What exactly were you expecting to be able to get for them? A late 30's utility bench player, and a closer who's had a mediocre year... who was traded for only a utility-bench player and middle reliever just 6 months ago. No team... even a contending team with a boat-load of MLB-ready prospects... is going to fork over anything of note for these guys. All the contending teams have reliable closers on the level of Valverde. They all have capable bench guys who can fill the roll Loretta currently has.
QFT. I think Loretta would have been a comparable fit in Milwaukee with Ray Durham. Loretta might have been better since he has the ability to play the whole infield. However, that would have been trading within the division. Since the Astros brass believe that a division title is still possible, no chance they'd do that...
Two closers got traded in the last week or two (Nats and Pirates closers) because teams want bullpen depth. Detroit has no closer to speak of (though they did add Farnsworth). The Rangers have a closer with an ERA above 5. Dodgers sort of have a closer, but he's supposed to be their 8th inning guy - their actual closer is out for about a month or so. Teams were inquiring about Huston Street and Brian Fuentes. There was a market for Valverde. Not sure exactly how big, but we could definitely have gotten something for him if we wanted to.
wow we are going to sweep a pretty good mets team. I sure hope for these results in a few weeks at Shea when I will be there
Did Wolf recently have an injury, or is he known for poor duration? Kind of curious why he was taken out after five shutout innings and under 100 pitches.
I don't think he had a recent injury but he is not the most efficient of pitchers the more I learn about him. He really squeaked his way out of some tough situations today.
I'm guessing stamina. His pitch total has been less than 100 in 16 of 24 starts. And he's only gone over 110 once.
Baserunning blunders everywhere. Pence, Lee and now, Erstad. Instead of men on 1st and 2nd and no outs we are now a double play away from getting nothing. Edit: Make that Newhan grounds into a double play and we definitely get nothing in the bottom of the 7th.
That 7th has to be one of the wierdest half innings ever. Especially Quintero throwing the bat at the pitchout on the hit and run. Strange all around.
Haha that kid stealing the other kid's ball... Oh yeah, go Astros! When was the last time we swept a team?
Brocail really looks like he's struggling to get outs recently. I feel uneasy every time he gets out there. At least he worked a double play ball there on the full count that would have loaded the bases with no outs if he threw a ball. That was a big pitch. It could have just as easily been hard hit for at least one run.
I know there's no way in the world it can happen, especially with a three-game set at Chicago coming up. There's also the fact that the Astros are playing significantly above their Pythagorean mark for the season, which is a scary thought. But, 7 games back in the loss column with basically two full months to go. Crazier things have happened...
I hear you, Cat. You gotta think about that stuff if you're a fan. Unfortunately, as you know, it will be extremely tough chasing down the Brewers and Cubs pitching staffs over the course of 50+ games. Short of injuries to some of those guys, I don't see much of a chance. The Cards have been hanging around all year, too, and may get a couple pitchers back down the stretch.
Let's have some fun here. As many of us know, Berkman is on the longest HR dry spell of his career. When will he hit his next HR? I don't think he's done well against the Cubs this year and he faces Dempster and Harden in games 1 and 2 of the upcoming series. I say he breaks out of the slump against Marquis in game 3.
Interesting. I come back and we've almost swept the Mets. I agree, it seems very unlikely that we'll do much this year but it sure makes watching games fun for the fans
The Cubs are long gone -- best team in baseball, as much as it pains me to say it. I'm thinking about exclusively the Wild Card, which means the Brewers, Cardinals, Mets and maybe Marlins, though I think they'll fall off. While all are better than the Astros, I didn't think the talent advantage was enormous until the Sabathia move... freakin' Indians. Of course, given the Pythagorean, the Astros are extremely lucky to even be within 4 of .500... so it's not really worth thinking about.
Berkman says Wrigley is by far his least favorite park as a hitter, so I'm skeptical about this being the series.
Looks like the HR derby messed with Berkman's swing, as he predicted before participating (he actually wanted to swing right-handed because he didn't want it to affect the lefty swing... but he got enticed by the short porch in Yankee Stadium RF).
I've actually been an Indians fan (20+ years) for a much longer time than I've been an Astros fan (5+ years). My father's side of the family is from Ohio and have been Indians fans for life. It was bittersweet to see how they finished last season but there was so much optimism coming into this year. Everything fell apart though: Sabathia's early struggles, Carmona's early struggles then his injury, Hafner's continued struggles at the plate and his inury, then Martinez' lack of power early on followed by his injury was the last straw. It does suck that they sent Sabathia to our division but they got a nice, nice prospect in LaPorta. Plus, who knows where Sabathia will end up next season. Probably won't be Milwaukee.
Agreed -- there's no way he stays in Milwaukee, so long-term, it'll hurt them. It's just disappointing because like you said, Cleveland looked so good on paper heading into this year... you would've never believed in a million years that they'd be sellers, much less selling the marquee piece of the entire trade deadline. If not for that deal, I really wouldn't be shocked if the Brewers hit a dry spell... but now with Sheets and Sabathia, it's hard to envision them having the extended losing streak necessary to really open things up.
