No quit nets series win

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Ty in Tampa in Game Recaps

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Astros 7
Braves 5

W: Geary (1-3) | L: Moylan (1-2) | S: Hawkins (3)

It was an exciting game to watch, although I kept being interrupted. See, I was preparing myself for one of those tests men have to get after they turn 50 so my attention span was less than what’s required to watch a baseball game. I did, however, see some gutty performances, real intestinal fortitude by the entire crew today as they took game three 7-5 and a road series win from the Braves.

Wandy continued to pitch well on the road, though Coop wouldn’t let him return for the 6th after giving up 1 run in the 4th and 2 in the 5th. In the 4th, things could have been worse for Wandy were it not for a nifty Lee/Tejada/Pudge relay to nail Francouer at the plate trying to score on a double by Prado. In the 5th, a walk, single, sac bunt and intentional walk loaded the bases. With Francouer up, Wandy turned his foot on the rubber to prepare his delivery then stopped and stepped back, with no apparent deception. “That’s a BALK!!!” bellowed from Phil Cuzzi’s piehole as the runners rotated and the go ahead run scored. JD summed the balk rule up as “institutional stupidity.” A sac fly on the next pitch scored Infante to put the Braves up by 2. Wandy got out of both the 4th and 5th innings with Ks.

Matsui’s lead-off double led to the Astros 1st run on the 1st on a sac bunt by Bourn and a sac fly by Berkman. After the Braves 5th gave then a 3-1 lead, the Astros strung together 4 straight singles from Bourn, Berkman, Lee and Tejada to tie it up, then a sac fly by Pudge put the Astros up again.

The lead was short-lived as a bottom 6 leadoff triple led to another game-tying run for the Braves. But timely hitting and baserunning in the top of 7th netted 2 more for the Astros that put the up for good. The depleted bullpen hung on with Fulchino, Wright and Geary handling the 6th and 7th and giving up a run in each.

Brocail came out for the 8th and made a nice play covering 1st to get the 1st batter of the inning but came down on the bag awkwardly and ended up in a heap. Strained hamstring is the diagnosis and he’s expected to hit the DL again soon. Ortiz stepped up and got the second out but walked 2 and Coop brought in Hawkins to finish the 8th with a K of Francouer. LaTroy got a ground out and 2 Ks to earn his 3rd save of the season.

Up to DC for 2 with the Nats. Moehler expected to start vs. Lannan.

2 game losing streak stops, Astros 5-1 v. Braves

Posted on May 3, 2009 by pravata in Game Recaps

FOX sure knows how to put out a spread. Taking over the broadcast of the game from JD and Brown they handed it to Mark “The Slump Buster”Grace and Kenny “Everyone’s Embarassed by Their Dad at Some Point, but I Bet Your Dad Just Said ‘Pull My Finger” A Lot” Albert.

Rain Delayed Loss

Posted on May 2, 2009 by BudGirl in Game Recaps

Astros 2, Brave 7

W:
Derek Lowe, L: Mike Hampton

Box Score
Astros Recap
Yahoo Recap

Astros did not do much on the night. They scored two runs. I give the Astros player of the game to Michael Bourn who was 2-5 on the night, with a triple, single, and a run scored. He also made some great catches in centerfield.

There were hits by other Astros, but you can check out the recap and the box score for more details.

While watching the 7 innings that I had recorded, I think it should only be a matter of time before Kazuo Matsui and Michael Bourn get switched in the batting order.

Bench Tidbits:

There was no GameZone for the night. Seems like a night to be out.

Morgan Ensberg has a job. Good luck to him.

There is a Polish festival in Houston today.

Check out Mark’s Series Preview for information about the Braves/Astros series.

Astros at Braves – Chipper, Jair, and Jo-Jo. Is This A Baseball Team or a Girlscout Troop?

Posted on May 1, 2009 by MRaup in Series Previews

~~The Edifice of Greed~~ Turner Field

After taking 2 out of 3 from the goddamn Reds, the Good Guys are off to WhiteTrashville (population 3,000,000 toothless inbred yokels, and that just covers the Chipper Jones Fan Club).

I hate a lot of teams, but there’s a special place in my cold black heart just for the Braves. I can’t see that stupid logo without thinking of “strikes” 3 inches off the outside corner, The Mongoliod Hitting Machine (Seriously, what grown man wants to be called Chipper?!), or years and years of playoff domination before the Astros finally broke through.* Fuck, I hate the Braves.

