Official Astros @ Rangers thread

[Castor27]

Time to kick off the Silver Boot(I think that is what they call it) competition.


Pitching Probables:

6-20 -- Miller (4-7, 4.70) vs. Thomson (4-8, 5.65)

6-21 -- Rosario (MLB debut) vs. Valdes (6-2, 4.63)

6-22 -- Robertson (4-3, 6.03) vs. Benoit (2-2, 5.57)


Fearless Prediction-- Rafeal Palmeiro will go into a viagra induced stupor and break out the wrong "bat" at the plate.

[spence99]

Let's hope the Ranger pitchers can help us break out of our hitting slump. What was with us not scoring any runs against Arizona without Johnson and Schilling? How much longer does Bagwell hit 3rd when he can't drive in anyone?

I think Berkman is going to have a huge series and the Astros will sweep!

[Uprising]

Man...I hope that the Astros will learn to win series again....

[arkoe]

The only positive thing about Bagwell and Berkman slumping this long into the beginning of the season is that hopefully when they do pull out of it, they'll be hot for the rest of the year.

[BigM]

Originally posted by arkoe
The only positive thing about Bagwell and Berkman slumping this long into the beginning of the season is that hopefully when they do pull out of it, they'll be hot for the rest of the year.

berkman is up to like .290 now. i think that slump is gone.
bagwell on the other hand....

[Buck Turgidson]

Originally posted by Uprising
Man...I hope that the Astros will learn to win again....
Yeah, no kidding. If only they were within striking distance of the division lead...wait, what's that? They're 1.5 games back? Sheeeeit. Well, yeah, but if only it wasn't so late in the season, they might have time to make a charge for the pennant. What the hell you talkin' bout boy, 90 games left? Whoda thunk it. Well then...uh...trade Bags for Nomar, move Nomar to CF, trade Rupert Murdock a soul for the rights to Daryle Ward, put him at 3rd & move Ensberg to 1st. Oh yeah, and let's be sure and bat Ensberg lower in the batting order than Ausmus. Pure genius I am, Theo Epstein got nada on me. Have I mentioned that Jimy "Buy another ****ing 'M' will ya?" Williams sucks? I have no doubt that a glass jar containing the jalapeno-sized blood clot taken from Dierker's brain could manage a game better than him. Or hell, let Jimmy D manage, if Dierk can do it, why not a guy who's even funnier on the air? I'd sit here and bitch about that cheap sommbich Drayton too, but the nurse says i needs me medicine. Oh crap...Junction Jack's outside my window again...dude keeps asking me to go for a train ride...if Orbit was here he'd your ass you floppy-eared prevert.

[xiki]

Pitching refrain:

Wade Miller and a bunch of filler. Wait -- that filler is doing more than the great lumber bearers.

[BobFinn*]

Great post Buck!! :D Or did you "borrow" that from the whoopass site?

[Buck Turgidson]

All me Bobbo, all me. Off to New Braunfels for Junior Brown at Gruene Hall, beer, fun in the sun & whatever other bad craziness I can get myself into. Have a good weekend all.

Go Stros. Kick Southern Oklahoma's ass.

"If I had to die for a word, my word would be 'poontang'." -- Animal Mother

[BobFinn*]

Ahh, Junior Brown does excellent covers of Hendrix songs

[codell]

What the frick is Viz doing in the 2 hole again? Why did Jimy take Ensberg out of that spot??

Argh.

[JPM0016]

who knows, i think it's time ensberg is made the every day player period

[BobFinn*]

Why did I have the feeling ARod would bust out of his season long "slump" against us?:(

[JPM0016]

it seems like a lot of guys decide to break out of their slumps when they are playing the astros.

[BobFinn*]

Mighty Adam ties it up.

[JPM0016]

that whole Julio Lugo ordeal was definitely a blessing for the astros. What lugo did was terrible but it opened the door for Everett. I no longer fear another choke job like the 99 NLDS against Atlanta. Lugo had what 2 or 3 errors.

[codell]

Originally posted by JPM0016
that whole Julio Lugo ordeal was definitely a blessing for the astros. What lugo did was terrible but it opened the door for Everett. I no longer fear another choke job like the 99 NLDS against Atlanta. Lugo had what 2 or 3 errors.

Lugo didnt play for us till 2000.

[JPM0016]

wait... i meant the 2001 series, my bad

remember, the beginning of the end of dierker. not starting vizcaino hurt the stros and then bringing in mike jackson over dotel in the 8th, why? not even god knows.

now back to the game

[BobFinn*]

Viz triples home 2 runs and then scores on wild pitch. Stros lead 4-2

[arkoe]

'Stros win 12-3 with a seven run ninth. Thank God.

Even Baggy got in the action during the ninth, hitting a two run single through the right side.

