No PBP here. No crickets chirping, either. Volquez v. Rodriguez somepitcher v. somepitcher someotherpitcher v. someotherpitcher _____________________________________________ The Astros are now 3-7 in their last 10. "Bud killed us," indeed. One of the streakiest teams in franchise history is simply on another streak.
watch the replay again - romero is holding up his right hand (as in "stop!") while waving his left; i don't blame bourn for being confused. (plus, i think they would have nailed him at the plate. also, the matsui call at 2nd base killed that rally.)
I can't say for sure but Romero is likely one of the worst 3rd base coaches in MLB. Cooper hand-picked him, too. If Romero was clear with his hand gestures and vocal chords last night, Bourn would have kept running. I fully blame that play on Romero and I am worried about the fact that he will probably be back next season because Cooper won't have the balls to let him go.
NL record only (tied w/ Ausmus and Ernie Lombardi): http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/GIDP_season.shtml On the other hand, Biggio holds the record for fewest in a season when he had zero in 619 ABs in 1997 (Dick McAuliffe also had zero but he did it with fewer ABs and in the AL): http://mlb.mlb.com/hou/history/season_records.jsp
That is remarkable, considering the two absolutely brutal stretches of royalsesque ineffectiveness the Astros gave us this year. This team does not deserve to make the playoffs and probably will not, but they had a nice run and at least were a little fun to watch for parts of the season. My Spring Training wish list: A new #2 pitcher A slump-free Lance. Dude, you don't have to pretend to be Ted Williams for the first half if you don't pretend to be Mendoza for the second half. M'kay? A healthy and consistent #3, whether that's Wolfe or Moehler or someone else (y'all don't laugh too hard) A new third base coach 95 or more wins. I ain't predicting it, I just wish for it. Kinda like I wish for a million dollars.
Did anybody see the Cubs blow that 2-run lead in the bottom of the 8th? There were 2 outs, no men on base and an 0-2 count on Beltran... Beltran gets an infield single and then a few hitters later, the game is tied... Fukudome made a terrific throw to the plate that should've kept it at 6-5 but the Cubs catcher lost his balance and the runner danced around him and home plate to score... that sucked.
What's frustrating to me is that we missed the window where a team could win the NL Central with less than 90 wins. Seems like it's going to take a truly excellent team to win the Central the next few years. (Caveat: I say this without taking a look at who the Cubs my lose to FA next year.)
