I still contend this loss goes squarely on Adam Everett and Mike Lamb. If it wasn't for their errors in the first inning then Gallo would've never sniffed the game and the umpires blown call wouldn't matter
i'll still be shocked if gallo gets cut. will believe it when i see it. here's the problem though....miller just bought himself a good 3 years of being allowed to suck without consequence thanks to his performance tonight
You catch 18 innings when it's not your natural position then try to catch a throw on one hop with a guy about to cream you.
I think Gallo will be sent down. The Astros need a fresh arm especially if Nieve sucks tomorrow. I think they will callup Jason Hirsh or Chris Sampson.
They're not going to bring up their top pitching prospect for bullpen duty, Hirsh will be starting at Round Rock. My bet's on Brandon Puffer and his 1.69 ERA.
Adam Everett sucks. I don't care how good your defense is but if you have a .266 OBP, you need to stay on the bench.
Granted I was more upset after watching 6 hours of baseball and losing like they did and was harder on Munson than I should have been. I still don't like the fact that he was looking at Bay and not at the ball when it was coming in. I just expect a big league catcher to look the ball all the way in before worrying about who is coming down the line. If he looks it in and drops it I have no problem at all. He is definitely not the reason we lost as that was a tough play.
I think Bay got him before the ball really even got there. Wily kind of short armed that throw - it was accurate, but we've seen him put a lot more on throws than he did. The ball kind of died after the first bounce, and the 2nd bounce was even more. It's also not fair to Munson - he was catching Lidge and Gallo; how was he supposed to actually expect an accurate throw? Bring up Chris Sampson - guy is also leading Rouned Rock in hitting - 12/23! He's sporting a 7-1 record, 2.64 ERA and a very nice 35/5 K/BB ratio, while opposing hitters are batting .228 against him. Puffer is the other candidate with the aforementioned stellar ERA and a sterling .151 opposing BA, and only 1 home run allowed. Only number for concern would be 8 walks in 26 innings is a little higher than you'd like.
I cant believe I just watched six hours of baseball. This was a very important game, especially with the Cards coming up next. I am willing to buy Gallo's bus ticket myself if it means that I would never have to see him pitch again. I dislike gallo more than any Astro since pete munroe. It was said on this board first, and I forgot which poster said it but if Gallo was not left handed he would be in the independant league. I am so pissed off right now.
can anyone possibly explain gallo pitching instead of borkowski at any point in this game? i can't believe they brought gallo in to close, let alone leaving him in the inning after giving up the homerun. wow. so who wants to collect the dada quotes in this thread for when the astros are in the playoffs...some of you guys heat of the moment posts are priceless.
Man, how much longer can we afford to keep Gallo on the team? He's terrible. I turned the game off after we got a run in the 17th thinking Lidge would pitch the final inning to rap it up and he was doing pretty good. Then, I flip back over later to find out we lost cause Garner went with Gallo. Garner must love Gallo or something. Gallo hasn't done a damn thing all season except give it up in most appearances. How many more chances does he get? I hate how the Astros are playing right now. I can't f-ing stand it! I'm turning against baseball. I want to throw a baseball as hard as I can through a window most nights. I'm frustrated.
I would love for that to be true, but I don't think we are a playoff team right now, just not good enough. And I know nobody wants me to be right... DD
I hate to sound like a quitter, especially in light of last year, but I'm already looking towards next season. Am I right in thinking that Bagwell, Pettitte, and Wilson will all come off the books? And you know that Roger won't be back. I'd like to see Uncle Drayton throw 5 years at $14 million a year at Carlos Lee. That's overpaying him, but we desperately need the offense. You figure that Bagwell's salary slot can pay Lee and Pettitte's slot can pay Ensberg the raise he's going to get. Then you can use Wilson's money to shop for a veteran pitcher for the middle of the rotation. Our lineup next year: Taveras CF Biggio 2B Berkman 1B Lee LF Ensberg 3B Burke RF Ausmus C Everett SS With that lineup, even if Biggio starts to fall off, it's a good bet that Hunter Pence will be ready then, and he can move into RF while Burke goes to 2B. With all of our young arms, I think that building the team like this will make us legit contenders for several years.
As bad as our offense has been this year, and it has been pretty bad, most of the team's problems are with pitching. The starters are all having pretty bad years, except Roy, and the bullpen has been garbage most of the year.....so many blown leads. The confidence that the team had at the beginning of the year is gone, last night's game looked like 2 last place teams fighting it out....simply awful baseball...dropped balls, overthrows, poor decisions, just awful baseball.... I do not understand how MSN & Buck etc, can say...ups and downs and simply ignore how bad this team is right now...... The Astros suck, offensively, defensively and pitching, not a lot to cheer about...... Can they turn it around, OF COURSE !! But, Phil Garner needs to make some tough decisions. Gallo - gone Lane - Bench or RR Everett - more days off with Bruntlett filing in Wilson - to the bench Lamb - start at 1B Berkman - to the outfield Burke - every day starter in LF, and spell Biggio at 2b Call up some young arms to put into middle relief. Pray to Roger that he wants to come back and help the team rally, it certainly would fit into his enormous ego if he comes back and the team starts winning. DD
Yeah, there's always a fine line between "it's early, give guys a chance" and "it's too late now". To me, at this point in the season, guys have had their chance. That's just an opinion, but every day that goes by, that opinion becomes closer to reality. Anyone who is banking on another miracle run needs to realize that this ain't the same season as last. Roger isn't here, the bullpen is struggling, and the league is stronger this year. And even if the team was the same as last year, the odds of catching that lightning in a bottle twice aren't good. This team needs to find more time for Burke, Lamb, and Bruntlett now and less time for Lane, Wilson, and Everett.
While the lineup has its holes, and every "suggestion" about improving this team involves the lineup... the Astros are not getting the pitching they need (night-in/night-out) to win ballgames. When guys get back to giving 3 out of 5 quality starts a week, they'll start winning. (and if they can't get that out of their starting pitchers, THAT is the area they need to address).
But with young pitchers, don't you think that getting a lead every now and then might take some pressure off of them? I am impressed with our young staff and I think they're only going to get better. Can the same be said about the offense? I'll admit that when these youngs get hit, they get hit hard. But more often than not, I'm comfortable with running them out there. Besides, who would you replace them with? The offense is something that can be tweaked, whereas the pitching is what it is. Is this not the time for tweaking? I'm not saying that running Lamb, Burke, and Bruntlett out there is going to provide all of the answers, but it would be an improvement.
These young pitchers have had bad games when they've had an early lead, and when they haven't had an early lead. Also, with the amount of early runs they give up, how likely is it they get a lead? I think they've been "tweaking" the lineup ever since the San Fran massacre series... and the results (offensively) haven't been any better than what they had from the original lineup. BUT, in the games they've lost in this 6-19 stretch, MOST of them have been because of sub-par pitching... mixed in with the bullpen meltdown. But, I agree... there's not much you can do from the pitching except that you hope they start performing better. And the only regular change I'd like to see in the lineup is to get a healthy Lance in there... have they won a game yet that he hasn't started?
Actually, take back everything I said... the lineup is giving Oliver Perez his Cy Young mojo again... its 1-0 right now, and that means ballgame.
