Lance got the sombrero tonight, although he DID check his swing on the last pitch. He sure didn’t look like the guy he’s looked like for the past couple weeks and he left 4 guys on base.

Miggy didn’t look like the 5th best hitter in the NL neither and HE left 5 guys on base. But he stole an all-important 3rd base, so he was in position to score on Carlos’ shallow single to left. That was great.

Bourn does seem to have broken out of his hitting slump (I certainly hope) and he’s gotten his average back up to the Mendoza line in the past 2 days. Tonight he went 2 fer 4 and knocked in one of the Astros 2 runs - against a lefty, yet. And he stole yet another base. I really REALLY hope this is a turnaround. I hate giving up on young players if they aren’t looking like Albert Pujols after a couple weeks. I even read a comment by some person on another site saying something like - Bourn should be hitting like Jacoby Ellsbury.

right

Anyhow, the guys had better get their hitting together.

As for the pitching, Moehler wasn’t too bad - he got clobbered in the 3rd after getting tired from a 11 pitch AB from Aramis Ramirez, then a 6 pitch walk to Fukudome, then he hung a slider to Soto, who hit it 404′ and the Cubs went ahead 3-0 and never relinquished that lead.

Anyway, I was in perfect position across the stadium to see it, and I also have watched the replay in slo-mo 4 times, and that ball DEFINITELY hit just to the right of the yellow line, which means the umps got it wrong and Michael Bourn got it right and it was a regular homer and not an inside the parker. Michael should have acted like it was a live ball unless he saw the ump make the circle - it’s a dumb rookie mistake, I know.

Byrdal as only allowed to pitch one inning, to the 7,8,9 hitters and then Nieve was sent to pitch to Sori, Theriot and D.Lee. Nieve wasn’t exactly nails - 27 pitches, 3 hits, 6 batters, 1 run.

Wesley Wright came on for the 8th, got the first batter out, gave up a single to left to the second, walked the third, then was pulled for Borkowski.

uh-oh

Naturally, he lets one of Wesley’s runners score AND he gives up a 2 run homer in the 9th.

One of the problems with Moehler is that he can’t really go deep into games - and I was impressed that he was actually able to come back for the 5th after throwing 36 pitches in the 4th - AND he got the meat of the lineup out with just 15 pitches.

But unfortunately, the bullpen is not strong. And we all knew that one of these days, the miracle comebacks were gonna stop, or at least become less freaquent AND Carlos Marmol has absolutely shut the Astros DOWN since he went to the pen…

And tomorrow it is Chris Sampson vs Ryan Dempster

Dempster, their shaky closer of last year, has turned into a NAILS starter this year. He’s 5-1 in 9 GS: 57.1 IP - 7 QS, 35 H, 3 HR, 24 BB, 48 K: 2.35 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and a .172 BAA

Berkman has always hit him well - hope he gets his stroke back tomorrow.

And Chris better have a good sinker, because the Cubs have a great hitting lineup…

Barely, because although the guys had 13 hits and 4 walks, they left 9 on base and Lance stole a base, but Michael Bourn got caught stealing twice. Well, actually, really only once because the first time, the SS missed the tag and it wasn’t even close. Coop went out, and without swearing, explained to the ump that he knew a very good optical store as well as a great place for hearing aids if the ump would like a few suggestions. Coop got tossed. Was pretty funny, but Bourn was still out.

Brandon Backe pitched an absolutely ace game through 6 innings. He gave up 2 piddly singles and with no outs and men on first and third, the hitter popped up to Matsui and then for some unknown reason, Kinsler decided to tag at third and dash for home. Dude must have been transported back to his little league days or something. What, did he REALLY think that Matsui would have difficulty throwing the baseball the necessary 50 or so feet?

But anyway, Backe suddenly lost all movement on pitches in the 7th, gave up a long FB to right, then a single, then back to back homers. He left nice fat FB over the plate, hung sliders - it wasn’t Soriano hitting Schilling’s pitch in the dirt out. It was Phat Lushuus Meaty Pitches right THERE waiting to get HIT.

And Coop did the smart thing, with the Astros leading 5-3 and pulled Brandon and sent in the set up man. Brocail got out of the inning, and Almost got out of the 8th, but gave up a single to Frankie Catalanotto.

With the meat of the lineup coming up, Coop pulled Brocail, who was already at 28 pitches, and sent in Valverde. Unfortunately, he didn’t also send in Erstad for defense and so the hitter sent a fly ball to left which Clank, naturally couldn’t get to (and Erstad most likely would have) and he also didn’t field the ball cleanly so that the runner scored easily instead of having to hold up at third. Ah well, such is the negative of having Clank in the field. I’m thinking that Berkman must be sore and wanted to DH because there is no other rational reason that he would have done so in the first game - at least in this one there was the very reasonable excuse that Loretta can’t play OF and Erstad can’t hit leftys…

Anyhow, Valverde got Young out, then struck out the side in the 9th, after giving up a single to Laird. And he has finally gotten his ERA down below 4.

Good news is that  Bourn was on base 3 of 5 times and Towles hit an RBI double, and hopefully, he’ll feel a bit more comfortable at the plate. I hope.

Texas has a very good lineup - reminds me a lot of the late 90s lineups. I can’t understand the Padres letting Bradley walk - especially as they don’t really have anyone on that team who can hit. Ah well, their loss.

