Astros @ Brewers – Hope for a New ERA

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Waldo in Series Previews

SERIES PREVIEW

Carlos Gomez’s Sloppy Seconds @ Chris Carter’s Sloppy Seconds
April 8-10, 2016

It’s early.

Must not panic.

What’s up with the pitching staff? Through three games the Astros have a MLB-worst 9.36 ERA and have a couple of guys that could deservedly be referred to as Refined Petroleum Product Storage Apparatuses. Sure didn’t see that coming. Since it’s still way too early to hit the panic button, I choose to delude myself and blame the staff’s rocky start on the following factors, in no particular order:

Early season jitters
Weather delays, postponements, and generally unfavorable conditions
Players still getting tuned up
Bud Selig (on principle)
Angel Hernandez (on principle)
That abominable Austin Automotive Specialists radio commercial

Don’t judge me.

The offense, on the other hand, is off to a strong start. Despite finally looking human at the plate on Thursday, Carlos Correa is in early beast mode form. Tyler White has a hitting streak for his career. Preston Tucker is more than adequately holding down the DH slot in Evan Gattis’s absence. Carlos Gomez finally showed signs of life Thursday after some shameful ABs earlier in the series. Springer (salami notwithstanding) and a kinder, gentler, more patient Altuve are having their fits and starts, but… it’s early.

With any luck, a middling Brewers team and the guarantee of (at worst) climate-controlled games could be a good opportunity to shake off the rust in the Rust Belt. The Brewers got shelled 12-3 on Opening Day, dropped a 2-1 decision on Tuesday, and eked out a 4-3 win on Wednesday. Despite being bottom-third in runs scored their overall offensive production is firmly middle of the pack and is actually quite comparable to the Astros’. Aside from the Opening Day shenanigans the Brewers pitching hasn’t been bad.

Friday, April 8 – 7:10pm CDT
Scott Feldman (2015: 5-5, 3.90) vs. Chase Anderson (2015: 6-6, 4.30)

I said as much in my last series preview, but I was a big fan of Feldman’s work in 2015. Keuchel, McCullers, and McHugh stole the spotlight from him and deservedly so, but he turned in a lot of solid yet understated pitching performances, gobbling innings (completed the 6th inning in all but five games) and dropping his ERA by a full run over the summer before his shoulder gave out. He’s in the walk year of a front-loaded contract so he could be a huge value to the Astros this year (either on the field or as trade bait) if he can put up similar numbers. He turned in a decent spring training performance so we’ll have to see how the shoulder is holding up.

Anderson, a newcomer to the Brewers, battled injuries in the second half of 2015 for Arizona and struggled with consistency, watching his sub-3 June ERA rise to 4.52 in early September. He was slated to be the Brewers’ #5 but got moved up in the rotation since Matt Garza was placed on the DL. Since this is only Anderson’s third season in the bigs he has never faced the Astros, and he had a horrific spring (16 ER in 14+ innings and a .409 opponents’ batting average).

Saturday, April 9 – 6:10pm CDT
Doug Fister (2015: 5-7, 4.19) vs. Willy Peralta (0-1, 9.00)

The Astros’ newest acquisition in the rotation gets his first start of the season after a very unimpressive spring. Fister was hardly terrible (or even bad) in 2015, and the Astros are hoping that he’ll return to the 3.50-ish ERA guy he has been in the past. He did face the Brew Crew once last year and it did not go well, surrendering four runs (three earned) in just over an inning in relief.

Peralta was the main perpetrator of the Brewers’ opening loss, giving up 4 ER in as many innings before getting chased. He had a rough spring (6+ ERA), missed a huge chunk of time in 2015, and was consistently inconsistent before and after his injury. That he was the Brewers’ Opening Day starter says a lot about the state of the Brewers’ pitching staff coming into the season.

Sunday, April 10 – 1:10pm CDT
Dallas Keuchel (1-0, 2.57) vs. Jimmy Nelson (0-1, 2.45)

I can give Dallas a pass for his early trouble in New York on Tuesday. Hell, I wouldn’t want to be out there throwing an ice-cold ball of leather in 20mph winds. (Then again, I am grossly nonathletic.) It didn’t take him too long to settle in once the damage was done, and he ended up lasting seven innings when such a thing looked extremely unlikely after the first three. With a start under his belt and much more agreeable conditions, I expect him to be closer to his true form. He has never pitched against the Brewers, but rumor has it that Chris Carter is 7×9 against him in intrasquad slow-pitch softball from Carter’s time on the Astros.

