Astronomics

Look Honey, Kirk Gibson is back

2005-08-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

Baseball is a team sport, this much I know. The only statistic that truly matters is wins. Call it a cliche, because it is one, but cliches are created with some merit behind them. And looking at baseball in its ultimate form of simplicity and logic, wins vs losses is the sole statistic that counts. So tonight the Astros scored more runs than the opposition and that is a win. The final score was either 7 to 5 or 7 to 6, depending on whether or not Livan Hernandez has finished running the bases after his cheap homerun.

This was one of the weirdest games I have ever seen. Old Wandy didn't have his control, but he is still too cool to get angry with. And he did meander hiw way through 5 innings to his credit. Despite allowing a plethora of hits, walks, and homeruns, Old Wandy got the win. That is what he does. He meanders. I really do love watching Wandy pitch. He just has these antics of his- putting his hands on his knees after throwing pitches, taking his cap off every few seconds. He is fun to watch. Livan Hernandez had an interesting night. He pitched pretty poorly, by his standards. He hit pretty well, by any standards. He was a triple short of the cycle. He minus well have needed ten, because as Bill Brown put it, it is going to take a collision in the outfield for Livan Hernandez to triple. One thing he did manage to do was break a homerun record. In the 4th inning, Livan Hernandez hit a homerun into the Crawford Boxes. He now holds the unofficial record for the slowest homerun trot in the history of the game. Normally, I wouldn't be making remarks like this, but in my opinion, Livan looked at that ball a bit too long and ran a bit too slow for me to be nice. Put your head down and run the bases, you aren't Kirk Gibson. In my opinion he intentionally ran the bases a bit slower than he could have, kept his head up a bit longer than he should have and is therefore going to be inserted into a "I can't beat Don Zimmer in a foot race" joke. He can't beat Don Zimmer in a footrace. Still though, the beginning of this game seemed to be P Livan hernandez vs H Livan Hernandez. Would he drive in more than he gave up? Well, no, he wouldn't.

Mike Lamb has looked pretty bad these last few games. He had a terrible game in the opener. He went 0-5 with two foulouts and hit into two double plays, one to end the game. If you think he played better today, we are in strong disagreement. His RBI single in the first was the result of getting jammed on a pitch headed for his neck. He hit into another duble play. In the 7th inning one of the dumbest things I have ever seen happened. Directly following Morgan Ensberg's ground rule double, with men on second and third, Mike Lamb ran the count full. Hernandez threw the pitch. The umpire calls it a ball and nothing happens... Mike stands there. The umpire stands there. Garner doesn't move. The fans are confused. Livan gets the ball back,
smirking away, and on the following pitch, induces a flyout to short. That is inexcusable, someone needs to get their head in the game. What is Cecil Cooper on the staff for, anyway? Other Astros who didn't contribute much to this win include Brad Lidge and Lance Berkman. However, throughout the course of the season, all players are expected to have bad games. The good ones have fewer bad games, and those 2 rarely have them. When you can win a game where 2 of your key players didn't play well and your starting pitcher doesn't have his stuff, it is in fact what makes this game a team sport...

I think of it like a machine. The machine the Astros were using early in the season was broken. Sometimes it worked well enough to pull out a win. Sometimes though, certain parts didn't work and the result was a loss. Now it seems that every part of the machine is working, Yet, when that certain part isn't working- whether it be the offense, pitching, or defense- the rest of the machine works well enough to pull out a win more often than a loss.

Time to give some credit to Willy Taveras who is marching towards 200 hits and added another 3 tonight. I really hope he makes it that far because it might lock in his ROY status. Craig Biggio added 4 hits tonight and passed up Luke Appling for 46th on the all time hits list. 3000 Hits Club coming up sooner or later.

Pujols and Lee are having better seasons, but Morgan Ensberg is the best player in the game as far as value goes. His numbers are competitive with the best of them and he is being paid a fraction of his competitiors' salaries.

Adding on to the list of players I would love to see on this team next season. Or anytime soon... Carl Crawford, the Houston native. the guy just turned 24 and look at a couple of things he has acheived at the age of 24: 565 hits, 46 triples, and 157 steals. Active players with more hits than Crawford at age 24: Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, , Adrian Beltre, Ruben
Sierra, Albert Pujols, and Ivan Rodriguez.

By the way that list currently stands at:

Carlos Silva
Carl Crawford

You give me a Carl, I'll give you a contract.

Luck Doesn't Exist

2005-08-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

The Astros are off tonight so I've decided to surf around to see if anyone else was on tonight. The cubs are on WGN and they are getting killed by Cincinnati, 9-0. ESPN has Milwaukee vs Chicago. The score is tied at 4, Victor Santos vs Matt Morris. I'm not sure who I want to win this game. Part of me says you have to root against st. Louis. But the other part of me is the part that is scared to death of the Brewers. You have been hearing about all these young guys for three years and now you look at the roster and they are all playing in the big leagues. You look in the league leaders and see names like Carlos Lee and Brady Clark. You look at the standings and see this big fat bucket of league leaders and young phenoms are only 4.5 games behind the Astros for a wildcard spot and it is pretty scary. Whatever though, someone has to lose. Also I see the Marlins lost the first half of a doubleheader to Colorado and are losing the second half. The Marlins have also suffered injuries to Carlos Delgado and Paul Lo Duca so thy have a real opportunity to fall out of the race. Unfortunately, they are at a soft patch in their schedule, hosting the NL West's Diamondbacks and Giants in Florida.

Anyway, the real reason I started writing out a post was because of something I heard on ESPN. Jeff Brantley and Politically Correct Dude are announcing it and I heard something that I couldn't help but laugh at. Here is a dramatization of the conversation:

PCD: Everyone is a great player.
JB: Listen, the reason some pitchers don't get run support is because hitters only play their best for certain pitchers.

PCD: Really, are you sure?
JB: Look, as a former pitcher I know exactly how hitters think. A pitcher who deosn't complain and is positive on the mound will get more run support than a pitcher who complains about his offense.

(THIS IS AN ACTUAL QUOTE, NOT A DRAMATIZATION)

PCD: Really? Are you sure it has nothing to do with luck?
JB: I don't believe in luck. Luck doesn't exist. Take Roger Clemens for example. In the begining of the season he was one of the biggest tough luck pitchers around. But he didn't complain and eventually his offense came around. Now his run support has changed dramatically for the better.
PCD: Interesting little theory you got there.

OK boneheads. Ever hear about a thing called offense? Perhaps that has something to do with run support. Looking at the Top 10 in run support lets see who's theory is correct.

Politically Correct Dude thinks it is luck.

Jeff Brantley thinks it is dependent on who the pitcher is, how much he complains, and his attitude on the mound.

My theory is the most shocking of all. Run support is dependent of offense. I know, I know, it is the most insane theory ever created, but bare with me.

TOP 10 RUN SUPPORT

1) Boomer Wells- 8.25
2) Matt Clement- 7.65
3) Chris Young- 7.54
4) Matt Morris- 7.36
5) Gustavo Chacin- 7.25
6) Jeff Francis- 7.07
7) Chan Ho Park- 6.87
8) Kenny Rogers- 6.82
9) Danny Haren- 6.50
10) Jon Garland- 6.47

OK so take a look at that list. Now lets see how it correlates with our three theories.

Politically Correct Dude thinks its luck. Well, yes it is lucky to be on the Cardinals, Red Sox, and Rangers because they have the best offenses. The Rockies have been known to score some runs too, so Francis is covered. the lucky pitcher is Jon Garland because he is on a team that doesn't score many runs. Another aspect to the luck theory is who a certain pitcher is going up against. If a pitcher is going up against strong pitchers over and over he is less likely to have high run support. That is luck, but as you can see most of the pitchers on this list play for offense oriented teams.

Jeff Brantley thinks it is dependent on who the pitcher is, how much he complains, and his attitude on the mound. Ha! I'm sure hitters love playing behind loudmouth Boomer Wells. I'm sure they like to hit for criminals like Kenny Rogers. I'm sure Chan Ho Park is doing a lot of bitching in moaning, in Korean that is. This list looks about as motivating as wheat bread and C-Span. Four rookies, a loudmouth, a criminal, and a guy who doesn't know a word of English, (although he probably knows the words ball, walk, control issues, overpaid, and demotion). The only thing the other three have in common is a goatee. In fact, 7 of these 10 pitchers sport goatees, so statistically, "Pitchers who sport goatees get more run support than pitchers who don't is a more valid theory than Jeff Brantley's. And if you think I'm about to do a Scott Elarton Goatee search, think again, this theory is being retired before it's birth.

And finally there is my crazy theory. You know the one about the offense. Notice that most of these players are on offense oriented teams, such as Texas, Boston, and Colorado. St. Louis might not be offense oriented but has the best offense in the National League. Actually, Politically Correct Dude and myself are both right. 5 pitchers are placed on a team with an offense. And it is up to luck to decide which pitcher will receive the most run support from that offense. Generally though the difference between the greatest and least run support is quite minimal. Usually the pitchers with the low run support have a bad offense and vice versa. That is logic at its best, no matter what Jeff Brantley says.

How about a couple of non-confrontational statical tidbits:

TOP 5 QUALITY STARTS

1) Chris Carpenter- 21
1) Roger Clemens- 21
3) Roy Oswalt- 20
4) Livan Hernandez- 19
5) Andy Pettitte- 18

TOP 5 BALKS

1) Brett Myers- 4
2) Steve Kline- 3
2) Mark Redman- 3
2) Chris Capuano- 3
2) Wandy Rodriguez- 3

Someone probably needs to talk to old Wandy about that rule. The pitcher I would most like to see in an Astros uniform next season- Carlos Silva. He is relatively cheap and he throws strikes. He averages just 11.8 pitches per inning, lowest in the majors, so if he is getting outs you can really get a lot out of him. He hardly ever walks anyone. Has Tim Purpura acquired a single player yet?

Hello San Francisco

2005-08-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

The Astros are headed to San Francisco, home of the most ineffective home field advantage in the game. They are ten games under .500 at home. How about a look at what has gone well and what has gone wrong for the Giants this season.

Positives

1. Omar Vizquel- If the Giants were a successful ball club this season you would be hearing a lot more about Omar Vizquel. You have probably heard him described as the best defensive shortstop to ever play the game. Well he is the best that I have seen. He leads all shortstops in career fielding percentage. His fundamentals are unmatched. His footwork is instinctive. His throws are as accurate as they come. His arm is still pretty strong. The only complaint about Omar is that he is a little below average at the plate. This season though, he is hitting .294 with 111 hits and 50 runs, which is much better than his average season at this point. And luckily for the Giants, they had the guts to sign this old guy to a three year deal. Smart move. By the way, one of ym favorite things about this game is watching Omar Vizquel barehand routine groundballs, rather than use his glove. He calls it a bad habit. Thats how good he is.

2. Jason Ellison- The ROY candidate has apparently developed a little quicker than they thought he would. He is turning in a good rookie season and can play the entire outfield but Jason has slumped recently. Willy Taveras gets the edge for ROY in my book.

3. Tyler Walker- Walker has managed to rack up 19 saves this season. He is performing about as well as a third string closer can perform converting 19 saves and blowing just 5 on a fairly weak ballclub. When Benitez went down Brett Tomko got an audition and then they plugged Walker in. It didn't take long for the giants to trade for Latroy Hawkins who of course has a no close clause in his contract. After Felipe Aloe got fed up with Hawkins he demoted him and repromoted Walker.

