Astros

MVN - Most Valuable Network

Total news: 27
Last news: December 31, 1969 19:00:00

Total news: 24
Last news: December 31, 1969 19:00:00

Hi all yall

The site is in a state of transition, which is why the comments aren't posting properly.

Please don't post any comments on any article until the next entry is up (should be by tomorrow.)

Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience.

Lisa

Yeah, sarcasm. I'm getting good at it.

Drayton fired, uh, I mean, "reassigned" all of the Astros coaches except for Dave Clark and Sean Berry, the hitting coach. I was sorry about the latter and hoped that maybe Drayton would put out the bucks to hire Jaime Cevallos, who turned Ben Zobrist from Eric Bruntlett to almost MVP. At the very LEAST, perhaps he could have done something to reverse the teaching that "aggressive", which is I guess, swinging at every single pitch thrown, if possible, to increase the probability or GIDP, is not necessarily good.

Yeah, I know that a good deal of the media writers and announcers incessantly express cpontempt for any ballplayer who, for some unknown reason, won't swing at bad pitches, referring to him as (WARNING - BAD LANGUAGE coming up) a "Moneyball" player. I'm not sure why making an out or 2 swinging at the first or second pitch is so much better than taking a walk, but I guess Dusty Baker is not the only guy who believes that walks clog up the bases and why on EARTH would any baseball team want men on base?

sigh

Where was I?

oh yeah

Dewey Robinson is gone, which is a good thing for the simple reason that the pitchers didn't like him and went elsewhere for pitching help, such as to renowned pitching gurus as Lance Berkman and Doug Brocail. Ed Romero, the erstwhile 3B, bench coach is likewise gone and so is bullpen coach Mark Bailey. No idea where Dave Clark will be if he is not kept as manager.

I've heard tell that Cooper didn't listen to anyone, players OR coaches (not that he was ever allowed to pick any of them) and perhaps it might could help if Drayton didn't think that he should tell managers who their coaches should be. Who knows if the coaches he DID have were allowed to do anything at all.

I do know, as do all of all yall, that this year's team resembled a bunch of particles in Brownian Motion (thanks to Professor X for THAT one) which means that each particle meanders aimlessly all about without every displaying any hint of purposeful motion.

Justice noted, in his latest column, that the fielders were positioned poorly this year and that opposition hitters got hits against the Astros that they didn't get against other clubs (must have gotten that from fangraphs.) This is the difference between watching on TV and seeing the games in person - the TV cameras seldom show how the fielders are positioned or how they move from pitch to pitch or batter to batter. I most definitely DID notice that Berkman made a LOT fewer plays, even before he injured his calf and that Miggy not only made 20 errors (that the scorer acknowledged) but another 20 or so that were stupidly called "hits" and at least another 20 botched DPs and that wasn't ALL positioning as moving more slowly and throwing less accurately are his own fault.

As for Clank, well, Clank is Clank and you have to be grateful the for the times he actually DOES catch the goldurned baseball and awed for the few times he somehow manages to make any catch that is not routine (meaning he has to move more than 3 steps.)

sigh

Truth is that in spite of all the whitewash, this is just a minor way of "shaking things up" because if Drayton was REALLY serious, he would be at least TRYING to interview someone better than the candidates he has. You can replace all the bullpen and first base coaches you want, but if the manager isn't going to be able to turn the losing attitude around, the name of the first base coach won't make a shred of difference.

Oh yeah - could Cruz have gotten fired because of all the "no comments" he made about Cooper? Oh, I mean, "reassigned" - exCUUUUUUUSE me...

Yeah, I know it is not Astros news, but I like Brad.

It has been a postseason of Closers Who Fail - and interestingly enough, Brad, who has had, uh, his share of struggles this year, has come through, unlike Papelbon, Huston Street and Ryan Franklin.

What's that old Stones song - When The Whip Comes Down...

Got an, um, interesting comment purporting to be from "Jack Zduriencik" informing me that I should not quit my day job as a cosmetologist (at least he didn't say stripper or Hooter's, uh, serve-person) because, in fact, Bobby Heck was NEVER a scouting director, just an underling in the scouting dept and that he, Jack, was, in fact, the scouting director.

That'll teach me not to assume any info I hear is correct, and from now on, when I hear someone referred to with some title, I will check and make sure that that title is, in fact, correct.

Good news: Mike Hargrove, Grady Little and Jim Fregosi are not being interviewed for manager.

BAD news: Ned Yost is (sorry - he's very good with an all-rookie team, getting them to have confidence in the majors, but any more than that is a big NO, especially the problem with pitchers) and Phil Garner is. He's not Billy Martin - his time came and went. He's good with players, terrible with on field strategy.

I'd like to see them give Pete Mackanin, the Phillies bench coach, a chance. He has been an interim ML manager twice and has done tolerably well both times AND he's been working with a winning team. No Bob Melvin, no Manny Acta.

I see there is no Bobby Valentine on the list of interviewees. Wonder if it is because hell will freeze before Drayton would EVER have any manager who had a rep like Bobby or because they asked Bobby and he said - um, no...

Top Prospect Alert has beaten Baseball America to the punch and named the top 10 Astros Prospects and yes, I KNOW they really REALLY had to look long and hard to think of 10 of em. Just because you sign all the guys you draft doesn't mean that the guys you drafted were all that. This year, especially, pretty much all guys signed almost immediately (and there were no guys who had to be paid more because of signability and no Boras prospects, like duh.) And, by the way, the Astros haven't signed any more guys/year than in the previous 10 drafts...

#1 Jason Castro : We all know about The Next Big Thang, our 1st rounder in 08 - age 22, has now caught 158 games in the minors, finished the season at AA hitting .293/.362/.387/.747. He has shown doubles but not homer power and is not a particularly fast runner - the Biggios and even Towles are unusual for catchers. Pretty much everyone really thinks that Castro will be the starting catcher in 2010, and who knows, he may very well be, but I just hope the fans don't turn on him when he doesn't come up and immediately hit like Mike Piazza.

It is actually much more likely that he will start the year at AAA and if he does well, will probably not be called up before the Super 2 limit has passed so that the team can get an extra cheap year out of him before FA.

#2 Jordan Lyles  : The Astros supplemental 1st round pick in 08, will be 19 at the start of the 2010 season. He spent 2009 at A ball, started 26 games over 144.1 IP with a 3.25 ERA, 5 HR, 34 BB, 167 K. Not bad for A ball, but the guy is at LEAST 2 years away from the majors - he is NOT Rick Porcello, and the fact that he's #2 on this list tells you what kind of shape this farm system is in. 

#3 Jiovanni Mier    : First Rounder in 09, now age 19. Just finished rookie ball (and yes, he's the #3 guy on the list. Yeah, I know. Over 192 AB, he hit .276/.380/.484/.824, stole 10 bases and was caught 5 times. No reports about his glove, but his numbers aren't particularly impressive and if he was the 30th round pick, he wouldn't be 3rd on this list, would he?

#4 Jon Gaston: picked in the 7th round of the 08 draft, 23 yo RF, just finished the year at high A, where he was the league home run champion. in 518 PA over 139 games, he hit .278/.367/.598/.965 with 31 doubles, 15 triples, 35 HR, 71 BB, 164 K, 14 SB, 4 CS, 10 sac-fly and only 3 GIDP. (The boy best work on cutting down those Ks and upping those GIDPs.)

