Fernando had a shaky 4 inning outing today against the Tigers - well, 1 shaky inning at least. He was facing Detroit's opening day lineup in the first 2 frames, cruised through the first 5 batters, then gave up 1B, BB, 1B, 3-run 2B to the 6-9 guys with 1 out in the 2nd. He faced scrubs his final 2 innings. Albers was lights out in his 4 innings (4H, 0BB, 5K) but he was facing nothing but camp fodder. Stros, fielding a lineup with maybe 2 legit prospects, lost 3-1. The big boys take on the AAA kids at Dell Diamond tonight.
Buck, how do you think the rotation is going shake out? Wandy looks like a lock for the 4th spot and then I'd like to see Nieve in the 5th spot, but I wouldn't have problem with Sampson in there instead. Will Albers likely start the season at Round Rock?
Wandy, Nieve in the rotation. White takes over the Springer role in middle relief. Bork & Sampson long relief. Will be crucial with the short inning starters they have in the 3-5 spots. Mohler pitched his ass off this spring, but will probably retire if he doesn't stick with the Stros. Most years he would have made the club. Would be nice if he'd go to RR for insurance, but I understand why he doesn't want to. He said a couple of days ago that he'll "either be going Houston or going home". Albers, Gutierrez at AAA hopefully ready to shore up the rotation & replace whoever's ineffective by sometime in May or so. Gutierrez & Estrada could both figure into the pen at some point. Especially Estrada, who could take over in a setup role if any of the top 3 falter or get hurt/traded. Patton possibly ready sometime later. Just the vibe I'm getting from what I've read/heard. I have no special insight.
Man I really hope Lidge turns it up a notch beginning Monday...gave up 2 more runs tonight in one inning of work.
Hunter Pence hit a ball somewhere in the vicinity of Neptune off Lidge tonight. The Perfect Storm of houston talkradio jabber. How many heads exploded?
Does anyone have Pence's line from the game? From the recap, I see a double off of Jennings and a dinger off of Lidge. I really hope that if Lidge does not stand and deliver once the season starts, that PG will punk his ass down to 7th inning relief and let Wheeler and Qualls carry the load.
I simply cannot take Phil Garner seriously as a manager if he throws Lidge out there in the Closers role on opening day.
Your bias is oft-stated around here. Pretty obvious you'd find fault with whatever it is that he does. Hard to take seriously, indeed.
That is absurd .. I've stated many times that Garner is a great players coach and he is a very good coach at building a team with chemistry. I've said the only major flaw with him is how he is stubborn and reluctant to adjust when it is necessary and I stand by that. He is loyal to a fault IMO. I never bashed him for leaving Everett in as many here do. There have been many times that I think he made the right decision. If my criticizing him for leaving Jason Lane in the lineup way to long, leaving Wandy in the starting role for way too long, and leaving Lidge as the closer for way too long last year qualifies as finding "fault with whatever it is that he does", then sure. I know I am not the only one to feel that way. Those are really the only 3 things that I have critcized him for. Which one of those do you disagree with oh mighty baseball scholar? I love how you think you are such an expert on this board and that whenever someone thinks differently, you are right and they are wrong or just biased. You are the one that is hard to take seriously my friend.
I like Garner....but its hard not to question whether or not Lidge is "all there" right now...scares me a little
Well I can barely see it at all, but I think Media Player is my problem. Unless the colors are completely messed up on yours. I ordered the premium version this year that is supposed to be TV quality, but I guess they are no starting that until the regular season. Hopefully it will be almost as good as TV.