[ima_drummer2k]

Can we rollover 3 or 4 of our runs tonight to the game tomorrow? We may need them more with Rosario making his debut.

Anybody see that Astro runs vs. opponent runs in the 8th and 9th inning stat? Something like 100-something to 20-something. Amazing.

[BALLhog 247 365]

lets hope rosario is another oswalt, or at least redding. one of those came up to the league early and were surprisingly good

[BALLhog 247 365]

on a side note, anyone see iversons press conference about the new coach ayers? he was dressing astros all over.

[Uprising]

Originally posted by Buck Turgidson
Yeah, no kidding. If only they were within striking distance of the division lead...wait, what's that? They're 1.5 games back? Sheeeeit. Well, yeah, but if only it wasn't so late in the season, they might have time to make a charge for the pennant. What the hell you talkin' bout boy, 90 games left? Whoda thunk it. Well then...uh...trade Bags for Nomar, move Nomar to CF, trade Rupert Murdock a soul for the rights to Daryle Ward, put him at 3rd & move Ensberg to 1st. Oh yeah, and let's be sure and bat Ensberg lower in the batting order than Ausmus. Pure genius I am, Theo Epstein got nada on me. Have I mentioned that Jimy "Buy another ****ing 'M' will ya?" Williams sucks? I have no doubt that a glass jar containing the jalapeno-sized blood clot taken from Dierker's brain could manage a game better than him. Or hell, let Jimmy D manage, if Dierk can do it, why not a guy who's even funnier on the air? I'd sit here and bitch about that cheap sommbich Drayton too, but the nurse says i needs me medicine. Oh crap...Junction Jack's outside my window again...dude keeps asking me to go for a train ride...if Orbit was here he'd your ass you floppy-eared prevert.

I meant winning series...

[Uprising]

Great win for the stros. 12-3...damn the ninth inning rocked.

[Greg M]

Originally posted by codell
What the frick is Viz doing in the 2 hole again? Why did Jimy take Ensberg out of that spot??

Argh.

Kent's hurting.
Morgan will drive runs in from any spot in the lineup.
Hunter/Viz/Ausmus/Everett at the bottom of the lineup would be frieghtening.
And Vizcaino knows how to lay a bunt down, move runners over and is hitting about .300 in May and June.

[Greg M]

Originally posted by BALLhog 247 365
on a side note, anyone see iversons press conference about the new coach ayers? he was dressing astros all over.

I was having a beer with some co-workers when I noticed him wearing the retro Astros gear. I've got some new pespect for AI. Funny how nobody wore those uniforms when they were used but now, they make it into vidoes and TV shows. This team's just too far ahead of the times.

[Mr. Mooch]

Yeah, he had the awesome rainbow jersey and a hat that I've never seen before (that I thought was awesome), but I absolutely love the jacket. That Astros logo is the best of all time, and it looked great.

I'm tempted now...

Thanks AI:mad:




:D

[Uprising]

Alright, the Astros are coming up again...Let's go stros!!!

Let's hope Rosario's MLB Debut tonight goes really well.

Players to watch: Craig Biggio has a career batting average of .323 (10-for-31) versus Valdes, including two homers and three RBIs. ... Jeff Kent is 7-for-22 (.318) versus Valdes and Orlando Merced is 6-for-13 (.462) against the Texas right-hander.

[Greg M]

Originally posted by Uprising
Alright, the Astros are coming up again...Let's go stros!!!

Let's hope Rosario's MLB Debut tonight goes really well.

Players to watch: Craig Biggio has a career batting average of .323 (10-for-31) versus Valdes, including two homers and three RBIs. ... Jeff Kent is 7-for-22 (.318) versus Valdes and Orlando Merced is 6-for-13 (.462) against the Texas right-hander.

I would keep plenty of reservations about Rosario. He was tremendous for half a season in AA last year and has only been decent in AAA, in a better pitchers park than the Astrodome. Hunsicker fought tooth and nail about bringing him up as he didn't feel he was ready. His stuff is not electric on the terms of Oswalt, Miller and Redding but it's above average. Rodrigo gets to face a loaded Rangers lineup in his debut. Daunting task.

Let's hope those bats hit Valdes early and often while praying Ausmus can keep the kid's nerves down. Speaking of down, Rosario do NOT pitch up in the zone to those sluggers.

[BmwM3]

Man the Stros are swinging the bat this series.

[Rip Van Rocket]

Glad to see Bagwell coming back to life.

[eric.81]

Originally posted by Greg M
I would keep plenty of reservations about Rosario. He was tremendous for half a season in AA last year and has only been decent in AAA, in a better pitchers park than the Astrodome. Hunsicker fought tooth and nail about bringing him up as he didn't feel he was ready. His stuff is not electric on the terms of Oswalt, Miller and Redding but it's above average. Rodrigo gets to face a loaded Rangers lineup in his debut. Daunting task.