#5 Chris Johnson   4th round pick in the 06 draft, now age 25. Kind of young for an Astros prospect, but hey, they had to find SOMEbody. He repeated AAA this year after playing 30 lousy games there last year and did tolerably well over 104 games/384 PA, posting a .281/.323/.461/.784 line. He walked 21 times and struck out 90 AND he GIDP 16 times, too!!! No walks, plenty of DPs???!! The boy is a born Astro!!! All he has to do is jump around like Miggy with all that enthusiasm out there and the fans won't even notice the difference, except for the 13.5 mill savings in salary.

If Miggy agrees to re-sign for real cheap this year to play 3rd, Johnson had best do his darndest to be traded because the fans think that absolutely NOTHING matters except for BA and low strikeouts and "enthusiasm" out there on the field. Especially when they are screwing up fielding...
#6 Brian Bogusevic   : the Astros 1st rounder in the 05 draft who will be 26 (the guy who was a GOOD college hitter who the Organization decided to make into a pitcher and stuck to it for 3 hideous years before letting the poor guy do something he actually could DO.) After tearing the cover offn the ball in AA in 08, he produced more pedestrian numbers at AAA this year, and, unfortunately, not much power, which is not good for a corner OF. He has played some CF, but lacks the speed and glove to displace Bourn, to put it mildly.

Over 520 PA in 138 G, he hit .287/.342/.365/.707 with 53 BB and 118 K, 22 SB and 3 CS. I know he's old for a prospect, but it is really only his second year as a position player. I doubt he'd start the year as the 4th OF/DR, which means either trade/release or another year at AAA to try to learn to hit for power. I'd actually prefer him to Michaels/Erstad, but then again, I'd rather watch eager young guys than crappy old "clubhouse guys." And I sure as heck didn't see those supposed "clubhouse guys" doing much of anything last year. But then again, maybe I'm wrong and without The Gritmeister doing his Thang, maybe things would have been worse. But then again, if things had been much worse, maybe Drayton would have gotten rid of Cooper a LOT sooner...#7 Ross Seaton : 3rd round pick in the 08 draft, 20 year old RHP. 2009 was really his first year, as he only threw 4 innings in 08. He spent the year in A ball, started 24 games over 136.2 IP with a 3.29 ERA, 1.29 WHIP: 137 H, 50 ER/69 R (whoaaaaa, tells you a LOT about the crappy fielding) 11 HR, 39 BB, 88 K (which is 5.8K/9 IP, pretty low for A ball.)

He most definitely does not look like a guy who will even sniff the majors for a minimum of 3 years and I'm not real too particularly impressed with those numbers. As I've said before, only on the Astros where the guys have to pick SOMEbody...

#8 Tanner Bushue : 2nd round pick of 09 draft, 18 year old RHP who threw 22 innings at Rookie ball. And they were not hitless, walkless innings or all strikeouts or something which would make an 18 year old kid stand out in any way. 22 innings pitched in freaking ROOKIE ball - not AAA or something, and this kid is #8 on the Astros prospect list. I'm not making this stuff up. Maybe the guy will amount to something, who could POSSIBLY have any idea? After 22 innings????!!!!  I have NO idea and I don't know how these prospect hounds made a decision like that after 22 freaking innings. Why do I think that he wouldn't have made this list if he was the 40th round pick?

#9 Jay Austin : You're not gonna believe this one neither. 2nd rounder in the 08 draft, age 19, CF. Just finished A ball, 397 AB over 101 games, hit .267/.320/.360/.680; 31 BB, 78 K, 23 SB, 13 CS; 1 HR, 22 doubles, 6 triples.

This guy is on the list WHY??? What the ****???? He beats out Koby Clemens, like WHY????#10 Jose Altuve : (will be) 22 yo Venezuelan second baseman who split the year between the rookie league and low A. He had a .916 OPS over 179 AB at the rookie level, but hit .250/.337/.316/.635 over 79 AB at low A.

sigh

I have NO idea why this prospect site picked the guys they did, unless they just decided to pick the #1 and 2 rounders for the past few years. However, I would like to know why Chia-Jen Lo, Koby Clemens and TJ Steele didn't make this list. Just to name a few guys who were phenominally better than Tanner Bushue and Jay Austin.

I suppose I should say a lil something about the picking of a new manager.

I read that Ed Wade is pushing for 67 year old Jim Fregosi, who hasn't managed in 9 YEARS and was a complete and total failure in has last 2 years (last job) as Blue Jays manager. He got less than zero from a decent pitching staff and basically nothing from his hitters either. He also refused to play young guys. Yes, I know that Fregosi led the 93 Phils to the WS and lost because he foolishly insisted in sticking with his shaky closer.

I'm sorry, but Fregosi is just TOO freaking old to be a ML manager, ESPECIALLY when you haven't managed in 9 YEARS.

Remember the last 3 years of Felipe Alou managing the Giants? He was just too old, even for a 100% veteran team.

As for Manny Acta, yeah, I know he was in the Astros Organization for a long time and would be JUST the kind of yes-man Drayton likes, but Manny couldn't manage to get anything from ANY of the Nats players and he sure as heck couldn't stand up to ANYONE. He would have been the perfect guy to hire in the Baggy/Biggio years because he would have just left everything to those 2, who thought they should be running everything anyway and disrespected and undermined every manager the Astros had - maybe even Art Howe, who knows.

I simply don't see ANYTHING to recommend Acta as a ML manager and this is NOT because he was given a terrible team to manage. It is because he clearly didn't motivate his players at ALL and he was not any sort of leader.

I hear tell that the players want to keep Dave Clark - and if those players include Lee, Berkman and Oswalt, well, that is 90% of the battle right THERE because it is more important for a manager to get players to play hard and do their best than anything else. And after Cooper, a guy who the players CLEARLY didn't respect of play for, it would be a most welcome change.

(to any of all yall who read the previous entry posted here, sorry - not sure how on earth that happened, except that maybe I am still not quite myself after being sick for almost a week...)

Anyway, the Astros and Moehler had a mutual option for 2010, meaning that either party could pick up the option, and Moehler wanted to come back. (I'll be reviewing Moehler's year in a later entry - the Astros Starters Review.) Moehler should be in better shape after having his knee scoped and fixed up.

I don't really have a problem with this - he is satisfactory as a #5 guy/long reliever/spot starter and that is a VERY useful person to have on a pitching staff, especially IF the astros are serious about giving the young pitchers any sort of chance. Young guys are gonna have BAD days. Unless they are Roy Oswalt, and not everyone is Roy Oswalt.

3 mill is really not an excessive payment for a reasonably reliable swingman. Unfortunately.

I know I'm gonna hear about how I could fer SHER find some minor leaguer who could do the exact same job, but I'm gonna remind you about Bazardo/Wilton Lopez and ask if you REALLY think those guys are really reliable 5th guys/swingmen.

I will remind you that these days, fans are extremely demanding and don't think that young players actually NEED development time, that they should all be Ryan Braun/Evan Longorias. Well, they aren't - see, for example, Michael Bourn. Cooper didn't want him last year (remember all the fuss about wanting him platooned with Reggie Abercrombie, replacing him with Darin Erstad) and the ONLY reason he didn't get JR Towlesed is because he had Ed Wade in his corner. And Bourn most definitely improved this year. Not that he doesn't have some holes, mind, never said he didn't, but he surely did a LOT better than he would have if he had been sent back to AAA to rot in favor of The Gritmeister.