4. Moises Alou- I can do Alou in ten words. Good player. Great season. Bad team. Sometimes injured. Damn Bartman.

5. Pedro Feliz- Apart from Alou, Feliz has been their best offensive player. He started the season on a tear and cooled off for a while. Everything I hear about Feliz is along the lines of this: Pedro can play a lot of positions but he is below average or average at all of them. His bat wroks him into the games. He is at his best offensively when he is patient, but he is a classic free swinger who hits for a low average and strikes out a lot. Like many free swingers, he hits for power and drives in runs.

6. Mike Matheny- Like Vizquel, Matheny was brought into San Francisco because they are among the best defensively at their position. Also like Vizquel, Matheny is having a career year offensively.

Negatives

1. Barry Bonds- The legend has a bad leg. He is by far the most valuable player on the Giants and probably in the game when he is healthy. But he is worthless at the moment. This is the principle reason the Giants are struggling. When you have so much money invested in one player, if he doesn't play

2. Armando Benitez- He tore his hamstring in the beginning of the season. He is in his first year of a three year contract and is expected to return this season... Expected to return to a team that is 15 games under .500 and have nearly fallen out of the race.

3. Marquis Grissom- They released him upon requiring Randy Winn last week. All you can really say is that he didn't perform. I like Marquis and I don't want to say anything about him other than that he is having a poor season and that I hopes he gets picked up, hopefully by the Astros.

4. Kirk Reuter- Kirk has seen been the giants' third starter for a long time now. He has seen better starting pitchers and worse starting pitchers come and go. He has been somewhat of an anchor to that rotation. From 1997 to 2003 he posted winning records. During that span his ERA was above 5.00 only once. In 2004 he went 9-12. That year has proven to be a transition from a solid second or third starter to a 2-7, 6.00 ERA starting pitcher.

5. Latroy Hawkins- It is very hard to think that the Giants were willing to give up Jerome Williams and David Aardsma for Latroy Hawkins. Hawkins is limited to a setup role, not because of his stuff, but probably a combination of inconsistent location and something mental. He has never had prolonged success as a starter or a closer. San Francisco's hopes for him to fill up a low profile closer role on a barely contending club blew up in smoke, as Hawkins quickly demoted himself with some bad outings. He is 1-5 with a 4.28 ERA on the season.

6. Noah Lowry- He is 6-11 with a 4.59 ERA. But the potential is there in 113 strikeouts, just 4 behind Roy Oswalt. He is young enough to be excused of a rough season with a couple of good outings.

Is Viagra A Steroid?

2005-08-04T17:29:00.000-07:00

Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for ten days for using steroids. That is how the rule goes. If you use steroids, you have broken the rule. If you don't study for a test you will fail it. It doesn't matter if you forget about the test or if you blow it off completely. You will still fail the test. Even if you study the wrong material, "unknowingly", you will fail the test. You can have an excuse. But that doesn't change your grade. So to Rafael Palmeiro- you might have an excuse, but don't think it changes your grade. The fact is that you played the game with the aid of an illegal substance. You failed the test and no one cares how you got there. No one cares if you forgot you had it or if you unkowingly studied the wrong material. No one cares. Because your legacy has been permanently tainted. Suppose you really are telling the truth... someone slipped Tubernepherine or whatever you took into your daily vitamins. You had no idea. You accidentally ingested the steroid, but you are an innocent guy. But your statistics aren't innocent. Your statistics were illegally enhanced. Accident or not, that statement is completely accurate. Your statistics were illegally enhanced, through a banned substance. And as for your Hall of Fame arguement... Rafael, quite frankly, as a player who has finished in the top 5 in MVP balloting only once, and has been known to do commercials for Viagra... It is safe to say that statistics are about the only thing you have going for you. And after this little scandal, not only has your image taken another hit and your "legacy" been tainted, but your precious statistics- your alleged ticket to the Hall of Fame- have been proven to be impure. This is my final example as to how wrong I believe Rafael Palmeiro to be. Suppose a little four year old kid picks up a crayon and writes all over the wall. The mommy comes in and puts him in timeout for ten minutes. The kid is thinking, "what the hell, I didn't even know I was doing something wrong". It is likely that this little kid failed to grasp the concept and weigh the consequences. But what he did was still wrong. Rafael Palmeiro is, AT BEST, a kid who didn't know what he was doing and wrote all over the wall just as he writes all over his coloring book. But he took his steroids, unknowingly, just as he takes all of his vitamins. And then there is the little kid who knows damn well what he is doing...

On to the Astros, who have swept the Phillies, beat up on the Mets, and are having their way with Arizona. If Ezequiel Astacio pitches the way he did tonight for the entirety of his stint filling in for Brandon Backe, I have a feeling Mike Burns is going to get optioned to Round Rock and Zeqe will stay up with the big club. Apart from Astacio's shutout perfromance the Astros shelled out 8 runs, including a monster homerun from Morgan Ensberg. Read ESPN.com if you missed the game, I don't have much to say about it. Hopefully we manage a sweep over Arizona tommorrow and carry that momentum to San Francisco. Obviously, any NL West team is easier to beat up on than the majority of the other NL clubs. Currently, all of them are under .500. Plus, Noah Lowry and Brett Tomko are not the scariest names to see. Jason schmidt is having a relatively poor season. And besides are pitching can hang with the best of them... The only question is if this offense can score runs on the road. Taking a look at this entire season, the offense hasn't really struggled at home. The pitching hasn't really struggled at all. So the poor road record is naturally a result of the team's greatest weakness- a struggling offense away from Minute Maid Park, where the offense has seemed to be good enough. Two ways to fix the problem is to ask the hitting to improve, or to ask the pitching to become even better. That is probably the reason you see a player like Jamie Moyer being chased by Tim Purpura. You might say, what the hell, the rotation is fine, what about the offense? Well it is simple if you take a logical approach... Think of it like a scale. Everyday game, one team gets on one side of the scale and their opponent gets on the other. The weight is made up of each part of the team. The offense, defense, pitching, and bench. The heavier team weighs more and wins more. They outweigh their opponents more often than not. When a club is improved, the club weighs more. But it doesn't necessarily matter where the is being put, as long as it is on your scale. The obvious exception to this logic is the need for a team to be balanced within oneself. If 95% of the money is in pitching and the entire lineup is well below replacement level, there will be a problem. A balanced team could weigh as much as a team with a Cy Young quality pitching staff and a Double A lineup. That is a clear exception and just doesn't occur at the major league level though.

Back to Back Bruntlett Posts, Homers

2005-07-26T01:13:00.000-07:00

Bruntlett is Back... (To Back)(To Back)

Yesterday I posted a piece on Eric Bruntlett. I noted that I liked the way he took so many pitches and upon receiving my internet again tonight, I did a little research to back up my hypothesis that Eric took more pitches than anyone on the bench. Well look at what I found.

TOP 5 PITCHES PER AT BAT (NON-QUALIFIED)
1) Kevin Youkilis- 4.52
2) Jayson Werth- 4.50
3) Eric Bruntlett- 4.47
4) Bobby Abreu- 4.42
5) Jose Valentin- 4.41

TOP 10PITCHES PER AT BAT (QUALIFIED)

1) Bobby Abreu- 4.42
2) Jim Edmonds- 4.32
3) Casey Blake- 4.28
4) David Dellucci- 4.26
5) Brad Wilkerson- 4.25
6) Adam Dunn- 4.24
7) Mark Bellhorn- 4.23
8) Nick Johnson- 4.20
9) Travis Hafner- 4.16
10) Pat Burrell- 4.13

OK. Lets talk about that top list first. Those are the top 5 players, excluding pitchers and hitter who have very few plate appearances, but including players who have as few as 60. Actually Eric has the lowest amount among the players on both lists with just 64 plate appearances. Actually looking at all of the names on both lists it looks as though nearly every single player fits the exact same mold. They are power hitters, or at least players who have some power who tend to strike out a lot.

STRIKEOUTS

1) Mark Bellhorn- 109
2) Adam Dunn- 104
3) Brad Wilkerson- 104
4) Pat Burrell- 100
5) Jim Edmonds- 89
6) David Dellucci- 78
7) Bobby Abreu- 71
8) Casey Blake- 67
9) Travis Hafner- 63
10) Nick Johnson- 52

In case you were curious, Bellhorn, Dunn, Wilkerson, Burrell, and Edmonds are in the top 10 in strikeouts. Dellucci isn't far behind. The next 4 players have decent strikeout numbers, especially Hafner and Johnson. So I suppose that just because you see a lot of pitches it doesn't make you a great hitter. It is very hard to group these players at all besides the fact that they see a lot of pitches. They are powerful for the most part. I guess the easiest way to decide who is getting the most out of seeing so many pitches is creating a quick formula. I'll use BB/K, OBP, and BB/PA. I'll add up all the numbers and in the end we'll get an index score and we will see who is in the best shape. This formula is largely influenced by Eric Bruntlett and is therefore only represented through percentages. Keep in mind that BB/PA carries a slight weight above BB/K and that OBP carries a smaller percentage than both. This formula is kind of deep so I'll draw it out some other time.

WRIN (WALK RATIO INDEX NUMBER)

1) Bobby Abreu- 318.9
2) David Dellucci- 296.0
3) Nick Johnson- 284.4
4) Adam Dunn- 284.3
5) Jim Edmonds- 264.6
6) Travis Hafner- 259.6
7) Mark Bellhorn- 223.8
8) Brad Wilkerson- 218.2
9) Pat Burrell- 208.5
10) Casey Blake- 149.6

NOTABLE WRIN

Eric Bruntlett- 163.6
Willy Taveras- 95.9
Morgan Ensberg- 210.8
Albert Pujols- 288.2
Derrek Lee- 239.3
Kevin Youkilis- 205.4
Jayson Werth- 184.0
JD Drew- 307.2
Luis Castillo- 396.1
Chipper Jones- 333.8
Gary Sheffield- 291.2
Brian Giles- 403.1
Matt Lawton- 319.6

BARRY BONDS WRIN

Barry Bonds (1986)- 232.0
Barry Bonds (1988)- 241.8
Barry Bonds (1993)- 392.8
Barry Bonds (1997)- 421.6
Barry Bonds (2001)- 408.5
Barry Bonds (2002)- 807.2
Barry Bonds (2003)- 576.9
Barry Bonds (2004)- 1002.9

I'll call it walk ratio index number or WRIN. Basically the way to get a high score is to walk often, strike out rarely and hit well. It is the ultimate "good eye" statistic. Bonds actually managed to crack 1000 in 2004 which is pretty insane. It doesn't mean it was the best season ever. But it does mean it was the best season ever if the criteria is on base percentage and strikeout to walk ratios. In other words Bonds' 2004 season was the best season a player could have as far as walking often and striking out rarely. No one is even close to cracking 1000. I can't stress enough how impressive Bonds' numbers are, even in the early stages of his career... A record that will truly never be broken is Bonds' WRIN stretch from 2001 to 2004 in which he amassed a grand total of 2795.5. Call him an asshole all you want, but he will go down in history as having one of the best eyes in the game.

By the way, the only practical use for this statistic is to determine which player you need if you are looking for a player who rarely strikes out, or walks more than enough to strike out, while maintaining a high batting average. Or if you are like me and wonder if Eric Bruntlett really has the best eye on the Astros' bench.

Also... Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman hit back to back homeruns back to back in today's game against Philadelphia. That means they did it twice. Andy Pettitte got the win and as Larry Deirker said, this game proved a lot because the Phillies are 3rd in the league in scoring and are playing very well lately. Pettitte, Mike Burns, and Chad Harville allowed just one run on a cheap Jimmy Rollins solo homer. Five games over .500 folks.

