Talk about the series here. Please no PBP in this thread. Unless otherwise noted all games are on CSN-H (for about 40% I guess). 5-20 Jeremy Guthrie, RHP vs. Dallas Keuchel, LHP 7:10 5-21 Wade Davis, RHP vs. Bud Norris, RHP 7:10 5-22 James Shields, RHP vs. Jordan Lyles, RHP 7:10
This is a series in which baseball will (allegedly) be played. One of the teams will win the series. That's about all I've got.
Listening to Ryan is great. Sounds like someone that can make a difference here. Sure, its a fluff piece, but its just nice to hear someone that wants to make a difference as soon as he can. Hopefully he gets CSN done...
I bet it was. Sucks for those of us who have to watch the rangers, just listened to Nolan in an interview there . . i like Nolan, good dude in my book . . .would much rather be able to hear his son now though
Vs. teams that currently have a record under .500, the Astros are 7-5 this year. The schedule has been really tough so far.
With Tejada in town, I wanted to revisit the trade that we made back in 2007. In December of '07, the Astros acquired Miggy for Luke Scott, Troy Patton, Matt Albers, Michael Costanzo, and Dennis Sarfate. If I remember correctly, we were most upset after losing Patton due to the promising career it looked like he was poised to have. Albers and Scott were the only two dudes that had put in time for the Astros before they were traded (Sarfate and Patton did briefly as well). Michael Costanzo - Mike may have showed some promise after his strong AA performance in 2007 where he had 86 RBI, but he would never surpass that amount. Last year was his first year with any major league club (Cincy) where he batted .056 and the thirdbaseman is now 29... not too much going on here. Dennis Sarfate - Sarfate briefly relieved in Houston in '07, but he made a few starts for the O's in the next two seasons after the trade. Sarfate found some success in Japan the past two seasons, but this guy was just not meant to be in the pros. Once again, another "fringe player" the Astros lost. Matt Albers - After starting 18 games for the Astros in '07 and posting an ERA approaching 6, Albers was moved to the pen for the O's. Albers has put work in for 4 different teams since 2007, and his '08 and '12 campaign were his only two seasons that you can really point to as successes. His '12 season, split between Boston and Arizona, was good to great considering he posted a 2.39 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. Matt is starting a little bit slower this year with a mid 4 ERA, but Matt has shown he can be a year long reliever at the major league level. Troy Patton - Prior to the '07 season, Patton was rated as the #62 prospect in the minors by BA. At 21 years of age, Troy pitched a few games as an Astro in 2007, and he did not disappoint. With a meager mid 3's ERA, Patton looked like someone that could benefit from control and be a main stay at the major league level. After missing the 2008 season to injury, Patton tore up AA and then faced AAA for the next two years. Baltimore converted him into a reliever in 2011 and called him up to the big show. Last year, Patton had an impressive ERA+ of 175 and an ERA of 2.43. He was one of the many great pieces that led Baltimore to a successful 2012 campaign. Of to a decent start this year, Troy looks to have a good bit of his career ahead of him as he is only 27 years of age. Luuuuuuke Scott - At age 29, Luke played 132 games for the Astros in '07 and was a major player in right field for Houston. Luke would hit 23, 25, and 27 homers for the next three years for the O's, and his 2010 season was by far his best. Those three years would be the only three years that Scott stayed healthy and played more than 100 games. His greatest contribution now to the Rays are his amazing mutton chops. All in all, the trade was an interesting one. Miguel played two All Star seasons with the Astros and was a reminder that the Astros were only getting older. Shortly after he was acquired, his name appeared in the Mitchell Report, and we also found out he was two years older than he really was. Miguel was a multi hit threat for many games and was a shell of his home run hitting self from years of the past. I think this is an interesting trade to review because it is one that sent a few young prospects to prolong the aging Astros non existent window. I don't think having this trade undone would have changed our course as we would have likely had an slightly better than average right fielder, a spotty reliever, and a promising reliever in Patton. All in all, neither team greatly benefited from this trade in my opinion.
Why is this ump squeezing Veras so hard? He just threw 6 straight strikes to A. Escobar and somehow ended up in a full count...
Couldn't agree more. But still, I am happy with the win, and I am glad to see Veras do so well in two full count situations. Really happy to see him turn it around. In his last 12 appearances, he has only given up 2 runs (in a blown save). Things are looking up for him.
Another month of pitching well will put Veras in a position to bring back a mid level prospect at the deadline
Agreed. The bullpen will be interesting at that point if a trade was to be made. I am still curious as to who will end up in the bullpen and who will get a chance to start. If you throw out the one "just don't give up the 10 run lead against Seattle" performance where Clemens went 4 innings and gave up 5 runs while still winning, Clemens has a 2.73 ERA while pitching in long relief. If we are going to employ long inning relievers, that's fine, but we will need short relief as well, and I think Clemens is someone that can do a great job in short relief.
Not sure why he didn't use Cisnero tonight. Oh well...it worked and Cisnero should be used tomorrow night over Ambriz.
Went to yesterday's game. Talk about depressing. It was like a tomb in The juice box. They should rope off the upper level for the sake of the atmosphere.
I was there too. I agree, it was kinda sad. I was sitting in the Crawford Boxes. Jason Castro hit a home run that sailed directly over my head and landed 4 rows back of me.
