the Houston Astros have to be tired of it, and I think any baseball fan anywhere is tired of a man who possessed such greatness falter so impotently. Instead of Brad Lidge looking like a sad puppy at his locker, we should have seen a Brad Lidge filled with fire in his eyes. He blew up in a pretty grand way this afternoon, but he had a few nasty pitches that he unloaded, so we/he knows it’s still there. I see only one option left for Brad Lidge, a fearless search of his innermost self to find the extraordinary amount of grit and determination that it will require for him to rebound from such a poor outing and find his own stride. That’s what great athletes do. I think Brad owes it to the fans, the players, and most of all to himself to “man-up” and play some baseball. If he doesn’t, well hold onto your butts, because we are in for a loooong strange trip.
Sphere: Related ContentSaturday, April 7, 2007
WE DID IT!!
Astros 5 Cardinals 1
Well, we’ve got that winning thing out of the way. Tonight we looked like the anti-John Lopez Astros. We had offensive dominance, defensive prowess, and Roy Oswalt…well Roy Oswalt was even better than he usually is. The Wizard put together a complete game needing only 94 pitches. Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee vanquished the monkey’s on their backs by going yard in back to back innings (Lee in the 6th and Berkman in the 7th). To say the least, the Astros finally did all the things that they are capable and actually did them at the appropriate time.
Roy was dominate essentially the entire game. The only time he probably worked up sweat on this especially cold night came in the top of the 5th when Roy found himself with Speizo on 3rd and Kennedy on 2nd with only one out. However, in true ace fashion, Mr. Oswalt bore down and struck out Reyes and got Eckstein to ground out to first; keeping Speizo firmly planted on 3rd. Outside of that jam, Roy was in control, striking out 4 and inducing 20 ground outs in a incredibly efficient 94 pitches.
Behind the plate, the revamped offense showed its true colors. Lee and Berkman’s aforementioned homeruns aside, Berkman and Lee had two hit nights with Lee posting a 2.167 OPS and Berkman a 1.75 OPS. Only Scott and Burke were hitless, but both drew walks, so every Astro who went to the plate (save Roy Oswalt) got on base…think about that John Lopez. Biggio added to his career total with a very timely 2 run double giving Roy some breathing room in the bottom of the 4th; bringing Bidge a mere 64 hits away from the illustrious 3000 mark.
In the field, the ‘Stros turned 3 double plays and looked much stronger then they had previously. Though, there were few challenging plays to be made because of the dominance of Roy Oswalt. So there are still some question marks that remain to be seen out in the field, but for now, we know that if can just keep the ball on the ground a lot then we should be OK.
Roy Oswalt’s complete game dominance left one other glaring question mark that needs to be answered, how’s our bull pen? Look for that to be answered tomorrow with two former Baylor Bears, Jason Jennings and Kip Wells facing off in the rubber game of the series and the right not to be the worst team in the NL Central. All and all, this was a well balanced assault presented by the Astros today, a performance which shouldn’t be out of the ordinary. This is a good team and Evan and I – as well as all of you too, we’re sure – are thrilled to see team put the pieces together tonight.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Now wait just one second
So Evan and I have been rather down, though we have found much to be thankful for:
1)A three day weekend (thanks Jesus)
2)While we did get swept in three games by the Pirates, at least we didn’t get outscored 20-2 and
3) Continuing with the Red Birds jabs, at least we still have Roy Oswalt as an active player.
In fact, we’ve even managed a smile here and there. So, needless to say, I was quite disheartened to come home to read Kingwood’s (I, Stephen, should note I am from Kingwood) own John Lopez throwing out some pretty heavy doom and gloom and while it wasn’t on par with burying the season, I wouldn’t doubt that it’s coming soon given the Chronicle’s track record. If you’re going to continue reading this post, you’re going to have to read the article to understand my full ire. Though, if you’re lazy I’ll try best to clue you in.