And, by the way, I SERIOUSLY doubt that Drayton is gonna fork out for some FA pitcher's multi-year contract. He might could go after Ben Sheets, if he's cheap enough, or try out Wesley Wright as a starter instead. Forget Lackey.

I get amused by all the people who INSIST that Drayton sell the team to some rich guy who has no interest in the team as a business - doesn't care if he loses money - his OWN money every year, just so long as the team wins. Oh - and he will stay completely in the background and let baseball guys run everything.

Like, who IS this masked man? What billionaire really REALLY has no problem losing HIS OWN MONEY every year on a sports team?

After all yall find thismysterious guy, you mind giving Grady Sizemore my phone number? For once, I'd like to be shivering from some other cause besides this stupid virus...

Or, to put it even more succinctly, When Nelson Freaking Figueroa pitches a 4 hit, no walk shutout against your ballclub, you ball club is, to put it nicely, absolutely terrible.

Well friends, sorry no posts this weekend, but I've been sick with whatever virus from heck the kids thoughtfully brought home from skool. The greatest truth on earth is that the ONLY thing that kids LIKE to share are germs.

That and the fact that the reason that we were stuck having to watch the same old suckulous veterans and not any of the kids, except for JR in a few games, is because Drayton instructed Clark to play the veterans, both home and away. He wanted the team to win as many games as possible. The Astros ended the year 74-88; this means that only 7 ML teams had worse records. This means that the Astros have the 8th overall pick next year. This means that the Astros will have to find someone who can be considered first round, like Giovanni Mier, who does not have Boras as an agent. This means forget signing the Justin Smoaks.

As for the post-season, I don't have a dog in the fight except for hoping against hope that the stupid Yankees and Red Sox both get knocked out in the first round, in 3 games - all shutouts. No Ex-Stros to root for, except Adam Everett of the Tigers.

I'm going to go through the season, discuss starting pitchers, the bullpen, position players in terms of runs created, outs made and runs driven in/opportunity.

Miguel Tejada hit his 14th homer of the year (and 196th hit) and Lance Berkman hit his 30th double of the year. Together, they drove in enough runs to support Felipe Paulino to win his last game of the year/ FINALLY!!! He had started 5 games since being recalled from AAA and in those games, he gave up 2,2,1,4 and 8 runs - and had  exactly 2 runs of support in the first 4 of those games.

Tonight, he needed 110 pitches to go 5 innings, but he slogged his way through, going to 3-2 counts six times, giving up 2 doubles, 4 singles and 3 walks, striking out 5 and giving up only 1 run.  To be honest, his stuff wasn't really that sharp and the Phils rested Utley and Victorino in favor of Bruntlett and Ben Francisco (who actually did very well against Paulino) and pulled Rollins after 5 innings and sent in Miguel Cairo.

They Phils looked as if they had done just a leeeeeetle too much celebrating last night, and the crowd looked equally listless.

Meanwhile, Cliff Lee gave up 4 runs - not sure why this particular ballclub gives him so much trouble - and Brett Myers, who hasn't pitching in something like 3 weeks, was VERY rusty out there. He would have given up more than the 1 run he DID give up, but he was pulled in favor of Clay Condrey, who had no trouble getting pinch hitter Aaron (ofer) Boone to flyout to center.

The Phils weren't real too "Phitin" until the 9th inning, when they suddenly emerged from their game-long stupor to mount an impressive offense against Valverde. Not sure why they chose to let Miguel Cairo have the final AB with the winning run at the plate instead of sending in Utley, who is 50 times the player/hitter that Cairo is, but what can I say - guess they aren't worried about not having the most wins in the NL.

I didn't really have time to write more last night - everyone is sick with whatever flu-like virus is going around, but I had hoped to see something of vintage Pedro. It was odd and somehow painful to see him throwing a "fast"ball at 89 and a mostly unchanging change. With all due respect to Maddux and Clemens and Randy Johnson, Pedro at his best was the best pitcher I ever saw - virtually unhittable, even more so than RJ.

Made me think about The Last Of Biggio. I understand why these guys cling, why they hold on long after what made them extraordinary have long vanished, I do, but somehow, I wish they would all pull a Will Clark and go out on top, so that our last memories of them are of their eliteness, not their faded shadows.

And speaking of faded shadows, off to NY to face what is left of the Mets. Tomorrow night, it's Wandy vs John Maine. Saturday, it's Yorman Bazardo vs Pat Misch and in the final game of the season, it's Wilton Lopez vs Nelson Figeuroa - wonder if the stadium will look like it's a Marlins' game...

The other day, I wrote an entry which said "man bites dog."

Today's entry should be subtitled "newborn baby bites killer pit bull."

No matter what happens to Towles in the future, he will alsays be able to relish the day he hit TWO homeruns off one of the greatest righthanded pitchers of all times.

Interesting because the first homer was originally ruled a double by the ump, even though you could clearly see on the TV that the ball went over the fence. Unlike his homer at the BOB in April 08 which was incorrectly ruled a double by the umps, this time there was HR replay and he correctly was awarded the homer he actually DID hit. After that disasterous game at the BOB, in which Cooper loudly and publically derided more than a few players to the media, Towles turned into a nervous wreck and couldn't really do much with the bat and ended up back in Round Rock, where he regained his stroke and his confindence.

Hopefully, this time, that call being correctly reversed will do the opposite and spur a great hitting streak.

Well, tonight's game showed why I wrote "Coop" in last night's entry when I should have written "Clark." Second verse, same as the first.

He pulls Bourn because we're facing a lefty - nevermind that Bourn hits leftys VERY well and puts Jason Michaels in center - might as well put Clank in center. He won't let Chris Johnson, Maysonet or Manzella start, but hey, a pinch hitter? Yeah, let's goooooooooo.

Then, in the SECOND inning, he has men on first and second, NO out, and he has Kepp at bat. Keppinger is hitting .330/.379/.468/.847 and he has him freaking sac bunt??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? So that Jason Freaking Michaels, hitting .260/..315/.440/.745 can hit??? Sure his lifetime OPS vs leftys is .799, but Kepp's is .899!!!

Too stupid. Just absolutely TOO stupid. So you give up an out, depend on a guy who is doing crappy, then have him followed by a guy who is hitting a buck something then the AA pitcher, who doesn't hit at all. SO absolutely FREAKING stupid I couldn't believe it. Coop all over again. Naturally, neither runs scores, and yes, that was partly due to the HP ump's complete inability to call a strike a strike or a ball a ball (and there were multiple errors for both sides, to be honest.)

And I haven't gotten near mentioning his forgetting the double switch when Fulchino had to relieve the injured Paronto, who was pitching well, for once. And if he didn't forget, then he is doing the Coop thing of having as many pitchers as possible pitch in a single game, unless the starter goes 7 innings and he can just plug in Hawkins and Valverde.

BAH

Three strikes and Clark is O U T.

And of course, Michaels costs Lopez his first run by not getting anywheres near a ball hit to center which Bourn would have been all OVAH, allowing the first run to score.

And actually, Lopez wasn't near as bad as I thought he'd be.

