Meluskey was more or less the anti-Ausmus. He was a well below average defensive catcher, and a pretty good offensive catcher. The whole reason he was traded was because he was a cancer in the clubhouse; apparently, he didn't get along with anyone. If memory serves, he was also the one at the root of the incident where he punched out Matt Mieske over taking time in the batting cage during a pre-game.
I can't really see how anyone saw Biggio's homer as hitting anything but the foul pole. You see on the replay that the ball begins to move across in front of the yellow screen, then it takes a quick turn as if it hit something. There is no way it hit something on the left side of the pole, because it hadn't finished traveling past it yet. And as for Milo and Deshaies, they both admitted after they saw it a couple times in slow motion that it might have hit the mesh of the foul pole, or the very edge of the foul pole itself. They were only seriously questioning it at first before they saw the zoomed in, slow motion replays.
If Meluskey shows any type of average to above average defense....start him over Ausmus, and use Ausmus as like an every 3rd day catcher. Kind of a platoon, but with Meluskey catching a little more often.
So the Astros should just ignore the defensive contributions and clubhouse chemistry that Ausmus has made over his career and start a guy who has had a troubled past, continuing shoulder injuries and mediocre defensive abilities just because he had a good offensive year in 2000? Meluskey has done absolutely nothing since the Astros traded him. They'll likely call him up in September to be an additional pinch hitter, but Ausmus has earned the right to catch the vast majority of the time.
It's never happened before in his career, it ain't gonna happen now. Meluskey's a DH/1B guy now, his shoulder is shot & he can't throw (he couldn't throw well *before* he got hurt). His handling of pitchers & game calling have been atrocious throughout his career. If he can hit, he'd be a valuable PH/backup 1B type. That's all he is. Fantacrap.
Ya know, I try to let un-intelligent statements lie there and die on their own merit, but this is one of the most un-informed things ever said here. Seriously, please try to know a little about your subject before you post. Sorry if this sounded harsh, but it needed to be said.
right.... Perfect timing for a comment like that. RIght when Ausmus has a great game. 3-4, and a homerun the night before.
After the camera crew slowed down the replay and zoomed in, it was pretty clear the ball hit the screen attached to the foul pole as the ball changed directions(angled left) after hitting it. Thus, it was a fair ball and it didn't matter as we would have won 2-1 anyways. It just made Wagner's job easier. Btw, the astros are a half game back of philadelphia for the Wildcard in case anyone wanted to know that there is reason for optimism on two fronts.
Unfortunately, in order for them to vie for the wild card they have to lose enough games to fall from the division lead, which would more than likely mean they are then further behind the Phillies.
Well, either way that HR made the win that much sweeter. Let's go 'Stros. Tonights game is on the same time as last night. Ch51.
What the hell is going on?! THe newspaper said it was on 51. crap. cubs lead. 2-0. I wanna see the game...should have went to my apartment...then i would have cable.
My impressions so far are not good. I think we will chalk this one up in the loss category. Redding doesn't seem very sharp early. The Chicago pitcher struck out four of our guys in a row earlier. We almost scored in the 3rd but no cigar after two scoreless, hitless innings. I could be wrong...just a feeling I have. I hope I'm wrong .
The Cubs announcers disclosed an interesting stat. Tim Redding is the second worst starting pitcher in MLB in getting behind early in the count. He consistently gets behind 1 ball and 0 strike on batters. Ishii of the Dodgers is the only pitcher who does it more often. Something to work on this offseason.