I will preface the well reasoned and articulated rant with this: While Evan and I were down on the team in our last three posts, at no point did we say the ‘Stros were finished, in fact we explicitly stated that we feel we’re playing very good baseball, just not putting all the pieces together. This is why I have a problem with Lopez’ article. Lopez claims, “at some point the Astros are going to have to answer talent questions. Frankly, the season-opening series showed us few signs the club's makeup will prove to be anything special.” Well John, I’m thrilled that MVP and Cy-Young caliber players like Berkman, Lee, and Oswalt; gold glove caliber Brad Ausmus and Adam Everett; and that Luke Scott, Morgan Ensberg, Jason Jennings, and Chris Burke aren’t anything special. My question is how are we so devoid of talent that there is just nothing in John Lopez’ opinion that we can be something special? Luke Scott played outstanding baseball in the second half, Chris Burke has had flashes of brilliance, Morgan Ensberg was fourth in MVP balloting in ‘05, and Jason Jennings is the best pitcher in the history of pitchers’ grave yard…you’re right John, there just anything special there. There aren’t three guys who hit home runs in a NLDS games at clutch opportunities, there’s no magic defensive possibilities or perennially stellar offensive studs.
So we certainly can’t count on anything remotely magical happening from our offense this year according to Mr. Lopez, so we must look to starting pitching huh? Not possible according to Lopez, “For lack of defense and production at the plate, at least the Astros always could rely on strong, experienced starting pitching and bullpen aces. This year, do you see it? Not outside of Roy Oswalt and Jason Jennings. Williams is going to have to get more innings out of his 40-year-old arm than he has since 2004.” Well Mr. Lopez, I guess that you’re right, there is just no way that the Astros can make some magic with out a starting rotation full of aces a la 2005. Well, that is if you discount the fact that we were in the same boat last year through the first half of the year: Two aces, three questions marks. Only this year we have more hope, more experience, more certainty even. Woody Williams, Wandy Rodriguez, and Chris Sampson are a hell of a lot of a better option than Wandy Rodriguez, Fernando Nieve, and Taylor Bucholtz – especially the latter end of this 2006 rotation. Nieve and Bucholtz we’re far too green in 2006; in 2007 I like Nieve’s odds if/when he gets a chance. Woody Williams is a time tested major league pitcher who can provide as many innings as Sampson and Rodriguez did collectively last year. I have faith in Chris Sampson. I also have faith that Phil Garner will wake up one morning and understand that Wandy Rodriguez just doesn’t have major league stuff and give Nieve, Albers, or maybe even Patton a chance.*** So yeah, it’s just impossible for Astros pitching to combine to help an awful offense produce any success, thanks John, you’re so wise.
Finally, we come to what I feel is John Lopez’ greatest point. Our defense is just astoundingly bad this year. We have a second baseman who is too old, a guy who is too inexperienced in centerfield, and shaky guys on the corners. Question: when has that not been the case for the Astros in the last few years. Willy Taveras was a dismal center fielder as far as fielding is concerned, just because Chris Burke lacks a cannon, doesn’t mean the world comes to an end. If I had a dollar for every time I shouted “What the hell was that Willy” – just for his defensive hiccups, let’s not even get into him at the plate – I wouldn’t be eating peanut-butter sandwiches and cereal for 70% of all of my meals. Yes, Luke Scott, Jason Lane, and Carlos Lee aren’t the fleetest of foot, but their no worse then Jason Lane, Preston Wilson, Aubry Huff, or Lance Berkman who filled their slot’s last year. While I was just about to talk myself into believing this, thankfully, John Lopez’ sobering article has kept me from buying into such delusions.
The moral to the story is this: The Houston Astros are a talented baseball team. They’re just a little rough around the edges. They’re frustrating, but they’re endearing. They’re endearing because they’re a bunch of guys who are easy to write off by the media elite and even local sportswriters. Yet, in spite of this, the Houston Astros find a way to scratch and claw their way back into relevance and success. We’ve got less then two hours by my watch until Wandy takes the mound against Adam Wainwright, and I’ll be honest, I’m scared; but I’m hopeful.
