Pirates @ Astros

[arkoe]

Miller pitching against D'Amico. 1-0 Stros in the top of the 4th, the Roots have the bases loaded w/ one out. Bagwell has the only run so far with a homer to the Crawford Boxes in the 1st, on a nasty looking swing.

On a side note, I hate listening to Bill Worrell commentate baseball.

Edit: Just saw the replay of Bagwell's homer; I don't know what I was thinking, there was nothing ugly about his swing. Looked like vintage Bagwell.

[BobFinn*]

Pirates announcers are excellent. Game is tied 1-1. Doggie just threw out Lofton trying to stretch a single to a double.

[Castor27]

I will be continuing my streak of MMP attendances without paying for tickets. I will be at both Saturday and Sunday games.

[arkoe]

Astros win 4-2 to take their fifth straight.

[How Sweet It Is]

Cards defeated San Diego tonight 4-2. Scrubs got beat again by the Braves 9-5. Astros still two up on the 2nd place Birds. Go Stros!:D

Five in a row baby!

[BALLhog 247 365]

i want to go to the break with a 3 game lead on the cards.

cubs are falling fast already

[don grahamleone]

I saw that play against Lofton on the highlight reel. It was awesome. I forget how good his arm can be. Go Doggie!

[BobFinn*]

Pirates beat us again 5-2:mad:

[Uprising]

Well we lost, 5 game streak is history. Though hopefully our guys can keep it up. I went to a couple of the reds games, both wed and thurs. they kicked a**!

Damn, last night was awesome. I was at the game and it rocked, i can't believe we got 9 runs that inning. I didn't have much of a voice left after the first inning. Just a great game, no homeruns for the astros, but they had a lot of singles, and a couple of doubles.

the 9 runs was a new record. I wish we could play better against the pirates. The pirates pitchers are doing a good job against the good guys, I hope they have another break out game Sunday.

GO 'STROS!!! :D

[How Sweet It Is]

Aramis Ramirez should send a thank you card to the Astros for keeping him in the big leagues. The Pirates are continuing to find ways to piss me off.:rolleyes:

[How Sweet It Is]

Today's starting lineups:

For the Astros, same as usual, with Redding on the mound.

For the Pirates:

Kendall C
Wilson, Jack SS
Giles CF
Ramirez 3B (I am really starting to despise this guy)
Simon 1B
Sanders RF
Wilson, Craig LF
Nunez 2B
Fogg P

Go Stros!!!!!!

[don grahamleone]

Off to a pretty good start it looks like. I hope the stats are as pretty as the game.

[NIKEstrad]

Redding is looking like a pitcher today. Outside one inning which he needed 30 pitches, he's been very efficient. His velocity is only topping out in the high 80s, but he's getting ahead of hitter and finishing them off.

The defense behind them has been great- Hidalgo nailed a runner on second on a ball hit to the wall, and Everett has been Everett.

Plus, he ripped a vicious double down the line and just scored as Blum extended his hit streak to 15 games. We've put up a run in 5 of 6 innings,which is nice.

Bagwell's swing looks much better. For awhile, it was painful to watch him swing, and the results were just as bad. Berkman's starting to get it again, too. Bags, Berkman, and Ensberg are tied with 17 HRs now.

I can't wait to put Kent in this lineup again. Right now, that's a vicious middle of the order- Ensberg, Bagwell, Berkman, Kent, and Hidalgo.

One positive of Kent's injury is Blum showing he can play 2nd. I expect him to get starts at all 4 IF slots in the 2nd half (particularly SS with Viz on the DL), keeping guys rested for the stretch.

[don grahamleone]

We only have one starting pitcher with a winning record and we're in first place. How is this possible? This must be somewhat of a phenomenon. I wonder if any team has ever made the playoffs with only one starter with a winning record? Interesting don't you think?

[BALLhog 247 365]

50-44 at the break...pretty good i guess...anyone think blum can play shortstop? maybe he can share that position with everett when kent comes back.

[Behad]

Originally posted by BALLhog 247 365
50-44 at the break...pretty good i guess...anyone think blum can play shortstop? maybe he can share that position with everett when kent comes back.

Why? Everett has really solidified our infield defense since he got here, and his hitting is ok for a SS. Blum would be able to spell Everett occasionally, but no need to share time between them. Blum can play all 4 infield spots, which means he'll get his at bats.

[arkoe]

Originally posted by NIKEstrad
Bagwell's swing looks much better. For awhile, it was painful to watch him swing, and the results were just as bad.

I hope the break doesn't screw up his progress.

[Nick]

Originally posted by arkoe
I hope the break doesn't screw up his progress.

It won't... Bagwell, almost as if like a machine, always gets hot right before the all-star break, and continues the torrid pace after he's had some time off.

Its like he knows he'll be having a break comin up, so it gets his batteries charged. Then after the break, he's all rested - ready to go.

[ima_drummer2k]

Originally posted by BALLhog 247 365
50-44 at the break...
And first place. If you would have told me at the beginning of the season we'd be in first place at the break despite having our 2 best players spend serious time on the DL...I would have taken it.

[BALLhog 247 365]

Originally posted by Behad
Why? Everett has really solidified our infield defense since he got here, and his hitting is ok for a SS. Blum would be able to spell Everett occasionally, but no need to share time between them. Blum can play all 4 infield spots, which means he'll get his at bats.

i dont want to see blums bat go to waste. he has hit 9 home runs sharing time with ensberg, which is not bad, but ensbergs better. and if now ensberg is our everyday 3b, ensberg will get a lot less ab's. with 9 home runs playing part time, i think that he could hit 20+ home runs playing full time

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally posted by BALLhog 247 365
i dont want to see blums bat go to waste. he has hit 9 home runs sharing time with ensberg, which is not bad, but ensbergs better. and if now ensberg is our everyday 3b, ensberg will get a lot less ab's. with 9 home runs playing part time, i think that he could hit 20+ home runs playing full time

I agree. And I don't want Ensberg platooning.