Nelson made some strides in his first full big league season for the Brewers in 2015 and tossed a pretty good game against the Giants earlier this week. He pitched into the 8th and the only real trouble he got into was a solo homer in the 3rd and allowing just one run in a 4th inning, bases loaded, no-out jam. He also threw a pretty impressive 1.17 ERA in four spring starts. This could be a pretty good pitching showdown.

Astros @ Yankees – The Boys of Winter

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Waldo in Series Previews

SERIES PREVIEW

2015 Wild Card Champions @ 2015 Wild Card Not-Champions
April 5-7, 2016

In the time leading up to both of my kids being born, I remember a combination of excitement and anxiety. When they finally arrived the excitement and anxiety remained, but there was also a slight sense of dread that there was no turning back from a huge investment of time, money, and emotion. It was definitely going to be worth it, but it wasn’t going to be easy.

Opening Day always feels the same way to me. Watching 162 games in six months is hardly a small investment of time, especially with the west coast games that are scientifically proven to be 1-1.5 hours longer. The long season also contains plenty of ups and downs, and it can take an emotional toll on you even when you try not to let it get to you (see also: the month of September 2015).

Of course the analogy is a little more appropriate this year: both of my kids had to be forcibly ejected from my wife after their due date, and the Astros and Yankees get a late start to the season after Opening Day 1.0 got The-Northeast-in-April’ed out. Even Michael Bloomberg’s Big Gulp thinks playing baseball in New York in still-slightly-winter is a bad idea.

On paper this season looks pretty promising, since this Opening Day roster is ostensibly much better than last year’s. The starting rotation, a sure weakness to start 2015, now figures to be one of baseball’s best, and I don’t envy the personnel decision Hinch/Luhnow have to make when Lance McCullers comes off the DL. Aside from the obvious top-of-the-rotation guys like Keuchel and McHugh, I think Scott Feldman is one of the team’s more underrated arms. Injuries aside, he was a pretty effective innings-eater in 2015 and pitched his ass off between DL stints. That he was a #2/#3 last year and is now a #5/#6 on this year’s staff – and that they’re not trotting out Straily, Oberholtzer, and Fausto Carmona every few days – shows that the water level has risen significantly.

The bullpen’s boat stands to rise with the tide, which will hopefully prevent them from wearing down late in the season like last year. Last year’s unexpectedly excellent pen is largely intact except for essentially swapping Ken Giles in for Chad Qualls. I’m not all that concerned about who closes as long as they do it well. Gregerson, currently slated to be the closer, did a pretty admirable job last year despite his propensity for the meatball early in the season. If this unit is anywhere near as solid as they were last year, we may see a lot of games that are basically over by the 6th-7th innings.

Offensively, with much of the lineup intact there are a lot of known quantities, but hopefully guys like Springer, Tucker, and Marisnick can develop even more with another year under their belts. Having a full season of Correa can, and probably will, make a huge difference and he is already getting some preseason run for AL MVP. Perhaps the only real unknown is Tyler White, who will be taking his first MLB at-bats this afternoon. Things may get interesting if he stumbles while AJ Reed tears up the PCL.

Many pundits I’ve seen have pegged the Astros at the mid/high 80s in wins. I’m a little more bullish; 92-93 wins feels about right to me.

Tuesday, April 5 – 12:05pm CDT
Dallas Keuchel (2015: 20-8, 2.48) vs. Masahiro Tanaka (2015: 12-7, 3.51)

It’s hard not to like any matchup that includes Keuchel, especially when he’s pitching against the pinstripes. Dude absolutely wrecked the Yankees in 2015: three games (two in the Bronx), 22 innings, zero runs allowed. He also had an outstanding spring with a .123 opposing average and 16 K’s in 17 scoreless innings. Here’s hoping 2016 is just a continuation of 2015.

The Astros didn’t have too much trouble in two outings against Tanaka last year, touching him up for six runs in five innings in June and then handing him the loss in the Wild Card Game. He also got hit hard this spring, for whatever that’s worth.

One equalizing factor in this game could be the weather: das, OWA’s resident meteorologist, is calling for cold temps, stiff winds, and an even more pronounced ill temper among New Yorkers.

Wednesday, April 6 – 6:05pm CDT
Collin McHugh (2015: 19-7, 3.89) vs. Michael Pineda (2015: 12-10, 4.37)

McHugh took a bit of a step back in 2015, particularly in that he gave up a lot more hits and got into trouble more often early in games before settling down. This still didn’t prevent him from having a very good year, and he also owned a sub-2 ERA against the Yankees last season. His spring stats have never been all that flashy and this year was no exception.

