The Crawfish Boxes: Front Page Posts

Welcome To Last Place... Again

Stros Bro — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:24:02 -0000

I know things are bad with the Astros lately... but I NEVER would have thought we would have been swept by the Pirates and I NEVER would have thought they would have scored 8+ runs against us in each game to bury us back in the cellar... well, it happened and to the cellar we go again.

I still dont' know what to say about this series against the Pirates. We started out so good the 1st game, taking a 3-2 lead into the 9th inning where our stud closer could seal the victory for us and take us into game 2 of the series with a 1-0 lead... only to blink and see the 3-2 lead completely gone and the Astros in disbelief as they went home with a 9-3 loss.

That loss hurt and it showed as we came back in the 2nd game(with probably our strongest starting pitcher on the hill in Wandy Rodriguez) and put up just 2 runs(and those were after the game was out of reach) in what turned out to be an 8-2 smack down.

And then we come back the next day with one of our only brights spots of the season(Brian Moehler) on the hill to watch him exit the game after pitching just 2 1/3 innings in the hole 5-4.

I'm trying to find a bright spot in the Astros current situation and I just can't seem to find one. Sampson has been good lately... and Lee has been good... I guess you could call them bright spots... but there are so many clouds in the Astros sky(okay.. that was really lame) that they are drowning out the bright spots...

So what do you do as an Astros fan? Do you stop watching the games? Do you sit through them in agony? Do sit and hope for change? Should we "drink the Kool-Aid" and be happy that the Astros are making attempts to better the team now in hopes of making a playoff push? What do we do? I wish I knew the answer... I'm sure like many of you that come here, I'll sit through the games and continue to watch them until game 162 is done... and then I'll start looking forward to next season in which I'll do it all over again. But... it's painful. Being an Astros fan right now just isn't much fun.

I guess there's always tomorrow... wait.. it's an off day!! YES!!!

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I was just looking through the standings in the National League and noticed that the worst team in the NL isn't the Nationals any more. That title has been taken by the Padres who have won 10 games less than the Astros. Wanna hear something pathetic... They have about the same chance of making the playoffs as the Astros do. The Astros are 12.5 games out of 1st place in the NL Central(at the time of this posting) while the Padres are 13 games back. Hell, you could make a case that the Padres are in better contention for a division title as all of the teams in the NL West suck. The Astros have to get passed the three best teams in the National League to win the division title.

46 - 55

Games Back: 12.5

Streak: Lost 4

Games Left: 61

The Astros optioned Cassel back to Triple-A today to make room for Randy Wolf. Wolf is scheduled to start Sunday against the Brewers in Milwaukee.

Current Series

3 game series vs Brewers @ Miller Park

Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes @ Milwaukee Brewers Brew Crew Ball Friday, Jul 25, 2008, 7:05 PM CDT Miller Park Complete Coverage >
Sat 07/26		6:05 PM CDT
Sun 07/27		1:05 PM CDT

Pittsburgh Pirates at Houston Astros, 1:05 PM CDT

Stros Bro — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:00:08 -0000

Current Series

3 game series vs Pirates @ Minute Maid Park

Mon 07/21	WP: Tyler Yates (4 - 2) LP: Jose Valverde (4 - 3)	3 - 9 loss
Tue 07/22	WP: Paul Maholm (7 - 6) LP: Jack Cassel (1 - 1)	2 - 8 loss
Pittsburgh Pirates Bucs Dugout @ Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes Wednesday, Jul 23, 2008, 1:05 PM CDT Minute Maid Park Ian Snell vs Brian Moehler Mostly cloudy with a 70-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing from right to right field at 10-20 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 85. Complete Coverage >

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Ian Snell	3-8	19	19	0	0	0	0	100.1	131	70	65	11	58	76	5.83	1.88

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Brian Moehler	5-4	18	13	0	0	0	0	82.2	85	38	37	12	25	47	4.03	1.33

Sad State of Baseball

Stros Bro — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:10:04 -0000

What is there to be happy about as an Astros fan? Should we be happy that our owners are making trades sending young talent(albeit not exactly a top prospect) to other teams in exchange for a veteran, bottom of the rotation guy that is more than likely going to leave at the end of the season? I don't really understand the trade sending Chad Reineke to the Padres for Randy Wolf. This to me looks like a team making a move just for the sake of making a move. I don't know what to say about the team... obviously I'm not in the greatest moods when it comes to the Astros.