***Having now witnessed a decent start by Wandy, I still don't rescind this statement, he got hit hard ALL night long. Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Timing is Everything
As Evan and I sat in a local wing bar (Pluckers) – which we had to do in order to watch the game, and gorge ourselves on delicious hot wings and fried pickles smothered in queso – during the bottom of the 4th, we made a cheesy side bet: How many runs would the Astros manage to score with the Bases Loaded and ZERO outs? Evan, being the eternal optimist he is, wagered a hefty one run; I, being the realist I am, plopped down zero – it seemed like a safe bet at the rate we’ve been going. Well, thankfully for Evan, Chris Burke managed to get beamed by a Gorzelanny 0-2 pitch(thank god too, we figured it’d be a swing and a miss).
Well, that was it, Evan won the bet, and we were up 3-1 going into the 5th, where the wheels came off, again(no, we’re not alluding to the colloquial metaphor that every sports writer in the Northern Hemisphere “coined” for last nights game”). Woody Williams gave up single to Jason Bay and then surrendered a double to Paulino on a sketchy ball on Tal’s Hill to Chris Burke. Then…it got better. Chris Burke made a fielding error allowing Paulino and Nady to score. Borkowski then came in an effort to stop the Bad News Bears who had replaced the Major Leaguers in the field. Thankfully, defensively gifted Adam Everett decided to commit one of histhree fielding errors of the season, showing why he is taking up a roster spot and keeping a starting All-Star from the AL from playing. He ended up booting the grounder hit to him, not once but twice, allowing the Pirates 5th run to score from third.
Chris Sampson was however, a bright spot. A diamond in the proverbial rough that was the Astros effort this past Wednesday night. He pitched three scoreless innings of relief, allowing for Craig to at least put us within striking distance with his first homerun of the season with two outs in the ninth. At this point, a buddy of ours, Dan Hagelberg, ran into my room, and exclaimed, “Craig hit a homerun!” At this point, I soberly told him, “I know. But it’s too bad that Burke is going to strike out.” At which point…he promptly did. Dan, shocked at my prognosticating abilities, exclaimed, “How the hell did you know he was going to do that?” In an even more sobering tone, I told him the following: “Dan, I knew because I’ve seen more Astros’ games than I have masturbated.” Although, now that I think about it, the Astros are sort of life masturbating. The temporary pleasure of their short-lived leads almost always give way to the realization that in the end, you’re just going to have a mess on your hands.
So, with three games down, and three games lost, the Astros’ faithful look to, it almost pains us to say it, Wandy. We’re down folks. But we’re not out.
The title of this post was "The Timing is Everything" and that's how it is with this team. Last minute stretch runs, bottom of the ninth, two-out solo-shot home runs when we're down two runs -- especially when with the bases loaded that batter managed to foul out to first. If you look at the numbers, this team hasn't played bad baseball, hell, they've played some pretty decent baseball when you look at the numbers from people like Jason Lane, Luke Scott, Craig Biggio, and Adam Everett, and correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think many thought we'd be singing their praises in the first three games of the season. Our starting pitching has been phenomenal (we'll give Woody a break, some of those should have been outs) and our middle relievers have pitched well. The fact of that matter is, thus far we still haven't overcome our number one deficiency as a team -- situational production. I love Craig Biggio, but going 3/5 with a home run is great, but if you can't get a run to go home with the bases loaded and a one run lead in the bottom of the fourth, save your career totals, whats the point of hitting that home run in the ninth? If we can only scratch together two hits and one walk from the fifth through the ninth inning, who cares how many hits and men on base we had all night? So yes, the stats are there and we can crunch the numbers however we wish, but numbers only go so far, especially basic baseball numbers. We need to create runs at the end of the ball game, and for Christ's sake, when there are three men on base and NO outs, we should get more than a run off HBP, Evan and I just reasoned out a least ten combo's that lead to two runs that don't involve a hit. With our run totals going up, we haven't managed to demonstrate that we can hold onto leads, because we can't play defense or we can't seem to catch a break on our correctly and perfectly located pitches.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Hope Dies Last?