He got through the first 2 innings on 22 pitches, then gave up a run by walking the #8 guy, who was sac-bunted to second, then having Michaels not get near a fly ball to center. The 4th was one of those unfortunate things - gave up one of those squiggly IF hits to 3rd when Ryan Howard hit a ball with a check swing, and of course a shift is on, then a single up the middle that took one of those funny bounces on the IF, then a walk. No outs, bases loaded and he hangs a slider and when any pitcher, not just Lidge hangs a slider, the hitter will go all Pujols on its ass.

So Astros are down 5-1 and there's the ballgame.

Lopez gets the next 2 outs, then gives up a single to Rollins, and then will all those leftys coming up, Clark pulls him and sends up Wesley Wright, who gets Victorino.

Wesley did fine with Utley and Howard and "walked" Ibanez and I have that in quotes because Ball 2 and 4 were right in the middle of the freaking strike zone (remember what I said about the ump) and then Werth hit a good pitch, a low outside FB over the fence.

The Astros left men on base all night. In the second - well, that was Clark's eff-up. There were 2 on for the pitcher in the 4th (but Michaels and struck out and Kepp grounded out without advancing the leadoff hitter.) 2 were left in the 5th when Pence flied out (almost made it out) and Keppinger struck out.

And Carlos and Pence BOTH struck out in the 9th with the tying runs on base - and Carlos swung at a pitch at his neck, too.

sigh

Tomorrow, it's Pedro vs Brian Moehler

Wonder who's gonna win THAT one...

Yorman Bazardo outpitched Cole Hamels.

I can't believe I am writing that, but it is true. So I am gonna say it again: Yorman Bazardo outpitched Cole Hamels.

Yorman threw 5.2 innings, gave up only TWO hits - a leadoff single to Rollins (which led to a run) and a double to Victorino which SHOULD have been an out, but it bounced off the first base bag and took a bad hop and Berkman couldn't get it (and it was a BAD night for Berkman all around, except for the walks...) And that odd hop eventually led to a run because Utley grounded out and Victorino went to third and then, with Howard at bat, Victorino, by dancing down the baseline, enticed Bazardo into a balk and there was his second run. He freaked out, walked Howard, and Clark pulled him at only 76 pitches with the Astros leading 3-2. He also walked 4 and struck out 4.

Bourn went 2-5, stole a base which sparked the Astros 5 run 7th with 2 out, none on. He also made an outstanding catch on Ibanez' FB in the 7th. Of course, Bourn makes so many outstanding catches, I think something is wrong with him if he doesn't make a catch. But just the same, he's still not as good a CF as Adam Everett was a SS and yet the media LUUUUVVVVS Michael and ignored Adam. Batting Average matters - they hardly noticed Michael last year either...

Miggy had a great night - went 4-5, drove in 1 and scored 3. No GIDPs, and, in fact, no ground balls at all. And no bad throws or crappy plays.

Lance - had 3 walks, 1 intentional. Besides the unfortunate "double" off the bag, he got caught stealing second and he failed to score a run because he pulled a Jeremy Giambi and didn't do his usual patented slide and touch the bag with his hand when the catcher blocked the plate AND he didn't try to evade the tag long enough to allow the other runners to advance. Just a bad night. Coop pulled him in the 7th and sent in Aaron Boone (and with men on first and second and 1 out - and yes, the Astros were leading 8-2 at that time, but this IS Philly and you can't assume a team like this can't come back.)

Carlos Lee went 2 fer 5, got his 101st RBI, giving him his 7th straight 100 RBI season when he drove in 2 in the 7th - Lance was IBB, Hamels pulled, and righty Tyler Walker sent in to get him out - FAIL.

Pence went 2-4 with a walk, scored 1 and drove in 1 (shoulda been 2, but Lance had that complete and total brain fart at the plate.)

Keppinger went 3 fer 5 with 2 RBIs, Kaz went 1-4 with 2 RBIs and even JR Towles managed an IF single (but he was in good company - it was the 4th IF single of the game and, in fact, of the Astros 15 hits, only 2 weren't singles and they were doubles AND Carlos' was the only one really well hit) and his batting average is still above MY weight.

One of the good things about this game is that Astros hitters went to SEVEN 3-2 counts, which is absolutely incredible for these guys. AND the Phils only went to four 3-2 counts.

Brocail mopped up the 9th inning. He gave up a single, then an easy grounder to second and Kaz didn't even try to turn the DP or get the lead runner. Brocail was NOT happy. He glared at Miggy and Kaz laughing and joking about it. Then Feliz hit a liner straight at Matsui, which he drops. Now Brocail is STEAMING mad and yelling non-family friendly kinds of words. Kaz doesn't laugh this time - Brocail is easily twice his size. And THIS time, when the pinch hitter hits a grounder straight to Kaz, he and Miggy do it right and get the 4-6-3 to end the game.

Astros can't beat the crappy Reds, but they beat Cole Hamels and the Phils by 6 runs. It's baseball and you REALLY neverknow.

It's Wilton Lopez vs JA Happ, LHP. Happ is a tough lefty who has a 2.79 ERA/1.20 WHIP - only 7.5H/9 IP, 1 HR/9 IP, 3 BB/9 IP and 6.3 K/9.

Wilton Lopez, unlike Bazardo, wasn't even a good minor leaguer - never went above AA (well, 1 bad inning in AAA) and this year, started 15 games and relieved in 14 over 110 innings: 10.5 H/9, 0.7 HR/9, 1.2 BB/9 IP and only 5.6 K/9 and a 4.73 ERA/1.32 WHIP.

Bazardo beating Hamels really was kind of miraculous - and Wilton Lopez beating JA Happ would be, well, almost beyond credulity. But it IS baseball and when it comes to baseball, youneverknow...

The last baseball game of the year here at home, another meaningless game, except for Wandy, my favorite Astro, on the mound, but I said to myself, it IS Wandy and after all, you won't be able to go to another baseball game until next April, so out we went - Brother and the kids and me. Husband was SUPPOSED to go, but he said - Baby, I'm too tired. I should have been suspiscious, but I was, as usual, in a hurry as kids, as usual, excel at lollygagging. I always make them eat and drink right before we go to the park (to slightly decrease the pointless whining for junk food and soda) and Da Bull only wanted one helping of pork fried rice - I SHOULD have been suspiscious, but was in too much of a hurry to try to get to the Box in time for Strike 1.

We even found an empty parking space close up, and I knew that we wouldn't have a full house, and in fact, as we went through the turnstiles and Stubbs swung at Strike 1, I guess I wasn't real too surprised at how few people were wandering around ground level. We got to our seats just as Janish singled (he reminds me of Adam Everett, who I miss, especially as Miggy has significantly lost range this year) and it seemed to me that the Box was maybe half full. I don't CARE what the tickets sold number is, there were amybe 21K people actually THERE.

Anyway, Votto chopped a ball to right and Maysonet, quick as a cat made a great play to his right to get Janish sliding into second. I was frantically scribbling the lineup and pitch counts into my scorebook, or else I might could have noticed that the cotton candy guy was passing by without the usual whines from my kids...

Cueto didn't seem to have good stuff, but as usual, our guys believe that only sissies and weaklings don't swing often and early. Lance did walk on 5 straight balls, but then Carlos grounded out on the next pitch. One of those perfect GIDP hits right to short, only unfortunately there were already 2 outs.