Pineda took two losses at the hands of the Astros last year, going eight pretty good innings in June and then getting chased in the 5th inning in August. His spring training yada yada yada.

Thursday, April 7 – 3:05pm CDT
Mike Fiers (2015: 7-10, 3.69) vs. Nathan Eovaldi (2015: 14-3, 4.20)

The No-No Guy finds himself in the #3 slot and, if things pan out, this could be the first season that he can stay locked in in the rotation. Despite a string of no-decisions to end 2015 there’s hardly anything to complain about regarding his tenure in Houston. Here’s hoping that spending a full season on a better team will allow him to shine. Fiers has never faced the Yankees.

Eovaldi led the Yanks in wins in 2015, including a streak of nine straight wins that lasted much of the season. He did not face the Astros in 2015, although historically he has whipped up on a bunch of scrubs that had the misfortune of wearing Astros jerseys.

Road Woes Redux

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Waldo in Game Recaps

Submitted by NeilT

Astros 2
Anaheim 3

Of course they lost. They were on the road, and Keuchel was pitching. I was talking with my friend Buck McBraden, whose son, Kole, was in the same little league as Dallas Keuchel.

“We told his parents, if we told them once we told them a dozen times, Dallas is pretty talented, but you want him to succeed on the road you have to get him in travel ball early.”

Kole started travel ball when he was three, on the Tulsa Toddlers (who won the national three-year old living room tournament that year in Iowa City), then went on to play for the Pre’s, the Oklahoma Plains, the Smudge, the Dust Bowl, and a team Buck started, the Tulsa Lubricators, a 10-year old travel team, on which Kole pitched and played second base.

“Kole should have played shortstop,” Buck told me, “but it’s hard for a left-handed shortstop to turn the double play. But his curve was good, and he had a nasty two-seam, and his four-seam was hitting 40.”

“Little League just won’t do it for you. You don’t get the competition because the skills aren’t there. Dallas’s parents didn’t have him in a league by three, so he never got used to traveling. It was a real waste, because that kid had some talent.”

And you saw it last night, if you didn’t fall asleep. Keuchel made it through 6, but his first error of the season cost him. In the second he soared to get a Baltimore chop, but he isn’t yet used to his superpowers. He went too high and bounced the ball off the heel of his glove. What should have been a third out turned into a Dallas Kerfuffle, with two walks, more than enough wild pitches (1, scoring the first Angel run, with another in the first and only 5 for the season), and 3 total runs scored, none earned. None earned.

That was really the ballgame. Fields gave up no hits and no walks in relief, which is a relief, and Neshek followed Fields with one hit, one walk, and no runs. Jered Weaver pitching for the Angels was blowing stuff right by the ‘Stros, with 7 Ks, which must have surprised Weaver. Altuve had a double in the first, and became the youngest Astro to reach 800 hits. He also had a steal after reaching on a fielder’s choice. Gomez homered in the 6th to drive in Correa for the two runs.

Kole is now back in Tulsa, after two seasons of Juco ball at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. Buck is starting Tulsa’s first two-year old league for his grandson, Lance. “It’s not really organized ball,” Buck told me, “It’s more to get them used to swinging the bat.” The Arlington Dickities won, but of course the Houston Astros will win no more games on the road. Ever.

Kansas City A’s

Posted on August 8, 2015 by Waldo in Game Recaps

Submitted by NeilT

A’s 3
Astros 1

There were points during the last two seasons when I took solace from the A’s. They have a funny history. Sometimes early they were the best team in baseball, dynasties, really, but then Connie Mack would break them up because he couldn’t afford them. It had nothing to do with rebuilding, it was money. Mack was owner, general manager, and manager, and sometimes he won, but he also had 17-year losing streaks. Mack lost the most games of any manager in baseball, 1,489, for a winning percentage of .398. He’s in the Hall of Fame though.

Then his sons and the Shibe heirs took over the team, squabbled, and lost more games. I think I recall there was a daughter, too, but Connie wouldn’t leave his baseball team to the daughter. In the end the Phils were in the World Series, the A’s were averaging 1,978 fans per game, and Roy and Earle Mack were broke, over-leveraged, and forced to sell the team. In 1954 the A’s won 51 games.

Arnold Johnson—who had owned Yankee Stadium and was a business partner of the Yankee owners—bought the A’s. The American League helped them to move to Kansas City. Nobody in Philadelphia cared.

