A frustrating day made infuriating by the groveling of the two slapdicks McCarver and Buck on the FOX broadcast.
Missed Opportunities
Astros 3, Cardinals 5
WP:Joel Pineiro (1-0) S: Kyle McClellan (1)
LP: Mike Hampton (0-1)
Astros Recap
Yahoo Recap
Box Score
Simple game review. Pitching for the Astros. Mike Hampton went 5 innings giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks for the Astros. Astros relievers were Geoff Geary, Doug Brocail and Tim Byrdak, each getting an inning of work with Brocail giving up 1 run on one hit with 3 walks. Word in the TalkZone is he has an injured shoulder.
Pitching for the Cardinals. Joel Pineiro went 6.2 innings of work giving up 2 runs on 8 hits with 1 walk. Cardinal relievers were Josh Kinney, Jason Motte and Kyle McClellan who gave up 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks.
Batting for the Astros. Carlos Lee had 3 hits and Geoff Blum had 2 hits on the night with them each scoring a run. The other run was score by Hunter Pence singled in the 6th then scored off of Lance Berkman’s double.
Batting for the Cardinals. Skip Schumaker went 3 for 5 on the night and a run scored. Ryan Ludwick went 2 for 3 on the night plating one run. Albert Pujols was hitless on the night, but scored after walking to get on base, more on that later. Chris Duncan had the other hit.
Not-so-simple game review. The Astros pitchers gave up 8 walks on the night while Cardinal pitching gave up 3. 6 Cardinal hits versus 11 for the Astros. Those walks will kill a team.
Carlos Lee had a great game at the plate. He may be finding his groove. That will be great for the Astros. Michael Bourn was hitting outs into left field, while outs were still hit to left, so I think that is a positive. Jeff Keppinger is making Astros fans not worry who the PTBNL is. (Fans should note, this was only the 4th game of the season.)
The Astros, or specifically, Hunter Pence had his opportunities to change the game. He struck out with runners in scoring position in the 7th and then grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game. Not all blame for the loss gets lumped onto Hunter Pence (i’m talking about you Mike Hampton.) but he had horrible at-bats when he could have changed the game by getting on base. His getting on base brings Lance Berkman to the plate, that changes a game.
It’s Mike Hampton’s turn now. Yadier Molina hit a grounder to Hampton in the 3rd inning, Mike Hampton looks at Albert Pujols, gently tosses/lobs the ball to Lance Berkman for the out at first. Albert Pujols ends up scoring on the play. Good defense helps win a game too.
Bench Tidbits:
Seems like the same things all over again. The Astros were not patient at the plate. It sometimes feels like most of the team is going up there for the big hit. The ball doesn’t have to leave the park everytime you swing, just put it into play and run like the wind. The hits will find holes and the traffic that gets generated will eventually find a way home.
The GameZone was a hopping place Friday night.
To know more about the rest of the series, check out Mark Raup’s Series Preview here.
This picture reminded me of the one of Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell after Darryl Kile passed away. May his friends and family find peace.
Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend.
Who Goes Where and Why
Cooper explains his thinking on the lineup
Minor Recaps: Let’s Get The Season Started
The season got off to a good start on opening night with three of the four full season farm teams getting wins. Day two saw three losses and a rain out. Let’s look closer at what each affiliate has done in the first two days.
Round Rock:
Thursday night, Felipe Paulino threw 93 pitches in 5 innings but shut out the I-Cubs. He allowed three hits, three walks and a hit batter, while fanning six. He was supported by four home runs as the offense exploded for 10 runs in the 10-4 opening night victory. Reggie Abercrombie and Marc Saccamanno both hit 3 run homers. I-Cubs reliever and former Notre Dame reciever got hit so hard he have must wished he was wearing a helmet and pads. J. R. Towles welcomed him with a solo shot to lead off the 6th and Brian Bogusevic tacked on a two run dinger before the inning was over. The only starter not to get a hit was Chris Johnson who still contributed with a sacrifice fly to account for the only run not coming on a home run.
Family and fans: Jake Coolbaugh, 5, looks at a painting of his late father, Mike Coolbaugh, during a ceremony to retire his jersey at the Dell Diamond on Friday. Widow Mandy Coolbaugh, middle, speaks about Mike's love of the stadium, the game and the city of Round Rock. (Jay Janner/AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
Friday, the Express retired the uniform of Mike Coolbaugh in an emotional ceremony. The events of the evening put the game in perspective.