I could see this move if the Astros were still a team that could contend and were in need of a pitcher to help fill out the back side of the rotation... I could see that... but we're not. We're the worst team in our division(tied) and we have NO STARTING PITCHING! You aren't going to win with this type of team and signing Wolf does little to nothing to increase the chances of the Astros making the playoffs. We're the worst team in a division with the 3 best teams in the National League.

Have you ever gotten the feeling that every move your team makes... is the exact opposite of what you would have done? That's kind of where I am right now....

With the 2nd straight loss to the hands of the Pirates, the Astros are now TIED for last place in the NL Central with those Pirates. Tied for last place with the team that hasn't had a winning record since I was 12(1992).

NL Central Standings

	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Chicago	58	41	.585	0	Lost 1
Milwaukee	57	43	.570	1.5	Won 6
St. Louis	57	45	.558	2.5	Lost 2
Cincinnati	49	53	.480	10.5	Won 1
Pittsburgh	46	54	.460	12.5	Won 2
Houston	46	54	.460	12.5	Lost 3

(updated 7.22.2008 at 10:10 PM CDT)

Pittsburgh Pirates at Houston Astros, 7:05 PM CDT

Stros Bro — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:14 -0000

Current Series

3 game series vs Pirates @ Minute Maid Park

Mon 07/21	WP: Tyler Yates (4 - 2) LP: Jose Valverde (4 - 3)	3 - 9 loss
Pittsburgh Pirates Bucs Dugout @ Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008, 7:05 PM CDT Minute Maid Park Paul Maholm vs Jack Cassel Partly cloudy with a 50-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing from right to left field at 10-20 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 90. Complete Coverage >
Wed 07/23	Ian Snell vs Brian Moehler	1:05 PM CDT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Paul Maholm	6-6	19	19	1	0	0	0	125.0	129	60	57	16	32	82	4.10	1.29

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Jack Cassel	1-0	4	2	0	0	0	0	14.1	18	12	10	3	3	6	6.28	1.47

I'm happy to see Cassel up with the big club... I think he should stay for the rest of the season and see what he can do...

I'm still shocked at the way we lost last night... I had a good feeling about it going into the 9th and was just thinking to myself how Valverde usually gets the deal done when he has a 1 run lead... I was so wrong as he didn't get out of the inning and the Astros ended up losing 3-9. How you give up 7 runs in the 9th is beyond me, but the Astros managed to do it. I guess Valverde heard us talking about trading him during the game and wanted to lower his trade value.

Lineup

Pittsburgh Pirates @ Houston Astros

07/22/08 7:05 PM CDT

Pittsburgh Pirates	Houston Astros
Nate McLouth - CF	Kazuo Matsui - 2B
Freddy Sanchez - 2B	Michael Bourn - CF
Ryan Doumit - C	Lance Berkman - 1B
Jason Bay - LF	Carlos Lee - LF
Xavier Nady - RF	Miguel Tejada - SS
Adam LaRoche - 1B	Hunter Pence - RF
Jose Bautista - 3B	Ty Wigginton - 3B
Paul Maholm - P	Humberto Quintero - C
Jack Wilson - SS	Jack Cassel - P

Pittsburgh Pirates at Houston Astros, 7:05 PM CDT

Stros Bro — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:22:16 -0000

Current Series

3 game series vs Pirates @ Minute Maid Park

Pittsburgh Pirates Bucs Dugout @ Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes Monday, Jul 21, 2008, 7:05 PM CDT Minute Maid Park John Van Benschoten vs Runelvys Hernandez Partly cloudy. Winds blowing in from right field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 95. Complete Coverage >
Tue 07/22	Paul Maholm vs Jack Cassel Partly cloudy with a 50-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing from right to left field at 10-20 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 90.	7:05 PM CDT
Wed 07/23		1:05 PM CDT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - John Van Benschoten	1-2	7	3	0	0	0	0	15.2	25	18	17	5	12	15	9.77	2.36

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Runelvys Hernandez	0-3	3	3	0	0	0	0	14.0	24	17	16	4	9	12	10.29	2.36

Lineup

Pittsburgh Pirates @ Houston Astros

07/21/08 7:05 PM CDT

Pittsburgh Pirates	Houston Astros
Nate McLouth - CF	Kazuo Matsui - 2B
Freddy Sanchez - 2B	Michael Bourn - CF
Ryan Doumit - C	Lance Berkman - 1B
Jason Bay - LF	Carlos Lee - LF
Xavier Nady - RF	Miguel Tejada - SS
Adam LaRoche - 1B	Hunter Pence - RF
Jose Bautista - 3B	Ty Wigginton - 3B
John Van Benschoten - P	Brad Ausmus - C
Jack Wilson - SS	Runelvys Hernandez - P

What a joke of a starting pitching match up... wow, this game doesn't exactly bring the fans to the stadium! I think anything more than 10,000 fans at the game would have to be a bonus for Drayton...