Eric Bruntlett

2005-07-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

Eric Bruntlett seems to be perfectly happy sitting on the bench, chiming in with a defensive replacement and occasional pinch situation. Most casual fans will pick up their newspapers tommorrow and wonder who we traded to get Eric Bruntlett. But he is not the product of a trade. He is the product of the Astros' farm system. He seems to be a damn fine product of the Astros' farm system.

Here is what I know about Eric Bruntlett without cheating and pulling up ESPN.com or any, other statistics. Why would I do this? Before I get to Bruntlett let me tell you about my internet service provider.

Sprint is the lucky candidate that recieves my thirty dollar check every month. In return they provide me with a handy, reliable internet service. At the end of every month we get together and have a happy barbecue. Then they refund my check because they like me so much. They always give me super great rebates and discounts, even when I don't ask for them. My connection has been of high quality and has never gone out for 5 or 6 days. My connection certainly isn't out right now. Everyone at Sprint is well educated and mannerly, and when I call them Rosa doesn't hang up on me. Rosa sure is swell... Everyone at Sprint does their jobs very well. I have never seen a single Sprint employee drive the Sprint van into the curb
and swerve to the other lane. Really, I never have. Let's see... After the barbecue we usually hunt for buried treasure or invite Bigfoot over for billiards and badminton. Back to Bruntlett. Wait first say "billiards and badminton, back to Bruntlett" 3 times fast (can't be done).

-Anyway, here is my non-internet assisted Bruntlett knowledge-

Eric graduated from Stanford, so he isn't some jock we have sitting on the bench. There is some reason behind his rhyme.

He was called up sometime during the 2003 season. Not only does Eric's name come to mind but also Dave Matranga's name sparks. I don't remember him playing much in 2003. He was a big leaguer in 2004 as well but I can't seem to remember when. But I know he didn't play often and that he didn't play in key situations.

He has been far less publicized compared to players like Jason Lane and Chris Burke. And again, this season, less publicized than guys like Luke Scott and Willy Taveras. It is a solid probability that he didn't deserve any.

As far as Eric's role this season, he was the option over an extra pitcher coming out of spring training. It makes sense because Eric is a versatile defender and there is a lot of defensive anxiety on this club... Certain players are playing in positions other than their natural position. Others are simply below average defensively. Others are inexperienced and costing us games against the Washington Nationals by misplaying a ball and allowing three runs to score on an easy out. Sorry Willy!

When the first few demotions and promotions were being made this season, I expected Bruntlett to be headed back to Round Rock because he wasn't playing much. But the club has taken a different approach with Eric, by allowing him to stay with the big club rather than demote him and give him some playing time. That tells me that he is on the roster because the Astros think he is a major leaguer.

Yet Eric was perhaps- or most likely- added to this club because it was thought that he can offer more depth filling in for weak defenders in late inning situations, than an extra pitcher could offer. Especially considering that the pitchers occupying the 26th spot on the roster are among replacement level... (Tom Martin, Brandon Duckworth, Mike Gallo).

As far as Bruntlett's talent, Eric is above average defensively in middle infield positions. He can also play on the corners of the infield and apparently he can play in the outfield as well. This season Eric has been at the bottom of the depth chart, yet at the bottom of every position. The only action he has seen is extra inning work, defensive replacements, pinch running, and pinch at bats after Palmeiro, Lamb and Vizcaino have already failed. Among the games he has started he was involved in The Adventures of Wandy and Ezequiel, starting only doubleheaders.

With that said, hitting seems to be Eric's secondary objective. But watching him hit this season I have noticedsomething very intriguing. Eric seems to work the count as well as any hitter on the team. He has the best eye off the bench in my opinion and hopefully when I peek, ESPN.com will back me up on this one. He has a little bit of power. I really like the way he hits, especially the way he hit today. 2 at bats, two full counts, one jackpot...

So what happens next. Will Garner start to work this guy into more games? I'm not sure but I have an opinion. No, I have a full blown theory here. Garner has a knack for fixing things that are broken. I cite 2004's amazing wildcard run as evidence. This team was 15 games under .500 and now they are 4 games over .500. So he has the power to fix a team when it is broken. But in my opionion, according to my theory... I think he should wait for this team to break before he makes any radical changes. I think management should wait for this team to break before they make any trades for a hitter. And when they do break, if they do break... get a hitter and if Eric is still playing well off the bench play him for whoever is slumping.

That is one bonus with a player like Bruntlett. He can do everything but pitch and catch so he can fill in for a lot of injuries and a lot of slumping hitters.

As sad as this situation is, Bruntlett will probably have to continue to lurk in the dugout. He will have to continue to wait for his well deserved and non-existent shot at some extra playing time. But sooner or later we will find out if Bruntlett is a Killer B.

-And now for some unrelated venting-

Chris Burke is in left field and Criag Biggio is at second. Let's play a game. On a scale of 1 to 10 we can judge players by defensive ability at a specific postion, 1 being the worst, 5 being average, and 10 being the best. So let's assume Biggio is an average second baseman and is given a score of 5. Meanwhile Chris Burke is slightly below average in left field and receives a 4, for a net total of 9. Now suppose that Chris Burke was awarded the second base job out of spring training and Biggio stayed in left field. Biggio is a 4 in left field. Burke is above average at his natural position and is at least a 6 at second base, for a net total of 10. In other words, regardless of who plays left field, between these two, they are expected to play slightly below average. But at second base Burke is capable of playing above average defensively, while Biggio is considered average. Niether player makes many errors at either position but niether player makes many flashy plays. Burke might be able to do that at second.

Willy Taveras could be considered front runner for NL ROY. What an arguement he creates... He is quick and has a high batting average. He has a strong, accurate arm. But he is an impatient hitter, an inexperienced defender, and has the lowest RBI per AB in the league. I'm pulling for him though.

The Adventures of Wandy and Ezequiel

2005-07-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

I remember when Billy Wagner wen't to Philadelphia, how we received Brandon Duckworth, Taylor Buchholz, and Ezequiel Astacio in return. I was so optimistic about Brandon Duckworth joining the club. But he never really had much success. Buchholz was supposed to be like a year away from the majors, but injuries have delayed his arrival and at the beginning of this season he pitched terribly. Recently he has pitched better, however. Those two pitchers completely distracted me from Ezequiel Astacio. When we acquired him he was still in A ball. I figured I would pay attention to him when he actually had a chance of making it to the big leagues.

Spring Training 2005 was defined by the return of Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens, Luke Scott's unreal offensive outburst, and Lance Berkman's retirement from flag football. But in the middle of all that was a little pitcher named Ezequiel who basically pitched his ass off. Zeqe threw a fastball, a slider, and a splitter. And he kept everything down and he really had a very successful spring. At the end of Spring Training he was sent to Round Rock where he played well enough to earn a callup against Pittsburgh fairly early in the season. But despite only allowing 4 runs to Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Texas hammered him and forced him back to Round Rock.
Enter Wandy Rodriguez. The story goes like this... The Astros needed a fifth starter. Buchholz and Carlos Hernandez had pitched poorly most of the season. wandy had above average numbers at AAA and he fit into the puzzle. Up in the big leagues he has played, adaquetely I suppose. No single start sticks out in my mind, I can't remember him getting hit really hard and I can't remember him dominating a single team. Bargain for a fifth starter both financially and performance based.

So yesterday they started a pair of games in a doubleheader, as they did in Cincinatti. And I have to say I enjoy watching those two pitch as much as i do anyone in the game. They just seem to have these antics about them. Wandy is a very little guy who shows a lot of body language. When he misses his spot he goes into some kind of stretch. He never seems to make eye contact with anyone. In that start he had against Toronto he never made eye contact with Jim Hickey. Zeqe looks as though he just picks up the ball and throws it at the glove. He is the antithesis for "the art of pitching". He has such a raw style, the way he just throws it in there.

A lot of what I just typed was wandering, rambling bullshit. But coming into today we were a losing team. As I write this we are a winning team. And that is the difference Wandy and Ezequiel made. So if this season turns into something great and these two end up in Round Rock for the rest of the year, don't forget this day. Don't forget how we were coming off an ugly sweep in St. Louis. The attitude had changed from "maybe we can compete with these guys" to "who do they want for Randy Winn?" So on a day when a couple of rookies could have faltered and put a season defining road trip in jeapordy, remember how they stepped up...

Raul Ibanez

2005-07-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

OK so it is a proven fact. The Astros need help offensively. Maybe you have read or heard that they are hitting much better lately, like in the last 30 games or so. Coinincidentally, the Astros have been winning many games. But to be honest, weak opponents' pitching, slumping opponents, and injuries have contributed to the winning in a big way. Of course Lance Berkman coming around and Morgan Ensberg getting hot really helped to carry this team. But Ensberg is playing the best baseball of his career and no one is immune to the laws of gravity. So, in my opinion, it is time to make a trade.

I have my eye on Raul Ibanez, just ahead of Juan Encarnacion. The team could most easily improve in the outfield, where Jason Lane and Chris Burke have failed to be effective up to this point. Among the players on the market, Ibanez might be the best candidate to pick up. At least Ibanez has more potential than Randy Winn or Matt Lawton. Before we get to deep though, lets get a quick look at Raul Ibanez.

Here is an ESPN scouting reoprt:

Raul Ibanez was one of the few Mariners who got off to a good start in 2004 at the plate. He was hitting .266 with a team-high 10 home runs and 27 RBI heading into June when he severely strained his right hamstring. He missed a month of action and it took all of July for him to get his swing back. Ibanez did hit .340 in August and .352 in September. He matched a club record by reaching base 11 consecutive times, including a six-hit game.

Ibanez has a compact line-drive swing, though a slight uppercut allows for him to hit for power on occasion. In the past, Ibanez typically had trouble against lefthanded pitchers. But he hit .295 against southpaws in 2004, driving the ball the other way better and showing improved patience at the plate. Some scouts think that Ibanez' short stroke is the perfect fit for gaps at Safeco Field. He was also one of Seattle's top two-strike hitters, and he didn't lose much when he had to shorten his swing. Originally drafted as a catcher, Ibanez spent most of the season playing left field. He took much better routes for flyballs than he did in the past in Kansas City. He doesn't have a plus arm. Ibanez has adequate speed, though he didn't run much after straining his hamstring in June. He moved to first base later in the season and struggled there at times.

So obviously, Raul is having a really good season. Now it comes down to what do we have to give up and who do the Mariners want in return.

Well it easier to identify what the Mariners want because they have no pitching. So they want pitching. I'm not sure if we could get Backe for Ibanez straight up. Plugging that into the ABC Theory, Geoff Blum for Brandon Backe for Raul Ibanez makes it Geoff Blum for Raul Ibanez. That would be perfectly acceptable and is considered a landslide victory in the Astros favor. Truthfully though, I'm unsure if we are giving the Mariners too much in Backe. Or way too little. The Mariners have position on us though in that we are approaching them for their player. There are some young guys you can't touch on this team. You aren't getting Willy Taveras. But if Zeqe Astacio and Jason Lane went to Seattle I don't mind that at all. I would start with that offer and if they laughed in my face I would mention Brandon Backe's name. I would only allow the following names to be discussed. Ezequiel Astacio, Brandon Backe, Chad Harville, Luke Scott, and Jason Lane. And Backe is a last resort. Obviously they are looking for pitching and Astacio might do the trick.