Let's hope those bats hit Valdes early and often while praying Ausmus can keep the kid's nerves down. Speaking of down, Rosario do NOT pitch up in the zone to those sluggers.

Interesting to hear about Rosario, thanks for the good info. How does he look. According to ESPN.com he has a 2 hitter going into the 6th. I can't watch the game (no cable, out of area) so if any of you are watching, please tell us how he looks.

Is he a power pitcher?
Finesse guy?
Can he throw any pitches exceptionally well?

[BALLhog 247 365]

his fastball goes up to 95, but he has a variety of pitches. he has an awesome off speed pitch and can paint the corners very well. i still cant beleive this skeleton looking kid can throw that hard

[BobFinn*]

Rosario reminds me of "Oil Can" Boyd.

All of his pitches have great movement. Dude doesn't throw a straight pitch. He is gonna be a good one.

[NIKEstrad]

Rosario looked VERY good.

He walked the first batter on four pitches the gave up a double, but was pretty much lights out after that. The only other really hard hit ball was the first one in the 7th inning that got doubled down the line, I forget either Blalock or Teixera. Then he got hooked.

His fastball is usually 93 with good movement, with an excellent slider-curve. He seemed to keep the hitters guessing which pitch was coming (perhaps credit Ausmus?), he kept the ball down, and stayed ahead of most hitters.

He definitely earns another start. I feel better about Rosario locking down the offensive power of the Rangers than Villone using smoke and mirrors to get by an aging or inexperienced lefty-laden Arizona lineup.

Rosario isn't an ace, but he looks to me like a very good #3, maybe #2 type. Not bad with Oswalt and Miller (and Redding and Carlos?) around.

[reallyBaked]

that can't be Bagwell that collected 3 RBI can it? I thought him procuding was becoming rarer than walking into a 7-11 owned by a non-Pakistani. Way to go Bags!

[arkoe]

Originally posted by BobFinn*
All of his pitches have great movement. Dude doesn't throw a straight pitch. He is gonna be a good one.

The movement on his fastball was crazy, half the time down right nasty. I don't know if Bagwell is starting to come around or not, but he hit one out of the park to right, and brought in another two on a double down the right field line.

[Raven Lunatic]

Originally posted by arkoe
The movement on his fastball was crazy, half the time down right nasty. I don't know if Bagwell is starting to come around or not, but he hit one out of the park to right, and brought in another two on a double down the right field line.

The replay I saw of Bagwell's homer was to left, and it was far from out of the park. Did someone else hit one out of the park?

[Groogrux]

I think "out of the park"=HR.

[Uprising]

Originally posted by Rocketman95
I think "out of the park"=HR.
hehe....did we win?....dang no one posts the scores here anymore....i am going to have to visit astros.com....I was hoping to find the scores here. ;)

[Groogrux]

9-5 Astros. :D

[Uprising]

Originally posted by Rocketman95
9-5 Astros. :D

ALright the good guys pull one out... :cool: Thanks....


...ok back to work now...its 8:20am...

[Greg M]

Originally posted by NIKEstrad
Rosario looked VERY good.

He walked the first batter on four pitches the gave up a double, but was pretty much lights out after that. The only other really hard hit ball was the first one in the 7th inning that got doubled down the line, I forget either Blalock or Teixera. Then he got hooked.

His fastball is usually 93 with good movement, with an excellent slider-curve. He seemed to keep the hitters guessing which pitch was coming (perhaps credit Ausmus?), he kept the ball down, and stayed ahead of most hitters.

He definitely earns another start. I feel better about Rosario locking down the offensive power of the Rangers than Villone using smoke and mirrors to get by an aging or inexperienced lefty-laden Arizona lineup.

Rosario isn't an ace, but he looks to me like a very good #3, maybe #2 type. Not bad with Oswalt and Miller (and Redding and Carlos?) around.

Excellent report there Nike. I'm suprised, very pleasently, that he faired so well tonight. I don't think you'll find too many people pining for Villone over him.

Next year's rotation looks to be excellent if Los stays healthy(crosses fingers, toes and armpit hairs). Funny Wade would be the oldest out of the 6 candidates including himself, Roy, Hernandez, Timmy, Rosario and Robertson. With those 6 names, that means no Moehlers, Holts, Mlickis and Villones to start off the year. Woot.

[BigM]

excellent start by rosario unfortunately jimi managed to end it to soon yet again. anything that resembles trouble(how much trouble is a leadoff double with a 9-1 lead?) and williams yanks the starter. it's hard to complain when we're sitting in first place but how trusty is that bullpen going to be if it continues with this workload? have some kind of confidence in your starters man.

great to see the bats starting to heat up as well, i don't care what kind of pitching it's against. i couldn't imagine scoring that many runs back-to-back without kent in the lineup. very nice.