Kansas City was ecstatic. Johnson was a hero.

The Kansas City Blues were the Yankees top farm team, and Johnson owned Blues stadium. He sold it to Kansas City, and leased it back under—believe it or not—advantageous terms. Kansas City had major league baseball.

The first year the A’s were in Kansas City, 1955, they drew 1,393,054. They also went 58-96. For the next six years under Johnson, their best record was 1958, 73-81. Overall they went 371-552, for a .401 winning percentage. By 1960, attendance was 774,944.

The team under Johnson is famous, though, for completely different reasons. Kansas City is a railroad town, and from 1955 to 1960 every train pointed north and east. They were the Yankee’s farm team.

While Johnson owned the A’s, the Yankees were the best team in baseball. Through 1953, the Yankees had won the World Series a record five times in a row. From 1955 to 1960, the Yankees won the World Series twice, lost it three times, and once, 1959, came in third in their division. Nobody’s perfect. And part of their success was their trades with Kansas City.

The Yankees/A’s trades were so frequent, and so one-sided, that the rumors at the time was that there was some secret agreement between the teams. There were 16 total trades. The A’s sent 27 players and cash to the Yankees for 35 players and cash. The Yankees got Roger Maris, Clete Boyer, Ralph Terry, Bobby Shants, Art Ditmar, and Hector Lopez. The A’s got Marv Throneberry. They also got the Yankee’s aged, problems, and guys who needed more playing time like Bob Cerv. When the Yankees needed Cerv, he went back to New York.

Maybe there was collusion. Maybe the A’s just needed cash for operations. There’s a nice summary of the trades here: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/corner/c042001b.shtml

I didn’t see much of last night’s game. I picked my son up at the airport, and his plane was later than I thought it would be. I got home in the 7th. Keuchel was still pitching, so was Sonny Gray. Gray had the better of it.

Gray pitched a complete game, 5 Ks, 5 hits, no walks. The Astros one run came on another Valbuena solo shot in the 5th. Keuchel gave up 3 earned runs on 10 hits, with one solo home run to Valencia in the 3rd. Wojo got one out in the 8th.

For those keeping track, the Astros OF was Gomez (CF), Rasmus (RF), and Tucker (LF). The outfield combined for 0 hits. Castro caught, and got a single.

The Astros are now1 for 5 on their road trip, and I’m looking at the history of the A’s again.

This Team is Hot

Posted on July 25, 2015 by Waldo in Game Recaps

Submitted by NeilT

Astros 4
Royals 0

So we planned this trip months ago, thinking it would be fun to go someplace the Astros were playing. And it has been fun. The Stros traded for Kazmir yesterday, he shows up in Kansas City and 3 hit the Royals over 7 scoreless innings. Three singles. That’s all. And he threw only 12 pitches. Ok, maybe not that last part.

We got here midday, and went for barbecue at Joe’s Kansas City BBQ, formerly Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ. I’d read about it bunches of places, the NY Times, Zagats, some other places, and the consensus was that it is as good as barbecue gets in Kansas City. That’s too bad. I’ll not be back for Kansas City barbecue. Some sauced thinly sliced brisket from the flat, with very little flavor, and some overrubbed pork ribs with too much flavor. It’s very pedestrian stuff, this Kansas City barbecue.

We also had to stand in line. Outside. It was hot. Really really hot. And humid. “Just like home,” I thought. I don’t stand outside in midday Houston in July.

We went to the jazz museum, and ate an early dinner at American Restaurant (which is a gorgeous room, and it was very good, and there was a nice jazz duo with a good guitarist, and we kept lollygagging, and drank some wine, and had desert, and drank some coffee. And then drove out to Kauffman. Did you know there’s never any traffic in Kansas City? Did you know that Kauffman is forever the heck away from the city center?

This is where I have to admit my baseball credentials suck. We didn’t get to Kauffman until after the 4th inning. All the scoring was done. Tucker hit a home run I guess, and a double, Marisnick got a double and a single. RBI were widely spread: Altuve, Tucker, Castro, Gattis (who had two singles).

But frankly, I’m not the least unhappy we got there late. It’s a lovely stadium, kinda like Dodger stadium but smaller. The upper decks are a big curving horseshoe, set far back from the field. It looks like you need binoculars, but it makes a great picture. The field level seating is huge, and all open to the sun.

Maybe that’s why it was so hot. It was 91, and humid, and there was no breeze. there were at least 30,000 of us sharing our body heat. It was so hot. I don’t know how Kazmir did it. Kris got up and left in the 7th because she was nauseous. The woman in front of me had a grey tee shirt, and it was drenched. The guy behind me and to the left had sweat dripping off his arms. I would have bought a beer, but it was too hot to go get one.