Astros managed to win a series against the best team in the NL over the weekend, taking 2 of 3 from the Cubs... that sounds good and all, but both the Brewers and Cardinals still managed to increase their lead over the Astros by sweeping their last series.

MICHAEL BOURN BATTING 2ND!!!! OMG! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! If I actually typed what I was thinking, I'd get kicked off the internet for foul language and hurtful thoughts... anyways... Obviously I'm not a big fan of Bourn [being in the lineup] batting 2nd and still think Wigginton should be leading off...

Poll

Over/Under combined runs scored with 2 pitchers around 10.00 ERA

Oswalt Placed on the 15 Day DL

Stros Bro — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:31:17 -0000

This is kind of old news(this came out yesterday), but I've been AWOL due to personal stuff(nothing bad, just life getting in the way of bloggin) and have pretty much been out of the loop for a few days. Anyways...

Roy Oswalt underwent an MRI on Saturday morning that confirmed the right-hander is still recovering from a left hip abductor strain he suffered on June 30.
Oswalt was previously scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Saturday afternoon in hopes that he could reenter Houston's rotation on Tuesday. But following the MRI results, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to his one-inning, 17-pitch start on July 11 against the Nationals.

Link

This basically just shows that the Astros mishandled Roy by letting him make the start on July 11th and now will not be able to use Roy if they wanted to until the 26th(I think). It really isn't a big deal and didn't hurt much(I'm not sure Roy will be ready to come back on the 26th anyways), but who knows when he would have been back if they would have just put him on the DL in the 1st place and let him rest the back instead of having him do the bullpen before the 11th and then start the game on the 11th.

Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros, 1:05 PM CDT

Stros Bro — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:00:09 -0000

Current Series

3 game series vs Cubs @ Minute Maid Park

Fri 07/18	WP: Geoff Geary (2 - 1) LP: Bob Howry (3 - 3)	2 - 1 win
Sat 07/19	WP: Wandy Rodriguez (5 - 3) SV: Jose Valverde LP: Carlos Zambrano (10 - 4)	4 - 1 win
Chicago Cubs Bleed Cubbie Blue @ Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes Sunday, Jul 20, 2008, 1:05 PM CDT Minute Maid Park Ryan Dempster vs Brandon Backe Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 95. Complete Coverage >

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Ryan Dempster	10-4	20	20	1	0	0	0	124.2	97	52	45	11	50	104	3.25	1.18

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Brandon Backe	6-9	20	20	0	0	0	0	111.2	124	61	59	22	50	83	4.76	1.56

Lineup

Chicago Cubs @ Houston Astros

07/20/08 1:05 PM CDT

Chicago Cubs	Houston Astros
Ryan Theriot - SS	Kazuo Matsui - 2B
Kosuke Fukudome - RF	Darin Erstad - CF
Derrek Lee - 1B	Lance Berkman - 1B
Aramis Ramirez - 3B	Carlos Lee - LF
Jim Edmonds - CF	Miguel Tejada - SS
Mark DeRosa - LF	Geoff Blum - 3B
Geovany Soto - C	Hunter Pence - RF
Mike Fontenot - 2B	J.R. Towles - C
Ryan Dempster - P	Brandon Backe - P

Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros, 6:05 PM CDT

Stros Bro — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:00:10 -0000

Current Series

3 game series vs Cubs @ Minute Maid Park

Fri 07/18	WP: Geoff Geary (2 - 1) LP: Bob Howry (3 - 3)	2 - 1 win
Chicago Cubs Bleed Cubbie Blue @ Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes Saturday, Jul 19, 2008, 6:05 PM CDT Minute Maid Park Carlos Zambrano vs Wandy Rodriguez Partly cloudy with a 30-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 90. Complete Coverage >
Sun 07/20	Ryan Dempster vs Brandon Backe	1:05 PM CDT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Carlos Zambrano	10-3	18	18	0	0	0	0	120.1	110	40	38	8	38	78	2.84	1.23

Chicago Cubs at Houston Astros, 7:05 PM CDT

Stros Bro — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:09 -0000

Current Series

3 game series vs Cubs @ Minute Maid Park

Chicago Cubs Bleed Cubbie Blue @ Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes Friday, Jul 18, 2008, 7:05 PM CDT Minute Maid Park Ted Lilly vs Brian Moehler Clear. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 90. Complete Coverage >
Sat 07/19	vs	6:05 PM CDT
Sun 07/20		1:05 PM CDT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Ted Lilly	9-6	20	20	0	0	0	0	115.1	114	63	60	21	41	108	4.68	1.34

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Brian Moehler	5-4	17	12	0	0	0	0	75.2	81	37	36	11	24	44	4.28	1.39

I went to the zoo today

Stros Bro — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:55:58 -0000

Can you guess why I took a picture of this?