7/9 Thread

2005-07-10T01:18:00.000-07:00

JULY 9, 2005 (43-43)
Los Angeles-2 Houston-4
W- Roy Oswalt
L- Jeff Weaver
S- Brad Lidge

DODGERS MVP- Jeff Kent
ASTROS MVP- Roy Oswalt

DODGERS LVP- Jayson Werth
ASTROS LVP- Morgan Ensberg

What Wen't RIGHT- The Astros are a .500 club.

What Wen't WRONG- Who cares, the Astros are a .500 club.

ANALYSIS-

So the Astros are finally a .500 ballclub. They came a long way from being 16-31. I'd just like to talk about a couple of reasons, or even theories as to why the team has been so successful
recently.

- Give credit where its due: The starting pitching has been excellent since the Astros hit rock bottom at 15 games under .500. The returning starters haven't skipped a beat. Pettitte is still getting hurt occasionally. But when he is healthy he is good. Roy Oswalt is a longshot Cy Young type pitcher. Roger Clemens is having a better season than last year. Every fifth day there is just this stability... When Roger pitches the attitude is, "Well Clemens will win it for us or either the offense or bullpen will lose it for us."

- Old Wandy has filled in quite capably for, uh, Brandon Duckworth. He is competitive and looks pretty composed for a rookie. He reminds me of Brandon Backe... He has the stuff to pitch a great game everytime, he is a good athlete, and he chips in with the bat.

- Brad Lidge has shaken off a few blown saves from earlier in the season. He is back to normal. Dan Wheeler is the most surprising player on the team. I certainly didn't expect such a good season from him. About 20 games ago I would have loved to pick up the paper and see that Dan Wheeler and Ezequiel Astacio had been traded for Mike Cameron. Management 1, Me 0.

- As good as the pitching has been lately... Both the starting pitching and the bullpen... You have to give the offense some credit. At 16-31 the team was struggling to score just 1 or 2 runs. I'm not sure if the pitching is just making the offense look better or not. But I know that when this team collected Lance Berkman it got a nice boost. I know that Morgan Ensberg's contributions to the offense have been very important. Craig Biggio is performing above expectations. He is underpaid.

- Willy Taveras has a shot at Rookie of the Year. And if this team makes any run whatsoever at the playoffs he should win it. He fits into this club and its offensive plan perfectly. Phil Garner manufactures runs. Willy Taveras is the employee of the month, three months running. According to the Chronicle Willy has that quiet work ethic that Biggio and Bagwell have. Got to like that.

So here we are. Tommorrow's game is actually kind of important. Tommorrow we will be a winning team. Or a losing team. But either way, the Astros can finally see the light. They can finally look down on other teams... A few weeks ago I posted the news of us moving up a spot in the wild card standing. We had passed San Francisco. I said bring on Milwaukee. Well, Pittsburgh fell first, followed by this injured Dodgers team. Then it seemed like we were just hanging around with Milwaukee for about a week, before we quickly overtook them. Arizona fell next. For the first time since this team was 8-8, you had the feeling that the teams you were ahead of were of a decent quality. One Chicago losing streak and an entire season of Mets' mediocrity later, and the Astros have merely three teams guarding the gates to the playoffs. With a little luck we can make it two tommorrow, and pass Philadelphia. The wildcard race has a lot of teams hunting for a spot in the playoffs, but only two, Atlanta and Florida, are winning teams. Two more, Philadelphia and Houston, are .500 ballclubs. Five more contenders are anywhere from one to seven games under .500. It is hard to say a team like Los Angeles or Milwaukee is no longer a contender. Look at Houston. But in all likelihood, this is a six team race in which we are currently tied for third.

Here is a look at the Wildcard Standings:

Atlanta 50 38
Florida 44 41
Philadelphia 44 44
Houston 43 43
New York 43 44
Chicago 42 44
Arizona 42 47
Milwaukee 41 46
Los Angeles 40 47
Pittsburgh 39 47
San Francisco 37 49
Cincinnati 35 52
Colorado 31 55

Sorry for ditching the thread last night and the Dodgers' Preview. I took a look at this roster and laughed out loud. But look at this roster and tell me you were looking forward to hearing about these players. DJ Houlton, Franquelis Osoria, Mike Rose, Oscar Robles, Mike Edwards, Jason Repko, Antonio Perez, Chin-Feng Chen, Cody Ross, and Jason Grabowski. Yikes. And to compliment the no names they have filling in this season they have Olmedo Saenz, Ricky Ledee, Elmer Dessens, Giovanni Carrara, and Scott Erickson. Poor Dodgers fans...

Dex & jbox

2005-07-07T04:23:00.000-07:00

As I am browsing at 4 AM, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to direct you to this Padres blog, Gas Lamp Ball. Dex had me laughing my ass off reading his post about Lou Pineilla and how the fielders should stand next to the plate and block the ball as soccer plyers do on penalty kicks. Check it out for yourself these two are funny guys.

Also, something I forgot to mention, Roy Oswalt picked up the last spot on the National League roster for the all star game. Scott Podsednik beat out Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui, and Torii Hunter for his spot in the American League... Impressive.

7/6 Thread

2005-07-07T01:01:00.000-07:00

JULY 6, 2005 (41-42)
San Diego-4 Houston-5
W- Andy Pettitte
L- Jake Peavy
S- Dan Wheeler

BURKE STREAK- 11

PADRES MVP- Brian Giles
ASTROS MVP- Dan Wheeler

PADRES LVP- Jake Peavy
ASTROS LVP- Mike Gallo

What Wen't RIGHT- Andy Pettitte notched his sixth win. The offense was good enough, again. Willy was 3 for 5 up top, Biggio and Ensberg each drove in a run. Burke's streak is up to 11.

What Wen't WRONG- Pettitte left the game after the 5th inning because he strained his arm. Mike Gallo got roughed up for the second night in a row. Aside from Russ Springer's hold and Dan Wheeler's save, the bullpen had to scrape by and meander its way through an error to hold off the Pads.

ANALYSIS-

The Astros are one game under .500. It's hard to believe we are a half game ahead of the Cubs, 1 win away from sweeping the first place San Diego Padres, and just a win or two away from being a winning ballclub at the allstar break. But Andy Pettitte strained his arm again. That is terrible news because the reason the Stros have been so hot lately is the quality starting pitching. The offense has been adequate but the pitching; both the rotation and the bullpen have made the biggest contributions to the recent hot streak. Pettitte has been a big part of the rotation, especially lately and if this injury is anything serious... And Ezequiel Astacio has to substitute and play how many homeruns can I give up, the team might be in a little bit of trouble. Zeqe has been terrible in the majors but he is still dominant at AAA. His troubles in the majors can be traced to control issues. But is his control really that much better in the minors. Perhaps Astacio's stuff isn't good enough for major league hitters. He can afford to miss some spots against minor league hitters.

At any rate, Pettitte is hurt. The bullpen got the job done tonight. Barely. Russ Springer picked up a hold and Dan Wheeler picked up his second save of the season, in Brad Lidge's absence. In between those 2 though, Gallo, Harville, and Qualls struggled through 2 innings of work. Whatever the job was done. But it is a good thing that Wheeler did manage to end the game in 9 innings. If the Padres had tied it at 5, Wheeler would have to pitch until giving away to the only remaining pitcher available, Mike Burns.

Padre's pitcher Jake Peavy had strep throat today and obviously didnt pitch his best game. He gave up 11 hits which is the most he has allowed all season long. Haha. I'm going to say this again because this will probably be my only chance all season. The Cy Young candidate allowed 11 hits, his highest total of the season, to the Houston Astros.

Get out the brooms I smell a sweep. Wandy vs Woody. Hopefully they start Burroughs tommorrow, because he hasn't started in a while. Even though he can't hit lefthanded pitching. The only Houston pitcher he is successful against is Brad Lidge, he's 2-4 with a walk. Get a hit tommorrow Burke...

7/5 Thread

2005-07-05T23:34:00.000-07:00

JULY 5, 2005 (40-42)
San Diego-2 Houston-6
W- Brandon Backe
L- Dennys Reyes

BACKEOMETER- BC

BURKE STREAK- 10

PADRES MVP- Brian Giles
ASTROS MVP- Jason Lane

PADRES LVP- Brian Falkenborg
ASTROS LVP- Raul Chavez

What Wen't RIGHT- Brandon Backe and Jason Lane bounced back from some subpar performances. Craig Biggio hit hi second homer in 2 nights. Chris Burke extended his hitting streak to 10 games, a career high. Brad Lidge is back and he pitched a perfect inning.

What Wen't WRONG- Gallo gave up a triple and a single in 1/3 of an inning. Backe balked. When you have to go as far as a balk to describe what went wrong.

ANALYSIS-

Today's wen't about as well as possible. The hitters exposed Padres' pitcher Dennys Reyes' weaknesses. But the thing that pleased me the most about today's game was the performances of Brandon Backe and Jason Lane. Jason Lane has been slumping lately. Brandon was in the middle of the equivalent to a slump as a pitcher... Love that bat in the lineup though. Anyway, with those two struggling coming into tonight's game they played exceptionally well. Backe threw about just under 6 innings of 4 hit, 1 run baseball. Jason Lane wen't 2-4 with a 3 run homer. They both gave total redemption for any complaints you might have made about their performance lately.

Craig Biggio hit another homerun today and passed Roberto Alomar on the all time hits list. He quietly swung the bat well on the road trip and is loudly swinging the bat in this series. Brownie and Dierker were saying that you could make an arguement that Craig Biggio is being snubbed out of a spot on the all star roster. He is probably more deserving than an all star or 2 but Morgan Ensberg and Washington's Jose Guillen are the ones getting snubbed.

The bullpen really did a good job tonight. Chad Harville came in and got an important out, one that really helped Backe out. Larry Dierker is obsessed with talking about how good Harville's stuff is and that he could really be an important pitcher on this staff. That is fine but the majority of the time he pitches he struggles with his control. His 7.36 BB/9 is just too high but his 7.77 K/9 is a better number. Lidge averages nearly twice that and Russ Springer's 10.08 K/9 3.58 BB/9 might make him the better option. It seems like Garner is going to Harville more often though... Brad Lidge pitched the 7th inning coming back from a minor injury. He struck out Dave Roberts. and didn't allow a hit. Gallo kind of got roughed up but Chad Qualls came in and sort of shut down San Diego. Hopefully Gallo can get it together because as far as lefties go the system is running a little low. Now that John Franco has been released and Tom Martin opted for free agency the Astros are left with Will Cunnane as the lefthanded option at Round Rock.

Fans are doing their part and voting for Roy Oswalt for the final spot on the National League all star team. One of Roy's opponents, Josh Beckett suffered an injury today and was replaced on the ballot by Brett Myers. I think it was Myers. Also Derrek Lee aggravated his shoulder today and left the game against Atlanta in the third inning. He withdrew from the Homerun Derby. The Cubs are a much worse team without Lee and as of today share our 40-42 record.

Pettitte vs Peavy tommorrow... among the active pitchers who's names start with a P, these two are pretty far up there. Some of the hitters have hit him well... Among the hitters with a few at bats against Peavy here are the three lowest and higest batting averages.

HIGHEST

Vizcaino- .500
Biggio- .400
Ensberg- .400

LOWEST

Everett- .000
Berkman- .077
Ausmus- .100

Vizcaino is 6 for 12 against Peavy so maybe Adam will get the day off tommorrow. Also Orlando Palmeiro is 1 for 1 against Jake. Woody Williams will battle Old Wandy on Thursday. If they manage to pick off just one of these games the Astros will win another series, this one against a first place club, not the Rockies or Reds.

