The winners or better yet, winner, of the April Spike and Star Award for the month of April in 2010 has been chosen.  It was not a good month for the team overall, suffering some of the worse performance by the team in perhaps all it’s history.  Two eight game losing streaks, un-timely hitting, lots of miscues on defense, some relief pitching gone awry, just overall lousy play.  Yet through it all, at least one player emerged from it all not only performing to great standards, but displaying the hard nosed attitude and passion in doing so.  Who might this player be?  Well, let’s not wait any longer to honor the man.

April 2010 Spike Award Winner

Michael Bourn has been elected the deserving one of the Spike Award this month by the TalksZone citizenry.  The masses have spoken and the SnS agrees, very good choice.  Often it’s said that if we were to chose the one action that we would expect from a Spike winner it would be running through a wall for the team.  Many players have reputation of doing such and some player look like they’d be the type, but with Michael, it is that he just goes out and does it night in and night out.  His ability to play defense at a level that puts him in the stratosphere of the best of the best just proves he is going to be tough to beat every month as the perpetual winner of the award.  Then again, if everyone played defense like Bourn, this team wouldn’t be in the dire situation it finds itself in terms of winning ballgames.

April 2010 Star Award Winner

Michael Bourn swept the SnS awards this month as he was the overwhelming choice for the Star award this month by the TalkZoners.  Again, the SnS agrees with the choice as does the statistical evidence.  Michael led the starters on the team in batting average in April to the tune of .311, while posting a .407 OBP and a .387 SLG percentage.  Bourn also stole 9 bases, several of which contributed heavily to rare wins by the team who struggled offensively in April.  His 23 hits in 21 games in April was impressive as he continues to use what he learned last year and applied to an everyday approach for success at the major league level.  Michael did have a high number of strikeouts in April, not many of which were about being a free swinger though.  He had a stretch where he looked like he was taking too many pitches in order to comply with the duties of a leadoff man and that got him behind in most counts leading to the high strikeouts.  He’s seemed to have made an adjustment and remains aggressive but controlled with his approach as the leadoff man.  Right now, Bourn is on pace to be the lone Astros representative in the All-Star game and if the SnS Star Award is a launching pad for said recognition, all the better.

At SpikesnStars.com, the rich tradition of handing out monthly awards to top performers for the Houston Astros continues as we enter into the 2010 baseball season.  The coveted Spike and Star Award are individual prizes that recognizes the tough as nails play (Spike) and the upper echelon MLB play (Star).  Winners are chosen by our very own TalkZone members from a list of candidates pull from a cap… errr… compiled from extensive statistical research and keen baseball observation.

This year, winners might also get any type of coupons we can acquire from local eateries.  Calls to the Whataburger food chain has not been returned, but we’re trying and we won’t take no for an answer, unless they call the police and put a restraining order on us.  So be prepared to provide your input at the end of every month as we honor those worthy of honoring from this honorable site.

July is the month of All-Stars, pennant chasing teams making the start of their push and of course the MLB trading deadline.  July is also the month where you expect some players to step up for a team if any hopes for post season glory is to be realized.  The Houston Astros were no different than any of the other Wild Card and NL Central contenders, all 28 of them, in that they got some very good performances from some players and thus the hunt was on and fans were getting excited. For the July Spike Award, the candidates were Lance Berkman, Alberto Arias, Jeff Keppinger and Aaron Boone. For the July Star Award, the candidates were Michael Bourn, Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee, Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriquez.  This was an interesting vote and the winners are:

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July 2009 Spike Award This month’s Spike Award winner is a pitcher who helped solidify a shaky bullpen beset by injury and inconsistency.  Geoff Geary, Doug Brocail, Chris Sampson were key contributors in Houston’s bullpen along with LaTroy Hawkins and Jose Valverde.  A bullpen considered a strength of the team.  Well the best plans of mice and men can and will go awry and in terms of a bullpen need, this plan of Ed Wade certainly did.

So the search was on for a pitcher that could provide good work to help salvage a season that was going nowhere fast.  In steps Alberto Arias, a pitcher who has a nice arsenal of pitches, all with late movement and just hard enough to keep hitters on notice.  Arias enjoyed a successful month as the setup man pressed into the role because of injuries to Chris Sampson and LaTroy Hawkins.  He did well, posting a .265 ERA in 17 IPs, recording 13 strikeouts and only 5 walks.  Now, with some of the injured returning, Arias is an interesting prospect for more work as a key setup man along with Sampson and Hawkins.  Some even think he may be a good closer candidate if he keeps up the good work.

Honorable mention: Aaron Boone got some love from the SnS because of his desire to return this season from heart surgery.  Wow, coming back from heart surgery all within the same season is hard to ponder, but he’s planning on it and it’s worth following.

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July 2009 Star Award

Hey, a Wandy Rodriquez three-peat?

Yes indeed, it is a Wandy season after all, as the little lefty took home his third Star Award by posting an outstanding performance for the month of July.  He had a .075 ERA in 36 IPs, tossing his first complete game of the season.  He also posted his tenth win for the season in the month of July when he registered four wins total for the month without a loss.

10 wins is his highest win total so far for his career.  In the month of July, he had 34 strikeouts and 7 walks.  He also helped the club make a push upwards from inconsistency to solid winner, becoming a part of a one-two gut punch for opposing teams with Roy Oswalt.