Friday, May 1, 6:30 p.m. CDT – FSN
Saturday, May 2, 2:30 p.m. CDT – FOX
Sunday, May 3, 12:30 p.m. CDT – My20

Projected Matchups from Astros.com

Friday
Mike Hampton (1-1, 3.86) v Derek Lowe (2-1, 3.10)

Hampton checked in with a pretty blah outing against the Brew Crew his last time through the rotation, giving up 4 earnies through six innings. He struck out 4, walked 3, and was cruising in the 6th when he gave up a big fly to Bill Hall that tied the game. The bullpen went on to completely shit the bed, as Valverde inexplicably threw Prince Fielder an 0-2 fastball up that Big Tubby promptly deposited in right field. Fast Forward a few innings, and the Good Guys lost. Thanks Gerry.

Hampton has only seen a few of the Braves at all. Chipper Jones (19-50, 18 singles and one home run) and Garrett Anderson (3-4, all singles) are the only guys that have had any success against him. David Ross (1-6) and Omar Infante (0-3) are the only other people that have ever faced Hampy, and clearly they suck.

Lowe is off to a pretty good start this year. He’s had one bad outing, giving up 4 runs over 5 innings against the Fish. Other than that, he’s been business as usual, getting more groundouts than flyouts (49/37) and keeping his team in the game. His last start was a doozy, 8 innings and only gave up 2 hits.

The Good Guys knock Derek around pretty good, posting a team batting average of .302 against him. Miggy (10-33) and Kabong (30-11) both have taken him deep twice, Erstad (9-24) has hit 4 doubles off him, Geoff (8-25) and Twinkie (6-20) both have taken him deep as well, and Kaz (5-11) sports a gaudy .455 average. Jason Smith (0-8) sucks against him and Pudge (5-22) has scuffled some. Everyone else has miniscule numbers of at bats against him (see Bourn and Pence, both 1 for 3).

Saturday
Roy Oswalt (0-2, 3.94) v. Jair Jurrjens (2-2, 1.72)

Roy continues to make Astros fans throw shit at their TVs, Oswalt Inninging away any lead that the offense stakes him to. He had a great outing against the Reds, giving up one run in seven innings of work. He only struck out 2, but the dominant Oswalt at least peeked his head out of the hole he’s been hiding in.

Apparently the Braves roster has mostly cycled over, as only 3 of their guys have ever faced RoyO. Chipper Jones (3-13, 3 K), David Ross (1-4), and Greg Norton (0-1) all have faced him, and all have sucked.

Jair Jurrjens parents must have hated him. What a horrible name. He sounds like something a teenage boy’s mother wouldn’t be thrilled to find on her son’s bedstand next to a wadded up Kleenex. And, judging by this picture, Jair is that teenage boy. What, too much? Anyway, Jair has somehow managed to lose two of his starts despite giving up less than 2 runs a game, a 3-0 shutout at the hands of the Pirates and a 3-2 thriller against the Redbirds in his last start.

Current Astros are a whopping 1 for 2 against him. Jason Smith has the only hit. We’re doomed. DOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

Sunday
Wandy Rodriguez (2-2, 1.69) v. Jo-Jo Reyes (0-1, 4.26)

Wandy has been nothing short of awesome so far this year. When his curve is on, he’s a strikeout machine. When his curve isn’t sharp, he’s still finding ways to get outs. Against the Reds in his last start, Wandy was nothing short of brilliant, giving up just 1 earned run over 7 innings of work while striking 5 and walking only 2.

And now the bad news… Current Braves (21-64 for a .328 average with a .983 OPS)rip Wandy like the Talk Zone rips Bizidy and his extended pinky. I won’t get in to the details because this needs to be done before the game starts, and writing out 3/4 of the Braves roster will take for-damn-ever. Slacker Jones (4-7, 2 dongs), Yunel Escobar (3-6), and Brian Barton (2-3) are the ones that I’d be watching out for the most though.

Fuck Jo-Jo Reyes. A grown man named Jo-Jo gets NO love from me. Attention Jo-Jo, Joseph and Albert are BOTH acceptable names for adults. Jo-Jo is your kid sister’s name, not yours.

Current Astros crush Joseph Albert in small samplings. Carlos Lee (3-7), Miguel Tejada (1-2), and Jeff Keppinger (4-7) all knock him around good, again in small sample size. Fat Elvis (1-8), PENCE!!! (1-5), and Towles (0-2) all suck against him, say it with me now, in a small sample size.

Notable giveaways this series…

Sunday is “Bark in the Park” day, whatever the fuck that means. Kids run the bases too. Yee-fuckin-haw. That’s it. Nothing at all being given away this weekend. And people think Drayton is cheap…

Injury Report

Combined Injury Reports

So, in case you didn’t notice, MLB.com went to a new format for their injury report. The injury link takes you to a page with every team’s report on it. Pretty snazzy, until one notices that it says “Fantasy Baseball” at the top of it. Fuckers. (repeated from last week because, hey, its true.

