Houston Astros Baseball

Astros Offense Hard To Watch

Written by Baqqs on 7:29 PM

Maybe it's because we were spoiled this month that this four game losing streak really stings. Just after the analysts and skeptics were starting to come around to a "good" Astros team we give them a reason to re-think themselves. The Astros have lost their last four games, collecting a TOTAL of 5 runs during those games. I don't care what kind of pitching staff you have, you can't win with that lack of offense.

So what's the problem? It would appear that the recent slow down of Lance Berkman is the primary cause of this slump. This makes me worried. Meanwhile the bats of Ty Wigginton and Hunter Pence have slowly heated up. It's kind of ironic, but Wigginton has been arguably our best hitter during this team slump, yet his spot never seems to come up with men on base. I can clearly remember several occasions where Wiggy has hit a lead off double, only to get stranded. If only he was hitting those gappers with men on.

On the plus side, Brian Moehler looked good again. The box score of The Milwaukee game is a little misleading. He pitcher than his line would indicate. Moehler made one mistake in his outing and that was a two strike low and inside changeup against slugger Prince Fielder.

"But The Brewers looked good" No, not really. They are getting better and not held down by the once close Gagne, but The Brewers don't seem like a longterm threat this year. Today was a game we most certainly could have won. Coop decided to test Jason Kendall's arm and lost, several times. The worst was Matsui caught stealing third with one out and Lance up. the next pitch Lance gets a hit and Matsui would have scored. We would have had one on and one out for Lee and Pence, we could have rallied.

Also worth mentioning, Micheal Bourn sat today after and 0-fer yesterday. Instead Erstad lead off and played CF. He did very well and may warrant some more time, especially against lefties.

Up next:
Astros look to not get swept by The Brewers as they send Chacon to face Dave bush. Bush is 4-1 with a 3.45 ERA against The Astros. Although, I have a feeling Coop will have a few words of inspiration and rally this team to a big win Sunday.

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Cards Even Series

Written by Baqqs on 10:35 PM

Wednesday May 28

The Astros lost game two of their three game series in St. Louis today. You could almost say the game was lost in the first inning. Adam Wainwright looked like an ace and a pitcher who has dominated The Astros. Adam worked eight very strong innings allowing just a solo HR from Ty Wigginton.

Wandy returned to the mound for a pro game for the first time in over a month (April 19). As one would expect there was some rust. Although Wandy did have a strong start this week in AA, the majors has quite a different feel. I knew going into this game that Wandy would have to find his command early and get a feel for his famous curve ball to be successful. He was unable to consistently locate his fastball, which is typical of a pitcher who hasn't pitched in a while, and his "out pitch" the curve, was all over the place. Already tonight I have read several articles and columns writing Wandy off as a barely average pitcher. That seems a little harsh. What do you expect from a guy who hasn't thrown in a major league game in over a month. Not only that, but his first start back is on the road, in a very significant game and against our rivals. I was expecting an L today, but was hoping for Wandy to feel comfortable. Wandy impressed me tonight, (you heard me). He was able to stay composed while he was struggling with something out of his control. Wandy's hot head has been an issue and for him to collect himself and continue to battle, even though he was behind and facing a good pitcher is a good sign.

One game of frustration is worth a positive season. It may not be that bold but I predict Wandy ends the season with 12+ wins and the most K's on our team. Hopefully Roy can make that little contest interesting, but if not, then we really need Wandy to perform.

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Astros Make Roster Moves

Written by Baqqs on 3:38 PM

The Astros hit the road again, for a three city tour that will be a pretty good barometer for where The Astros stand in The NL Central. The first series in this trip is in St. Louis against the Cards. The Cards are .5 games ahead of us and the winner of this series has a good shot at leading The NL Central. Besides the fact that this series is very important standings wise, Astros players will say that games against the Cards mean a little more based on their rivalry. This year especially both teams have shown displeasure which each other and look to at least provide an entertaining three games.

