^ Right here.... On a good note....remember the Braves are the biggest post-season underachievers, right? Well, why waste the next game on them? It's a moral imperative we beat them since ATL would just waste the opportunity anyways (get swept by STL or LA).
What a crappy week for Houston sports. Cougars lose in OT. Texans lose in OT. Astros lose in the 9th. Anyone know how to fix a tv after you throw your remote through it?
Cox always owns whichever Astros manager he faces in the playoffs. He just may have managed to get another one fired if we don't win this series. Garner has made some bad moves in this playoff series but I can't get too mad at him. Part of the reason we are in the playoffs is because of Garner.
OK, I walked away from the computer for a couple minutes, but I'm still in a freaking daze. What could have been one of the best sports weekends of my life -- Stros advance and Cal (my alma mater) beats USC -- instead became on of the most frustrating. Cal falls nine yards short of a program-altering win; Stros come just short of putting the Braves away. The good news is we live to fight another day, right? As long as there's another game to play, we still have a chance ...
Funny -- I just finished taping up my remote. The plastic thing that holds the batteries in broke when I threw it across the room ... Glad my wife wasn't home for that!
i dont get it. garner refuses to use the bullpen in the first game when he should have taken clemens out earlier. and now he's letting springer pitch in the 9th? i have absolutely no faith in the bullpen. i'd be ok with lidge freaking batting up there. if we can' t shut em out in the 9th its not like it matters if we score or not. i'd rather have lidge pitch.
If you have the winning run on 3rd base with 2 outs in the 8th inning you pinch hit for Lidge every time. The problem i had was removing Biggio earlier; after Palmeiro grounded out ESPN showed him in the dugout and all he could do was shake his head.
i understand that...but shouldn't there be some thought about it given the fact that we have no bullpen? if we have someone who can come in the 9th its one thing...but when the best you can get up there is springer shouldn't that be considered? lidge was all we had.
So, because he managed to impassion the Astros for a couple of months he gets a free pass in the playoffs? Quite frankly, the Astros are a better team than the Braves right now. The weak link isn't with the team, but with the manager. If Garner plays the odds, the Astros are in the next round. There've been two close games. He played the #'s wrong in both of them. Do we really wan an idiot for a manager?
ok, after going into a daze for 2 hours and taking time to watch "Die Hard With a Vengeance" for the first time ever (seeing people die after this sports weekend felt good) i feel ready to type. a. taking out clemens after 5? what the ever loving ****. why even start him on 3 days rest if we're gonna have to rely on our dog crap bullpen because you pull him after breezing through the 5th. was he even to 90 pitches yet? as unpretty as it has been with clemens pitching, somehow he seems to manage to not give up runs. and anyway, clemens giving up runs would feel a lot better than seeing qualls giving up runs and wondering if clemens would've gotten them out. let clemens get one more inning in, throw however many ****ty relievers we can find to get through the 7th (making a change after each batter if necessary), then let lidge take the 8th and 9th. b. a double switch to take out 3-4, hero for the day, biggio to move the pitcher up one spot in the 7th inning of a tie game? what the ever loving ****. while it's not for sure that biggio would've batted for palmeiro (i.e. w/o the double switch we either PH palmeiro instead of having lane up there or maybe we just let lidge bat w/ 2 outs and only a runner on first) taking biggio out was still stupid as can be. c. hitting furcal was very bad. i don't see how it can be called stupid since i doubt that was the plan, but choking like a little b**** sounds like a good phrase. funny because right before he threw the pitch i had a flash in my head that he would hit him (furcal seemed to be kinda close to the plate and something just felt wrong). but... d. a fastball to drew with a 3-2 count, a base open, and 2-19 giles coming up? WHAT THE EVER LOVING ****!!!! i am dumbfounded beyond belief on that one. when it got to 3-1, i thought maybe we should walk him, but thought well maybe just throw him some curve balls and if he goes fishing it's all good. drew seems to have been missing curves all series long. first pitch, curve ball, doesn't even swing, good, 2 strikes. now throw another and hope he misses, maybe even well out of the strike zone just to make sure he can't hit it. but wait, nevermind, how about a nice fat fastball down the middle. brilliant. F ausmus for calling for it, F springer for agreeing to it, and F any fan who happened to sneak a peak at the call and didn't throw something onto the field to stop play so ausmus could have a few seconds to pull his head out of his ass and call for the breaking pitch. e. honestly, i'm not sure i pinch hit for lidge. i know you almost have to, but with it being smoltz, i'm not sure it mattered. i'd rather try to outlast smoltz with lidge and see if we could score later (of course just like in game 2 this could've gone 33 innings and we wouldn't have come up with the needed clutch hit). f. why not let everett go for the steal? g. why not double switch when you bring in lidge? h. why is jeff kent the slowest man on earth? i. why do we love hitting ground balls with guys on first even though the pitch was up enough that we didn't have to? j. why do i continue to let this team tear my heart out? death, taxes, and the stros choking in the playoffs. now, after watching UT end it's longest in the nation non-shutout streak, the stros choke away game 4, the texans blow it in overtime, chris simms get hurt, and then roy williams get hurt, excuse me while i go kill myself.
Haven you’re a pretty smart guy so please stop making this silly argument that all Garner did was impassion the team. Its one of the greatest turnarounds and finishes in Baseball history so I think he did a little more than impassion them. He got them to play an entirely different style of baseball which is something they haven’t done in all they’re playoff years. I’m sure if Roger didn’t feel the need to come out the game he wouldn’t have. They usually defer to Roger on those decisions and he probably told them he didn’t have enough. As far as pitching him on three days rest, what do you want to see, Pete Munro. This team was still in a position to win this game at the end and to suddenly say Garner is a stupid manager because Jeff Kent (your RBI leader) bats into a double play with runners on first and third with one out with a chance to tie the game is just wrong. Garner is the difference in a team that has never played with passion, and have never played with aggression. The guy deserves to keep his job. The Astros have been a better team than most of the teams in the Majors all season, but they were under five hundred coming out of the All-Star break. What was the weak link then, and what was the link that strengthened the chain?
Man I am freaking pissed right now ... Garner gift wrapped this game for the Braves ... How do you only get 7 pitches out of Lidge ... It's called thinking ahead Phil Although he's done great getting us to the postseason this year, I believe he should not be brought back ... You just can't have someone manage the way he has in this series. I still think we move on to the next round, but this absolutely KILLS us for the next round if we do get there ... No Roy Oswalt or Clemens to start game 1 of the next series ... It would be none other than Brandon Backe pitching on only 3 days rest
Yes, it's been a tough day to be an Astros fan. They HAD this series DONE and now it's a winner take all game in Atlanta. They can still win and make it to the NLCS and exorcise the demons of playoffs past.