And finally, as is customary at Astronomics, any 10 game hitting streak is recognized and followed up top. Burke extended his to 10 tonight so good luck to him. Jeff Kent set the record at 25 last season. He is hitting .361 during his streak. the lowest batting average for a Houston hitting streak of 15 games or more is .309, during Dickie Thon's 21 game hitting streak in 1982.

7/4 Thread

2005-07-05T02:39:00.000-07:00

JULY 4, 2005 (39-42)
San Diego-1 Houston-4
W- Roy Oswalt
L- Brian Lawrence

PADRES MVP- Geoff Blum
ASTROS MVP- Roy Oswalt

PADRES LVP- Brian Lawrence
ASTROS LVP- Jason Lane

What Wen't RIGHT- Roy had another dominant performance, allowing just 1 run on 5 hits, striking out 6. Craig Biggio hit a clutch 2 out 3 run homerun that proved to be the difference in the game.

What Wen't WRONG- Lane wen't 0-4 with 2 K's and a GIDP. He was the only player who didnt reach base today.

ANALYSIS-

Roy took care of business again today. He had a similar start to one a couple of weeks ago against Toronto when he whipped through the game in less than 2 hours. This one took 2 hours and 10 minutes, plus he allowed a run, 5 hits, and 2 walks. The offense gave him 4 runs and that was enough. Jason Lane is slumping I guess. Of course Morgan Ensberg is still swinging the bat well. He was 2-4 with an RBI double today. Willy T has been hot these last few games, he had a base hit and a double and he stole 2 bases and scored 2 runs. That is exactly what you ask from him. If he did that consistently this offense would really benefit.

Brian Lawrence was throwing an 85 MPH fastball... Brown said he averaged the slowest fastball in the majors. I'm surprised he has been as successful as he is. All he does is throw fastballs and sliders and when he leaves one out over the plate it gets hammered.

It amazes me how similar Richard Hidalgo and Jason Lane play... They both have high slugging percentages, they strike out a lot, they swing and miss a lot, they don't draw many walks, they both hit for power, not average. Hidalgo was one of the streakiest players I've ever seen and Lane is the same way. I guess the big difference is Hidalgo's 2000 season where he was actually a great player and his track record. He may be slump a lot but he has been slumping a lot for years. And of course Jason Lane is a little worse fielder and he has about half the arm Hidalgo did.

So now we are only 3 games under .500. I think we were 18 games under .500 at one point. It would really be something impressive if this club had a winning record at the break... Backe takes on Dennys Reyes tommorrow in what seems like an easy one. We'll see...

Padres vs Astros Series Preview

2005-07-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

SERIES PREVIEW

Fresh off the domination of a couple of last place teams, lets see if it converts to some wins against a first place team. This San Diego club is streaky and deceptive so there is much to say to put this series in perspective.

Roy Oswalt (10-7, 2.54 ERA) vs Brian Lawrence (5-6, 4.28 ERA)
Brandon Backe (6-6, 5.29 ERA) vs Dennys Reyes (3-1, 3.93 ERA)
Andy Pettitte (5-7, 3.15 ERA) vs Jake Peavy (7-2, 2.89 ERA)
Wandy Rodriguez (4-3, 6.55 ERA) vs Woody Williams (3-5, 4.24 ERA)

This series reminds me of the most recent Texas Rangers series in that the Rangers were so vulnerable. They were reeling from a bunch of losses. Sure, the Padres are a first place club but keep in mind, the NL West is a very weak division. They wen't just 10-17 in the month of June, in which they played only clubs outside of their division and the Dodgers. Still, thanks to the weak division and a hot start, the Padres are a fisrt place team.

It would be fair to say that injuries have forced the Padres to scramble and have led them to struggle. It would also be fair to say that the current roster isn't a first place roster. The offense has taken a pretty big hit. Their catcher, Ramon Hernandez and their first baseman Phil Nevin are on the 15 day disabled list. Speedy outfielder Dave Roberts has been hurt all season, recently missing 7 games because he strained a tendon in his left knee, but he is healthy at the moment. Another speedy outfielder, Freddy Guzman is out for the season. Guzman came into the season as a rookie who you could perhaps compare to Willy Taveras, but his wrist has sidelined him. Former Astro Mark Loretta is on the 60 day DL with a bad hand. When Loretta was in Houston, I don't remember him being anything special. He sort of just took up the Jose Vizcaino role for a few weeks. But looking at his statistics from his 2002 stint, his numbers were impressive. He hit .424 with a .576 slugging percentage, in 66 at bats, plus he was a versatile defender. You won't see him in the lineup during this series though, so don't worry about him. So who will we see in the lineup during this series?

CF Dave Roberts
3B Sean Burroughs
LF Ryan Klesko
RF Brian Giles
1B Mark Sweeney
C Robert Fick
SS Khalil Greene
2B Damian Jackson

But don't expect to see this lineup in every game or even once. The Padres are mixing up their lineup on a daily basis and shuffling players in from the bench almost every game. Roberts is the leadoff guy and he has a lot of speed in that spot. 14 for 20 in steals over attempts is just 70 percent but he often will run doubles into triples and chase down a lot of balls in centerfield.
Geoff Blum is trying to steal time from Sean Burroughs:

Burroughs: (.260, .333, .303)
Blum: (.245, .316, .356)

Niether player is having a very good season but Burroughs has just 7 extra base hits, out of 60 total hits. Another way to put Burroughs' ugly .303 slugging percentage into perspective... Only 3 percent of Burroughs' total plate appearances have resulted in extra base hits. Last season he managed an extra base hit just 6 percent of the time. Lately Blum has been stealing some playing time from Burroughs. Blum's numbers are only slightly better. It makes sense for San Diego to play Blum because he offers the ability to hit for extra bases. Burroughs is too slow to be a singles hitter. Willy Taveras hits a lot of singles but he turns many of them into doubles because he can steal second base. If Burroughs doesn't figure things out he is going to be spending a lot more time on the bench. Burroughs has scored just 18 runs this season compared to Blum's decent 24, considering Blum has had less at bats. The only reason I would like to see Blum in the lineup over Burroughs is to find out if the Blum's Blondes fanclub made an appearance. Khalil Greene is a defensive genius who was hurt earlier this season. For every error Greene makes he matches it with 2 or 3 spectacular plays. Offensively he isn't the best but he gets the job done. Here is his line this season: (.253, .297, .430). All of those numbers are down from his rookie season last year. He isn't as patient at the plate as he was last season.
Klesko and Giles are having good seasons. For all the complaining they did about Petco Park last season it appears they have figured it out. Klesko already has 13 homers this season, compared to 9 last year, and 6 of them were at home. Giles has hit 9 homers but only 2 have been at home. Klesko is a very good hitter at Minute Maid Park, he hits somewhere in the .400's. These two are the real threats in the Padres' lineup. Phil Nevin and Mark Loretta being injured has really hurt this club because it takes away an important on base guy and an important RBI guy from this lineup.

Mark Sweeney, Robert Fick, and Damian Jackson are playing because of injuries to Phil Nevin, Ramon Hernandez, and Mark Loretta. Just looking at those replacements would make any Padres fan shutter but it has me grinning. Actually, all 3 of these players have overachieved to this point. Fick is hitting .322 and he is driving the ball. Mark Sweeney is a career .259 hitter but he is hitting just under .300. This is an impressive line out of Mark Sweeney, (.298, .417, .519). That is exceptional. Damian Jackson is playing much better than Sean Burroughs through this season and he is eligible at third base... He is just doing his job and chipping in with some hits and defense.

Backup catcher Miguel Ojeda and outfielders Ben Johnson and Eric Young seem to be on the club because of all the injuries. Ojeda takes Ramon Hernandez's spot on the roster and Johnson has just 4 at bats. Eric Young has 4 hits, 4 runs and 3 RBI in just 7 at bats. Both players are hanging aroun until the real offensive players get healthy, Nevin and Loretta.

As for the pitchers...

Roy Oswalt has been on fire lately and he has a good shot to continue his successes against a beat up, vulnerable Padres' lineup. Brian Lawrence has not been as good, especially lately. He throws his fastball real slow and his only other pitch is his slider. Dennys Reyes makes his first start out of the bullpen for game 2. He has a WHIP of 1.75 and both his opponent's OBP and SLG are over .400. He is the only pitcher on the staff, or the only one with more 7 innings pitched, who has both of those numbers over .400. His BB/9 are worst on the staff at 5.65. His K/9 is a little better at 7.85. Reyes is the best pitcher to be going up against Brandon Backe, since he has struggled so much lately. Maybe he can get it together against Reyes. Jake Peavy is having another great season and game 3 is the real pitcher's duel of the series. Peavy is very tough so if we lose either of the first 2 games, this series might become a split at best. Game 4 is Woody Williams vs Wandy Rodriguez. Wandy's numbers are kind of bad but he has been better recently, especially at Coors Field.

San Diego's bullpen is scary. Former Astro Scott Linebrink and the unorthodox style of Akinori Otsuka create a strong bridge to reach Trevor Hoffman who is one of the better closers in the game.

Scott Linebrink- 3-1, 2.21 ERA, 1.17 WHIP
Akinori Otsuka- 1-3, 3.03 ERA ,1.37 WHIP
Trevor Hoffman- 0-4, 3.68 ERA, 1.13 WHIP

The plan is to ride Oswalt to a win in game 1 and hope the offense can get to Reyes in case Backe is still struggling in game 2. If you can manage to win the first 2, winning the series becomes feasible. Gametime.

My Apologies...

2005-07-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

Firstly I would like to tell you to cancel the search party, I'm alive and well... and sorry.

Unfortunately, business took me away and I missed many things, one of those being a computer, which is my sorry excuse for not updating this site. I didn't miss much and I don't feel that I have fallen behind in the world of baseball, and especially in the world of Houston baseball. I am aware that Morgan Ensberg is better off playing shortstop in the All-Star game than David Eckstein. No disrespect to David, he is having a good season, but seriously, he is below average defensively. I can just picture him mustering all of his strength on a little grounder to short to throw someone out. Since Eckstein is just a fundamental defender at best... Morgan could probably hold his own out there. Plus, Morgan is the much better offensive option. Of course this is all useless speculation, Morgan isn't on the all star team, despite being very deserving.

On to the Padres...

6/15 Thread

2005-06-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

JUNE 15, 2005 (26-38)
Baltimore-6 Houston-1
W- Rodrigo Lopez
L- Wandy Rodriguez

ORIOLES MVP- Brian Roberts
ASTROS MVP- Jason Lane

ORIOLES LVP- Eli Marrero
ASTROS LVP- Lance Berkman

What Wen't RIGHT- Jason Lane hit a solo homerun, number 10 on the season. Orlando Palmeiro hit 2 doubles.

What Wen't WRONG- Wandy gave up 4 earned and allowed a ton of baserunners. The lineup got dominated by Rodrigo Lopez, excluding Orlando Palmeiro and Jason Lane.

ANALYSIS-

Ah, 3 or 4 days ago Roy Oswalt was furiously putting the finishing touches on a sweep of the tired and beaten Toronto Blue Jays. That game marked the 5th straight victory for the Astros. Three days later, three games later, the Baltimore Orioles have cancelled out the sweep over Toronto.