Coming out with both barrels! Outfreakingstanding. Maybe "bias" was a poor choice of words. You do seem to inordinately harp on Garner, repeatedly enough to stand out in my mind at least. What got me was this: "I simply cannot take Phil Garner seriously as a manager if he throws Lidge out there in the Closers role on opening day." Opening Day? You can't take him seriously? What the hell does this even mean? There's an owner & 75 or so scouts & members of the front office, 25 guys on the roster, a few dozen coaches & instructors, and about 140 minor leaguers who sure as hell do. What else matters? This may be just me, but what I care about, much moreso than what *I* think, is: On the field: What happened? Why did it happen? Organizationally: What are they doing? Why are they doing it? Opinions & arseholes...we all have em, and they're mostly full of ****. Forget experience & knowledge & facts & data & whatnot, and dealing with *what is actually happening and why*, all you need is an opinion these days. The Chron's sportspage has morphed into merely a blog portal, where anybody & everybody can spout off ala talk radio. Seriously, go read that stuff and the comment threads, read how these people interact. And all opinions are equal, so you sure better not challenge anybody, because they're just as right as anyone else. You better be nice & sweet too, and we'll just all sit here and sing 'round the campfire. Hold me. And frankly, it's too much effort to actually back up my opinion, because I saw things. I feel things. It's *my* opinion and gosh darnit, *I matter*. It's asinine. But again, maybe that's just me. I can deal with that. On Wandy, I tried to have a reasonable discussion with you a week or so ago, you know, actually looked up how Wandy's season unfolded, went through the gamelogs - more in depth & useful to me, at least, in figuring things out than just pointing to his WHIP, ERA, BAA, relying on the conventional wisdom or whatever - in an effort to better understand what the Stros thinking is and why *they* want to give him a shot to *start the season* in the rotation. You went poof. Oh well. We could do the same with Lane: when exactly should he have lost his starting gig? would be a good question to get the ball rolling. And another thing, I've never glossed myself as an expert or any such thing. 99.9% of what I post, while occasionally (often?) harsh or at least smothered in sarcasm gravy, is posted with a smile & should be taken with a box of salt. Maybe that's just what I'm used to & what I got trained on in college & in business: have a discussion, state your case, and be prepared to back it up & put up with some pretty damn harsh questioning. "If you can't take this abuse, how can you take the abuse you're going to get on a sit?" That sort of thing, with about 50% of the profanity ("You're f****** bent" and "Bull****, kid." were favorites of one of my old bosses). Maybe if I went all swoly with the smilies that would come across better. I sure as hell don't take it personally or myself all that seriously, nobody else should either. But I digress. Go Stros.
I stated an opinion that I think Garner is not a good manager because he is loyal to a fault and it is costing this team. Can I prove that he should have taken Wandy, Lane, and Lidge out sooner? Of course not. Does the fact that they didn't fire Garner make him a good manager and have full support from everyone in the organization? No. I feel Lidge is not ready to be the closer come opening day and has not performed on the field consistently over the past year and did NOTHING this spring to ease those concerns. I hope I am wrong. I feel the only reason Garner is sticking with Lidge is because that's what he had his mind set on before the season which I think is a terrible way to manage considering how bad Lidge did last year. He lets his loyalty get in the way, and that is why I can't take him seriously. To me it is obvious that he should be in a less important role and made to earn his way back into the closers role, but Garner is too worried about huring his feelings. That's my opinion. Yeah my opinion doesn't matter much, but neither does yours or anyone else on this board. Hell, why do any of us even post here if what we say means nothing? I've tried to be as objective as possible. I've never attacked Garner personally (like many on this board), and I like him as a person. Just not as the manager. To say that whatever he does I would not like is just night right. To be fair, I do respect your opinion and I do think you know what you are talking about. But just because I think differently than you is no reason to accuse me of just complaining to complain which is what you did.
25 Man roster was set after Munson, Albers, Nieve, and Bruntlett were sent down. Suprised that Nieve was sent down. Brian Moehler made the team as a long reliever by I predict he will gone by May.
I can't believe Bruntlett cleared waivers, but I'm awful glad he did. The pitching arrangement they ended up with would probably have been about #46 on my list of predictions.
So the 25 man roster looks like this... (* denotes starter) Catchers (2): Ausmus* Quintero Infielders (6): Berkman* Biggio* Everett* Ensberg* Lamb Loretta Outfielders (5): Lee* Burke* Lane Scott* (I think) Palmeiro Starting Rotation (5): 1. Oswalt 2. Jennings 3. Williams 4. Wandy Rodriguez 5. Sampson Bullpen (7): Lidge - CL Wheeler Qualls Moehler Trever Miller Rick White Borkowski Interesting bullpen alignment, indeed.
