Saw a bit on Roger and the Stros on ESPN how he was with the minor leaugers. It was on this morning, so he's already been asked to leave?! Saw some highlights of the Stros and Indians on ESPN too...>SURPRISE!<
No mention of it on the broadcast today...Drayton was in the booth for awhile too, no mention of it. Shoulda considered the source: Here's a letter to the New York Post The worst piece of paper on the east coast Matter of fact the whole state's forty cents in New York City fifty cents elsewhere It makes no g.d. sense at all America's oldest continuously published daily piece of bull**** ... Ain't worth the paper it's printed on Founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton That is 190 years continuous of ****ed up news
Some great journalism in this article... would you like to know the headline? http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5580555.html Feb. 29, 2008, 11:12AM ASTROS NOTES Matsui out of today's lineup because of hemorrhoids By BRIAN MCTAGGART and JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle TOOLS Email
I really want to start a new thread about this. Oh well, Matsui is off to a great start with the ASStros. At least it is a different kind of rhoids.
According to Dalati on 790, Roger cancelled his bp session with the minor leaguers this morning, and the Stros [paraphrasing] don't want to tell him he can't show up, but would very much like him to not show up. espn probably was showing vid from yesterday.
Totally unrelated to anything, but I got a kick out of this bit of statogeek awesomeness in the chron this morning: "...thanks in large part to a walk every 4.3 plate appearances. But that stat is a raw number based on playing time." I'd like to say I'm shocked that the guy hired by the chron to write about statistical analysis is completely ignorant of basic statistical concepts, but I can't.
I know it's WAAAYYY early, but so far our starting pitching has been fine, but our bullpen is getting killed. Gotta hope that changes, because it would be really disheartening to see Wandy, Wooody and Brandon step up this year, only to have our bullpen give up lead after lead (like they did last year).
The positive, though, is that the bullpen guys getting hammered (except for Geary) are extremely unlikely to make the team and are only ST fodder. The marquee bullpen guys (Valverde, Villareal, Brocail, Borkowski) have all looked good so far. Very happy to see Backe throw a couple of scoreless innings.
Wandy looks very solid again. Ensberg's double led to a run, but Bourn makes that catch most of the time. For the most part, he kept the ball down around the edges and wasn't hit hard at all. Good signs.
Yeah, the wind is blowing out to lf pretty good, that ball's caught usually. Then, at the first hint of adversity, Wandy has his all-too-usual implosion in the 3rd. He's got the stuff to be a pretty darn good pitcher, it's mostly mental with him.
Carlos Lee is my man. That's some nice baseball right there. Kaz with an infield hit. Then Lance advances him to 3rd on a hit and run followed by a 3 run jack.
Unfair to get onto Wandy. Wasn't this only his second start? He gave up hits to some really good hitters in his second ST start. I wouldn't be to critical. Cano is an MVP caliber player.
His inability to bear down in certain situations & his tendency to get flustered have been concerns for a few seasons now, and have been repeatedly mentioned by Astros mgmt as something he needs to master to take the next step as a starter. And the Stros are counting on him doing that. I wasn't getting onto him really, and of course it's early, it was just an observation. In a ST where there's only a few questions to be answered - middle relief, 5th starter, 5th OFer - Wandy's composure & maturation is just about at the top of the list of things to watch for. How Bourn handles the leadoff spot, and how he and/or Backe attempt to fill the void at the top of the rotation are the biggest keys to the Stros success this year.
11-10?!?!?!....welcome to how AL baseball is played Astros fans because that is how the 2008 season is going to be. Is J.R. Towles stepping up and earning the starting C spot or what? 8 total bases, 4 RBIs in 3 ABs today and .600 for ST. Two Es by Miggy leads to 3 unearned runs. We all know he's no AE, but jeez. Valverde and Geary looked OK out of the pen, but Brocail is getting lit up so far.