I was quite pessimistic about this game because of the fact that it was Wandy Rodriguez pitching against a hot Baltimore offense that is already very strong to begin with. But Wandy wasn't the reason the Astros lost. Wandy pitched better than Backe and Pettitte, believe it or not. Sure, there was a ton of traffic. Just 4 earned runs compared to Backe's 8 and Pettitte's 6, although Wandy did pitch less innings than Pettitte and more than Backe. NO, the problem that has once again possessed the team is the lack of offense, especially on the road. Middle of the pack pitchers are shutting down the offense like hall of famers. Jason Lane is the only exception lately. Maybe soon a new player will be the exception, but the point is, one or two exceptions to a poor lineup is nothing special. Isolated production is never a good strategy, hence the frquency of solo homeruns, as opposed to homeruns with men on base. Imagine how much more competitive we would be if these homers were coming with 2 or 3 men on base. That doubles and triples the production of a solo homerun.

Chris Burke finally got benched in tonight's game, as Orlando Palmeiro started in left field. Burke simply hasn't hit at all in the majors, so Garner has every right to sit him down. The arguement is that the team in no longer a contender and that the young players should be the team's priority. I don't really agree with that. I think you can split the time up or at least platoon becasue Burke is doing very little that could be considered positive. He is hitting .170 against righthanders and .170 against lefthanders, so the platoon option against either a lefty or a righty doesn't work because Burke offers no strength against them. You know things are going badly when a .161 career hitter goes into a slump. He is 3 for his last 31... Maybe Mike Lamb can come back and play left field a little. This whole situation reminds me a little bit of how Todd Self took away a slumping Jason Lane's starting job. Well Self started slumping and Lane filled in again and he started mashing the ball and playing great defense and now he is the hottest hitter on the club. Perhaps Mike Lamb can do something like that.

How about I take your mind off of this sweep and do a minor league update. I'll go over some names that might interest you and that you might see in the big leagues later this season.

Luke Scott- He is hitting just .229 with 8 homeruns. I hope Luke can get it together because he would be a perfect fit in left field, and in the 6 slot of the lineup.

Todd Self- He is hitting .376, that leads the club. You will probably see him again.

Carlos Rivera- You might remember him from spring training. The former Pirate is building on his solid spring... Here is a look at his line: (.316, .380, .476). First base is pretty stacked in the depth department, but we'll see what happens.

Royce Huffman- Speedy prospect is hitting just .192 at Round Rock. He is probably closer to a demotion than a promotion.

Mike Coolbaugh- Solid 3rd baseman already has roughly 2 years of major league experience. At the age of 33 he has no particular use to the team, who is going in the direction of playing younger players. His line isn't bad though: (.298, .373, .571). Mike is a classic AAAA player, too good for AAA, not good enough for the big leagues.

Brooks Conrad- Progressing well but is probably a year away.

And how about all the pitchers?

Jared Gothreaux- Leads the club by far in innings pitched, but that is about it. He is 3-7 with a 4.28 ERA. That ERA is good for sixth on the club.

Ezequiel Astacio- Believe it or not he has the best ERA on the club, at 3.35, despite his 1-3 record. He is finding his control and will probably be called up again.

Tom Martin- One of 2 lefthanders in the bullpen, he has a 4.09 ERA. He is the veteran candidate if John Franco is released.

Mike Gallo- The second lefthander out of the bullpen. You might remember Mike from last season, where he was the lefthanded specialist. He has alright numbers at Round Rock. Gallo has a slightly better ERA than Martin, at 3.98, to go along with a 4-1 record. Gallo has a WHIP around 1.25. In my opinion, if you release or demote Franco, Gallo is the man you call up. He has a much higher ceiling than Tom Mratin. Martin, at this point in his career, is similar to John Franco in that he is probably too old to improve or make much of an impact.

Taylor Buchholz- He came over in the Billy Wagner trade and has kind of slowed down since then. An injury ruined his 2004 campaign, but this season he is 5-0 and making progress again.

Travis Driskill- Former Oriole and Rockie is having a decent season. He has 42 strikeouts to go along with a 4.38 ERA and a 5-2 record. He seems to have good control as he has only walked 9 but he has a track record of failing at the major league level, so the club might be holding off on him.

Carlos Hernandez- He is struggling massively. It looks like this one got away... His 7.11 ERA might be a product of the speed of his pitches. He had surgery on his arm and now his fastball is around 85. That means he has to have good control and he doesn't, he has more walks than strikeouts. There are many candidates to be called up ahead of Carlos.

Jeremy Griffiths- He made a couple of starts in the majors last season. He is in the bullpen now with a 10.17 ERA. The explanation for Jeremy's struggles? Serious control issues... 24 walks to just 8 strikeouts in 23 innings pitched.

Brandon Duckworth- Please don't make me mention this name...

Brooks Kieschnick- This guy could be pretty valuable to a contender when he is playing at his best. He is one of very few players, and probably the only current player to have such an even split between pitching and hitting. He could honestly be used as either, at the major league level. The Milwaukee Brewers did that throughout 2003 and 2004 before eventually releasing him. The Astros originally optioned him to AA Corpus Christi but he played well enough to work his way up to Round Rock. This guy is the ultimate player for the bench.

6/14 Thread

2005-06-14T23:42:00.000-07:00

JUNE 14, 2005 (26-37)
Baltimore-6 Houston-1
W- Bruce Chen
L- Andy Pettitte

ORIOLES MVP- Miguel Tejada
ASTROS MVP- Jason Lane

ORIOLES LVP- Jorge Julio
ASTROS LVP- Chris Burke

What Wen't RIGHT- Jason Lane and Lance Berkman were the only 2 bright spots in the game, both offensively and defensively.

What Wen't WRONG- Andy Pettitte gave up 6 runs in just under 8 innings. Chris Burke, Willy Taveras, Adam Everett, Craig Biggio, Brad Ausmus, and Eric Bruntlett went a combined 0-22.

ANALYSIS-

First I want to take a look at Andy Pettitte's performance. For the first 5 innings Andy was in control of this game. the momentum was clearly in the Astros' favor. Jim Deshaies put it well, saying that if this were a football game the Astros would lead in possession time by far. For 5 innings I was just patiently waiting for the offense to come through. I was under the misconception that the team was no longer struggling on the road, but rather playing at a level of level of mediocrity that I'll gladly settle for at this point... Because quite frankly this team has been terrible on the road this season and any escape from that would be welcome. Even if it is stealing a couple of series from Milwaukee and New York. But that wasn't the case tonight because Baltimore can hit. Mora, Tejada, and Sosa figured him out the 2nd and 3rd times through the lineup.

It was unfortunate that every time we seemed to get runners on base, Brad Ausmus and Eric Bruntlett were the candidates to drive them in. Those 2 aren't necassarily hitters. Bruntlett and Ausmus both had some good at bats. The story behind the story deals with Willy Taveras and Chris Burke. They were a pathetic 0-9 at the top of the order giving the regular RBI guys no one to drive in. Adam Everett also went 0-4 and despite running out a fielder's choice for an RBI, performed played poorly. All of the 0-3's and 0-4's throughout the lineup killed the rallies and isolated the production. Morgan had an odd night, he never put the ball in play going 0-2 with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Jason Lane went 2-3 with a walk and he made some great plays in right field too. Same goes for Lance, he reached base twice and made a great play at first. It was kind of a flag football flashback though because Lance got up holding his knee and walking towards the dugout. That drew Garner out of the dugout and that drew Orioles' manager Lee Mazelli out of his dugout to argue the technicality that since Garner never called time, he should be charged with a visit to the mound. It took a couple of minutes and after that Pettitte wasn't the same pitcher. Mora singled in Bigbie and Miguel Tejada smoked a line drive homerun 2 pitches later.

Jorge Julio was far less effective in the 8th inning tonight. He seemed to have a little less control and for the second night in a row hit a batter. Last night's victim was Ensberg and tonight's was Craig Biggio. I could never provide you with the kind of hit by pitch coverage that this man can, so I strongly suggest you visit Plunk Biggio, it is a frequently visited site for me. It might change the way you think about Craig Biggio's at bats. For example, I was wathing the game tonight and one of Julio's pitches barely missed Biggio. I was thinking to myself, "Damn, that must have got the guys at Plunk Biggio's attention." Sure enough the next pitch hit him. Please visit this site, it is a good one. Anyway, Steve Reed bailed Jorge Julio out, giving up just one of the inherited runners.

I am seriously fearing a sweep tommorrow. Wandy Rodriguez has seemed to struggle with location, confidence, and pitch selection in his previous starts. Wandy's numbers are supposedly much worse than his stuff, but he is yet to prove that. Rodrigo Lopez hasn't been beaten since May 19th. I'm just not particularly optimistic about his one, especially after being quite optimistic about the last 2 games, and watching the pitching fail in game 1 and then the offense fail in game 2. And then the pitching again in game 2. Wandy recently got into a lot of trouble against a struggling Blue Jays' offense. The Orioles' offense is much better than the Blue Jays and is filled with professional hitters and veterans. The Jays were fairly young while the O's lineup includes 500 homerun club members Sosa and Palmeiro, veteran all stars Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada, and a streaking Brian Roberts. Wandy's ERA is at 8.41 and that makes Lopez's mediocre ERA of 4.52 look worthy of a Cy Young award. But!! With all that said if Wandy could somehow figure out a way to meander his way through the 5 walks and 5 hits he is bound to give up. And the Astros' offense resurrects itself, (Chris Burke on the bench), than maybe we can win this game. If Wandy could step up and pitch a good game, saving us from the sweep, it would do a lot for the team and his confidence.

And if we do get swept tommorrow, don't throw in the towel just yet. We have a series coming up with the last place Kansas City Royals and a series with the last place Colorado Rockies after that. And by the way Chris Burke is the LVP until he reaches base on a legitimate hit, no errors, no walks. The guy is getting extensive playing time beacause he is a hitter and it is time for him to prove it. Good luck Wandy!

6/13 Thread

2005-06-14T03:07:00.000-07:00

JUNE 13, 2005 (26-36)
Baltimore-8 Houston-5
W- Hayden Penn
L- Brandon Backe

BACKEOMETER- AB

ORIOLES MVP- Larry Bigbie
ASTROS MVP- Jason Lane

ORIOLES LVP- Sal Fasano
ASTROS LVP- Brandon Backe

What Wen't RIGHT- Jason Lane and Morgan Ensberg are staying hot, each hitting 2 run homers. The bullpen did another solid job, giving up one run in 4 plus innings. Mike Lamb had 3 hits. Adam Everett added an RBI double.

What Wen't WRONG- Brandon Backe gave up 7 runs in less than 4 innings. Chris Burke wen't 0-5. Jay Gibbons and Larry Bigbie hit back to back homeruns for Baltimore.

ANALYSIS-

Ahh, this one stung a little bit, Brandon didn't have a very good game and the Orioles hit him pretty hard. He was off on his location because Quintero was setting up on one side and Brandon was putting it on the other. Backe had given up less than 1 earned run in 5 of his last 7 innings. Tonight he just got hit hard. I suppose he will have a better start next time, against Colorado. I excuse him against Baltimore but I expect him to pitch better games against mediocre and poor offenses.

This reminded me of that game against St. Louis a while back, the one where Wandy Rodriguez pitched terribly and had like a 6 run inning, but nearly every other player on the team played well. Take a look at the inning from hell:

Jay Gibbons homered to right, Rafael Palmeiro scored. Larry Bigbie homered to left. Melvin Mora doubled to deep right, Brian Roberts scored. Sammy Sosa doubled to deep left, Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada scored.

Gross. But take out the second inning and this is a much closer game. I still think Chris Burke is in over his head at the major league level. Another 0-5 night, another double play. Perhaps a 3 hit night for Mike Lamb will give him another shot at the left field job.