As we sit here surrounded by some friends, they are mentioning such phrases as “it’s a marathon not a sprint”, “dude, it’s only two games”…perhaps from anyone other than Rangers fans this would mean something.
Alright, we might be a little too dire, but there is relatively little for us to be hopeful for right now. Ok, so we do. Jason Jennings pitched outstanding…Jason Lane was 2/4 with a home run; hell Adam Everett andBrad Ausmus even had hits.
Things could be worse, but not much. Craig and Burke combined to make a defense hiccup that contributed to this loss (well that's one down). Couple that with the fact that we seem to have a bull-pun full of studs who can’t seem to not allow a run (or two) slip away, yet 38 year old Rick White can get through an inning with relative ease. One has to assume that these things will work themselves out, but one also has to fear for the worst, especially in the City of Houston…especially in Houston.
Right now, we’d love to see Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee get consecutive hits, the Astros obtain a comfortable lead, or any Astro reliever not cause me to literally shit myself. As of now, I feel like someone who should probably just stop talking, or I may say something I might regret later. Right now, we're just lost in our collective shock more than anything. We have another Astro making his debut tomorrow. Woody isn’t being paid to be a stopper, but here’s to hoping he acts like one tomorrow.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Expletive Deleted
Well, I’m sure we all feel the same right about now. It’s like we’re that desperate, desperate young man, who always returns to his girlfriend, no matter how many times she cheats on him. I suppose we can start calling Brad Lidge “Sweetheart”, in that case. The Astros lost in spectacularly pathetic fashion Monday evening, 4-2. And, while there were bright spots, including a Luke Scott homerun, Roy O pitching a masterful 7 and 2/3 innings, striking out three and giving up only five hits, they are only afterthoughts in a game like this
Though, he left with the lead, what followed was enough to make us cringe. And taste a great deal of stomach bile. Lidge found a way to blow the win for Roy, giving up a 360 ft bomb to Xavier Nady with two outs in the ninth inning. The impotency that ensued caused me exclaim: “He (Lidge) has two f#&king weeks. After that, it’s down to the minors, and Wheeler can take his job.”
While he most certainly will have more than two weeks to dick around, and cost us hundreds of collective years of our lives, I am of the opinion, ok this is an indisputable fact, games in April count the same as games in September. How many times is this going to replay itself this year? It shouldn’t happen again, but it will. Perhaps for the same reasons that the other team’s sluggers always seem to come up to face Lidge in precarious situations. Or how the Pirates get hits out of dribbles hit to Adam Everett, and the Astros have line drives caught for outs on at least three occasions. We’re not saying that it’s purely bad luck, obviously the law of averages prevails (like when Jason Bay comes up in the top of the tenth having not collected a hit thus far in the game). It just seems like Astros fans have had to put up with more bullshit than most. Nothing ever comes easy for us. Let’s maintain the faith, and remember that’s this was only one game. Jason Jennings makes his first start as an Astro tomorrow, and Craig is now 69 hits away from baseball immortality.
T-minus zero days and counting
There were quite a bit of comings and goings since we last posted. Let’s get down to the meat and potatoes of it all:
The few, the proud, the Astros’ Twenty-Five Man Roster:
General Manager Tim Purpura and Manager Phil Garner announced the Astros initial twenty five man roster this past Saturday. Here it is, for those who have not seen. Everything fell into place about as we expected, save a few surprises – some pleasant, some…less than pleasant. Expected 4 or 5 starter Fernando Nieve was optioned back to Round Rock, along with vying competitor Matt Albers. This however, did make room for Dome Dogs favorite Chris Sampson (God, he better come through for us, or we’re screwed) as the number 5 starter. The unfortunate (to us) side effect of these moves is that Wandy I’m-perennially-mediocre-at-best Rodriguez gets a go as a fourth starter – though who knows, perhaps third time will be the charm??