To prepare for this road trip The Astros have made a few changes. First, Fernando Nieve was sent back down in exchange for SP Jack Cassel. Cassel has done very well so far in AAA and looks to spend his time in relief while making a few spot starts.With Wandy coming off the DL for Wednesday's game, we needed to move a starting pitcher from the rotation to the bullpen. The Astros chose to leave Moehler and move Sampson. This move wasn't a big surprise seeing as one was pitching well and one wasn't. My personal opinion is that Moehler will have a couple more good starts before he begins to really struggle. At that time, Cassel will be moved into the rotation and will succeed there.

Lastly, with Geary coming back shortly, The Astros will be forced to move another pitcher. Common sense would say that Dave Borkowski is the likely candidate, as he is the worst pitcher in our bullpen right now. Villarreal is being paid too much and has a much better track record in the majors and therefore secures a spot in the majors. Not to mention that with his 5 year MLB service time he would need to agree to a minor league assignment, which he probably would not.

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The Astros Will Contend When...

Written by Baqqs on 2:43 PM

Sunday May 24

Very simply, lose Borkowski, Nieve, and Jose Cruz Jr.

I would say that Bork and Cruz have lost 3-4 games for us this year between the two. I have nothing personal against Nieve, he just isn't ready for pro ball right now. So who fills those spots?

Well, Wandy comes back, Sampson goes to the pen (for now), and anyone off the street to replace Cruz Jr.

The Astros blew several leads today and gave away the game with VERY poor pitching performances from Fernando Nieve and Borkowski. With Geary on the DL the flaws in our bullpen have exposed themselves. Besides Geary, we have 2 good arms dedicated for the 8th and 9th and a couple avg lefties. the silver lining for me in this situation is that the poor play from our bad relief arms is pretty consistent and warrants a change. Until Felipe Paulino can come back we have a few options. Most likely we dip into our AAA system for some stop-gap solutions. Ultimately, I hope we bring Sammy Gervacio up from AA as asap. He's got the goods and will be with our team for a while.

What's Next

Whoever made this years schedule clearly didn't like the Astros. The Astros head off on another long road trip playing some pretty decent teams. If The Astros can continue to play .500+ ball on the road we will be in good shape in July when the schedule lightens up.

Up first, the St. Louis Cards in a very important series. Hopefully Roy can right the ship on the road since we will go nowhere without him.

Lat's Go Stros !!

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Let'sTake A Look At The Competition

Written by Baqqs on 3:13 PM

So far this season, The Cubs appear to be front runners. Many sports analysts pick the cubs at least winning The NL Central and possibly going far into the playoffs. Also, the Cardinals and the mixture of Tony La Russa and pitching genius Dave Duncan they always have a shot, and this season proves that for them. The Cards were expected to be The Reds of recent years and putting up hardly a fight, but with the best hitter in baseball(Chew on that A-Rod), and pitching coach Duncan The Cards look to be the real deal. At least for now. Let's take a little closer look at these teams and how we stack up so far.

Standings

Team...............W/L.....Hm.....Rd.....NL C.

Chicago Cubs......29-19...19-8...10-11...18-13

St. Louis Cards...29-21...17-10...12-11...14-12

Houston Astros....28-22...14-8...14-14...10-7

First off, it's pretty easy to see that The Astros have gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to early home games. I bring this up for a couple reasons. 1) There is a reason why it's called home. A team normally performs better at their home, that's just the way it is. Thus The Cards and Cubs have had more games where statistically speaking they have better odds of winning. 2) Also, I believe that the early home games for The Cards have significantly helped their teams confidence. Going into this season, no one thought too much of The Cards. The fact that they having been playing alot of home games and because of this winning more, the team has a confidence they didn't have going into the season. That confidence really helps a team stay in games when behind, gives pitchers motivation to work just that much harder. Now, I am aware that in the end the schedules even out and The Astros will see their fair share of home games. These late home game may be a great help if we are contending for the playoffs, but my point is that it's possible that without these early plethora of home games for The Cards they may not have been looking at the playoffs at all.

Next, let's look at difficulty of schedule outside of where those games are played.