Did you see the stupid plays? The Marisnick pick off at first? The Correa overthrow? Five degrees cooler, that stuff wouldn’t have happened. Kazmir must have been exhausted after 7.

When we were leaving I looked at a group waiting for the firework and said “I thought Houston was hot.” I had on my new Keuchel jersey, so they knew I was from Houston, and it got a laugh–people are nice here. The guy in front of me turned around and said “but Houston’s a dry heat.” Compared to Kansas City, it may be, but either way we’ve got air conditioning. Thank God He gave us air conditioning.

Kauffman was just hot. Really, really hot. I’m not sure God likes Kansas City.

Gun Oil!

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Waldo in Game Recaps

Submitted by NeilT

Houston Team 3
Texas Team 2

Miss Lola Laloush
Director of Public Relations
Houston Astros Baseball Club
Minute Maid Park
Houston, Texas 77010

July 17, 2015

Dear Miss Laloush:

Howdy! You may not remember, but we met a couple of years ago when the NRA convention was there in Houston, and you were working the trade show in the Gun Oil booth. “Oil Up Your Big Gun,” I remember that slogan, and I remember you were one fine-looking woman. My friend Michael Berry said he knew you from this place called TC’s, where you were a popular drag racer. He was going to take me by for a beer until Anita put the kubosh on that.

Anyway, you’re probably aware that my Presidential campaign is going really well, what with Donald Trump turning me into a statesman. I’m saying some stuff that’s downright sensible: “what Mr. Trump is offering is not conservatism, it is Trump-ism – a toxic mix of demagoguery and nonsense.” I came up with the nonsense part myself, but had a bit of help from Anita with demagoguery. And did you read my National Press Club speech on Jesse Washington? Powerful stuff. Really. Powerful stuff.

I understand that meantime you have a new job with the Houston Astros as Director of Public Relations, and that’s mighty fortuitous. I’m sure you know that now and again I’m an important Astros recapper for the OWA front page, and I’m thinking that maybe I should expand my connection with your winning team. Those Astros are doing pretty darn well, and, well, I’m doing pretty darn well, and that seems pretty darn well for both of us.

In last night’s game, when McHugh struggled in the first, giving up four singles (but no runs), your fine television announcers could say something like “McHugh’s struggles remind me of Governor Perry’s problems with his 2012 Presidential campaign, but just like Governor Perry, he endured.” Then in the second, when Altuve sailed a ball to first and Carter rolled his ankle coming down, they could say “Carter came down hard, but he’s as tough as Rick Perry’s tough on an unbalanced budget!”

I think we’ve got special opportunities for synergy on scoring plays. For instance, in the bottom of the second they could say “Evan Gattis’s fifth triple was a set up for that beautiful piece of hitting to right by L.J. Hoes. It doesn’t get better than that, just like America can’t get better than it would be under President Perry!”

And in the bottom of the third, “Marisnick and Altuve’s back-to-back doubles are a return to the Astros greatness of their early season, just like Rick Perry can help America return to greatness.” And “What was the third base coach thinking, sending Altuve on that Gonzalez single! That’s as boneheaded as Donald Trump!” “Carlos Correa’s single puts the Astros up 3-0 as Gonzalez scores. With a single by Gattis following we could be up by 4 if it hadn’t been for Pettis sending Altuve at third. America needs the experienced leadership of Rick Perry!”

I don’t know what you say about the pitching. Texas had 15 hits, and only scored 2 runs, which was some good defense, and some luck, but both McHugh and Neshek were rough. Maybe you shouldn’t compare last night’s pitching to Rick Perry? Harris did well in the 7th, and Gregerson got the save in the 9th. Maybe concentrate on that.

Meantime I’m sure you’re wondering, “how can Rick Perry help the Astros?” Well, I think I roll you into the Texas miracle: “just look at the winning ways of those Astros down in Texas, who have achieved their turn-around through the system of low taxes and a balanced budget implemented by me, Rick Perry!”

This is gonna work out great, and it will be a win-win for both our teams! Let me know when you’re ready to get started, and my people will get hold of your people. Meantime keep up the good work with those Houston Astros, who have achieved their turn-around through the system of low taxes and a balanced budget implemented by me, Rick Perry! And don’t forget you can contribute to my campaign at PresidentRick.Com.

Your friend and next President,
Rick

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