Honorable Mention: Miguel Tejada continues to post good numbers, not succumbing to the late season swoon predicted  by many.  Miggy is the leader on the club now with the injury to Lance Berkman and the happy go lucky attitude of Carlos Lee.  Leadership is a wonderful thing if you post the stats to back up your words and Miggy has.

The votes are in and the winners have been chosen. The month of June has been an interesting one for the Houston Blood and Mud as individual performances led to a continued climb upwards towards the mark of average amongst the many.  The infamous .500 mark, elusive as the team strived earnestly to obtain the goal.  Keep working fellas, you’ll get there eventually.  One can only hope.

For the June Spike Award, the candidates were Geoff Blum, Jeff Fulchino and Darin Erstad. For the June Star Award, the candidates were Michael Bourn, Miguel Tejada and Lance Berkman.  Let’s see who won:

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June 2009 Spike Award

This month’s Spike Award winner is a guy who stepped up for the team in many ways, one of which was in the leadership category. So much so that his influence as a manager-like came shining through when he took charge of a potential volatile situation and provided direction and proper management to a young player in order to keep a first inning mistake from escalating into a full blown mess.

Geoff Blum is his name, leadership is his game.  He’s also involved himself in some memorable Cub-killer situations.  In said situations, Blum delivered the death shot each time in walk-off fashion for the Chicago nine.  Many wait for the Cubbie meltdown in August, but for the month of June, Blum may of provided the percursor of things to come.  That he later mentioned how this sort of treatment against the Cubs was fun for his Chicago southside friends probably earned him extra points in terms of Cub hatedom.  Yeah, I’d say he’s a really good Spike winner, so take a bow Mr. Blum, our June 2009 Spike Award winner.

Honorable mention: Jeff Fulchino, a pickup by GM Ed Wade that has paid off, made a run for the Spike Award with his consistent and bullpen steadying performance for June.  I’m sure many would question a fan site that would give an award to a middle reliever, but that’s just how we roll.

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June 2009 Star Award

Hey, no Wandy Rodriquez three-peat?  Hardly, he wasn’t even in the running.  But in a rare situation (rare because we’ve never seen it before, nevermind our awards have been around for only three months, so there is that) our last month Spike Award winner made the leap from hard nose wall banging spectacular catch making player to all around good performer for June.

Michael Bourn, having to cringe at his manager’s MVP pronouncement, kept a cool head about him and went about his business of being the leadoff man… nay, breakout player his GM put on him early in spring.  A consistent leadoff man doing his job well bodes well for the type of middle of the lineup hitters that the Astros feature.  Michael has managed to keep Cecil Cooper from scratching his name off the leadoff spot in the lineup.  In fact, finally Cooper is trying to manage the young player instead of just react to so-so performances with the bat as a reason to bench him in favor of a veteran.  It is all so much easier for the Astros when Bourn is performing as he has.  Keep it up kid!

Honorable Mention: Lance Berkman has had a steady climb upwards from well below the Mendoza line.  It’s taken some consistent multi-hit games and some monster offensive nights.  The month of June for 2009 will be the month that most will look back on and say “That is when Lance turned it around!”  Bank on it!

You’ve been waiting patiently for all of a couple of days for the announcement, so I won’t keep it from you much longer.  One would think with a somewhat uninspired performance from the team on the whole, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone worthy of award recognition.  Well, just the opposite, many players distinguished themselves last month.   For the May Spike Award, the candidates were Michael Bourn, Chris Sampson and Lance Berkman.  For the May Star Award, the candidates were Carlos Lee, Hunter Pence, Miguel Tejada and Wandy Rodriquez.

It wasn’t an easy choice for either award with so many worthy candidates, but the choices are in and here we go:

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May 2009 Spike Award
This month’s Spike Award winner is none other than Michael Bourn.  Tossing his body around the field all month long making some spectacular plays out in centerfield.  At times it seemed he would not be able to avoid the DL unlike just about every other Astro player this year.  That includes last month’s Spike Award winner too.  Bourn has been every bit the break out player on the team that was predicted by GM Ed Wade, although methinks the break out was probably pointed towards his offense and not his defense.  But defense isn’t lost around here, the young man is just simply outstanding out there taking care of the hard plays with ease and the impossible plays with awe inspired yells of “hell yeah!” from the SnS.

Honorable mention: Chris Sampson actually gave Bourn a run for the award, often pulling close in the voting only to see Michael walk away with the trophy.

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May 2009 Star Award
Well lookee here, we no more create the Star Award and we get our first ever two time winner.  Wandy Rodriquez beat out some great competition on individual performance this month to carry away the helmet award.  Wandy, although struggling a little bit towards the end of the month, still had enough great performances in May to keep himself front and center as the best Astros player on the squad.  What can we say other than we have no intention of renaming the award to the “Wandy”, but who could blame us if we did?

Honorable Mention: Really, I’m surprised Hunter  Pence did not just win this award in a landslide, but the SnS has spoken and Mr. Coffee is a mere brides maid for this month.  Oh yeah, we know Tejada blah, blah, blah.  Well, all we can say is well done… if you’re around this month and some of next, we hope you really keep up the great work.  *wink, wink*