[xiki]

Originally posted by BigM
excellent start by rosario unfortunately jimi managed to end it to soon yet again. anything that resembles trouble(how much trouble is a leadoff double with a 9-1 lead?) and williams yanks the starter. it's hard to complain when we're sitting in first place but how trusty is that bullpen going to be if it continues with this workload? have some kind of confidence in your starters man.



As unofficial president of the Jimy must go club, I will defend his hook of Rosario. He ensured that his night was top notch because he didn't let him stay long enough to wear down or be seen yet another at bat by the Rangers.

Rosarios' minor league record does not portend the kind of future last night promised. But, he did promise, didn't he?

[NIKEstrad]

Greg M- Thanks.

I agreed with the decision to take out Rosario. The Astros could not have been expecting anything like that, especially against the Rangers lineup. He gets to walk out with his first victory, a 1.50 ERA, and the Rangers never strung hits together. Rosario seems to be able to finish off batters quickly, thus keeping his pitch count down. To me, I see lots of times when Roy or Wade, but especially Redding get a batter down 0-2 or so, and just not be able to finish the guy off, be it strikeout or have him put it in play. That's usually the main cause of their high pitch counts, not allowing lots of baserunners.

I would've been much happier if Stone hadn't let the Rangers smack him around in his 2nd inning. Lidge sure is getting a LOT of work, it would've been nice to be able to give both he and Octavio the same night off.

BTW, Saarloos has been nails from the pen as well since he was put there. I think I saw something, 12 relief appearances with a 1.57 ERA, as opposed to his double digit ERA as a starter.

xiki- Rosario was regarded as our top major league prospect in the minors that could make the jump. I recall Carlos' numbers not being the greatest at AA ball no less, yet he came in and was electric, no?

[BobFinn*]

Originally posted by NIKEstrad


BTW, Saarloos has been nails from the pen as well since he was put there. I think I saw something, 12 relief appearances with a 1.57 ERA, as opposed to his double digit ERA as a starter.



Kirk Saarloos, who had a 15.63 ERA in two starts, has a 1.29 ERA in 12 relief appearances.

[arkoe]

Originally posted by Raven Lunatic
The replay I saw of Bagwell's homer was to left, and it was far from out of the park. Did someone else hit one out of the park?

I'm a dumbass. You're right, the homer was to left, and the double was down the left field line.

This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left. This is my right hand this is my left.

I'll get it straight sooner or later, sorry.

Saarloos is effective because he figured out vaseline helps your breaking pitches. Watch the brim of his hat.

[Franchiseclutch]

can any1 post what pitches Rosario throws?? i couldnt watch the game. Thaxs

[Raven Lunatic]

I believe the Chronicle said he was throwing a fastball, slider and changeup combination last night. Not sure about a curveball, because I didn't get to see the game.

[BigM]

Originally posted by xiki
As unofficial president of the Jimy must go club, I will defend his hook of Rosario. He ensured that his night was top notch because he didn't let him stay long enough to wear down or be seen yet another at bat by the Rangers.

Rosarios' minor league record does not portend the kind of future last night promised. But, he did promise, didn't he?


ok, i'll take that. however more often than not it's hard to justify how quickly he pulls these guys. i just hope all goes well.

[fatman510]

Astros bats are suddenly coming alive!
Awesome homerun by Berkman and then that triple by Viz

:D

[JBIIRockets]

Saarloos just struck out 2 with the bases loaded!!

[BmwM3]

Kirk Saarloos, who had a 15.63 ERA in two starts, has a 1.29 ERA in 12 relief appearances.

2 Big strikeouts by Saarloos with bases loaded. He's really pitching well!

[ima_drummer2k]

Come on, Billy. Slam the door on this series.

Did anyone see Kenny Rogers get that foul ball with the net and throw it to the kid? Another guy did the same thing last night.

What's with the Kenny Rogers look-alikes at Arlington?

[moomoo]

No more postgame shows with John Granato?:confused: :(

[BmwM3]

Did anyone see Kenny Rogers get that foul ball with the net and throw it to the kid? Another guy did the same thing last night.

Wasn't that the same guy from the other night?

[Uprising]

ahh....who won?!

EDIT: Never mind. I got it. 3-1 Good Guys! Swept the Rangers...haha. Well during this series we went from 3rd place 1.5 back to .5 up in first place....I know it means nothing right now, but i am so happy to see them up there. I remember just a month or so ago i was pissed because we were in 4th or so place. The bats have been alive and the team playing pretty well, even with out Kent.