Moehler replace McLemore & other starter news

[pravata]

(Footer) Mark McLemore is no longer in the starting mix. The left-hander will instead compete for a spot in the bullpen,..

"I'm just happy I'm in the running for something," McLemore said.

... a new starting candidate has emerged -- right-hander Brian Moehler.
http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080313&content_id=2424111&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

Duarte catches Chacon and gets his assessment of today's performance,

"I didn't pitch well at all today, even the first two innings," said Chacon. "I wasn't sharp. And then they caught up with me in the third inning. I was behind in the count. I walked a couple of guys. The ball was up in the zone. You can go down the list and it was probably a little bit of everything."
http://blogs.chron.com/astrosblog/2008/03/chacon_give_me_a_g.html

[Taras Bulba]

Something useful from the Chronicle regarding the Astros.  I'm stunned.

[pravata]

Something useful from the Chronicle regarding the Astros.  I'm stunned.

Duarte isn't trying to get noticed by some other organization.  He's on the ball.

[Jacksonian]

(Footer) Mark McLemore is no longer in the starting mix. The left-hander will instead compete for a spot in the bullpen,..

"I'm just happy I'm in the running for something," McLemore said.

... a new starting candidate has emerged -- right-hander Brian Moehler.
http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080313&content_id=2424111&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

Duarte catches Chacon and gets his assessment of today's performance,

"I didn't pitch well at all today, even the first two innings," said Chacon. "I wasn't sharp. And then they caught up with me in the third inning. I was behind in the count. I walked a couple of guys. The ball was up in the zone. You can go down the list and it was probably a little bit of everything."
http://blogs.chron.com/astrosblog/2008/03/chacon_give_me_a_g.html

McLemore was expected, at least by me.  He's better suited to the pen, and he'd never thrown 100 innings in a season.

I hadn't realized he was out of options.  If they try to send him down they'll likely lose him.  I'd think that if he throws well from here on out he'll make it especially if Wright falters.

I can see where Moehler would fit as the #5.

Chacon to me has the #4 spot in hand despite today.

[pravata]

Cooper's opinion on what went wrong with Chacon,

"I thought his mechanics were kind of bad," Cooper said. "I thought ... he was throwing across his body a little bit."
link

[pravata]

Sampson is over his sore neck and will start Sunday.  He needs some innings.Link

[jonbloozy]

I'm sure Sampson's a good dad and all, but he needs his rest because this is a huge outing for him.  He's only had two appearances and is facing some good competition for a spot.

[pravata]

...good competition...

Where?  If he gets the ball over the plate he's in.

[jonbloozy]

I should have been more specific.  What I meant was that he is facing good competition for the rotation.  I think Chacon has impressed Coop, they would like to keep a spot for Woody, and naming Moehler a candidate for the spot shows they're not set on Sampson.  We'll see.

[pravata]

I should have been more specific.  What I meant was that he is facing good competition for the rotation.  I think Chacon has impressed Coop, they would like to keep a spot for Woody, and naming Moehler a candidate for the spot shows they're not set on Sampson.  We'll see.

He's facing lousy competition for the rotation.  Cooper is keeping his options open, Sampson has options.

[jaklewein]

I was at the game today.  Chacon would've got out of the first inning unscathed had Tejada not botched a perfectly good feed from Blum on a double play try in the first.  Tejada's defense is starting to worry me.  The error aside however,  Chacon wasn't fooling anyone today.  Bourn ran down to deep flys that saved him big time.  Bourn was a joy to watch in the field and on the bases today.  He forced two errors today.  All I could thing is "Speed Kills".  I'm looking forward to watching him this year.

Oh and I've seen Randolph pitch twice now....no  control as usual.  He fell behind the hitter damn near every time. 

Houston had no control today either.  The obvious reason he was available.

[chuck]

I was at the game today.  Chacon would've got out of the first inning unscathed had Tejada not botched a perfectly good feed from Blum on a double play try in the first.  Tejada's defense is starting to worry me.  The error aside however,  Chacon wasn't fooling anyone today.  Bourn ran down to deep flys that saved him big time.  Bourn was a joy to watch in the field and on the bases today.  He forced two errors today.  All I could thing is "Speed Kills".  I'm looking forward to watching him this year.

Oh and I've seen Randolph pitch twice now....no  control as usual.  He fell behind the hitter damn near every time. 

Houston had no control today either.  The obvious reason he was available.

Tejada's boot today was typical. It was just the sort of senseless error I've seen again and again during ST. I know he's going to play SS for the Astros, so I guess I've decided not to worry about it.

Bourn made a decent play today in center, a play any major league CF should make. Cruz made a wrong turn and missed a ball he should have caught, hurting Chacon. Pence missed a ball at the fence he should have caught. The OF defense across the board has been less than great. On the other hand Q looked very good behind the plate, very good hands and very aggressive with throws. He played 1B after the IF starters were taken out of the game and it made me realize that Coop might be looking for other reasons to keep him around. I would not be at all surprised to see him make the team. Two of his three outs today were very, very well hit balls. They had a hit and run on and Q happened to line the ball right into the outstretched glove of the 2B who was ranging over to cover the bad. He had another line out to 3B. Q looks really good.

Randolph walked the first batter he saw, tried to walk the second, but was pretty good after that. He was very good in his second inning. I thought he had his breaking ball right where he wanted it.

Chacon was hurt by bad defense and as usual the occasional ball left up.

The Dodgers are fielding a shell of a team because most of them are in China.