Houston Astros Baseball

Moehler Looks Good, Coop Let's Us Down

Monday May 19th



The Astros lose their series opener to the Cubs(That hurts to write). Call me crazy but this was a very winnable game. again. Don't look at the end score of (7-2) as a reflection of The Astros performance. The Astros were in this game for the most part. there were a few key instances that lost this game for our Astros.

To start, Brian Moehler looked much better than expected. He cruised through the first three innings and impressed me very much. In the fourth inning is where things got hairy. Again, Brian pitched very well overall and I beleive that he still looked good in the fourth as well. Here's the situation, Aramis R. works the count like a champ, and gets on base with a hit. There is one on and one out, Fukudome comes up to bat. He quickly gets two strikes on him. He remains patient and picks up a few balls, the count full, then Moehler throws what we used to call in little league, a "straight ball" right above the knees and dead read down the middle. To his amazement the pitch is called a ball.(The entire game my friends and I joked that the strike zone was an upside down triangle from what he was calling) To make matters worse Aramis was running on the play, Ausmus hops us to throw him out at 2nd, but sits back down when the strike wasn't called. Watching it again, Aramis got a bad jump and assuming Ausmus made a good throw he would have been out, "if Fukudome got the K". This called ball four (an awful call) leads to a monster shot to left center from over-achieving G. Soto. Again, I don't believe this was Moehler's fault, but rather Brad's. Moehler hit his spot exactly, the problem was that Brad called for a high fastball, only Geo was bale to get to it. Three runs score. Needless to say I was very upset. the game changed entirely from then on.

The next inning (5th) Coop pulls Moehler with Wiggy on second and one out. The problem with this was pretty predictable. Out of Blum, Loretta, Towles, Cruz Jr., and Erstad Coop feels Cruz is the best choice. Again, I am dumbfounded. Jose Cruz Jr. must have some racy photos of Coop or something the way he keeps playing our worst offensive player. However, Cruz is able to walk, even though his at bat looked worse than a pitchers. He hacks at pitches to my sister and prays for walks. Bourn is up next and drills a shot into the outfield (he looked very good today).

The next questionable move by Coop was who he brought in to pitch after Byrdak in the 7th. Fernando Nieve is brought in during a 3-2 game with the heart of The Cubs lineup due. Nieve hasn't pitched well recently, has had some medical issues with his nose and his breathing and is still pretty fresh from TJ surgery. Nieve struggles throwing strikes and gives up a run. The inning could have been worse, however Lance makes a heads up defensive play and catches Cedeno in a pickle.

My last real issue with Coop's moves. This one should be obvious and must have come as a shock to Astros fans that he actually did this. The game is within three, with the heart of our order due up. A three run deficit hasn't really been to tough for our team recently, so by no means was this game over. However, Coop decides he is tired of waiting this game to unfold and pretty much concedes when he brings Dave Borkowski in to face the heart of The Cubs order. Fans already know what's coming, and sure enough Bork gives up a huge 2 run shot to Aramis Ramirez, and seals the fate of our Astros.

I am in awe as to how many times Coop can make the same mistakes yet not realize what he is doing wrong. Cruz Jr. DOES NOT deserve to be in the major leagues. The fact that his name is Cruz shouldn't matter anymore. The simple fact is that he makes our team worse. It's gotten to the point where I would rather see Backe up there hitting than Cruz. He can't hit at this level anymore. Meanwhile players like Erstad, Blum, and Loretta, who can hit major league pitching rot in the dugout because they have no relation to an Astro legend.

I thought I had seen the last of Borkowski in close, late games after he was rocked by the D-Backs and Brewers, including a pinch hit 2 run HR off an injured D-Back pitcher, however Coop must have missed those games.

Other Notes Of Interest

Lance Berkman hasn't "cooled" just yet. Tonight was his first game in forever where he didn't get on base. The fact that he struck out 3 times leads me to believe that he was nervous trying to perform for the hometown fans for the first time in about two weeks. Consider that before tonight Lance had only struck out 20 times an had more walks than K's. Trust me when I say Lance isn't done yet. Let him relax for the rest of this home stand and I would bet on some long shots.

Michael Bourn is looking better and better. Not that I doubted him, but it's nice to see his hard hit balls finding gaps finally.

Jim Edmonds should be a CF for hire when playing The Astros. I don't know what it is about him, but he continues to ruin games for us Astros. Tonight it wasn't his bat, although he did get a hit, but his Willie Mays style basket catch in deep, DEEP center ended an Astros inning that had some promise.

What's Next?

Tuesday night we face probably the best pitcher we will face during this home stand in Dempster. Even though Dempster hasn't pitcher that well against the Astros (career 4.88 ERA) he has looked great this year and with Sampson working the bump for us this may be a bit of a mis-match.

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