Unfortunately, the Puma was either hiding or not home today.

Mid Term Grades: Pitchers

clack — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:37:58 -0000

The Astros' pitching has been weak, ranking in the lower third of the league. However, most of us expected the pitching to be weak, at least relative to the offense. The pitching has been approximately what we expected, but the offense hasn't been as good as we anticipated.

During the off-season, I said that I expected the Astros' pitching to be somewhat better than in 2007. Some were skeptical of that contention. However, so far the pitching performance in 2008 is better than the 2007 pitching. If you said that shows how bad the pitching was in 2007, I wouldn't argue with you. But the Astros' overall ERA of 4.52 in 2008 is an improvement over the 4.70 ERA in 2007. The performance of starting pitchers in 2008 has been approximately the same as last year (4.74 in 08 vs. 4.70 in 07). However, the relief pitching in 2008 is significantly improved over 2007, with a current ERA of 4.17 compared to 4.69 in 2007. The bullpen has been used for a larger proportion of the innings pitched in 2008 (37%) than 2007 (33%). This raises the question whether the bullpen can continue to shoulder that large a burden in the future without its performance deteriorating.

On to the grades. In case you're wondering, I leave out Chacon and Villareal, who might get a "withdrawn/incomplete" grade.

Starters

Roy Oswalt. C. Oswalt leads the team in wins and innings pitched. Most pitchers might get better than a C grade. But, in his case, the expectations for an ace of his quality are much greater. Oswalt has gone through streaks in which he has pitched either very poorly or very well. I suspect that periodic problems with his hip injury may have led to this pattern. If and when he gets healed up, I anticipate he will give us another streak of well pitched games. Roy's ERA of 4.56 is almost one full run higher than his norm. His Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) result (4.28) indicates that he has pitched somewhat better than his ERA indicates.

Brian Moehler. B+. Moehler has an ERA of 3.97 as a starter and 7.45 as a relief pitcher in 2008. Since most of his innings have been as a starter, his overall ERA is 4.28. Any way one looks at it, Moehler has outperformed expectations by a wide margin. Moehler's FIP is 4.77, which could indicate that his below-3 ERA as a starter may not be sustainable in the future. The only down side to Moehler's performance as a starter is that he is averaging less than 6 innings per start.

Wandy Rodriguez. B. A pitcher with Wandy's 3.48 ERA might normally get a better grade than a B. However, his time off due to injuries has prevented him from being as great a force as he should be in the rotation. He also has averaged less than 6 innings per start. Wandy's 3.70 ERA FIP shows that his performance is no fluke, though.

Brandon Backe. C+. Backe's 4.76 ERA isn't much higher than I would have expected, based on his career performance. But he has some ugly numbers too: like a 1.56 WHIP, 22 HR allowed, and 124 hits in 112 innings. His 5.51 FIP might suggest that his ERA is "lucky." Given that Backe's outings often are either very good or very bad, you wonder which Backe you will see before any given start. An optimistic view is that he is slowly making his way back from arm surgery, and will improve in the second half.

Chris Sampson. B-. Which Chris Sampson do we grade? Sampson, the reliever, with a 1.61 ERA and microscopic 0.63 WHIP? Or, Sampson, the starter, with a 5.66 ERA and 1.46 WHIP? Sampson's overall FIP of 3.65 is the best of his short ML career, and significantly better than overall ERA of 4.50. If he stays in the bullpen, Sampson's grade may go to the head of the class.

Jack Cassel. incomplete. His 5.59 ERA isn't good, but his 9 innings pitched aren't enough to evaluate him.

R. Hernandez. D-. With more lenient grading, his 14 innings pitched could result in an incomplete too. However, his 10.29 ERA leads one to believe that he won't be any further help to the major league team this year.

Relievers

A- Grades:

Jose Valverde and Doug Brocail. Overall both late inning relievers have done their jobs. Valverde settled in to become a tough as nails closer after a shaky start to the season. Brocail had his ups and downs, too, but basically he has been better than we have a right to expect from a 40 year old relief pitcher on a pace to pitch 85 or so innings. Overwork may become the issue for Brocail in the future. Some of the bad outings by each pitcher have occurred when they were asked to peform the other's role (i.e., Valverde in the 8th inning or Brocail in the 9th inning).

