Lance Berkman “I don’t think at this point we’ve established ourselves as being either a good team or a bad team.’’ Link
Veteran advice
On Sunday, fans booed Michael Bourne for failing to run out a chop back to the pitcher
“It kind of reminded me of Philly, to tell you the truth,” Bourn said of the boos. “I wasn’t mad. I should have been running all the way. …”
Carlos Lee approached Bourn soon after he returned to the dugout.
“Lee said, ‘Don’t do that,’ ” Bourn said.
Berkman was more philosophical
“I just think it shows the fickle nature of humans in general — not just fans in baseball,” Berkman said. “People are almost as happy when things are going really bad as when they’re going really good, because it’s something to complain about and something to talk over the water-cooler about.”
Berkman advises young players that baseball is an entertainment business. He likens a player’s life on the field to that of “an elephant at the zoo …. They see you as an athlete, or as an object of entertainment that can be screamed at and called obscene names.”
Coach Ausmus
(warming up after the injury) Ausmus reminded Sampson that he had “all the time in the world…”
“‘When you feel ready, take two more pitches,'” Sampson recalled Ausmus saying to him. “‘Throw two more and make sure you’re ready. Don’t let anybody rush you.’ I took his advice. It was probably a little longer than I would normally warm up in the bullpen.”
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On the relievers
The relievers were supposed to take up the slack from the questionable starters, recently Cooper has had several issues to consider when deciding who to send out,
Cooper avoided using Chris Sampson on Sunday because the righthanded reliever told him he had tenderness in his right elbow. But Sampson says that he’s over last year’s problem declaring, about his elbow, “It’s fine now,”
However the Astros have been using the pen a great deal lately and Cooper’s options are limited day to day, for instance after Sunday’s game
Brocail said. “I’m tired.”
Then there’s Geary,
Geary, who pitched 2 1/3 innings against the Rays on June 21, had to sit seven days before pitching again.
“He pitched well and got out of one inning,” Cooper said. “We said, ‘Let’s keep going,’ and we ended up stretching him. I don’t like to stretch a guy like that, (but)…We were desperate for a win.”
Geary got called to warm up twice on Thursday. Cooper said that if a reliever gets up twice but does not appear in the game, he is done for the day. Geary got Friday off before pitching an inning on Saturday.
Regarding the middle innings, Cooper likes Sampson because,
“He’s so efficient with his pitching. He can throw two days in a row, and maybe two innings two days in row, because he’s so efficient.”
Hopefully the elbow tenderness doesn’t return because Cooper’s other middle innings options are Byrdak, of the on and off control, and Villareal
…who pitched back-to-back days earlier in the week, (Thur, Fri) felt sore and tight afterward and needed Saturday to rest.
Concerning Valverde’s hand,
Valverde deflected a sharp hit off the back of his pitching hand, and he said his ring and pinky fingers were sore after finishing the game.
Cooper said. “… if I know my big boy, he’ll be fine.”
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