Et tu, Cooper?
Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears. In watching the ongoing melt-down that is the career of one Cecil Cooper as manager of the Houston Astros, there are a lot of parallels that come to mind. It’s starting to feel reminiscent of President Richard Nixon’s last days in office or perhaps General George Custer’s final planning meetings with his lieutenants (although we’d probably need to ask Jim R to be sure). Baseball-wise, Cooper is facing adversity both on the field and in the clubhouse. His starting pitching has been sub-par, his offense has been non-existent and his bullpen, supposedly the rock for him to rely on, has been decimated by injury. As a result of all those things (but not only those things), his charges, the Astros are 18-27, in last place in the division and currently in possession of the 3rd worst record in all of baseball. In response, Cooper is traveling down an unfortunate but familiar path for failed managers: fighting battles through the media, particularly with your players.
This issue isn’t unique to Cooper. Lots of managers have, when faced with problems, traveled down this road. Cooper’s latest targets were Roy Oswalt and Tim Byrdak. Larry Dierker and Craig Biggio had some heated exchanges in the last days of that regime through the ink of eagerly waiting reporters. Terry Collins tried the same thing with Darryl Kile and Jeff Bagwell. Which brings me back to other historical figures…
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar.
For those that haven’t been paying attention, and judging by the attendance you haven’t (thanks Harry Doyle), Wednesday night, after the 6thof 7 consecutive losses Cecil Cooper sort of let loose in his post-game presser. I have a problem with a post-game press conference in baseball, but that’s another issue for another day. The game situation was this: bottom 5th inning, tight game, Oswalt in whatever passes for command for him this season, fields a ball from Joey Votto and may or may not have injured his hand in the process. After testing it out and throwing a few in the tunnel behind the dugout, Oswalt returned to pitch the bottom of the 6th inning, and proceeded to have one of his all too familiar meltdowns, leading to another loss for the Astros.
Cooper’s response was to seemingly abdicate any responsibility for Oswalt or pitching coach Dewey Robinson to the media, claiming not to know that Oswalt may have been hurt.
The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it …
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,
(For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all; all honourable men)
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it …
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,
(For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all; all honourable men)
To Cooper, clearly the inning and the eventual loss was all on Oswalt, and reliever Tim Byrdak who gave up the game winning blast in the 7th inning. Oswalt’s “ambition” was failing to properly notify Cooper that his hand was hurting or that his fingertips were numb. Even though he likely notified Robinson of such when Robinson took a trip out to the mound after Oswalt hit a batter and walked another to load the bases, clearly struggling with his control. Cooper claimed after saying this, “With your ace on the mound, you figure if you don’t have it, you’ve got a pretty good chance of getting it. We let two leads slip away there. We just need him to step up and be who he’s supposed to be”, Cooper claimed not to know about any sort of injury or pain that Oswalt may have been dealing with.
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral;
He was my friend, faithful and just to me.
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man…
He was my friend, faithful and just to me.
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man…
So one of a few things happened…either Oswalt lied (or lied by omission), Robinson lied or failed to tell Cooper, or Cooper failed to ask how his ace pitcher was feeling both when Oswalt returned to the dugout after the 5th or when Robinson returned to the dugout after his visit to the mound or he’s lying about not knowing about the injury. Even if Oswalt was hiding the pain, and lying about an injury, if you’re the manager of a Major League Baseball team, and you notice your highest paid pitcher take a ball off his throwing hand, and test it in the tunnel, don’t you ask the question, and then trust your own eyes for the answer? Aren’t you even a little bit inquisitive about his status when your ace’s control flies out the window?
But because of Oswalt’s ambition, he failed the situation and failed Cooper (or at least it feels that way), and Cooper proceeded to throw Oswalt and Byrdak under the bus.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill;
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill;
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept;
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
To me, Oswalt is an ongoing issue. He is not the pitcher he once was. Whether the problem is age, concentration, health, ability or the heartbreak of psoriasis has yet to be determined. Having said that, he’s still, with apologies to Wandy Rodriguez, the ace of this staff. He may not have that designation for much longer, but in the meantime…he is a player who has maximized his physical ability, takes the ball at every opportunity, and gives his all at every opportunity. He should go down as one of this team’s all-timers.
Whether he’s truly towards the end of a good career, needs a change of scenery, or some thing else, I have no reason to question Oswalt’s intent. This is with the VERY common knowledge that pitchers are big fat liars. He has pulled himself from games before, and also pitched through injuries to get bit outs for this franchise. Oswalt is an on-going issue, but he’s not the problem.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse; was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse; was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
Cooper chose to challenge Oswaltthough the media after Wednesday’s loss. It’s a move that could probably be categorized as the desperate act of a dying man. Instead of trying to keep the team together, Cooper is acting in a way designed to tear the clubhouse apart. Except designed is the wrong word because I don’t think he gives anything relating to this team that much thought. It’s all overreaction and hair-pulling at this point. If there was a communication breakdown (and Robert Plant wasn’t in the room, which would be awesome), the correct actonwould have been to meet with Oswalt and Robinson, figure out what happened, and figure out a way to fix it…before you talk to the bloodsucking media.
Instead, Cooper not only undermined Robinson and pissed off Oswalt and Byrdak, but made himself look like an idiot. How does Cooper not know his pitcher was hurting? How does Cooper not know what his pitching coach said to Oswalt? It’s Cecil Cooper’s job to know. So either he’s lying about what he knew, or he’s failed at his job, miserably.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
Simply put, despite his inordinate amount of whining about run support and growing up on the mean streets of Weir, the other players are going to circle the wagons around Oswalt. Mainly because it seems like they know Cooper’s just as likely to throw them under the bus. It’s because of things like this that have led many to believe Cooper has lost the clubhouse. Something to consider about that. Usually, when a team goes through an extended period of bad play, you hear certain cliches from athletes. Things like, “It’s on us to win.” or “The coaches are doing their jobs, we’re the guys out on the field.” That we’re hearing none of that is pretty damning in and of itself.