B+ Grades:

Tim Byrdak and Geoff Geary. Both have fine ERAs (Byrdak at 1.71 and Geary at 2.25). However, ERA is limited as a means of evaluating middle relievers. That's because the pitchers' good or bad performances may have more impact upon the ERA of the pitcher who preceded them in an inning. Both pitchers walk too many batters (Byrdak is over 6 BB/9 and Geary is over 4 BB/9.) Both pitchers have exceeded our expectations out of the pen, though. Byrdak's FIP is much more out of line with his ERA, than Geary's. This may indicate that the odds of Geary continuing his excellent pitching are better than Byrdak's.

C Grade:

Wesley Wright. A reliever with a 5.03 ERA and 1.53 WHIP often gets a grade below C. But I adjust my grade to reflect our legitimate expectations for a AA relief pitcher working in the majors for the first time. As a Rule 5 acquisition, one might have expected Wright would be assigned to mop up relief roles. Instead, Wright has been used in many critical high leverage situations. On some occasions he has come through with flying colors. On other occasions he has failed. His biggest failing is his control (over 6 BB/9). However, his 8.47 K/9 is excellent, and indicates that his performance this season may hold promise for the future.

D Grade:

Dave Borkowski. 7.45 ERA. 6.25 FIP. 1.90 WHIP. 45 hits in 29 innings. Average fastball velocity below 90 for the first time. Yikes!

COACHES AND FRONT OFFICE

Anyone care to give their grade for Cooper, his coaches, or Ed Wade? I'll cop out on these questions and leave it to you.

Mid Term Grades: Position Players

clack — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:07:15 -0000

The All-Star Break is a good time to look at the grades for the Astros' players. These are my opinions, and I'm sure some of you will disagree. Well, jump in and give your grades, if you like.

1b. Lance Berkman. A+

I shouldn't have to explain this much. Berkman leads all NL players with 23 Win Shares. By comparison, Carlos Lee, who is having a nice year himself, has 13 Win Shares. He leads all NL players in Runs Created, with 86. On top of his obvious excellence in hitting, Berkman's defense has been superb. He leads all NL 1st baseman in Revised Zone Rating (RZR).

2b. Kaz Matsui B-.

If not for his lengthy absences, I would have given Matsui a regular B, because he has done pretty much what the Astros expected. His OPS is a bit light (low .700's), but he is slightly above average for NL 2d basemen in Runs Created. He is one of the few Astros hitters who shows patience at the plate. His base running is every bit as good as advertised. He isn't the best 2d baseman in the league, but he isn't what's wrong with the team either.

SS. Miguel Tejada. C+

I wouldn't have guessed in May that this would be my grade for Tejada. We can only hope the end of season grade is much better. Tejada's .739 OPS is a big disappointment and makes him an average-to-below-average offensive shortstop. If he continued that offensive pace, it would be the worst offensive season of his career. This all might justify a C or C-, but I gave him a C+ because his defense has been outstanding. He leads NL shortstops in RZR.

3b. Wigginton. B.

His .838 OPS is just about even with expectations. He is at least average, offensively, as a third baseman. His fielding is below average for a 3d baseman, but that is what the Astros should have expected. His RZR is worse than the range he exhibited for Houston in 07, but very similar to his RZR at 3d base during other seasons in his career. Since Wiggy has produced as expected, I think he deserves a B.

LF. Carlos Lee. B+

Lee's .899 OPS is slightly above expectations, and puts him in the top 5 NL LFers, in terms of OPS. LF is an offensive position, and Lee leads all LFers with 76 RBIs. His defense has been poor. He is last among starting NL starting LFers in RZR. But, then again, that kind of fielding is what was expected from him, given his history of declining range.

CF. Michael Bourn. D.

Bourn is dead last among NL CFers with a .564 OPS. That isn't just garden variety bad, it's very bad. The best we can say is that, hopefully, he will show offensive improvement in the second half. Despite the fact that he has been the lead off hitter most of the time this season, he only scored 39 runs, which is less than almost any other full time CFer. Bourn's saving grace is that he has played good defense in CF, and his speed has allowed him to make spectacular plays at times.

RF. Hunter Pence. C+..

Pence's .732 OPS is well below what we expected, and puts him in the lower third of RFers, offensively. Despite the generally low offensive performance, Pence still has managed 46 RBIs, which ranks him 4th among NL RFers. Pence's defense in RF has been very good, and his RZR ranks among the top 3 NL RFers.