Wandy ran into trouble in the second, mostly because the ump called a LOT of strikes as balls. He gave up 2 singles and a walk to load the bases with 1 out, but then got the pitcher out on 4 wildly swinging strikes and then got Stubbs to groundout to third. 26 pitches to the opposition with 6 batters and that, my friends, is the difference between the Astros hitters and the hitters on other ML teams - Astros hitters just WON'T take pitches or try to foul them off or work counts. And the guys who come up from the minors and do that are derided for not being "aggressive" enough.

BAH

In the bottom of the second, with 2 out, Maysonet reached on a 2 base throwing error, then went to third on a WP. After taking 2 pitches out of the strike zone, Quintero swung at ball 3 and flew out.

A TRUE Astro.

Wandy got 1,2,3 in the 3rd - he adjusted to the postage stamp strike zone pretty well, with a grounder, a single and a GIDP. And then, guess he figured SOMEbody had to get a hit, so he went up to bat and singled. Bourn singled to left, Miggy drew his 14th walk of the year (WHOA!!! He still has a 2:1 GIDP to BB ratio though, so I don't mind so much) and Lance comes up with bases loaded, no out. A Perfect GIDP opportunity, wouldn't you say? But noooooo, he hits Ball 4 - a slow roller to short and it's only an RBI FC. Then Clank is up and it's time for him to pad his GIDP totals, but he grounds out to 3rd - a bit of a tough play, Bourn scores and Lance is on second. Pence strikes out again.

Astros lead 2-0.

Surely this will be enough for the Wand-Man, seeing as how he probably ain't gonna get no mo from THIS gang.

And he comes back out there and he got the curve goin ON. The boy has GOT to have the best curveball in the NL and they swung and swung and swung but they just could NOT hit it. 1,2,3 out. Quintero got a changeup juuuust over the wall into the Crawford Boxes to make it 3-0, then Wandy came back and struck out the side - well, except for a liner to short that Miggy let tip off his glove which went for a single instead of the error that it was.

Then stuff happened.

My son, who had been awfully quiet, suddenly says to me - Ida feeeeeeeel good. Oh no. I put my hand on his forehead and sure nuff, he's burning up. And he's looking kind of pale. Oh no. And Little Girl pipes up - Ida feel good too. Groan. There goes the ballgame. So I know what the kinda pale look means so I get kidss to the rest room juuuuust in time and by the time we're leaving, Wandy has managed to get through the 6th, giving up only 2 runs because, for some reason I don't understand, Dusty Baker doesn't pinch hit for the pitcher with men on first and third, 2 out.

Fine with me - it's nice when the OTHER team's manager does something dumb, for a change.

So for tonight, Wandy goes 6 innings, gives up 9 hits (really 8 hits and an error that SHOULD have been charged to Miggy - 7 singles and a double and only 1 hard hit baseball), 1 walk and 9 K (8 swinging, 7 on curves). Wandy threw 68 strikes, with 22 swing and misses and 3 more foul tips. That is amazing, a 35% swing and miss rate, and 10% is considered good.

I've finally gotten a few minutes to check the rewind. You see, when I got home, Husband was taking a nap???!!! and wasn't really hungry for dinner. Oh no. Sick kids are bad, but sick men are THE worst. Wonder if it is the same virus that is going around the Astros clubhouse...

In the bottom of the 6th, Lee flew out, then Pence singled, then Cueto completely lost the strike zone and walked Blum then Maysonet on 9 pitches. Quintero came up with bases loaded, one out. So naturally he swings at the first pitch, which is up near his neck. Then he swings at the second pitch which is inside and in the dirt, then he swings at the next pitch and does the Astros thing - yes, GIDP!!!!

And, let me not forget to welcome Edwin Maysonet to the GIDP club!!! Yes, he got his very first of the year in the bottom of the 8th!!! Champagne all around!!!!! The stros are now up to #149 on the year and only need 12 over the next 7 games to break the record (the NL record - the other league really is the far superior league when it comes to GIDPs, unfortunately - won't nobody ever get near Jim Ed Rice's record shattering 36 - the boy led the league for FOUR straight years -  or the 07 Oakland A's 191.)

Fulchino, Hawkins and Valverde all pitch scoreless innings and Cueto came 2/3 of an inning from a complete game. You notice this - opposing pitcher only needs 114 pitches to throw a CG against the Astros - is a frequent occurrence.

Let's take a look at how many pitches the Astros hitters took tonight:

1st: 13 pitches: 4 hitters; 2nd: 13: 4; 3rd: 19: 6; 4th: 13: 4; 5th: 8: 3; 6th: 17: 5; 7th: 19: 4; 8th: 13: 4. This works out to 114 total pitches over 34 batters, which is 3.3 pitches/PA. Now, the Astros had 5 walks, so if you subtract those 20 pitches and 5 PA, you will see that non-walk PA's required only 3.2 pitches.

You will notice that Astros hitters went to 3-2 counts only twice, but Reds hitters went to 3-2 counts FOUR times on Wandy and twice more on the 3 relievers.

I think that this is part of the Astros culture. I notice that when the young guys FIRST come up from AAA, they don't just swing away or swing at crap - they look at pitches and fake pitches and foul them off. After they've been here a while, they stop being selective, they stop fouling pitches off. It is the bad influence of the Old Guys - only Berkman seems immune as he's seeing the same 3.89 pitches/PA that he has seen for the past 5 years.

It's time for a new hitting coach and time for the culture to change from the same - gotta swing early and often and refuse to take bad pitches, or even unhittable strikes.

I also am not thrilled that Clark has reverted to the old - pull Clank Lee in the 9th and put Lead Glove Michaels in. I also found out that the shocking reason that Maysonet was actually allowed to play a game is that apparently, Kaz has flu-like symptoms. Figures.

Clark hasn't done one single thing to lead me to believe that he is any different whatsoever from Cooper. Not ONE thing.

We're off to Philly, where our starting pitchers will be Yorman Bazardo(9.55 ERA/2.08 WHIP), Wilton Lopez (8.44 ERA, 2.25 WHIP), Brian Moehler (5.21 ERA/1.52 WHIP) and Felipe Paulino (5.93 ERA as starter/1.54 WHIP).

Bet their hitters are moaning with anticipation.

It didn't start off so badly. Paulino got through the first inning on 12 pitches, giving up only a double to the LF bullpen to Votto.

Then Bourn led off with a single and promptly stole second. Miggy hit a single through the 5.5 hole. And there we are, men on first and third, no outs, Berkman and Lee coming up. What could be better, right? Well, Lance hits a bullet to first, Votto throws home, catches Bourn in a rundown. Bourn is catching Bad Baserunning from Pence. But anyway, we have men on first and second, 1 out, surely Clank will smell those RBIs, right?

HECK, no. He smells the GIDP record and obliges with a nice 6-4-3.

Now mind, the Astros are NOT facing some ace pitcher, they are facing Justin Lehr, the #5 guy and his 5 something ERA. Man, I am TIRED of this. And, as usual, we put the usual team of tired Old Guys out there. Don't ask me why. Not that any of the rooks would do much of anything after weeks of sitting on their dead asses, seeing if they can understand the best ways of refusing to look at any pitches, swinging at crap and grounding into double plays.

Where was I?