Hayden Penn didn't pitch his best game but Backe pitched poorly enough to provide him with his first win at the major league level. Everyone seemed to be impressed with Penn's changeup and his walk ratio, which was uncharacteristicly low. All you can really do is go back out tommorrow and hope you do a better job of stifling this Balitmore offense...

Orioles vs Astros Series Preview

2005-06-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

SERIES PREVIEW

The Astros are taking thier 5 game winning streak to Camden Yards for three games... Both Pittsburgh and Cincinnati just won a series against them so maybe they are vulnerable. Adding to that vulnerablitlity is the O's injury problems...

Brandon Backe (6-3, 4.31 ERA) vs Hayden Penn (0-0, 3.52 ERA)
Andy Pettitte (3-6, 3.43 ERA) vs Bruce Chen (5-4, 3.61 ERA)
Wandy Rodriguez (2-2. 8.41 ERA) vs Rodrigo Lopez (5-2, 4.52 ERA)

The Orioles happen to miss our 2 best starters, which is unfortunate because the Orioles are a very good team offensively. As for the pitching matchups we will see...

Hayden Penn will make the 4th start of his career tonight. Hayden Penn is the youngest player in the major leagues, at 20, and despite posting a fairly low ERA he is averaging only 5 innings per start. They must have him on a short leash over there because he is yet to receive a decision and he has yet to pitch 6 innings. Penn has been pulled in the middle of an inning in every one of his starts this season. His last 2 starts he has averaged just 78 pitches. He has only given up 1 homer in 15 plus innings, but he walks a lot ot of hitters, about 6 per 9 innings, and has only struck out 7. His WHIP is 1.43. Backe's is 1.39 though. Penn's opponent's on base percentage is .328. Backe's is .333. So it easy to think that these two are somewhat even, but keep this in mind. Penn has only thrown 3 starts. His ERA is deflated because he only gave up 1 run
against Detroit and just 2 against Pittsburgh. In his start against Boston he put up a 5.06 ERA. Boston is the only team with a good offense there. In my opinion this is the game you can steal from Baltimore and use to get the leg up on them.

Pettitte vs Chen on Tuesday night. Bruce Chen has had his moments in the majors but is so inconsistent he gets tossed around a lot. You might remember he pitched for the Astros in 2003 for a little while. This season he posted a 3.62 ERA in April and a 3.35 ERA in May. June has treated Chen a little more roughly. He is 0-2 with a 4.32 ERA. Pettitte is 0-1 with a 2.08 ERA.
Also, Chen is another Orioles pitcher who doesn't seem to strike out many hitters. Chen's WHIP is 1.19 and Pettitte's is 1.17. When a WHIP is so close like that, you might look to another statistic to see who has the edge. Pettitte's opponent's slugging percentage is .397 and Chen's is .396. So this is a tough matchup to predict and we'll see how it goes.

This third matchup could be a disasterous one. Wandy Rodriguez usually allows a lot of baserunners. The variable is whether or not he can work his way out of situatuions with men on base and get double plays. The alternative is not getting outs with men on base and losing badly. It doesn't make much of a difference to me who Wandy's opponent is until the 4th or 5th inning
of that game. By then I will know if good Wandy or bad Wandy is pitching.

As far as the offense goes, the Orioles can flat out rake. Here is a look at a lineup for Game 1. Games 2 and 3 should be similar to this:

2B B. Roberts
3B M. Mora
SS M. Tejada
RF S. Sosa
1B R. Palmeiro
DH J. Gibbons
LF L. Bigbie
C S. Fasano
CF D. Newhan

You have probably heard about Brian Roberts' phenomenal season. He is hitting .361, good for 2nd in the majors, with 136 total bases. He has hit 11 homeruns and has already collected 79 hits. Melvin Mora is another tough hitter, batting just behind him and then you have last season's RBI king, Miguel Tejada, to deal with. (Batting Avg, On Base Pct, Slugging Pct):

Roberts- (.361, .440, .621)
Mora- (.304, .356, .518)
Tejada- (.325, .369, .639)

That is very dangerous. It is a statistical improbability that a pitcher retires these three consecutively. If Sosa and Palmeiro were in their prime in the middle of this lineup, I probably would have passed out. Sosa is hitting .251 and Palmeiro is hitting .255. Each men are in the 500 homerun club but both are on the downhill side of Hall of Fame careers. They have 8 homers apiece. Larry Bigbie is coming off of the DL and Jay Gibbons is having a solid season. Sal Fasano is currently overacheiving, but he is a threat for occasional extra bases... Well, doubles and homers, he has never hit a triple in his career. David Newhan is having an ugly season... (.190, .241, .310).

The bench has lost some serious depth because of all the injuries to this club. The regular catcher, Javy Lopez is hurt and Luis Matos is on a minor league rehab assignment. Sammy Sosa was hurt earlier this season. The pitching has taken a hit too. Erik Bedard is hurt, that is why Hayden Penn is starting tonight. Kurt Ainsworth and Jason Grimsley are on the 60 Day DL. The bench is capable, but shouldn't be much to worry about. Geronimo Gil is playing terribly, Chris Gomez isn't getting much playing time, and Rmaon Nivar is up from the minors and also playing badly. Eli Marrero just came over from the Royals after being designated for assignement. He resembles BJ Surhoff- An eligible catcher who is listed as an outfielder and on the team for his bat.

The bullpen is pretty strong at the end, but fairly weak in the middle. Steve Kline and Jorge Julio set up for lefty closer BJ Ryan. Julio has already proven himself as a successful closer and is doing a pretty good job setting up. Kline isn't pitching well though. This is each pitchers ERA and K/BB:

S. Kline- 6.23, 1.06
J. Julio- 3.06, 3.38
B. Ryan- 1.99, 5.67

So what is the plan to win this series? Try to get a hold of Penn in game 1. He probably won't stick around too long, he is yet to pitch 6 innings in a game. The time to get the Orioles would be after Penn leaves and before Julio and Ryan find their way into the game. Similar plans for games 2 and 3... Since the Orioles are so strong defensively, you have to try and score some runs against the starters, Chen and Lopez. It is not a good idea to try to start a comeback in the 8th inning. This should be a fun one to watch...

6/12 Thread

2005-06-12T23:42:00.000-07:00

JUNE 12, 2005 (26-35)
Toronto-0 Houston-3
W- Roy Oswalt
L- Josh Towers

BLUE JAYS MVP- Alex Rios
ASTROS MVP- Roy Oswalt

BLUE JAYS LVP- Orlando Hudson
ASTROS LVP- Chris Burke

What went RIGHT- Roy Oswalt tossed a gem, a 2 hit, complete game shutout. Jason Lane hit a solo homerun, his 8th of the season. He was a triple short of the cycle. Willy Taveras drove in 2 runs while outrunning a groundball to second. Lance Berkman made 3 or 4 fine plays at 1st base, surely saving hits.

What went WRONG- Chris Burke went 0-4.

ANALYSIS-

A few days ago, I wrote about a stunning Pedro Martinez pitching performance. The Astros were the unfortunate victims of his dominance that day. Since that day though, the team has been slightly different. It could have been a number of things that sparked this 5 game winning streak... But in my opinion it is actually quite simple. Three reasons the Astros are charging towards .500, in order of importance:

1) Quality starting pitching performances- Over the last 5 games all 5 starters have handed out quality starts. Oswalt, Clemens, Pettitte, and Backe make up arguably the best 4/5 of a rotation in the league. Wandy has had his moments too.

2) Clutch hitting- Over the 5 game winning streak the Astros are averaging 4.6 runs per game. This sounds low but the Astros averaged 4.5 runs per game in 2004. The offense has been more efficient lately. But more than anything else, Morgan Ensberg has been clutch. He is the man behind the game winning double at Shea, he is the man behind the walk off homer Saturday night, and he is the man behind this little streak. For a team constructed the way the Stros are, it is key to hit in the clutch. The Astros produce less baserunners and therefore the only way to keep the runs total competitive is to hit frequently on the rare occasion a runner is in scoring position. Homeruns are also decent source of runs. Take game 1 against Toronto for example. The Astros had runners on base in every single inning they played. Yet 3 of the innings, that runner was simply a solo homerun. Only once in the other 5 innings did a run cross the plate.

3) A solid effort from the bullpen- A mediocre bullpen has been flourishing over the last few weeks. Sure, Dan Wheeler is overacheiving and Brad Lidge is underacheiving. Qualls is trying to find his place and pitching well. A solid week by John Franco and Russ Springer didn't hurt either.

As for the game this afternoon... No runs on 2 hits. The game was 2 hours long. What did Roy Oswalt have to say about his performance?

"They just kept attacking and I just tried to keep the ball down and today it worked. When you come into the league and they haven't seen you, you can do things they haven't seen before. I threw a lot of strikes. It's never easy. The best thing is it was a short game."- Roy Oswalt

That was the story of the game. Once again an Astros pitcher overmatched a Blue Jays pitcher. That was the tone of this series. The clutch hitting was merely a detail to win the game. Over these last 5 games it looks as if the pitchers are just patiently waiting for the hitters to score some runs so they can finish up the game. The funny thing is the Blue Jays starters didn't pitch poorly. Lilly, Chacin, and Towers all pitched solid games. The real problem for the Blue Jays in this series was the lack of offense. It would be hard to say the starters didn't do their jobs. As far as the bullpen goes, Scott Schoeneweis and Miguel Batista looked lost on Saturday, blowing a freshly tied ballgame un less than 10 minutes.

Chris Burke wen't 0-4 and hit into another double play today. Burke did score the winning run in Saturday's game, but for the season he has been a disappointment. I don't know how he hits into so many double plays. Willy Taveras seems to have cemented the job in center. Jason Lane is once again claiming his rightful spot in the outfield. It can be agreed that left field is currently a weakness for the Astros. Perhaps Orlando Palmeiro should be considered as an option in left field.

Colorado Rockies rookie outfielder Clint Barmes will be out for a few months with a broken clavicle, pushing his probability to win Rookie of the Year from probable to doubtful. And that is taking an optimistic approach to the Barmes' situation. So who does that open the door for? The Roadrunner, Willy Taveras. Taveras is getting himself together offensively, stealing bases and hustling for an extra base here and there. He plays great defense in centerfield. You might get away with top 5 in the majors... Jim Edmonds, Carlos Beltran, Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, and Willy Taveras, in no particular order. I would really like to see him beat out the other candidates and win the ROY. He deserves it.

Baltimore vs Houston coming up. Looking forward to doing the preview, and especially to watching this series.

Wildcard Standings

2005-06-12T02:55:00.000-07:00

We tied up the San Francisco Giants last night. Rockies, Reds, Giants... Bring on the Brewers!

6/11 Thread

2005-06-12T00:44:00.000-07:00

JUNE 11, 2005 (25-35)
Toronto-3 Houston-6
W- Brad Lidge
L- Scott Schoeneweis

BLUE JAYS MVP- Alex Rios
ASTROS MVP- Roger Clemens

BLUE JAYS LVP- Greg Zaun
ASTROS LVP- Brad Lidge

What Wen't RIGHT- Roger Clemens handed out another stellar performance, allowing 1 run on just 3 hits. Russ Springer and John Franco's ERA are gradually decreasing, to a more rational 6.00... Morgan Ensberg wen't 1-5, with a walk off homerun. Willy Taveras and Adam Everett had three hits apiece and every starter reached base.

What Wen't WRONG- Roger Clemens didn't get the win.Brad Lidge got the win but blew the save. Jason Lane didn't do much at the plate. Mike Lamb slipped below .200 again today.