C. J.R. Towles. D.

Towles .148 batting average and .528 OPS speaks for itself. He was supposed to be the starting catcher. His defense at catcher has been fine. But the offense has been a huge disappointment.

Reserves:

Loretta B+. He is the consummate professional, and has handled his reserve role well. He has proven to be a clutch hitter, and a low .700's OPS for a reserve middle infielder is good.

Erstad. A-. The same could be said about Erstad. He has been better than expected. He has been a clutch hitter, run the bases well, and played very good outfield defense.

Blum. C+.. Blum's offense has not been good, with a .599 OPS. However, that should have been expected to some extent, because Blum has not been a good offensive player for several years. He has played good defense at 3d base; and if his primary role is a defensive one, he has done that well.

Ausmus. C. Ausmus signed on for a different role: mentor and reserve catcher. At times, he has been forced back into the primary catcher position. Ausmus' offense hasn't been good, as indicated by a .222 batting average and .570 OPS. Taking into account his reserve role, and his history of sub-par offense, I view him in a light similar to Blum: his offense isn't much different than expected. His defense is declining with age, but he still provides important intangible on the field, particularly when it comes to working with pitchers.

I will address pitchers' grades in a later article.

2008 MLB All Star Game, 7:00 PM CDT

Stros Bro — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:00:07 -0000

In my opinion, the NL (starters at least) looks like a better team than the AL and I am predicting that the NL wins this All Star game.

AL starting lineup:

1: Ichiro Suzuki, RF, Mariners
2: Derek Jeter, SS, Yankees
3: Josh Hamilton, CF, Rangers
4: Alex Rodriguez, 3B, Yankees
5: Manny Ramirez, LF, Red Sox
6: Milton Bradley, DH, Rangers
7: Kevin Youkilis, 1B, Red Sox
8: Joe Mauer, C, Twins
9: Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Red Sox

SP: Cliff Lee, Indians

NL starting lineup:

1: Hanley Ramirez, SS, Marlins
2: Chase Utley, 2B, Phillies
3: Lance Berkman, 1B, Astros
4: Albert Pujols, DH, Cardinals
5: Chipper Jones, 3B, Braves
6: Matt Holliday, RF, Rockies
7: Ryan Braun, LF, Brewers
8: Kosuke Fukudome, CF, Cubs
9: Geovany Soto, C, Cubs

SP: Ben Sheets, Brewers

Home Run Derby - 7:00 PM CST

Stros Bro — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:00:07 -0000

Lance Berkman - Houston Astros
Ryan Braun - Milwaukee Brewers
Josh Hamilton - Texas Rangers
Evan Longoria - Tampa Bay Rays
Justin Morneau - Minnesota Twins
Grady Sizemore - Cleveland Indians
Dan Uggla - Florida Marlins
Chase Utley - Philadelphia Phillies

Some Realistic Goals For The Balance Of The Astros' Season

bwhite2323 — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:22:09 -0000

Articles are all over the place quoting the Astros' "management" team all in the same general vein. "It's too early to give up, we are traditionally a second half team, we can still make a run at it, etc.." ad nauseum. The facts are that the Astros are in need of a major rehab, and as one prominent rehab organization promotes: "You can't solve the problem, until you get out of denial and admit there is a problem."

If the Astros were to come to the sudden realization that there is indeed a problem, here's my list of goals for the balance of the season. Please don't laugh out loud, I know as well as you do that none of these will happen - after all, I am the AntiDrayton.

1. Set a modest but attainable goal for team performance. Shoot for winning 8 of the remaining 12 home series, and 4 of the remaining 9 road series. Set a goal of 81-81 as a minimum for year end. Along with this, try to push Mathematical Elimination Night (the date we are eliminated from any playoff hopes) beyond September 10, which is when it currently seems destined to occur.

2. Work with the young players. The future for the Astros is best served by this strategy, even if the players are developed only to become trade bait, which seems to be the current modus operandi of the "management". This probably means sending Bourn down to AAA for some development (apparently all of the coaching in the organization happens at Round Rock and Corpus Christi). Stay the course with J. R. Towles; he is all we have at the moment, so let's make him the best he can be. Bring up as many players (one or two at a time) from the minors to give them some experience and see what they may be able to offer in the way of longer term potential.

3. Keep the veteran core. No trading of Pence, Berkman, Lee, Tejada, and Oswalt. The same probably applies for Matsui. Only Berkman and Pence would really bring anything of value, now that Roy may be damaged goods. And our trading history is a hideous failure.