Team...............Over .500..........Under .500......(Series)

Chicago Cubs...........5..................12

St. Louis Cards........5..................12

Houston Astros.........10..................7

Clearly, not only have The Astros had to play more road games, but they have also had to play better teams at the same time. The fact that we were able to do this with a poor starting rotation and and seriously sub par Roy Oswalt is a testament to how good we have been playing.

Furthermore, The Cards have yet to play division leaders/contenders Marlins, D-Backs, and Phillies. All of which The Astros have played.

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Holy Valverde !!!

Written by Baqqs on 2:50 PM

Saturday May 24

I didn't think it was possible to overshadow a multi-HR game from Hunter Pence, a GREAT start from Brandon Backe and Lance hitting a TRIPLE. Yet, Jose Valverde was able to do just that when he was hit in the cheek with a comeback liner off the bat of Pedro Feliz during the 9th last night in Houston.

The score was 4-1 and Jose came in for the save. He looked good for the most part until he was struck by a hard hit ball off his face. In most cases, the pitcher would have broken at least his jaw, and may have had other serious injuries. However, Jose was able to get his glove in front fast enough so that the ball just tapped off his glove resulting in a loss of velocity. Friday night game was a great one and the Astros fans were into it, however, when Jose was hit the crowd went silent. Jose lay on the ground for a little over a minute as the Astros medical crew rushed the field. At this point the fans were praying for some kind of movement from Jose just to assure them he was seriously injured. A few moments later, Jose stood up and received a rousing standing ovation and cheers from all fans. The make this story even better is that after only a few jaw exercises and a couple warm up pitches Jose said he wanted to stay in the game. Even the most die-hard fan knows that this is just a game and person health is far more important, and that's just what Miguel Tejada reminded Jose. However, Jose denied the option to leave the game and chose to muscle it out. The very next pitch, Jose hit 95 on the radar gun and the place went crazy. Unfortunately, the situation got a little more interesting. Jose ended up with some base runners on account of a Micheal Bourn error, and not being able to finish at-bats. Now I know Jose was hurt and he was showing incredible courage just staying on the field, but he was able to get several Phillies hitters in 0-2 counts and was not able to finish them off. This resulted in a small comeback from the Phils. The climax of the game came when The Phillies had brought themselves within 1 run of The Astros and had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Shane Victorino was up and Jose started off with 3 straight balls. Jose was able to work back from that 3-0 count to get 3-2 and eventually get Shane to pop out to Micheal Bourn and secure the save.

Friday nights game was great in just about every way. Our young slumping hitters are starting to straighten things out, we are getting better starting pitching, and we continue to score runs. This new exciting Astros team has begun to fill the seats on a nightly basis, something very few expected. If they are able to continue this play, I would imagine The Astros may make a bid for the Division.

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SI Sports Writers Take On Bourn

Written by Baqqs on 12:59 AM

Tuesday May 21

First, The Astros win a pretty important early season game against division rival Cubs. This game was huge for three reasons.

1) Pithing wise we were outmatched. We offered Chris Sampson to their Ryan Dempster who is having a great season so far. Yet, Sampson shut them down and we were able to hit Dempster.

2) Lance Berkman is starting to cool off and it's obvious. Even though Lance is having 3-4, 4-4 nights lately, those who were struggling, like Pence have picked up where Lance left off. This offense is pretty even and when Bourn and Towles get it together look out. Oh, and even if Lance is "cooling" off, to him that means hitting .315, and just one or two HR's a week.

"Bourn To Lead Off - Later"

Like most baseball fans, I tend to keep an eye out for any piece of writing that has anything to do with our Astros. Even though the mainstream media tends to forget about us, there are quite a few online outlets that occasionally write a column or recognize that we are neck and neck with their precious Cubs.

Anyway, even more rarely are articles written about our players who are relatively unknown and not performing too well. For this reason I decided to post this article here.

Written by SI's: Don Ehrke

"I like Michael Bourn. His speed is phenomenal. If you haven’t had the opportunity to watch him race down the line on an infield grounder, you’re missing something. Not every fast runner is a good base stealer; some never learn to read the pitcher’s motion. Bourn has already mastered this art; he’s 36 of 39 in stolen base attempts for his career. There’s also no disputing that Bourn covers a tremendous amount of space in centerfield – a huge advantage in Houston’s Minute Maid Park. In Bourn the Astros possess a potentially great player.

