“… so we’re down to two guys (Ortiz and Capellan),” Cooper said.
Those are the pitchers the Astros are looking at to fill the 5 spot in a rotation of Oswalt, Rodriguez, Moehler, and Hampton.
Nieve has been picked off waivers by the Mets, Backe’s injury is worse than first thought, (“He’s not worse; he’s not better,” Cooper said. “There’s not a lot of progress.” and Footer thinks he could start the season on the DL) Hensley has been moved to relief work, Paulino hasn’t been effective and Alberto Arias hasn’t impressed anyone either.
Regarding Capellan, Dewey Robinson says, “it’s all about counts and command.” “He’s locating, he’s doing everything we ask. He’s challenging the hitters early in the count, strike one, giving himself a chance to really be effective. He’s changing speeds. He’s doing everything he possibly can to win a job.”
GM Wade assesses the situation, “I like the way both Ortiz and Capellan have thrown since the beginning of camp…The question will be how they handle things once they get stretched out. …Hopefully, (by the end of ST) Backe’s health issues will be resolved and he’ll have a chance to step up and compete as well.”
Berkman is counting on Ortiz, while explaining the Astros’ chances, he says “Hampton has to stay healthy, and Russ Ortiz has to make the rotation and be the guy that he was three or four years ago. The good news is I’ve seen some flashes of that. The guy can pitch, no doubt about it.”
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And then there’s Roy
Oswalt set an early tone (WBC elimination game) on Sunday. Baffling The Netherlands with a 94 mph fastball and a 79 mph changeup, he tossed four scoreless innings, striking out five while not issuing a walk. The Astros right-hander exited after 70 pitches….
“I told Roy last night when we got on the bus, ‘I don’t know if they make big-game pitchers down in Mississippi,'” Jimmy Rollins said to Oswalt. “He said this wasn’t his first rodeo and he came and proved it.”
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What could have been? Don’t think about this too hard.
OregonStrosFan alerted me to this article Link Wherein we are told,
Wade has often been reminded that his first trade as the Astros’ general manager was sending Lidge to the Phillies,…Wade said that before he made the deal with the Phillies he discussed an offer from the Cleveland Indians that would have sent Lidge to the Indians for starter Cliff Lee,
But not the 2008, 22-3, Cy Young, Cliff Lee, this Cliff Lee
Lee … suffered a right abdominal strain early in spring training (2007). He didn’t make his first start until May 3, and without an exhibition season in which to properly refine his new style, he was unable to execute it when the games counted. …”In my rehab assignments I was trying to work on those new things, and really wasn’t working on what had made me successful in the past,” Lee says. “Then when I got back to the big leagues, the stuff I used to have wasn’t there.”
He found that he could no longer pound the inside of the plate, and the result was an ineffective mishmash of the old and the new Lee. Opposing batters teed off on him….
Lee’s nadir came during a four-start stretch in July in which he allowed 26 earned runs. … (then) Lee was booed off the mound by his home fans after the Red Sox had taken a 7–1 lead in the fifth inning, and he derisively tipped his cap to the crowd. …the next day, the Indians sent him down to Buffalo. He was recalled in September, but he didn’t make another start and was left off the playoff roster.
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for a long, long time.” Cecil Cooper
“It’s key, because we thought we didn’t have catching. That was kind of the general consensus of people on the outside. And for the most part, there were some people here that didn’t think that. But I had a chance to see five guys catch, (the article lists 6, Humberto Quintero, Jason Castro, Lou Santangelo, Lou Palmisano, J.R. Towles, and Brian Esposito) and I’m very confident in all five guys.”
“They all can catch and throw. And they receive pretty well. ”
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Carlos Marmol, pitching for the Dominican in the WBC, brought the old cubbie magic out to the mound in the bottom of the 11th vs the team from the land of dikes. By the time the last blooper landed, the final errant throw, and the inevitable liner glancing off the mitt, the Dutch had defeated the All Stars of the Dominican Republic. Setting aside the peals of laughter, the practical effect of the loss is the Astros get Miguel Tejada (sentencing pending) back at short.
“The doubt’s there, because there’s no communication as to where I actually stand, other than I’m fighting for a job,” Backe said.
“I think the first go-round, (the last WBC) the guys didn’t really get themselves ready early enough,” Oswalt said.