Blum has played SS in the past- In 1999 he played 42 games there and in 2000 44 for the Expos. If he plays SS, we will have only one really weak hitter- Ausmus. If he plays at 3rd, we have two weak hitters-Ausmus and Everett, and one above average guy (Blum).

[Groogrux]

For the fielding that Everett gives us, it's worth having him in there, even if he hasn't the second weakest bat in the lineup. However, .255 isn't bad at all for a weak-hitting, 8th in the lineup SS.

I think the best bet is Blum playing 3-4 games a week at 3B, SS, 2nd, or RF.

[MadMax]

no freaking way do you take everett out of this lineup.

[BALLhog 247 365]

Originally posted by Mr. Clutch
I agree. And I don't want Ensberg platooning.

Blum has played SS in the past- In 1999 he played 42 games there and in 2000 44 for the Expos. If he plays SS, we will have only one really weak hitter- Ausmus. If he plays at 3rd, we have two weak hitters-Ausmus and Everett, and one above average guy (Blum).

do you know what his fielding percentage was when he was ss?

[Uprising]

The bats in this club are starting to wake up, and I expect it to get much better after the break.

Bagwell is finally starting to get his swing back, it now looks good again and is producing some nice hits.

50-44 is their record this year, and last years was 44-45....or some thing like that.

How come they played more games this year in the first half?

:confused:

LET'S GO 'STROS!!!
:D

[bobrek]

Originally posted by Uprising


How come they played more games this year in the first half?

:confused:

LET'S GO 'STROS!!!
:D

Last year the all start game was on 07/09.

[deepellumrocket]

Originally posted by Uprising


How come they played more games this year in the first half?

:confused:

They played exactly the same number of games in the first half as last year: 81. :p

The All-Star Break is never the exact half-way point anyway, but it is a week later this year.

[Buck Turgidson]

Originally posted by MadMax
no freaking way do you take everett out of this lineup.
AMEN. I absolutely love watching him in the field. Anyone with a kid who plays ball should take him to a game & do nothing but watch AE for a few innings. His footwork & hands are quite possibly the best in the NL. When guys are as good in the field as Everett & Ausmus and you have a middle of the order like the Stros do (especially when everybody's healthy), you can definitely live with their mediocre (AE) to pathetic (Brad) offensive production.

I'm still waiting for Refman to admit I was right about Everett. :D

The silence is deafening.

Oh, for the last time, Blum cannot play SS on anything but an extremely sporadic (i.e. emergency) basis. He simply doesn't have the range. He's our new Bill Spiers - PH, double switch, spell guys in LF/RF, 2B, 1B, 3B when they need a day off.

[Groogrux]

Yeah, it's so nice not to cringe everytime a ball is hit to SS...and I was one of Lugo's biggest defenders.

The kid's swinging the bat pretty well lately as well.

[JPM0016]

when people talk about benching everett in favor of blum it makes me wonder if they have even watched an astros game in the past 3 months. Blum is a utility player and when kent comes back that's what he'll be and should be

[Buck Turgidson]

Originally posted by JPM0016
when people talk about benching everett in favor of blum it makes me wonder if they have even watched an astros game in the past 3 months. Blum is a utility player and when kent comes back that's what he'll be and should be
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a utility guy, every team needs a Jose Oquendo, Bill Spiers, Geoff Blum type guy. He's more valuable to the team in that role than he is as a regular starter, and the suggestion of playing him regularly at SS is as ludicrous as moving Bags to 3rd. Pure fantacrap by folks who don't understand the whole game, just look at numbers.

[BALLhog 247 365]

Originally posted by JPM0016
when people talk about benching everett in favor of blum it makes me wonder if they have even watched an astros game in the past 3 months. Blum is a utility player and when kent comes back that's what he'll be and should be

share time with everett. i dont want to see blums bat go to waste when he could hit 20+ home runs full time.

[BALLhog 247 365]

if you look atblums shortstop fielding numbers the 2 years he played it they are better than everetts numbers of the 2002 and 2003 season. all they should do is share time.

[bobrek]

Fielding percentage is an overrated statistic. Everett gets to balls and makes throws that Blum could only dream of making. (I am not denigrating Blum in the least, he is simply nowhere near the defensive SS that Everett is, neither is Vizcaino, neither is Lugo).

Craig Biggio is doing an adequate job in CF, but I would suspect that most baseball scouts consider him average, at best, in CF. Craig Biggio's Fp is 1.000. He has yet to make an error this year, but there are balls he should get to that he simply doesn't.

[bobrek]

Originally posted by BALLhog 247 365
if you look atblums shortstop fielding numbers the 2 years he played it they are better than everetts numbers of the 2002 and 2003 season. all they should do is share time.

Actually they are not. Blum's lifetime FP at SS is .955 while Everett's is around .965. Everett's range factor and zone rating are also better than Blum's.

[deepellumrocket]

Originally posted by Buck Turgidson
fantacrap

I am respectfully requesting that you refrain from using this term as it causes that annoying Fanta Soda jingle to become stuck in my head.

:mad:

[JPM0016]

geoff blum doesn't even come close to Everett when it comes to defense.

[fatman510]

Astros bust out with 5 runs in the second, Wilson is really the Stros bitch.