O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason…. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
And men have lost their reason…. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
The team is sailing, rudderless through this part of the schedule. With a chance to get back in the division race, the Astros lost 8 of 10 and 7 in a row. Rather than attempting to manage things like effort and focus, Cooper has resorted to managing results. The results have been predictable. The talk has been of roster shuffles, fire sales, draft picks and coaching changes, not the topics we’ve come to expect from the Astros, and especially not as early as May 28th.
These are dark times in Houston for the local nine, and a leader needs to emerge. It doesn’t appear that number 15 is the guy for that job.
Time To Get Offensive
After a valiant effort that captured the imagination of sports fans across the city, the Houston Rockets fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in a hard-fought 7-game series this past Sunday. Which, in Houston, meant that both the fans and the media remembered somewhere around Monday morning that Houston also has a baseball team. Unfortunately, that team is the Astros. The ones currently in 5th place in a 6-team division. The ones who are about to open a series with the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers. The same Brewers who just swept the Co-Ardinals to take sole possession of 1st place in that same 6-team division. Uh-oh.
This might not want to be the series that the Stros have their 2009 coming out party tied to.The Astros haven’t been exceptionally good anywhere, but they’ve been noticeably worse at home so far this season. Take out the 3-game sweep against the Padres to close the last home stand, and Houston is 5 and 10 at home this season with some less than inspiring performances. The common theme in the first 15 home games was the disappearance of anything resembling an offense from your hometown nine. At MMPUS so far this season, the Astros have been held to less than 4 runs 9 times, including being shut out once. This is probably the point where someone would expect to see a joke about home cooking and Sheriff Blaylock, but I wouldn’t want to sully the name of that legendary hero of Old West cuisine. Even if he’s imaginary, he’s right up there with the wolf who makes Wolf Brand Chili. Just put some words together and liberally sprinkle the word runs throughout. You’ll get the gist.
But as the weather has started to heat up, so have the Astros bats. On the season, the Astros have just 3 regulars hitting over .300. Over the last seven games, every starting player not named Matsui (.176) is hitting north of .318. This includes Lance Berkman, who has likely reached into his reserve of “special” Twinkies. Since last Saturday’s tilt with the Fathers, Berkman is hitting a Bagwellian .474, including a .583 on-base percentage and a .684 slugging percentage. Not coincidentally, the Astros are 5-2 (and should have been 6-1) over that same span. (Not to Justice here, but on a side note, how many of the local media had prolonged discussions over the last 6 weeks about whether or not Berkman was done? I know they’re just holding on until the Texans’ training camp starts, but great googily-moogily.) Other positive signs include the Carlos Lee’s continued uncanny ability to drive in runs, the sudden emergence of Pudge Rodriguez at the bottom of the order, and the surprising improvement of Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn.
If you get the feeling that the Astros have to hit on all cylinders to win, you’re dead on. Partly because that’s how the team was built, partly because the bullpen is literally (not literally) ravaged, and partly because Cecil Cooper seems to be more interested in being the baseball equivalent of Maxwell Smart than winning games. I could go on (and I have) about not pinch hitting for Sampson, and then not having Michaels’ bunt, but it’s been done and, that’s a horse for another day.
The Astros have a 6-game home stand opening Tuesday night against two first-place teams. The Brewers and the Rangers (it’s still pre-June in the Metroplex) are both playing very good baseball, and the offense is going to have to play a big role if there’s any hope of rolling into Memorial Day at .500. There are no “must-win” games in May, but a winning record in these games could go a long way toward capturing the imagination of a city with nothing to do once OTAs are over.
Ode to Footer…
Melancholy is the only way I can describe the reaction to the recent promotion of beat writer extraordinaire, Alyson Footer. It’s great when good things happen to deserving people. If there is anyone in the local media who deserves to have good things happen to them, it’s Ms. Footer. At the same time, her promotion is going to leave a gaping hole in reliable, objective coverage of the Astros. Footer’s columns and eagerly anticipated mail-bags were some of my favorite things to read on the web, and not just because of the subject matter, but because she has brought a passionate, humorous and professional approach to her work in the years she’s covered the Astros. So in honor of her moving on, in true Off-Day Fashion, I stole a song and changed some words…
Alyson (with apologies to Declan Patrick MacManus, international jewel theif)
It’s not funny that we won’t be reading you after so long, girl.
And with the way they look I understand
that you are not impressed.
But I heard you let the owner of the nine
leave all your readers distressed.
I’m not going to get too sentimental
like those other sticker valentines,
I don’t know on whose computer you’re crackin’ wise.
I only know it isn’t mine.
And with the way they look I understand
that you are not impressed.
But I heard you let the owner of the nine
leave all your readers distressed.
I’m not going to get too sentimental
like those other sticker valentines,
I don’t know on whose computer you’re crackin’ wise.
I only know it isn’t mine.
Alyson, I know this team is killing you.
Oh, Alyson, your words are true.
Well I see you work for the Astros now.
Did they leave your pretty fingers typing
spinning positive things to say?
You used to watch Cecil every night.
Bet you took all you could take.
Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from leaving
when I read the silly things that Jesus says.
I think somebody better put out a want ad,
’cause I can’t stand to read coverage this way.
Alyson, I know this team is killing you.
Oh, Alyson, your words are true.
We’ll miss you Alyson.