Your 2006 Defending National League Champion Houston Rocket...errrAstros Thread

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/3918899.html

"The pickup was found in an office parking lot in the 1200 block of Pin Oak, said Katy police Capt. Gay Dickerson. Texas EquuSearch director Tim Miller said the search effort was scaled back Wednesday because of rainy weather in the Houston area."

One side effect of picking up Clemens is that one of the young guys in the rotation can go to the bullpen, which I think will definitely help. All three of the them have been up and down so far, but it appears that Fernando Nieve will be the one move to the pen once Clemens gets called up from the minors.

And Mike Gallo needs to be gone yesterday. The Astros lost the 18-inning marathon with the Pirates last weekend because he threw an intentional ball over the catcher's head, allowing a runner to reach third who then scored on a sac fly from the next batter. And this was after he gave up a tying home run on the first pitch of the botton of the 17th after the Astros had pulled ahead in the top of the inning.

Jason Lane has to be a dissapointment, he had a good second half last year and seemed to be on the path to becoming a pretty good hitter.

There are 13 outfielders in baseball with at least 150 plate appearances and a negative VORP. Many of those names aren’t surprising: Juan Pierre is in the “top” five, along with defense-first fourth-outfielder types like Jay Payton and Joey Gathright. Most notable on that list is the presence of the entire outfield of the Houston Astros....

Of course, Houston proved last year that you don’t need to lead the league in offensive production to win the pennant, so long as you set the pace in pitching and defense... When four of your starters are hitting below replacement level (and Brad Ausmus might just join that group by September), no single starting pitcher is going to win you the wild card.

Pitches-strikes - F Liriano 51-37; R Clemens 100-59.

Pitches-strikes - F Liriano 97-72; R Clemens 100-59;

Where's that Twins thread...

And that pitch Bucknor called ball four was right down the middle. Should have been a double play with the caught stealing. I don't know if I'm angrier about that call or the fact that the inning before the Astros had a runner at third with no outs and couldn't score the run.

nevermind.

;-)

I'm not quite ready to blame it all on psychology. I think he definitely had some mechanical problems early on after he started tinkering with pitcing from the stretch full time. He's just not spotting the fastball as well this year and for whatever reason (scouting, tipping his pitches) a lot of guys are laying off his slider now. This forces him to throw his fastball more, which is fairly straight. And we all know that 97 mph + no movement + up in the zone is a good recipe for giving up a long ball.

The wierd thing is, he is 21-of-24 in save opportunities, with all three blown saves happening within about 10 days of each other in late April/early May. Since that stretch, he's been pretty reliable, but his ERA is still in the high 5s. His only major meltdown since then was the Sunday night game against the White Sox when he gave up the Grand Slam to Tad Iguchi. Ironically, since he entered the game with a four-run lead, there was no save opportunity and, thus, no blown save.

And next, if you must know, I'm planning on interviewing a Cajun rap posse at Joe's Crab Shack Kemah...

It's not cold feet when you decline to give up Oswalt, Ensberg and Everett for Tejada. It's called 'sanity'.

Besides, I've heard conflicting reports on who nixed that particular deal, if it was even actually offered. Uncle Drayton has been spinning it that Baltimore asked for Oswalt so they talked about it some but Oswalt was never really in danger of being traded. And I tend to believe that just because of the shear stupidity of giving up your ace and the left side of your infield for one shortstop. Ensberg and Everett for Tejada I can understand and would pull that trigger in a nanosecond, even if it meant throwing in a prospect.

Oswalt is arbitration-eligible this offseason and will be a free agent the year after that. He says he has "a bad taste" in his mouth after being named in trade rumors, so look for the Astros to try to sign him long-term before this season is done.

At the trade deadline, Astros were 6 out of the WC and 9.5 behind the Cards. As of now, 3.5 out of WC and 6 behind the Cards. Sweet!

And get this, Lane's BA is .211, but his OBP is .332 while Wilson is batting .269 with an OBP of .309.

Preston Wilson: .714 OPS (9 HRs)
Morgan Ensberg: .880 OPS (20 HRs!)

Now the 'Stros are down 2 going to the bottom of 18. I think I'm going to stab myself with an ice pick now.

Plus, the Astros were something like 21-10 after about the first month of the season.

Morbs, I know you're adverse to stats and would rather just judge players on the prevailing press cliches, but this season Clemens pitched 107.3 innings in 18 starts = 6 IP/start. Of the Mets starters, only Glavine has pitched more innings per start (6.4), Maine is about equal (6.0).

His line during that stretch (2.57 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, .157 BAA) is about equal to Johan Santana's second half line.

Not gonna happen. After the last Lidge-Pujols face-off (game-winning double by Pujols) Garner has learned that he just can't risk that match-up. Plus,Dan Wheeler has been closing games the past two weeks and the team has been winning. Lidge did get the save yesterday, but it was against the Pirates and Wheeler had gone 3 innings in the 15-inning game the night before.

Garner hasn't come out and said it, but Wheeler is the closer now.

But shit, with Tyler Yates on the mound, Houston's got like a 70% chance of victory now.

Huff was thrown out at the plate today too.

Plus, the Braves were playing they're asses off. That play where Huff got thrown out was a heck of a play by Francoeur, diving to catch a sinking liner and then popping right up to make the throw.

In the end, you can't blame missing the playoffs on this game. If this team had started playing better ball even one week earlier, they would have been NL Central champs.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2612913

Updated: Oct. 5, 2006, 12:00 AM ET
Astros extend Garner's contract, fire pitching coach

Associated Press

HOUSTON -- After the Houston Astros missed the playoffs for the first time since 2003, general manager Tim Purpura had one main offseason priority: giving manager Phil Garner a one-year contract extension.

Garner will manage the Astros through the 2008 season, the team said Wednesday. His contract was set to expire after next season.

"I feel very comfortable with Phil. We work well together and that has grown this past season," Purpura said. "I have a comfort level with what Phil is doing, a comfort level with how he goes about his business."

"You feel like you have a partner in this," Purpura said. "I think you have to have those kinds of relationships."

The Astros are 219-179 in 2½ seasons under Garner. They won 10 of their last 12 games to go 82-80 this year, finishing 1½ games behind St. Louis in the NL Central.

Purpura said Garner never lobbied for an extension, but Garner said he was hoping one would come.

"I'm having a good time," said Garner, who just finished his 14th season as a big league manager. "We were competitive this year. I think with our ownership and front office, we're going to be competitive for years to come."

Team owner Drayton McLane Jr. said Garner "has contributed greatly to our recent success."

"Our goal has always been to bring a World Series championship to Houston, and we have come closer to reaching that goal under Phil's tenure as manager than at any other point in the history of the franchise," McLane said.

Also Wednesday, the Astros fired pitching coach Jim Hickey but retained bullpen coach Mark Bailey, hitting coach Sean Berry, bench coach Cecil Cooper, first base coach Jose Cruz and third base coach Doug Mansolino.

Hickey had been Houston's pitching coach since Garner became manager. The Astros had the NL's second-lowest ERA (4.08) this season and tied the New York Mets for the most shutouts (12).