4. Play Erstad and Loretta a lot. We need them to reach goal #1 and they are steady, dependable, and former All-Stars. Why should they sit?

5. Quit stealing so many &^%$#!! bases and stop playing small ball. Did we really load up the lineup with all that (supposed) power only to bunt and steal Michael Bourn every time he gets on base? Here's the handwriting on the wall, in simplest terms: Over the past 5 years there has been a negative team correlation (both NL and AL) between total runs scored and total stolen bases. There are are mounds of other data to support this - small ball yields small results!

6. Sharpen up some fundamentals. Base running, fielding, and hitting the right cutoff man would be great places to start.

7. Examine Cooper's contract with a microscope. There must be some way to get rid of him before his two years are up without bringing the wrath of the Commissioner and prominent activist groups down upon the team. Cooper seems like a genuinely good guy, but he may also be genuinely the worst manager I've ever seen.

Please feel free to add any of your own and reject any or all of mine - it doesn't matter, because as I mentioned above these don't have a snowball's chance anyway.

Astros Beat Nationals 5-0

Stros Bro — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:12:48 -0000

Final - 7.13.2008	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Houston Astros	0	1	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	5	12	0
Washington Nationals	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
WP: Brandon Backe (6 - 9) LP: Odalis Perez (2 - 7)

Complete Coverage >

Great game all around. Obviously Backe was the player of the game with his performance, but the entire team helped out with timely hits and some excellent defense. I didn't get to watch the entire game, but the running catch that Erstad made in center field was very nice along with the sliding catch by Tejada in foul territory.

Backe went 7 innings allowing just 5 hits, 4 walks with 5 strike outs and no runs. Backe didn't pitch flawlessly today allowing multiple base runners and got himself into some situations where the Nationals could have started a rally... but he pitched through it and with the help of the defense worked through them all. Backe was also one of the better offensive players in the game going 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored. We got to see something today that doesn't really happen too often... the pitcher singles and then the lead off hitter lays down a sacrifice bunt to move him over. Not a big accomplishment by any means, but still not the most common thing to see. Lee (still dedicated to driving in runs) went 2 for 4 driving in 3 runs to put him at 76 RBI's on the season(and 2nd place in the NL, just 3 ahead of Berkman).

Today was just a good day... every Astros starter except for Towles had a hit, and 4 of them had multiple hits(Backe, Matsui, Lee and Wigginton).

In the 8th inning, after walking a batter(still not sure why Cooper started the inning off with Backe if his leash was going to be that short...) Sampson came in and finished off the final 6 outs of the game, facing just 5 batters(inducing a double play on the inherited runner) on his 1st batter. I'm starting to get more and more convinced that Sampson should stay in the bullpen. The way he's pitching right now, he could easily be an 8th inning guy for the Astros... he also has the ability to pitch multiple innings when we need him(and even make spot starts). Sampson's value goes WAY up as a reliever in my opinion.

Well, the Astros now have 4 days off with the All Star Home Run Derby starting tomorrow at 7:00PM CST and then the All Star Game on Tuesday at 7:00PM CST... Wednesday and Thursday are off days and then the Astros come back to start a new series with the Cubs at home.

Next Game

Chicago Cubs
@ Houston Astros

Friday, Jul 18, 2008, 7:05 PM CDT
Minute Maid Park

Complete Coverage >

Houston Astros at Washington Nationals, 12:35 PM CDT

Stros Bro — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:30:06 -0000

Current Series

3 game series vs Nationals @ Nationals Park

Fri 07/11	WP: Tim Redding (7 - 3) SV: Steven Shell LP: Chad Paronto (0 - 1)	0 - 10 loss
Sat 07/12	WP: Wandy Rodriguez (4 - 3) SV: Jose Valverde LP: Collin Balester (1 - 2)	6 - 4 win
Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes @ Washington Nationals Federal Baseball Sunday, Jul 13, 2008, 12:35 PM CDT Nationals Park Brandon Backe vs Odalis Perez Complete Coverage >

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Brandon Backe	5-9	19	19	0	0	0	0	104.2	119	61	59	22	46	78	5.07	1.58

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Odalis Perez	2-6	16	16	0	0	0	0	83.2	89	39	34	11	32	56	3.66	1.45

This is the last game for the Astros before the All-Star break. It would be really nice to go into the 4 day break with a win. A win today also means a win in the series.