With such a shaky rotation coming to the fore, Journey-men (and not to mention non-roster invitees) Rick White and Brian Moehler are slotted in the bull-pen as long relief options. Frankly this move is probably for the best, at least in the short-run, while the young ‘Stros find their “sea-legs”. Both men managed to pitch well this Spring, making this a good move in that it adds some depth and flexibility to an area of our roster that will most likely require such adjectives.
So long, farewell? Eric Bruntlett, who was optioned to Triple A, whereupon he asked for his outright release from the team. Sadly for Eric, none of the 29 other major league teams picked him up. Eric Munson, too, will make the three hour drive back to Round Rock, though we here at Dome Dogs don’t have that bitter break up taste in regards to Munson, that we are haunted with by Bruntlett. The man deserves better, if not for his Swiss Army like baseball skills, but also for his skills as a MAN for growing a WICKED ass beard, gaaah.
The 2007 Astros, Inside the Numbers (without citation of numbers):
Luke Scott and Jason Lane rotating in and out of right field. Scott has demonstrated himself to be a sub-par (we’re sugar-coating it) with left-handed pitchers, while Jason Lane doesn’t against left-pitchers. Phil has stated that he isn’t sure the amount of mix up, however, right now, based on numbers alone, we endorse this platoon.
Phil has already thrown it out there that Craig Biggio will see limited action on the road (Craig is essentially two different men as of late, one at home and one away). This means two things: 1) Astros fans well become well acquainted with the TV visage of Mark Loretta and 2) Astros fans may not see very much of Hunter Pence, something we are saddened by as we found a true respect for Pence after he crushed Brad Lidge (however, we digress).
The line-up shake-up is a distinct possibility, in that we saw it in action on Thursday and we liked it. However, on a real note, this line-up seems like a brilliant idea. Mo gets on base no matter whether or not he can hit a baseball or not, that gives Lance and Carlos some RBI opps. Also, it offers NL managers some head-aches when looking at relief options, with a good mix of left and right power (R-L-R-L). This also offers some flexibility with Loretta a capable on-base guy for filing a great lead-off man on the days when Craig is resting his 41 in the dugout.
Finally, what we’ve been waiting for and perhaps you too our loyal readers (should such a thing exist).
The Houston Astros vs. The Round Rock Express, March 29th:
Round Rock- Stephen and I made the pilgrimage down I-35 to Dell Diamond this past Thursday. We managed to take home some memories, and some pictures as well. A link to those photos will be included at the conclusion of our thoughts on this game. That being said, it was a close game, with the Good Guys beating their AAA affiliate 6-4. Our reactions are as follows:
-After a rocky first inning in which he gave up 2 runs (1 earned), Astros starter Jason Jennings got into a nice rhythm and pitched well in his last warm up before starting in the second game of the regular season on Tuesday against the Pirates.
-Carlos Lee has the kind of swing that should help Lance Berkman sleep better at night. The fact that he stole a base in our presence made the evening all the better. Batting behind him, Luke Scott showed how he earned the starting position in right field. Smacking a doubles off the walls in left and right fields, and playing more than capable defense.
-Our centerfielders of today, and tomorrow were on display. Chris Burke collected a hit, made one great catch in center, but also misplayed a couple of balls, one a ball that was over his head in deep center, but should have been a catch. He was the only starter to play the entire game, doubtless that Garner was trying to get him as many innings as possible before the games start to matter.
-Hunter Pence created the most exciting, and the most disheartening of moments in one swing of his bat. In the fifth inning, Jennings departed, and in his stead, came Brad Lidge. We thought it was coming, with the meat of the Express order coming up. What commenced between strike-outs was a 412 ft line drive home-run to center, off Mr. Pence’s bat. This was one ball that Chris Burke didn’t have a chance to make a play on, nor did he even attempt to. It’s good to know that we have that kind of talent waiting in the wings, but at the same time, Jason Bay will not be any more forgiving to a Lidge fastball left too high in the zone.
-Dave Borkowski got a hit. That’s more than worthy of a mention.
Here’s photographical evidence of our awesome evening at the local minor league park:
