His walks have gone up dramatically since Ausmus stopped catching him. Ausmus picks up things in pitcher's deliveries and lets them know periodically throughout the game what they're doing wrong. Chavez basically knows when their front shoulder flies open, but that's about all I've seen him instruct on. I know I sound like a broken record... but its not like we're getting much of anything else out of Ausmus, and its not like Chavez is the next Mike Piazza. If we're still paying Ausmus decent money to do this, we might as well get the most use out of him.
Adam Everett doesnt hit well enough to not make plays like that. Yes it was a hit, but for him being a "defensive player" he has to make those plays. Lets hope it doesnt come back to bite us ... Runners on 2nd and 3rd when we should have been out of the inning. Edit: Nice pick-me-up from Qualls under pressure. Looks like its about to rain again ... Might have to finish this one another day
They would have been better off just postponing this (at the beginning) and playing two on one of the days the next time the 'stros are in town. Too much headache for the grounds-crew, and now there's always the chance that somebody could get injured on the slick field. I'm full of negativity today!
How many innings did it go to? Don't they call games after 5 innings and the team ahead wins? Edit....nevermind, I see it's still tied.
LARRY on Baseball tonight on ESPN said Morgan Ensberg is HIS starting 3B in the Allstar game, and Clemens SP.
Larry Bowa just gave Morgan Ensberg some love on BBTN. Had him in his "starting lineup" Along with Clemens starting. Edit:
This game is going to go down as a tie and they are going to restart it from the beginning on Saturday.
What's even more bizarre is if the rain delay had happened two minutes later and Berkman had gotten to bat, it would've just picked up in the 8th. Apparently, the only scenario where a complete restart is used is if it's between innings, and that's the luck we ran into. That said, I shouldn't complain too much... if the rain would have come a couple of minutes earlier and we had to wait two days knowing the Reds had runners on third and second with two outs, that would've really sucked. I suppose the positive out of this, though, is that Astacio gets another chance in the makeup game Saturday night. The odds aren't good that our rotation makes it through the entire season without someone missing some time with an injury... so this game Saturday is a good way to judge if Zeke's really fixed his problems and can step in (his recent starts in Round Rock have been very good) or if we need to look at someone else.
For me this is one of baseball's most riduculous rules. If any game is rained out, they should start it at the exact point where it was suspended, regardless if it has gone 1 inning or there are 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th. In essence, EVERY game in baseball should last 9+ innings. This takes all of the pressure off of the umpires in rain delay situations. For example, if a team is winning 10-0 in the 4th inning, the umpires will do everything they can to get that 5th inning in even if it means enduring a couple of long rain delays so the leading team is not "punished" by having the game rained out. For the most part, this would not induce that many inconveniences over the course of a year regarding travel schedules. Assume that the game was 2-2 after 8 and the Astros scored 7 runs in the top of the 9th before the rains came. The outcome would revert to the previous completed inning so it would also be a 2-2 game and start over. However, if I remember correctly, ALL of the stats count including the Astros 7 run 9th.
Unless I'm mistaken, I think they changed that rule. From what I understood on 740 last night, if the game had been in the top of the 8th with 1 out when the rains came, they would've resumed from that exact point (and score) on Saturday. They said the only way the game is started over (today) is if the score is tied between innings. I know what you referenced used to be the rule, but I think they're revised that in recent years. In fact, this same situation happened in Cincinnati last July, but with the Astros with two runners on base... the game resumed with the runners on in the top of the sixth. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=240730117