HOU –
Aaron Boone is still on the DL with a broken heart, and probably won’t be playing at any point this season/ever again.
Brandon Backe is rehabbing in AAA right now with the Express.
Brian Moehler got shelled in Midland starting for the Hooks the other night in a rehab start.
Q is on the 15 day DL after an intense makeout session with Mike Cameron near home plate ended in disaster when he developed a sore shoulder.
El Papa Grande is on the DL with an exploded calf muscle. He can come off the DL on May 12th, but I’m not holding my breath on that after hearing they drained 15 gallons of fluid from his calf the other day. Gross.

ATL –
Garrett Anderson is on the 15 day DL with a strained quad following a ballroom dancing incident gone horribly wrong. He is scheduled to be back around May 5th.
Jorge Campillo is on the 15 day DL with tendonitis in his right shoulder, and… wait. Who the fuck is Jorge Campillo?
Tom “Snivelling Woman #2” Glavine is on the 15 day DL with an inflamed rotator cuff after throwing his arms up in frustration after not getting a strike-call on a pitch 2 feet off the outside corner.
Tim Hudson is on the 60 day DL after not using enough Jair Jurrjens while flogging the dolphin and tearing a ligament in his elbow. He’s not due back any time soon.
Brian McCann is on the 15 day DL after being too close to Hudson during the above described incident and being hit by the “splashback” in his left eye. They expect the infection to heal up in the next week or two, and Brian has said repeatedly that he’ll always wear protection from here on out while “catching” for Glavine.

Our Interesting Things To Look For

Can the starting pitching hold up?

Will Berkman be forced to retire if he can’t find the right snack to slumpbust with?

Will Michael Bourn’s head explode after Coop suggests he should learn to pitch so Coop can bat him lower in the order?

Will Jason Smith find a way to get his batting average in to negative numbers?

All this and more on this weekend’s… SERIES PREVIEW!

Discuss today’s game in the GameZone.

*You thought I was going to talk about Walt Weiss, didn’t you? Well, I won’t. Except for right now… Fuck.

Round Rock: April’s Good & Bad

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Duman in From the Bus Stop

The Express start the month of May looking at a pretty big hill to climb to get back into the pennant race. Off to a 7-14 start, they are in last place in the PCL American South and half a game ahead of having the worst record in the league. The good news is they are only 3 1/2 games out of the division lead. Let’s see how the Express stack up against the rest of the league in the stats through 4/30/09.

The Good:

The Hitters

As a team, the Express do not rank higher than 10th out of 16 in any stat at the plate.

Individually, you have more competition to be ranked here because of the large number of teams in the league. An example of that is the .350 batting average that Yordany Ramirez is carrying is only good for 12th best in the league.

Marc Saccomanno has 20 RBI’s which ties him for 5th most.

The Pitchers

As the team the old motto applies: If you don’t have anything good to say, move on to the bad. There is plenty to talk about there.

Individually, Bud Norris is showing his ranking was warrented. He has a 2.28 ERA which is the 8th best in the league. His 25 strike outs are the second most in the league.

Chad Paronto’s 4 saves rank him tied for 2nd.

The Bad:

The Hitters

As a team, the Express rank near the bottom in several categories. The one that is the most shocking is they have only 2 stolen bases as a team. They have attempted 8 and have been caught 6 times. They have the leagues lowest walk total at 52. They are the forth lowest in runs scored (84), third lowest in OBP (.315) and tied for the second fewest triples (3).

Brian Bogusevic has fanned 22 times and is tied 5th most.

The Pitchers

The Express has given up 200 hits (3rd most), 124 runs (the most), 112 earned runs (2nd most) and 20 HR (3rd most). They have given up 105 walks in 185 innings pitched (most in the league). All that leads to the highest WHIP (1.65) and the second highest ERA in the league (5.45).

Jose Capellan has giving up 35 hits which is the second most in the league. Those hits often turn in to runs. Capellan has surrendered 27 runs to tie for the most in the league. Twenty six have been earned which is all alone the most in the league. He has also given up 5 long balls (3rd most). His 16 walks rank him second most in the league.

Josh Muecke’s 28 hits surrendered ties him for 6th most. He has given up 4 home runs (T-8th most). His 12 walks place him as tying for giving up the 7th most in the league.

Yorman Bazardo has given up 4 home runs (T-8th most).

Bud Norris’ 12 walks are tied for the 7th most in the league.

