My bad... but I blame it all on Milo Hamilton. I was listening to the post-game on the radio, and they re-played the call of Edmonds' home-run, and he clearly said, "Randall's Crawford Boxes." Then, my brain went screwy... and i re-played the HR... and I convinced myself that the sinage wasn't there. Then, I just saw the replay at halftime of the Rox game, and saw that it was indeed still there... so once again... my bad.
I will reserve my opinion of the season until we have played 20 games....hopefully, last night was no indication of what is to come. Some observances... 1) Someone either forgot to tell Ensberg he is batting cleanup or he is just not an aggressive enough hitter to do so. Terrible job by not swinging the bat in the 8th inning and striking out looking...just terrible. 2) Tavares will be wasted if we leave him in the 8 hole. If he happens to get on with one out, he gets bunted to second and doesn't get a chance to steal. Which brings me to my third point... 3) Everett is not a leadoff hitter. Not even close. If you are going to have as poor of a hiter as Everett lead off, why not give Willie a shot...he certainly cant do much worse 4) Bags will not see a pitch until Ensberg starts hitting 5) Obviously hind sight it 20/20, but why wasnt Lamb brought in to pinch hit for Everett in the 9th ?
Screw hind sight, that's inexcusable. You want a better RBI bat up in that situation, 10 times out of 10. Viz, having been brought in as a PH already, could have stayed in the game to play SS if the game went to extras.
IT was just one game. I will wait until they get at least 25 games under their belt before I criticize. I would like to see Willy T lead off and Biggio did much better then I expected, I still feel he doesnt have the same range as Burke but it is what it is. I think it will be a fun year but the young guys need to start off strong to build their confidence.
LOL...i realized that after I wrote it...oh well...sorry to vent.....almost time to go throw on my Pettitte jersey and head for the ball park
any word on today's lineup? I'm headed out to enjoy the game and brilliant weather. Just bought two $5 tickets (cheapest in the park). Who cares when it's this nice outside.
I imagine that the lineup will be the same. Doubt he'll make any changes, Carpenter and Marquis are both righties...
i'd like to harken back to last year with the following post: Biggio is killing us out there. Thank you. Thank you very much. Drive safely.
I wish Biggio would kill us more often by going 3/4 with 3 RBIs with a nice diving stop and a perfect read on a liner while the infield was in.
Great post methinks. I agree with #s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (if you get my drift). That said, I enjoyed the game - I must give kudos to the following; 1. Biggio - his bat will help out at least the first 3 months. 2. Jeriome - for landing us Taveras and Luuuuuuuuke. 3. Luke - despite his hitless night showed great eye and savvy at the plate. 4. Willy - 2 hits, 2 runs - nuff said. 5. Oswalt - Poor outing but I was excited to see his change-up working great. Now he has a plus fastball, curve and change. 6. The Bully - They held their own and if that trend contrinues I see them being one of the major keys to success this season. The Cards, Braves, Cubs and Mets all have suspect Bully. In all, the sad truth is that we need at least 2 or 3 everyday players to be on pace for a career year in order to make up Lance's absense and stay competitive this season - and I am confident that Luke, Taveras, Lane and Morgan are capable of doing that.
http://fantasybaseball.rotoworld.com/content/clubhouse_news.asp?sport=MLB&majteam=HOU "We know Phil Garner provided the Astros with a nice lift last year, but it shouldn't be long before he's again considered one of baseball's weakest managers. Hitting Taveras eighth might be the worst idea he's had so far this year. Taveras was 10-for-10 in steal attempts this spring, so what do the Astros do when he gets his first single of the season? Bunt him over, of course. Taveras can get himself into scoring position without any help. The Astros should have Brad Ausmus or Adam Everett batting in front of the pitcher."
You never start a rookie out in a high pressure situation if you don't have to, especially someone who was making the jump from Double-A. You need to ease them into it, otherwise if they fail it might do something to their psyche... Rick Ankiel anyone? If he continues to achieve over the coming weeks then you can move him up because he's proven to himself that he can do it. Almost every studied baseball person I've heard talk about this agrees that 8 is a good starting spot for him. Hell, it worked out fine last night too because Taveras singled, moved over on a bunt and scored. Biggio will hit between 40 and 50 doubles this season like he does every year, which means that Taveras will have plenty of opportunities to score even if he is stuck in the 8 hole. Last year the same people that see him hitting 8th were probably the ones b****ing about our 8 and 9 hitters being instant-outs too.
yeah..we all know the opening day lineup is cast in stone. you can make no changes as you go. fortunately for "weak managers" like Garner, they can always turn to the pure wisdom that springs forth from such respected places as rotoworld.com. fantasy geeks.