Oh yeah. Top of the second, Paulino trots back out. He gets Bruce out on an easy grounder, then gives up a single to Juan Francisco (he's a rookie. Yes, that's right. Looks as if Dusty Baker got over the hatred of playing rookies which defined his career as Giants and Cubs manager. He's even playing Drew Stubbs over Willy Taveras, preferring the better player, even though he isn't oozing veteran goodness.) Then he hangs a slider to slugger Laynce Nix, who swats it into the upper deck in right.

Reds 2 Astros 0

I'm wondering right about now if the probablilty of the Astros coming back to win this game is any greater than the probability that Brad Ausmus will call me in the next 5 minutes to tell me I am the hottest chick EVAH.

Where was I? Oh yeah. So with 1 out, Corky Miller singles (remember him? He's the guy the Reds refused to trade to the Mariners all those years ago for Junior Griffey because they were sure Corky was gonna be the next Johnny Bench, or something - him and Pokey Reese, the next Joe Morgan...) then the pitcher bunts to Berkman, who throws out Miller, who just might could run slower than my 6 year old. Stubbs walks, then Janish hits a bullet to Blum, who makes a great scoop and throw to just barely get him at first.

Bad.

BADBADBADBADDDD pitching. He's lucky to have escaped with only 2 runs being given up. He doesn't seem to have particularly good control of the FB or the slider.

Hunter Pence hits a FB over the Conoco Pump in the bottom of the second to draw the score to 2-1.

But that is about as good as it gets. Paulino goes to 1-2 on Votto, but then Quintero keeps calling for Paulino to throw pitches outside the strike zone - 3 of them, in fact, and Votto merely stares disdainfully at them and trots down to first. Then Phillips singles to left. Then Bruce is up, goes to 2-1, then AGAIN Quintero calls for pitches outside the strike zone. And Bruce doesn't so much as twitch until he trots down to first.

Bases loaded, no outs.

I'm shaking my head as I look at Husband, and he's shaking his head, too. Paulino goes to 1-2 on Francisco (the rookie - did I mention that Dusty Baker is playing 2 rookies instead of Old Guys) and then throws a low FB, mid calf, which Francisco hits into right for a 2 run single. Nix hits a sac-fly to left. Clank makes a terrible throw - the guy has the limpest arm in the NL OF, on par with Juan Pierre. So much for large muscles = strong throwing arm. Miller GIDP.

Reds 5 Astros 1

This game is OVAH. And Clark is not about to pull the Old Guys and send in the rookies, no sirree. Husband and Brother are very VERY carefully not saying anything. I sigh, get up, tell them to go ahead and watch the stupid football game and I'm taking the youngest kids over to my girlfriend's house for a clothes exchange. I'm not missing anything and I can fast forward through the remainder of the carnage when I get back home.

And what did I miss?

Well, Paulino struck out the side in the 4th. Votto led off the 5th with a double to left - Clank husteled to get it, for once, but as I said, he has a terrible arm and Votto beats the throw easily. Phillips flies out to deep center and Votto goes to third. Bruce hits a double, scoring Votto, Francisco grounds out, then Dave Clark, channelling Cooper, decided to IBB Nix and have Paulino pitch to Miller. BAD idea, as Paulino struggles to find the strike zone, and when he does, throws a fat one right down the middle and Miller hits a double to the bullpen.

Miggy hits a solo homer. pinch hitter Maysonet singles (yeah, he deserves to be benched, fans don't want to watch his sorry ass hit .300, play great defense and take pitches), Bourn walks, Miggy singles Maysonet in, then Lance GIDP and Bourn scores. WAY TO GO LANCE!!! Clank grounds out - and I want yall to know that it would have  definitely been a GIDP ball had Lance disappointed the crowd by walking.

Brocail throws a 1,2,3 6th, Byrdak throws a 1,2,3 7th - he did give up a walk, but then picked the runner off, Gervacio strikes out the side in the 8th, giving up a double to PH Kevin Barker (another rookie - what is going on there???!!!) and Fulchino gives up a 2 run homer to Bruce in the 9th.

In the 8th, Miggy doubles, Lance singles. So we have men on first and third, no out again. Isn't that WONderful? No, because Clank satrikes out swinging at a pitch way out of the strike zone, Blum misses out on his GIDP (because Joey Votto didn't step on the bag, or Blum woulda had his 10th of the year nailed. Blum yelled at the ump, but the call stuck and he was safe, nothing he could do.) But then Pence grounded out.

Astros lose 10-4 again.

It's Wandy vs Johnny Cueto tomorrow afternoon for the final home game of the season.

Yes, I'm going.

What can I say? I would really REALLY like to see Wandy win the last home game and I would like to see the Old Guys like, you know, TRY to win.

But I'm not holding my breath. Will be interesting to see if anyone besides me is wearing a Wandy shirt or jersey...

Moehler wasn't exactly sharp in the first, needing 6 pitches to K Stubbs, 6 pitches to get Janish to FO to Bourn, throwing 6 pitches to Votto before he golfed an inside sinker into the RF stands.

He was even less sharp in the second - struck out Bruce, then gave up consecutive singles before getting Hannigan to ground out. Then with men on second and third, he got 2 quick strikes on the pitcher, then just could NOT throw another strike, and walked him.

Then stuff happened. Stubbs grounded to short and Miggy, instead of throwing to second - and the slow pitcher running, made a weak throw to first and the very fast Stubbs beat the throw. THAT one was on Miggy - he SHOULD have gotten the out. Moehler gave up another RBI single to left to Janish, then Joey Votto hit a double to center. Miggy was the cutoff man, and his throw to home was simply terrible - hit the dirt way in front of Coste and skipped under him and Janish, who SHOULD have been a dead duck, scored. Actually, NONE of those runs would have scored had Miggy thrown to the right base with bases loaded.

You know, we are playing the 4th place team, nothing is on the line. We can't play the young guys WHY???

Kaz homers in the bottom of the inning, but the Astros are already losing 6-1 and really, the game is OVAH. We can't pull the Old Guys and put in the rookies, now, WHY???

In the top of the third, Jay Bruce hits a ball softly to shallow left - Clank ambles over to get it, but Bruce is barrelling into second and Clank's weakass throw is waaaay offline, as usual. Remember Biggio playing left? Yeah, I'm trying to forget it, too.

I don't know whether or not Dave Clark has any say over who plays, but unless he has been specifically instructed not to play Johnson, Manzella or Maysonet, his refusal to play them takes himself off my future Astros manager list.

I'm soooooo tired of this.

Wesley Wright came in to rescue Moehler in the top of the third with men on first and third, 1 out, and got a 5-4-3 GIDP. He pitched 2 more innings, giving up a solo homer and 2 singles, but no other runs. He's going to winter ball to see if he can stretch himself into starting. I guess he'd be the #5 guy, taking Moehler's place.

Speaking, by the way of starting, the Astros have shut down Bud Norris for the rest of the year, a sensible precaution, for once. And also, Moehler needs knee surgery - wonder if that why he had such a lousy night.

Wilton Lopez, who will apparently take Norris' next start, pitched the 6th and 7th. He's not very good. To be nice about it. He gave up 2 singles, then, with men on first and second, got a popup to short. Stubbs was caught off second, but Miggy made such a bad throw to Kaz from only 15' away that Stubbs was able to scramble back easily. Only getting one out instead of 2 made the difference in the inning and a 2 run single scored both runners after Lopez got the second out.