NL Central Standings

	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Chicago	57	37	.606	0	Won 2
St. Louis	52	43	.547	5.5	Lost 1
Milwaukee	51	43	.542	6	Lost 2
Cincinnati	46	49	.484	11.5	Won 3
Pittsburgh	44	49	.473	12.5	Won 1
Houston	43	51	.457	14	Won 1

(updated 7.13.2008 at 8:30 AM CDT)

Houston Astros at Washington Nationals, 6:10 PM CDT

Stros Bro — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:00:08 -0000

Current Series

3 game series vs Nationals @ Nationals Park

Fri 07/11	WP: Tim Redding (7 - 3) SV: Steven Shell LP: Chad Paronto (0 - 1)	0 - 10 loss
Houston Astros The Crawfish Boxes @ Washington Nationals Federal Baseball Saturday, Jul 12, 2008, 6:10 PM CDT Nationals Park Wandy Rodriguez vs Collin Balester Clear. Winds blowing in from center field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 85. Complete Coverage >
Sun 07/13		12:35 PM CDT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Wandy Rodriguez	3-3	12	12	0	0	0	0	69.2	65	34	25	7	22	64	3.23	1.25

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2008 - Collin Balester	1-1	2	2	0	0	0	0	10.2	5	6	6	1	6	6	5.06	1.03

Lineup

Houston Astros @ Washington Nationals

07/12/08 6:10 PM CDT

Houston Astros	Washington Nationals
Darin Erstad - CF	Willie Harris - CF
Kazuo Matsui - 2B	Paul Lo Duca - 1B
Lance Berkman - 1B	Cristian Guzman - SS
Carlos Lee - LF	Austin Kearns - RF
Miguel Tejada - SS	Ronnie Belliard - 3B
Geoff Blum - 3B	Jesus Flores - C
Hunter Pence - RF	Wily Mo Pena - LF
Brad Ausmus - C	Felipe Lopez - 2B
Wandy Rodriguez - P	Collin Balester - P

Astros Sign 1st Round Draft Pick

clack — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:24:50 -0000

OK. It's done. The Astros have signed their 1st rounder, catcher Jason Castro.

Astros Sign Castro

For many teams, this announcement is routine. But, given the Astros' difficulties last year in signing their top draft picks, and the farm system's extreme (bordering on starvation level) need for an infusion of talent, this is very important news for Astros fans.

The SpikesNStars fan blog has a status report on the signings of Astros' draft choices here, which was updated through July 2 (when I wrote this article anyway), and thus doesn't include the news on Castro. Furthermore, the status report says that Brad Dydalewicz from Lake Travis HS, the Astros 8th round choice, is unsigned. However, this earlier article in the Austin American Statesman, here, says that he signed and will report to the Astros Greenville Rookie League team. However, a later article in American Statesman, which mentions that Dydalewicz threw out the first pitch in an Express game in early July and watched the Express play from the owner's box, indicates that he has not signed. Brad does say he would prefer to sign a professional contract (rather than playing for a college team). So, given the inconsistent reports, I'm not sure of his signing status. Since he is a high school LHP who can throw in the 90's, let's hope he signs.

The two third round picks remain unsigned, as indicated in the linked blog above, and this report from the Houston Chronicle's Brian McTaggert link.

Astros Lose 10-0 to the Nationals

Stros Bro — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:43:03 -0000

What a sad game to watch as an Astros fan... I started off the night doubting the lineup; I'm still not sure why Hunter Pence or Michael Bourn ever lead off for the Astros. You need a high on base guy to lead off for your team and the Astros keep sending up guys who swing at everything and strike out a lot. Doesn't seem like the smartest move to me.

A few days ago I mentioned that unless the Astros are 100% sure Roy Oswalt is completely over this hip strain/back issues, then he should go on the DL retroactive to his last start... well instead, Roy pitches tonight and makes it through one whole inning before leaving with pain in his hip again. Now how long are we going to be without Roy? Is he going to go on the 15 day DL now? If so, he's going to miss at least 2 starts(maybe more). If they would have just waited until after the All star game; put him on the 15 day DL retroactive to the 30th(his last start) and pulled someone up from the minors(Cassel?) and let him make a start instead, we could have gotten through the weekend and had Oswalt ready to go with a ton of rest on Friday after the All-Star break. I know hindsight is 20-20, but geeze... if I can see what needs to be done from sitting in my chair at home... then the Astros should be able to see it.

Now I'm watching the post game show and they said Roy felt the pain in the bullpen... AND THEY STILL LET HIM PITCH!!!!! They would have been able to put him on the DL then and let him rest... I just don't understand.

Some of the moves this team makes sickens me...