It begins: Redding sent, Oliver to IL; Hernandez, Qualls called up

Link Redding given a ticket to minors
Loss to Mets prompts Astros to recall Hernandez
By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle


NEW YORK - Tim Redding stood by his locker fiddling with his cell phone in one corner of Shea Stadium's visitors' clubhouse late Tuesday night. On the other side, two of his teammates talked about how happy they were to see him finally banished to Class AAA New Orleans.

The Astros are tired of losing, and they're really tired of guys not pulling their weight.

Redding wasn't the only reason the Astros lost another game. But he definitely let the Mets pull away with three runs in the seventh inning to secure a 7-3 victory in the opener of a three-game series.

After the dismal relief outing before a crowd of 28,472, Redding was told to pack his bags and head to New Orleans. At least one of his teammates — but more than likely two — will follow the erratic righthander to Louisiana this week.

"Not to pin everything on Redding, but the bullpen just hasn't been getting the job done lately," Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker said after demoting Redding and placing lefthander Darren Oliver on the 15-day disabled list. "It's most everybody down there. You've got to start somewhere. It won't be the only move that we make, but it's a start. He's one of the guys that have (minor-league) options down there.

"The continuing theme with him has been command. We've talked for years about how much ability he has. It's time for him to put the finishing touches on becoming a major-league pitcher."

In a sign of just how little trust the Astros have in Redding's ability and maturity, he was demoted even though the man who replaced him in the starting rotation two week ago landed on the disabled list the same night. New Orleans righthander Chad Qualls will replace Redding in the bullpen, and Zephyrs lefthander Carlos Hernandez has been promoted to start in Oliver's place Saturday.

"You put your team together, and to some degree you live and die with your players," Hunsicker said. "It's no different regardless of who it is, whether it's Jeff Bagwell or Lance Berkman or anybody else. If you have confidence in somebody, you've got to stay with them and hope they can snap out of it.

"We've had confidence in Redding's ability. We've had a lot of patience with him. Again, it's not just him. This is a start, and I suspect there will be another change or two coming."

Long considered immature by teammates, Redding, who is 4-7 with a 5.73 ERA, didn't earn any points with some veterans by refusing to talk to the media afterward. Regardless, the Astros must figure out a way to get out of their funk.

"We're always trying to find answers," Bagwell said after the Astros lost their third game in a row and fifth of six. "It's just frustrating. I've never seen anything like this."

Symptomatic of their season, the Astros got off to a strong start Tuesday before fizzling in the middle innings.

Berkman gave the Astros a 1-0 lead with a home run in the first. The Astros added another run in the second, which Jeff Kent led off with a double. Morgan Ensberg followed with a single to left, and Jose Vizcaino drove in Kent from third with a fielder's choice grounder.

The Astros had a tremendous opportunity to build a cushion in the third. Craig Biggio led off with a single to left, and Berkman followed with a walk off Steve Trachsel. After Carlos Beltran hit a fielder's choice grounder to short and stole second base, Bagwell loaded the bases with a walk.

Trachsel induced a fielder's choice grounder to the mound from Kent and a fly out to center from Ensberg to strand the runners.

"We've just gotten into a funk about putting several runs across the plate," manager Phil Garner said. "Our rallies have fizzled on us."

The Mets cut the deficit to 2-1 on Eric Valent's RBI single to second base in the bottom of the third inning. Brad Ausmus' RBI double down the left-field line gave the Astros a 3-1 lead in the fourth, but Pete Munro gave it all back in the bottom of the inning.

Cliff Floyd and Richard Hidalgo led off the New York fourth with back-to-back doubles, cutting the Astros' lead to 3-2. Mike Cameron tied the score with an RBI single to center and reached third when Beltran let the ball roll under his glove. David Wright added an RBI single, giving the Mets a 4-3 lead.

"I couldn't stay out of the big inning," Munro said. "Cliff hit actually a good pitch. It was like six inches outside, and he just went the other way. That's Cliff Floyd for you."

The Mets pulled away with three more runs off Redding in the seventh, which Wright started with a home run over the left-field wall. Jason Phillips walked, and Joe McEwing sacrificed. Gerald Williams added a pinch-hit single, and Jose Reyes hit a two-run triple over Beltran's head in center to cap the scoring.

"It did look like we were in control of the game, and then they came back," Garner said. "It's a story that's been all too familiar. How we're going to fix that, that is what we're going to try to figure it out."


Well, here comes Carlos at least. That line by Ortiz hinting more demotions to come is interesting- I've always thought Ortiz was one of the better writers, and seems to be in the know. The frustrating thing about Redding was he cruised through the 6th.

 

And we had confidence in Tim "The Psychopath" Redding? The guy didn't even have confidence in himself.

 

MadMax- I don't necessarily disagree...though I've never been a fan of Redding. I always felt in addition to not having the mentality, I never saw the pure stuff that a Roy, Wade, or pre-injury Carlos had. Or even look at a guy like Chad Harville, who has the stuff, but is working on the rest. I saw a guy with an impressive repertoire of MLB-level pitches but no "killer" pitch. A guy with his kind of repertoire and the right mentality can baffle hitters, but he did not have it. Reminds me of Chris Holt. At least Hidalgo had put together the big season(s).

mulletman- Carlos' velocity reportedly was topping at around 80 earlier in the year. It's now topping out at 90, which can be serviceable. The thing I want to see is if his pitches still have that explosion towards the end- his fastball used to sit around 92-93, but with life at the end of it, similar to Dontrelle Willis (without the crazy delivery). I look forward to seeing him again- who knows, maybe he can breathe life back into this team.