I keep hearing all these Astros fans wanting us to re-sign Miggy to play 3rd - I don't THINK so - he won't be able to throw almost anyone out.

Any good news?

Batting righty, Lance hit a homer over the tracks - the roof was open tonight.

Chad Paronto pitched his first scoreless 1,2,3 inning. Byrdak pitched a scoreless inning, and

Th-th-th-that's all folks.

And no, I have no idea when the Astros last defeated Smoltz, but it was 1998 or earlier as the Yahoo game logs only go back to '99. And the Astros have never defeated the guy in the postseason. EVER.

Sometimes, things just don't turn out the way you think they will. Bud Norris didn't have great control of the strike zone and seemed to overthrow at least half of the fastballs he threw. But his slider slid enough that he managed to get himself out of trouble.

He threw 6 innings, gave up 6 singles (2 of them infield hits) and 2 walks, went to 3-2 counts 5 times, went to 3-0 once, stranded men on first and second in the first 3 innings, but turned his luck around when Smoltz bunt grounded into a 3-6-4 DP in the 4th (Lance was absolutely NAILS on defense tonight.) He got a quick 1,2,3 out on Schumaker, Rasmus and Uncle in the 5th and got a 1,2,3 out in the 6th when DeRosa GIDP 6-4-3 in the 6th.

Smoltz seemed to have better stuff - gave up 2 doubles, 3 singles, no walks and 5 K, and, in fact, for the first couple of innings, I had the uneasy feeling that the Astros were going to get no-hit, but Kaz Matsui, his nemesis (he's 13/25, can you believe it???) doubled to left, then Bud Norris laid a bunt single just barely fair inside the 3B line and it was men on first and third, 1 out. Bourn took Smoltz to a 3-2 count, but then struck out swinging on a pitch waaaay inside (he's doing too much of that, too) and then Miggy, who had a great night, drove Kaz home.

Bud held onto that 1 run lead, too. That boy is gonna be all right. He seems to have gotten a second wind after sitting out for a start a few weeks back.

The Astros tacked on a second run when Miggy doubled, went to 3rd on a Berkman flyout and then came home on Carlos's sac-fly. Carlos was swinging at all KINDS of crap out of the zone and fouling it off and actually hit the ball on the only pitch he saw in the zone.

Pence and Bourn were the only ones who went to 3-2 counts and they each did so twice.

In fact, Bourn worked a walk against a lefty in the second of those 3-2 counts and the came around to score on a single from Carlos again. He's smellin that 100th RBI, I can tell. He's had so many opportunities that he's wasted this year - he should have driven in at least 150.

But I digress.

Fulchino struck out the side in the 7th (one of Fast Eddie's good pickups, along with Byrdak and Hawkins, who didn't allow a run in the 8th) and then Valverde got 1,2,3 out after a leadoff walk.

We have a blessed day off, then HOPEFULLY Clark will play some of the young guys against the Reds as he can't make the excuse that we have to throw only Old Guys against any team in contention.

We'll see Moehler on Friday, Paulino on Saturday and Wandy to finish out the season on Sunday.

I heard that Wandy was so out of kilter in his last start because his pitching day routine was significantly disrupted by the team conference about firing Cooper. Hopefully, he'll be back where he belongs for Fan Appreciation Day. I'd sure like to see a few Wandy shirts besides mine out there.

Seriously.

They don't sell them in the Shed and Wandy is the best pitcher on the team. If only he LOOKED like Bradley Awesomeness, they'd have to build another Shed...

Well, why not start off with what little good news there was from this embarassing game:

1 - Michael Bourn hit 2 changeups and, in fact, hit the second off the RF wall. 5' higher and it would have been out. He almost managed to catch another ball on the Hill, but it fell for a triple and I was disappointed that Oquendo didn't allow Ankiel to keep running to earn himself an inside-the parker.

That, at least, would have been something worth watching.

2 - Miggy Tejada went 3/4 and hit 2 doubles. He made 3 bad throws, but Berkman saved him every time.

3 - Pence and Keppinger grounded into double plays, increasing the Astros league-leading total to 144. The rest of the guys had better get with the program because it is going to be tough to make up lost ground and we need another 20 in the next 12 days. I try to have confidence, really I do, but Berkman failed in the first, Blum, then Pence failed in the 4th and Miggy failed in the 8th.

Just imagine the headlines had the Astros managed SIX GIDPs in one game. Why BBTN might could forget all about the Yecchs/Red Sux for the 10 seconds it would take to tell about this incredible accomplishment.

But I shouldn't complain because the untimely removal of Cooper has gotten the Astros a few seconds of pub. Why remove Cooper NOW? ask all the pundits, who are tsktsking and calling Cooper a "scapegoat" instead of properly pointing out his endless mismanagement.

I hear tell that Dave Clark is supposed to be well liked and well respected and is Going To Bring A Winning Attitude And Turn Things Around.

fascinating

He's still not playing the youngsters (except for having Towles catch Bazardo, as he did all year at AAA) and the vets are still playing like (looking for polite word) um, er, uh, let's say, lousy. We can lose just as well playing Manzella, Johnson, Maysonet and Towles.

The hitters? Nothing has changed. Lots of hacking away, swinging at first pitches, refusal to take pitches or foul them off. The Astros load the bases with no outs and manage only 1 run - on a sac-fly. They can't even manage to score any runs off Todd Wellemeyer, the Cards' worst pitcher this year.

I suppose I had better discuss the pitchers. Not that I'm looking forward to this...

First, props to Doug Brocail because he is the ONLY pitcher of the 6 pitchers Clark used who managed to both get 1,2,3 out AND give up no runs.

Next, Yorman Bazardo: he started off just great - the first 2 innings, he got 1,2,3 out and 2 swinging Ks. I thought - well, seems the guy has remembered how to pitch. He WAS the second best pitcher in the PCL this year, next to Bud Norris.

Then, something happened, not really sure what. He got Yadier Molina out easily to start the 3rd inning. But then he just lost control of the strike zone and walked Lugo on 4 pitches - and Lugo isn't exactly a guy to avoid throwing strikes to. Then he gave up a sac-bunt, an RBI single up the middle, another walk (and those pitches weren't even close), then an RBI single to Uncle and then the Cards tried a double steal - Uncle to second and Rasmus to home (at least I THINK it was supposed to be a double steal) and JR threw to second, Uncle managed to avoid the tag until Rasmus scored as Miggy didn't throw home as he had done last night.

So there we were, losing 3-0 already and with this team, playing as horribly as they are right now, the ball game was OVAH. It's really depressing to know that if your baseball team gets behind 3-0 in the 3rd inning that you have LONG since lost the ballgame.

JD noted that Bazardo was NOT throwing the baseball to the inner half of the plate (well, he sure did with Holliday) and I don't know if that was by accident or design, but he came back in the 4th, gave up 3 straight singles, an RBI groundout, another groundout, then another single and then was pulled, having surrendered 6 runs over 3.2 IP. The sad part was that he didn't give up one hard hit ball and with 1 exception, did keep the ball down.

He didn't really have enough movement on the slider and he wasn't able to effectively throw the FB to all 4 corners and that is what most likely did him in. He's just not looking like ML material.