Round Rock

Schedule Disconnect

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Andyzipp in Columnistas, Off Day

off-day-large One of the problems with writing a column for this site is that by the time any coherent thoughts get put together, it’s been coveredad nauseum in the Talk Zone. Between hoping for another appearance of Jeffster and watching playoff basketball, I’ve started and stopped columns about Lance Berkman’s “career-ending” slump, the apparently chronic disconnect between Cecil Cooper’s mouth and his experience, the surprisingly good starting pitching, the shaky start by the bullpen, Hunter Pence’s lack-o-smarts, and a bunch of other issues that the Zone Dwellers have already turned into a particularly tender breathing-challenged equine. It may be why NO ONE ELSE is currently writing a column*, but I digress.

What I keep coming back to is 6-12. The Astros started with 6 wins and 12 losses. Again. Meet the new boss. Considering, the other craziness that Cooper spouts, it’s possible that this is the fast start that he was clamoring for at the end of spring training. Last year, the team proceeded to win their next 6 games from that point to get to 12-12. So far this year, Houston is 3-1 after the start, so .500 is still in their sights. Yippie. The problem with 9-13, beyond being a horrible record, and being 6.5 games out after one month of play, is that the losses were almost exclusively within the Central Division. Throw out the series win against the Dodgers, and the Astros are 7-12, exclusively against their division opponents. They end April where they’ve spent all but nine days so far this season…in last place in the Central Division.

It’s a toss up as to whether the home series against Cincinnati or the home series against Milwaukee is the most disappointing so far. Both are teams the Astros have to beat up on, especially at home. The Astros went 2-5 against those two during a 10-game homestand, combining ineffective offense with a truckload of shoddy bullpen work, and for good measure, some strange managerial decisions. Reverse those results, and the Astros are at 12-10 and in second place in the division.

April 30th isn’t really a time to panic, but when you look at the schedule, at least at the beginning of the season, April was supposed to be one of the “easier” months. May is going to find the Astros on the road 17 times, versus only 11 at home. The good side of the May sched is the teams that Houston is set to play are a combined 88-102 (.463) so far this season. The bad news is the Astros are playing at a .429 clip. If there’s a time to become part of the discussion, now would be it. A series win against the Chop-tarts and taking two from the Nationls would be an excellent place to start.

Slumpy McSlumperstein
To start winning on a regular basis, your local nine are going to need Lance Berkman to get out of his slump, quicker than you can say “Twinkie”. Always eager to help, I’ve been scratching my head to come up with a workable solution for the Big Puma. I purchased some Head & Shoulders, and then decided just to check the interwebs. After searching several self help sites, like Innercompass.com, RandomDreamer.com, and prettypinkponyofmotivationforgirls.com, here is a random sampling of the suggestions for Fat Elvis to right his personal ship.

Have some coffee. Or Venom Energy Drink. Venom Energy Drink is the Official Energy Drink of Lance Berkman. Seriously.
Make a list. Groceries, or Christmas? No sight was particuraly specific or even explained why this would help, but all of them said to make a list. Tailored to Berkman, I would suggest, Lance makes a list of his favorite people to see barreling towards first base, and maybe a favorite ice breaker for each.
Take action! Action must be taken, regardless, apparently, of what that action is. Is ignoring Cecil Cooper an action? Go with that.
Exercise. Probably. Maybe. Or cut down on the Pop-Tarts. Same/same.
Shower and groom yourself. Seriously. If you’re hitting .162, you better not be all foul and covered in body hair. Manscaping = hitting!
Squash negative thoughts; replace them with positive ones. Push out the jive, bring in the love.
Ask yourself: what’s bugging me most in my home? Not sure what your house has to do with a hitting slump, but by all means, if it’s anything, burn that sucker down. And get your family out. Not necessarily in that order.
Get out of the house and do something. This makes sense. Especially if you’re planning on burning your house down. Remember, you can always buy another house. You only have one baseball career.
Play some lively music. Perhaps a spicy polka, or something from Raffi. Do you like Lady GaGa?
Talk about it. With everyone you meet? Check. Whether they’re interested or not? Check. Whether they speak English or not? Check.
Stop doing something! This seem counter intuitive after you’re taking action and committing arson, but go with it.
Take a nap. Check. And do the stop doing something before you nap. Especially the fire thing. Totally serious about this one.
Start small, really small. Cooper’s already on board with this. It’s why you only got one at-bat in the final game in Cincinnati. Next game, maybe two at-bats. Big stuff.

Before We Leave

On the surface, I have no desire to see the second Transformers movie, to be released later this summer.

On the other hand…

off-day-large

*Any of you who would like to write a column, please contact me at [email protected]. Please.

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