ANALYSIS-

Who would have thought, a 4 game winning streak.Houston Chronicle puts a tombstone on the cover on June 1st. We have won 4 of our last 5 series. What are they thinking about? This team isn't dead yet, they are climbing back to that .500 winning percentage. 10 games under. Better than 15. By winning today we caught the San Francisco Giants, who are 25-35 as well. With that said, lets talk about the game. Tonight's game is a classic 2005 Astros' game. Roger Clemens is pitching. He is diving all over the place at 41 years of ahge for a team that is 10 games under .500. He is giving up 3 hits and 1 run in 7 innings. He is working the count with the bases loaded, trying to add to a 1 for 1 day, before flying out deep to left-center. What can you say, the man is unbelievable. Clemens contributed more to this win than any other player by far, no matter what statistic says otherwise.

But he wasn't the only one who contributed to the win. Willy T led off the game with a triple. Chris Burke drove him in on a sacrifice fly, and instantly Clemens has a hint of run support and a little cushion. Later, Adam Everett doubled in a run and Lance Berkman singled in a run, both with 2 outs.

That gets you to the 9th inning. 2 run lead in the 9th inning. Brad Lidge is pitching and this one looks just about over. But the story takes a turn because the Blue Jays have Lidge all figured out. Shea Hillenbrand hit a double and Eric Hinske singled off the wall... Yes, off the wall. So Lidge didn't have his stuff tonight and by the end of the 9th the game was tied at 3, thanks to an Alex Rios RBI single. This officially marks another no decision for Roger Clemens, one less win on the Hall of Fame plaque.

So the bottom of the 9th rolled around and Taveras was quickly retired. That putout din't seem to set the tone for the inning though. Chris Burke singled and stole 2nd base, with one out. Next up is Craig Biggio, he walked. 1 out and the 3 biggest power threats on the team are due up, Berkman, Ensberg, and Lane. You could see it coming. The way Lance Berkman smacked the ball deep to center against Miguel Batista. The way that for three pitches in a row Miguel Batista failed to find the plate. And then it happened. Morgan Ensberg hit a 3 run walk off homerun, on a 3-0 count. Of Morgan's 14 homers, this one was the most celebrated and the most welcome. Picking up a worn out bullpen with a great pitching performance and a walk off homerun. That will help out with a team's morale, not to mention their record.

And now we have a chance to sweep Toronto. Roy Oswalt goes against Josh towers tommorrow and based on the matchup and the way this series has played out so far, the game should be relatively easy to win. For each inning that Roy Oswalt pitches, the easier this game is to win for Houston, because this bullpen looks too tired to take over in the 5th. We shall see.

6/10 Thread

2005-06-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

JUNE 10, 2005 (24-35)
Toronto-2 Houston-4
W- Wandy Rodriguez
L- Ted Lilly
S- Brad Lidge

BLUE JAYS MVP- Pete Walker
ASTROS MVP- Wandy Rodriguez

BLUE JAYS LVP- Reed Johnson
ASTROS LVP- Humberto Quintero

What Wen't RIGHT- Willy Taveras, Morgan Ensberg, and Jason Lane hit solo homeruns. Wandy managed his way through 6 reckless innings. Harville and Springer tossed scoreless innings. Lidge got the save. Wandy Rodriguez drove in his first run of the season.

What Wen't WRONG- Not much... Wandy was a little wild and walked 6.

ANALYSIS-

Another game, another solid starting pitching performance. Wandy was a little wild but the little guy got through it and allowed only 2 runs in six innings. 4 hits and 6 walks in 6 innings isn't the recipe for success but double plays and strikeouts are, and Wandy used both to help the Astros to a 3rd straight victory. A little luck doesn't hurt either.

If you watched the game on FSN though, you might wonder if luck does hurt the way Larry Deirker was describing the game. He must have said how lucky Wandy and the Astros were about 10 different times. So what if you are lucky, I'll be lucky and win than be unlucky and lose. Of course when we were unlucky, like when the At'em Theory evolved a few weeks ago, Larry complained too. For those of you who don't know about the great At'em Theory, its a little theory the Astros' broadcasters came up with, where they think all the balls we hit hard are hit right to a fielder of the opposition. Good job guys, that must be the problem.

As for tonight, the offense was kind of isolated, yet productive. Taveras led off with a homer. Wandy drove in a run in the 2nd. Jason Lane hit his 7th homerun of the season in the 4th, another solo shot, and Ensberg tacked one in the 6th. 3 solo homers and an RBI single by the pitcher. Ted Lilly must be confused as to how we scored 4 runs. He threw mistakes to Taveras and Ensberg and they hammered them. He probably got careless against Wandy Rodriguez. But Jason Lane hit a homerun on a pitch that was up and out of the zone. Lane contributed to this game.

Meanwhile Chris Burke is hitting .205 and Mike Lamb is hitting .200. These two have consistently struggled to stay over the Mendoza Line all season. I hope to see Lane's name in the lineup every night... he may not be playing to his capabilities, but niether are Lamb or Burke. It is Jason Lane's turn to play. And still the mediocre season Jason Lane is posting beats out the season that Lamb is having. Burke might have as high of a ceiling as Lane, but he isn't catching on at the major league level. Rocket goes tommorrow, against Gustavo Chacin.

6/9 Thread

2005-06-10T00:35:00.000-07:00

JUNE 9, 2005 (23-35)
New York-3 Houston-6
W- Russ Springer
L- Heath Bell
S- Brad Lidge
METS MVP- David Wright
ASTROS MVP- Lance Berkman

METS LVP- Heath Bell
ASTROS LVP- Chris Burke

What Wen't RIGHT- Andy Pettitte gave up 2 runs in 6 innings, striking out 5. Chad Qualls threw a scoreless inning. Russ Springer got the win and Brad Lidge got the save. Lance Berkman had an RBI single in the first and scored a run in the 11th. Morgan Ensberg wen't 1-5 with a game winning ground rule double. Adam Everett drove in 2 runs. Brad Ausmus had an RBI single.

What Wen't WRONG- Dan Wheeler hit a batter that eventually scored on an infield hit, tying the game in the 8th inning. Chris Burke wen't 1-6 and was caught stealing.

ANALYSIS-

Tonight the Astros took advantage of the greatest weakness in New York... Pedro Martinez can't pitch every single game. So the Astros go out to New York and steal the series from the Mets. We have now won 3 of our last 4 series.Pettitte took care of business, giving up 2 runs in 6 innings before handing it off to the bullpen. 68% of his pitches were thrown for strikes and he had all of his pitches working. He didn't quite shut them down but he took care of business. Having the lead through 7 innings, I felt pretty confident we could wrap this one up pretty quickly. Unfortunately, the Mets manufactured the cheapest run of the season against Dan Wheeler. Matsui was hit by a pitch and 2 outs later he managed to score on a Mike Cameron
infield single.

But it didn't make a difference. Wheeler came out and pitched a scoreless 9th and Russ Springer tossed a scoreless 10th. By the time Berkman had singled off of Heath Bell, you got the feeling Brad Lidge should start warming up in the bullpen. Morgan launched a ground rule double, Viz scored, and thus put an end to what should have been finished in 9 innings. Adam Everett provided some substantial cushion, driving in Berkman and Ensberg to increase the lead from 1 to 3.

Sorry for the short thread.. The next two may run a little short as well, as I am and will be quite busy for the next 2 days.

6/8 Thread

2005-06-08T23:22:00.000-07:00

JUNE 8, 2005 (22-35)
New York-1 Houston-4
W- Brandon Backe
L- Victor Zambrano
S- Brad Lidge

BACKEOMETER- SUOTR

METS MVP- Mike Cameron
ASTROS MVP- Jason Lane

METS LVP- Carlos Beltran
ASTROS LVP- Chris Burke

What Wen't RIGHT- Brandon Backe allowed the Mets only one run in 6 innings and got the win. Chad Qualls and Dan Wheeler each pitched a scoreless inning. Brad Lidge pitched a perfect 9th inning and got the save. Jason Lane and Craig Biggio hit RBI doubles and Orlando Palmeiro hit a pinch homer, providing a crucial insurance run. Todd Self scored 2 runs. Jason Lane made a great diving play to save 2 runs from scoring.

What Wen't WRONG- Chris Burke, Humberto Quintero, and Lance Berkman wen't a combined 0-12. Brandon Backe set a career high for walks with 6, his second appearance in a row to do so.

ANALYSIS-

Well it is good to see this team starting to win more often on the road, (4 of our last 6). Backe pitched a nice game, despite giving up 6 walks, a career high. Either way the only statistic that makes a difference in the W-L column is runs, and Backe only allowed 1 of those, on a Ramon Castro double in the 1st inning. Zambrano's night interested me though. He gave up a WHIP of just 1.33 tonight, his average this season is 1.65... In other words he allowed 3 less runners than his average start would allow. Zambrano had lowered his ERA five starts in a row, from 5.81 to 4.24. Tonight however he posted an ERA of 6.00. Less baserunners, more runs... That is a sign of clutch hitting. When I think of the 2004 Astros, I think of clutch hitting and solid starting pitching performances. So this game is more important than you might think, assuming it is a sign of things to come.

Chris Burke is still struggling at the major league level. He hit his first major league homerun last night but I still don't see why he gets to start before Jason Lane. Lane had a pretty good day... He drove in a run on a long double and made a diving catch to save a run or 2 in the 1st inning. Quintero and Backe didn't produce, but I still like those two over Ausmus and any other pitcher on the planet. Orlando Palmeiro hit a pinch homerun tonight his first bomb of the season. This was the Astros' second pinch homerun of the season, Todd Self hit the first against Arizona at home. Biggio had a 2 hit game, with an RBI. Adam Everett has been playing great lately. He wen't 2-4 today with a steal. I didn't realize he was that good of a base stealer but he is 28 for 35, an 80% clip for his career. Adam is posting a line of .375, .389, .438 for the month of June. The bullpen did another great job in tonight's game. Chad Qualls is driving down that ERA with each scoreless inning pitched. It is currently hovering around 5.00. Dan Wheeler's ERA is hovering around 2.00. I can't get over the season he is having. He looked like he didn't have his control tonight and he still managed a scoreless inning. I want to show you just how great of a season Wheeler is having. I'll compare him to three pitchers. I want to compare him to a couple of great closers, Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman. Also I want to compare him to another set up man, so I tried to think of a set up man who was having a great season. I heard Scot Shields, who sets up for Francisco Rodriguez in Anaheim, was having a great season. So here is the comparison:

Here is how the chart works: Each player is ranked in each category and is a ssigned a number- 1 for being the best, 2 for being the 2nd best, 3 for being the third, and 4 for being the worst for that particular statistic. All the numbers are added to find the player's cumulative score. The lower the cumulative score the better. As you can see, Dan Wheeler has the lowest cumulative score of the four. He leads the 4 in WHIP. Comapared to each of the pitchers one on one, Wheeler either matches their cumulative score, or has a lower cumulative score. Looking at these statistics, Wheeler is having the best season of the four. Of course, Hoffman and Rivera are saving games for contenders, so pressure is surely a factor in their numbers. Shields is also setting up for a contender and was forced to save some games earlier this season. But still Wheeler has the better numbers.

Tommorrow the Astros will have a chance to win 3 of their last 4 series... The current goal for this team, in my opinion is to try to get to a single digit number of games under .500. And by the All-star break, try to get as close to .500 as possible. Maybe that kind of run will get Drayton to open up his wallet and add another professional hitter to the club.