The Express lost the game 4-2. Starter Jose Capellan gave up 5 runs in 5 innings. Chris Johnson was hit by a pitch and was replaced by a pinch runner. The express batters struck out 11 times, lead by Reggie Abercrombie’s three K’s.
Corpus Christi:
Brian Esposito is showing some unexpected power. After hitting the walk off homer in the exhibition win over the Astros, he slugged a three run shot that gave the Hooks an insurmountable lead over the Tulsa Drillers en route to the 9-3 victory. Colin Delome also added his first AA homer. Sergio Perez got the opening day win by pitching five solid innings giving up one run.
Friday, the Hooks starter Polin Trinidad gave up two home runs to a guy who hadn’t hit on since last May 1oth and the offense was shut down by a pitcher who hadn’t started a game in almost two years in a 4-2 loss.
Lancaster:
Thursday, the JetHawks stranded 11 base runners in their 9-3 loss. Shane Wolf gave up six hits which included two doubles, a triple and two homers. He left the game in the 5th with the score 4-2. He was relieved by Jason Dominguez, who allowed an inherited base runner to score and then allowed three more runs to score before getting a single out. The 8-2 hole proved too much to climb out as the JetHawks lost 9-3.
Friday, Jose Duran got them back in the hole in a hurry as he surrendered seven runs in just two innings. After five innings, the score was 9-0, then the JetHawks started fighting back. They scored single runs in the 6th and 7th before plating 4 in the 8th. They scored one more in the 9th but weren’t able to get closer than the 9-7 final. Some good news for the JetHawks included the first HR of the season for Jason Castro and two solid innings of relief for C. J. Lo.
Lexington:
Thursday, Lexington got great production from the bottom of the line up. Hitting 8th, Ebert Rosario went 3 for 4 with a double, a triple and two RBI. Ninth place hitter, Albert Cartwright went 2 for 4. Jordan Lyles won his first start as a Legend giving up two runs in five innings. The final was 5-4 Legends.
Friday, the Legends were rained out.
Astros at Cardinals – Mark’s Cardinal Rule: Kyle Lohse Sucks
New Busch
Well, things are off to a fairly rocky start. A close loss, a really close win, and a drubbing with some longball scattered in it started this whole mess we all love called baseball season. Hopefully the good pitching from the first two games and the good hitting from the last one can be combined in to a successful first trip to New Busch.
Friday, April 10, 7:15 p.m. CDT – FSN
Saturday, April 11, 3:10 p.m. CDT – FOX
Sunday, April 12, 1:15 p.m. CDT – My20
Projected Matchups from Astros.com
Friday
Mike Hampton (No starts yet this year. Career 141-105, 4.01) v. Joel Pineiro (No starts yet this year. 76-67, 4.55)
It’s finally here: The return of Mike Hampton. I’ve been looking forward to this since hearing we’d resigned him. If he can stay healthy, I really think he might surprise some folks. The only guys with any sustained success against Hampy are Albert Pujols (7-21, 2 HR) and and Spicoli (3-7). All the other current Turdinals either have less than 5 at-bats or little success.
Pineiro bread is a chain of bakery-café restaurants in the United States and Canada which sells breads, sandwiches, soups, salads, bakery items, and organic foods; some locations offer dinner pizzas. Pineiro is considered a “fast casual” restaurant and offers catering as well. And now it’s time for some good news: The Good Guys beat Piniero like a rented donkey (Note: The Series Preview Staff does not condone the beating of donkeys or any other farm animal… Except alpacas, we HATE Alpacas). Current Astros hit him to the tune of .308, with rock star numbers coming from Miggy (12-34), Kabong (9-23, 2 homers), Pudge (6-14), and Twinkie (4-11, 2 homers). Not sure what the option will be at 3rd tonight though, since Blum (3-14) and Keppinger (1-5) haven’t had a lot of success against Joel.