Wesley Wright came in at the end of the 4th and rescued him and for some unknown reason, Clark left him in for the entire 5th inning even though he would be facing some right handed pitchers!!! Imagine that!!!! He loaded the bases with 2 singles and a walk, then gave up a run scoring GIDP and got DeRosa to ground out.

(Speaking of DeRosa, if we are going to pay someone to play third, I would MUCH rather have him than Miggy Tejada, and he'll be cheaper and more versatile.

But I digress...)

Byrdak pitched an inning, giving up a homer to Rasmus on a hanging slider. He's getting tired out too. He's pitched in 11 of 19 games this month and has warmed up in 5 more.

Chad Paronto gave up 3 singles and a 2 run homer on an inside sinker which looked like a good pitch that was golfed into the Crawford Boxes. Amazing the difference between AAA and ML hitters, isn't it?

Valverde came in for the 9th and was NOT sharp. He threw 7 pitches to Ankiel, 4 of which were fouls, and then he threw a FB right down the middle, which Ankiel promptly hit 420' onto the Hill, where Bourn juuuuuuust missed it. DeRosa drove him in with a groundout (yeah, him again), Yadi doubled then Lugo popped out.

What can you do besides shake your head in disgust?

I wonder if Clark will use ANY reliever for, say, 2 or 3 innings, especially if he's sharp and only needs a few pitches to get 3 outs.

Tomorrow, it's Bud Norris vs our old foe John Smoltz.

I checked Smoltzie's stats vs the Astros and was stunned to find that he'd lost 13 regular season games. I thought he was like 50-0 or something. Curiously enough, he's never started a game here at the Box - he closed 5 games and saved them all. 5 innings of work doesn't tell much and you don't want to know his lifetime ERA vs the Astros, trust me on this. Yes, I know he's 42 and he's supposed to be on his last legs (so to speak) but when it comes to this particular guy, his career has, shall we say, legs...

This was his first bad game in a month, and, in fact, his first lousy home game.

sigh

I can't even begin to tell all yall how disgusted and disappointed I was when I looked at the lineup and saw the same old same old. Second verse, same as the first. Or should I say - won't get fooled again. So much for taking a look at the young guys.

And same old crap with the defense. Uncle hits a double, then Holliday hits a grounder to left - NOT in the corner, an ordinary single and Clank makes a weakass throw way offline and Uncle scores easily.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Ludwick singles and Holliday goes to third. Then DeRosa doubles to the RF corner, Pence fires to Quintero who doesn't even BOTHER to try to tag Ludwick, allows him to score but throws to third to get DeRosa instead. I couldn't freaking believe it. JD couldn't believe it.

Astros are down 3-0 at the end of the first inning because of lousy defense and you KNOW that's the end of the game.

Then in the second, wandy gives up a single, then another single just past a diving Miggy (the guy has really lost his range). Then a sac-bunt, then a sac-fly. Then a ball to short and Miggy throws waaaaayyy off line and another run scores. Shoulda been an error, but nope.

And we're down 5-1 (Miggy hit a homer instead of yet another ball to short, whaddaya know) and I look at Husband and I said - I just *()%^&#%! give up. So he says, well don't you want to see what he does with the bullpen, or even if he pulls the regulars if the game is out of line? Besides, the more we lose, the better a draft pick we get.

I looked at him coldly. It won't be high enough to matter and even if it was, Drayton won't deal with Boras, who has all the highest picks.

He said - cmon, cheer up. In a few weeks there won't be any baseball except for the stupid Yankees and their <mercenary> team.

And Wandy settled down and threw 3 more 1,2,3 innings (except for DeRosa's homer) but big deal. Too late. He ended up giving up 6 ER, 9 H, no BB and 6 K over 5 IP.

Besides, I knew that Dave Clark, new manager, ex 3B coach, had already conceded the freaking game when he sent Aaron Worthless Boone up to pinch hit with 1 out, men on first and second. Good grief. I also saw Paronto warming up (yeah, THAT Paronto) and you know how he's done as an Astro.

Man it looks weird to see him wearing Brad Lidge's number #54. First he gives up a homer to DeRosa (that dude KILLLLZZZ the Astros. He has hit 7 homers vs Astros pitching just THIS YEAR. So the bet was (betwen Husband and me), of course, how many runs would Clark let Paronto give up before pulling him? I said 2, he said 3 and we were both over, to our great surprise.

The 7th inning was fun, though. Sammy Gervacio went out there (guess Clark didn't want to press his luck with Paronto - although I am getting tired of this - no reliever is allowed to pitch more than 1 inning) for like the 6th time in 7 days. He gave up a GR double to Uncle juuust inside the 3B line, then a single to Holliday. So he has men on first and third, no out. Ludwick hits a ball to Lance, who looks Uncle back, then throws to second to force Holliday. Meanwhile, Uncle has decided to head home anyway and Miggy throws him out. Then, on the VERY NEXT PITCH, Ludwick decides to steal second and is thrown out. So Gervacio, who looks T I R E D, to put it mildly, is helped out by the Cards thoughtfully running themselves into the next 2 outs.

Wilton Lopez, for the first time, pitched a scoreless inning and didn't look bad. He gave up one single that Matsui got a late jump on, and that was it. Of course, he wasn't allowed to pitch 2 innings and Clark dragged Hawkins tired ass out to pitch the 9th.

The youngsters sat on the bench in a game that was LONG lost to a team that has LONG SINCE won the division.

I hope Drayton noticed how few people were in the stands.

One more thing - I actually think that something is wrong with Bourn - I mean hurt. Not just because he's suddenly swinging away at any old thing, especially changeups, but he isn't getting to balls in the field that he used to. If he isn't hurt, he's just plain worn out. And that boy he best start learning how to hit the change because the pitchers aren't going to be stupid enough to throw him anything else next year.

Tomorrow, Bazardo is going to lose to Joel Piniero.

Might as well play the rookies, Clark. ALL of them.

I was driving in my car with kids being (reasonably) good lil kids, when I turned to the AM radio to check on the traffic, got the news and what did I hear?

Drayton McLane, unhappy with the 0-6 road trip, finally decided to fire Cecil Cooper.

I screamed YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! so loudly I shocked the kids into dead silence - why youda thought Ah had done won me a date with Bradley Awesomeness AND Grady Sizemore AND Corey Patterson (yes, I know, lousy ballplayer but who cares).

I would say YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! but I think Tanya Tucker said it best "But it's a lil too late to do the right thing now..."

Yes, I do remember how happy I was 2 years ago when Phil Garner went byebye and I hopeHOPED that Coop would be better, and he was even worse than Phil. I have absolutely no idea what finally pushed Drayton, maybe the number of letters/emails he was getting demanding that Cooper be removed or they wouldn't renew season tickets, maybe his remarks about Janish and Blum, maybe his absolute refusal to play Maysonet or Manzella, or maybe Lance and Roy went to him and said they would publically demand a trade?

It's not as if Drayton had like NOOOOOOO idea how little respect Cooper had in his own clubhouse (he should have gotten THAT one figured out about the time of the Shawn Chacon debacle last year) and it's not like he didn't know how the players felt about him at the end of the year. But SOMEthing finally got to him - and I hope that Dave Clark does a better job managing than he does coaching third base.

UPDATE: Just saw the lineup for tonight's game and it has the same Old Guys that have been lousy all year and NO rooks. So much for change. Well, no change in lineup. We'll see if Clark has the same bullpen non-sense.

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