I swear I read an article in the chron or on astros.com where Roy was saying how much he preferred Ausmus. Said it took him awhile to get used to Chavez, and he didn't want to go through that again. Or something to that effect. I'll see if I can find it.
Last night, JD talked about this for a little while. BTW - I don't care what anyone else says in terms of competent color commentators... JD has the best insight in terms of the Houston Astros and baseball combined you'll find anywhere. He's clever, concise, very knowledgeable and pinpoint accurate with what he's telling you without being overbearing or pompous or arrogant in tone and presentation. Any way, JD said that Cooper had said in ST that he wasn't going to advocate pitchers having a specific catcher or batterymate and that included Roy and Brad. But... he went to add right after that "but when all is said and done, I'm sure Roy will have some input on that item". Then he and Brownie talked about Peavey and Bard. Michael Barrett is Bard's backup and when you look at numbers, Barrett has some nice stats batting against Roy. So why not use Barrett last night? Because in JD's view, Bard and Peavey have a nice battery tandem going on and Bud Black didn't even think about breaking that duo up no matter what numbers Barrett might have.
I know Towles is hurt and such, but he did come in last night and did a credible job the last three innings. I think Ausmus is Roy's caddie for the season though and that is the way Roy would like for Cooper to keep it.
