All series talk goes in here. DO NOT GIVE PLAY-BY-PLAY! If you need PBP try Yahoo, ESPN, or Sportsline. 7-28 Enrique Gonzalez, RHP (3-2, 4.85) vs. Brandon Backe, RHP (1-1, 4.50) 7:05 on FSSW 7-29 Juan Cruz, RHP (3-5, 4.95) vs. Roy Oswalt, RHP (7-7, 3.35) 6:05 on KNWS 7-30 Miguel Batista, RHP (9-5, 4.65) vs. Roger Clemens, RHP (2-4, 5.57) 1:05 on FSSW Mods, can one of you make this a sticky? Castor27 asked me to post this as he's out of town.
I am really concerned about how my boy Backe is pitching so wild. If he doesn't tame it he will end up gone. After last night performance we may have lost my other boy Taylor so Backe really better step up tonight and prove why we should keep him. I hope we send Buchholz down and bring back Nieve or maybe even Hirsch. He picked up his 11th win last night. The email I got from Round Rock said, and I quote, "Hirsh finished with five strikeouts on five hits without a walk over seven innings. He has now fanned 46 on 12 walks and 22 hits over his last 48 innings." He may be ready to come up.
Tonights game is HUGE. A win tonight with Roy and Roger on deck could be big. Its going to be important to at least win this series because if we don't we might end up being 7-8 games out of the WC, and that could be a big factor in whether or not we make a deal on Monday.
I think they are going to make deals regardless of this series. They know we need some fine tuning even if we pull out a win or even a sweep.
If we pull out two wins or a sweep I think we will definitely make a deal and it could be anyone, but if somehow we are swept and end up 7-8 games out of the WC, I think that takes deals for "rental" players like Soriano off the table. Not worth it IMO. I believe we will go after Tejada no matter what since he is at least under contract.
Albers is on schedule to take TB's start in 6 days. Bring Nieve back up to the pen & let Taylor stay on a regular work schedule in RR. TB's got a hell of an arm, just inconsistent - like most young pitchers - and he needs to adjust now that he's been around the league for awhile.
I think Hirsh will be called up and Taylor sent down. Albers will stay in the pen IMO. Hirsh also pitched yesterday so right on schedule.
Apparently they're talking about that, and Hirsh's shoulder wasn't that serious (understand why they were cautious though). Albers is here, he's got his feet wet, he's had success (and some confidence). Nieve looked great out of the pen (hasn't has as much work in RR as I expected, not sure what's going on there). I could see them going either way, though.
This team's chemistry is so messed up, they have no identity and no swagger.... At least the last 2 years were great. DD
I love how everybody was proclaiming the comeback on Wednesday as the turning point of the season and then the team failed to win yesterday. But, looking at the series as a whole, yesterday's game was up for grabs from the get-go anyways. I think we'll get a better gauge of whether that Berkman homer was indeed the spark this team needed. A weekend series at home versus the Daimondbacks with Backe, Roy and Clemens; that has potential winnng streak all over it. Yesterday's history.
I haven't seen anything to suggest he is...and astros.com still lists him as being on the 15-day DL... I thought he was supposed to come off that this past Tuesday unless its next Tuesday. This is from tonight's game report: The Astros bullpen recently completed a 26 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings streak, the longest in the Majors this season. It was the longest for the Astros bullpen since 1989, when Houston relievers allowed no runs in 29 1/3 consecutive innings from May 31 to July 5. http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASAp...t_id=1579208&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou Keep up the good work boys
Is this right? I'm not sure if I'm more surprised that they didn't give up a run in June or that they didn't even pitch 30 innings in June.
Nope, it's a typo. May 31 to June 5. The bullpen pitched 17 innings of shutout ball on June 3 in the 22 innings game against the Dodgers & then 8 innings in a 13 inning game the next day.
Ah - that explains it. I thought about June 5th as a possibility, but I thought that didn't make much sense either to have them pitch 29 innings in 5 days.