Saturday
Roy Oswalt (0-1, 3.86) v. Adam Wainwright (0-0, 3.38)
RoyO didn’t exactly impress anyone with his first start. Giving up home runs to hated FTCs Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez is not a good way to start the season for anybody. Why the hell does anyone ever throw Soriano a fastball over the plate? I’ll never understand it. But, I digest. The Cardinals sport a team average of .239 against Roy. The only real bright spots for them are Albert Pooholes (22-70, 4 homers), Rick Ankiel (4-13, all singles), and Jason Larue (8-29, all singles). Everyone else pretty much sucks rocks against Roy, which isn’t too surprising.
Wainwright pitched ok in his first start of the year for the Redbirds. He struck out 7, but walked 5. He only gave up 2 runs, but he only lasted 5 1/3 innings. He left with the game tied, but the Card bullpen managed to piss the game away to the Pirates in the 9th. Oh, and his middle name is Parrish. The Astros have decent numbers against Adam: Puma (6-20, 2 HR), Pence (5-17 with a solo pokey), Kaz (4-12, also a solo tater), and Miggy (3-10, all singles). Today would probably be a good day to either sit Carlos Lee in reality or at least on your fantasy team, he sports an ugly .077 batting average against Wainwright, one hit in thirteen at bats. Woof. And Jason Michaels should probably pinch hit at some point in this game while Wainwright is in, since his only at bat against Wainwright is a grand slam.
Sunday
Wandy Rodriguez (0-0, 1.50) v. Kyle Loshe (1-0, 2.57)
Wandy picked up right where he left off last year, throwing 6 solid innings and wiggling out of trouble virtually unscathed every time things got ugly. The bullpen robbed him in of his W, but I for one thought he pitched great. Current Cardinals sport an even lower batting average against Wandy than to do against Roy at .234. Troy Glaus (4-13, but on the DL), Chris Duncan (2-6, home run), and Yadi Molina (6-21) are the only Cards with any real success against Wandy. The rest of the CoArds struggle pretty mightily against him: Pujols (3-18), Ryan Ludwick (3-13), Ankiel (0-9), and an assortment of ugly low numbers beyond that.
Kyle Lohse sucks.
The Good Guys hit Kyle pretty well: Carlos Lee (19-51, 4 home runs), Pudge (11-29), Miggy (8-24), Pence!!! (7-16), and Blum (5-15, with a homer). Twinkie struggles against Lohse (5-21, but 2 home runs), and Bourn (0-8) outright sucks against him. Erstad (4-22) hasn’t fared much better. Notable Giveaways This Series… Friday – Anheuser Busch Wall Calendars Saturday – Ice Mountain Kids Cap Day (Don’t ask me, I don’t have a fucking clue) Sunday – Rawlings Ryan Ludwick Bat Day. Sounds like another fun round of “throw your free shit on the field, Saint Louis” to me!
Injury Report
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.
Houston – Aaron Boone is out for the year, recovering from a broken heart. Brandon Backe is on the 15 Day DL with a strained intercostal muscle. He’s due back (hopefully) in early May. I don’t know what the Astros are going to do with him once he gets back, but hey, I’m sure they’ll think of something nice. Maybe we can bring him on as interpreter for Roy O. I don’t know about y’all, but when they interview Roy I only understand about every third word he says. It’s like talking to Boomhauer.
STL – Chris Carpenter is listed as day to day with a mild calf strain. But really, aren’t we all day to day? Jaime Garcia is on the 15 Day DL after undergoing Tommy John surgery. They expect him back around mid-season. Troy Glaus is also on the 15 Day DL with some shoulder ligament damage. He isn’t expected back until “Possibly June”.
Our Interesting Things To Look For
- Man I hate the fucking Cubs. Opening day was a blast, but it just made me want to puke every time I saw one of those slapdicks walking around in Cubs gear. I guess that’s neither here nor there, but I had to get it off my chest.
- To be fair, I don’t like the Redbirds much either. Bunch of smug bastards, calling themselves the best fans in baseball and flapping their asses at anyone that doesn’t think Albert Pujols is the greatest baseball player to ever date his Coach.
Discuss today’s game in the GameZone, but for Christ’s sake don’t make a Clark mistake and start pissing all over the BBG’s shoes right before the game.
Headhunter: Episode IV – ERA
Headhunters Episode IV: ERA from Chance McClain on Vimeo.
David and Zip break down the Astros 1-2 start and how they can fix it.