Despite his talent, Michael Bourn is batting .181. Although he’s demonstrated an ability to draw walks, this pushes his on-base percentage to only .252. His OPS plus is a microscopic 38. Bourn’s inability to get on base has all but negated his speed; he’s 17 for 17 in stolen base attempts in 2008, yet he’s scored only 16 runs in 38 games played.

The causes for Bourn’s struggles are difficult to identify in light of his talent. Lately he seems to be getting better at bats but the hits aren’t falling. A quick glance at his statistics helps explain why this is.

Michael Bourn strikes out too often. He’s already struck out 37 times in 144 at bats – an acceptable number for a modern power hitter but excessive for a speed merchant. Bourn’s batting average when he puts the ball in play is .219, or 38 points higher than his current .181 mark. Last season, when Bourn batted .277, he was a .330 hitter on balls in play. Bourn needs to cut down on his strikeouts; he struck out often in the minor leagues (123 times in 2005, 100 in 2006) and has carried this habit to the majors. Speed is, obviously, useless when a batter fails to make contact, and thus Bourn robs himself of his greatest asset.

For speedsters, putting the ball in play isn’t enough. Bourn hits too many balls in the air; he’s batting .125 (4 for 32) on fly balls. Bourn is 14 for 59 (.237) on ground balls. Last season these numbers were .150 and .283.

To state the obvious, Bourn fits the classic pattern of a fast runner who needs to make contact and hit the ball on the ground with great frequency. Perhaps Bourn will develop (he only has 304 career plates appearances) into something more. His power may increase, although at 25 years old it may not increase much. Regardless, it’s clear what Bourn needs to do: make contact, bunt, and hit the ball on the ground.

It’s also clear what the Astros must do: they need to drop Bourn down in the lineup. Houston was saddled with poor leadoff men last year; Craig Biggio, the team’s primary leadoff hitter, posted a .285 on-base percentage. That was one reason Houston struggled to score runs in 2007. Of course, the Astros weren’t contenders in 2007 so they elected to give Biggio the plate appearances he needed to surpass the 3,000 hit mark.

This season, no one expected the Astros to contend, but they’ve posted a surprising 24-18 record and are only one-and-a-half games out of first place. More, this team is geared to win now. The Astros have some youngsters (Bourn, J.R. Towles and Hunter Pence) but the rest of the starters (including pitchers) are over 30 years old. The Astros, if they are to continue their surprising performance, cannot afford the luxury of letting Michael Bourn develop in the leadoff spot. They need men on base for Lance Berkman, Miguel Tejada and Carlos Lee.

Hunter Pence should be moved to the leadoff spot. He’s batting .286 with a .335 on-base percentage despite a horrible start (he hit .161 in the first 15 games of the season). A one-two punch of Pence and Kaz Matsui at the top of the order will give Houston’s big hitters more RBI opportunities.

Meanwhile, drop Bourn to eighth in the order (or even ninth, if you’re a Tony LaRussa advocate). He’ll still have the opportunity to develop without costing the Astros as many RBI opportunities. If Bourn can push his on-base percentage up into the .330 to .350 range he can be moved back to the leadoff position.

Some may argue that dropping Bourn down in the order may hurt his confidence. Going 0-for-5 as a leadoff hitter can’t be helping his confidence, either. Bourn’s confidence will emerge by keeping him in the lineup and by letting him run down fly balls in centerfield. He’ll also gain confidence as he goes around the league again, seeing pitchers for the second and third times in his short career. This will help him cut down on his strikeouts and raise his average. Maybe he’ll also learn to hit the ball on the ground more often; this too will raise his average as well as his confidence.

Michael Bourn has great potential, but potential doesn’t win games. Performance does. Houston can make an investment in the future by playing Bourn this season; they can also try to win today by lowering him in the order and moving Hunter Pence into the leadoff spot until Bourn proves he belongs there."

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Moehler Looks Good, Coop Let's Us Down

Written by Baqqs on 8:51 PM

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.