So the road trip comes to an end with a 7-3 record.

Monday night, the Astros are on the ESPN Monday night game. Hard to believe, but it is not because of Berkman, who is FINALLY starting to get some notice from BBTN, but because we are playing one of their 4 media darlings, the Cubs.

As my husband always tells me, nothing better than coming home so you can sleep in your own bed. (Well, I guess not for the Roger Clemens of the baseball world, but I digress…)

The ESPN game will be Moehler vs lefty Ted Lilly, hardly a big time matchup, but if it gets Berkman a little pub for his run for the triple crown, all the better.

What would be cooler than Lance winning the NL MVP and Josh Hamilton winning the AL MVP??? Well, I guess it would be the Astros beating the Rangers in the Series, but hey, first things first - BOTH teams need starting pitchers…

And he strained his groin on his 111th pitch - he landed awkwardly, looks like. No news, just “day to day.”

sigh

And this lineup is BAD juju. You shouldn’t never mess with what is working and working well and the team was doing nothing but winning with Bourn at leadoff. Pence isn’t doing diddly, we’ve got the 3 automatic outs for 7,8,9 again, so the pitcher is pitching them extra tough. Since the lineup was messed with, Matsui and Berkman got picked off, and Bourn got caught stealing by a catcher who is a lousy defensive catcher.

Lance, of course, is doing more than diddly - he singled, solo homered and walked. But Miggy had only a RBI single and Lee did nothing. This lineup managed only SIX hits and 3 walks off Vicente Freaking Padilla. Like I said, this lineup was a BAD idea.

sigh

Of course the screams for Bourn’s head are getting louder. So we send him down/bench him/DFA him or something and put WHO in center? Erstad is too fragile to play every day, no matter what his BA is right now, and he really isn’t fast enough to play center, so Pence would have to go back and Erstad would have to go to right. Sorry, but Erstad is doing this well BECAUSE he isn’t playing every day. He’s a very VERY old 33 who has been banged up a LOT during his 8 year career.

Pence is a lousy leadoff guy because he basically is a hacker who doesn’t walk or take pitches. Apparently Matsui doesn’t WANT to lead off, so we would play Erstad, who doesn’t have much power 6th, then Wiggy 7th and Towles at 8th. We’re going to have the problem with the weak 7,8,9 again.

And anyone who thinks there is someone in the minors who is ready, let’s hear who it is. Oh yeah - and WHO is it that is supposed to take Erstad’s spot on the bench when Bourn is DFA’d/sent down? And no, we can NOT keep the Bourn on the ML bench because he obviously isn’t going to be much use as a PH and the other bench guy is Jose Cruz with his buck40 average and all he’s good for is sometimes taking a walk and DR. We don’t need two guys to DR in the OF on the bench when neither one of them can hit, right? So exactly WHERE are the Astros gonna get this bat?

And once more, I don’t get the interest in replacing Towles with Quintero, who is doing simply awful in AAA - and Josh Paul is doing worse. And the guys in AAA have OPS under 700 - there are no Saltalamacchias in waiting. I hope this isn’t gonna be one of those - oh, since Quintero did great in spring training, he’ll do great all year. Yall forgetting that Cheito Cruz did great in ST as well?  As did Bourn and Towles? ST stats mean zero.

Tomorrow, it’s Brandon Backe vs Kason Gabbard

Brandon hasn’t been particularly good this year - 2-5 in 9 GS (3 QS): 48.2 IP (5.1 IP/GS) - 53 H, 8 HR, 29 BB, 37 K: 4.62 ERA, 1.67 WHIP and a .267 BAA

He has pitched 10 innings at Arlington - 7 ER - 11 H, 2 HR, 4 BB, 7 K (not good)

Kason Gabbard, LHP, age 26 is the pitcher the Rangers got from Boston (along with David Murphy) in the Eric Gagne swindle last year. He’s been up and down the past few years and now has a career 8-4 in 25 GS and 3 in relief with a 3.89 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and a .241 BAA.

This year, he’s 1-0 in 6 GS (2 QS) - 29.2 IP - he seems to have had some injury problems as he had one start with 2 IP, after which he missed 1 start, and he had to leave after 3.2 IP at Seattle (the game where that idiot Richie Sexson threw a helmet at him for throwing a pitch down the middle, then charged the mound.) His last start, he gave up 2 runs over 5.1 IP.

28 H, 1 HR, 14 BB, 11 K: 2.12 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, .257 BAA

He has pitched 23 innings in Arlington - 22 H, 4 HR, 9 BB, 12 K - 4.30 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, .247 BAA

You see, Roy Oswalt could pitch a nono and ESPN wouldn’t mention it until the end of the show and then it would be a - oh, by the way this guy pitches OK - and back to Joba’s latest hairstyle. Lance Berkman could hit 4 grannies and we’d all be hearing about Jayson Werth and his 8 ribs and we’d get a - oh yeah, and Berkman hit 4 homers - more on Manny’s cute Mannyness after the break…

What a badly played baseball game - execrable pitching and fielding, 2 baserunning blunders and ELEVEN unearned runs between both teams due to 5 errors. YECCCCH!!!

What is so amazing is that Chacon gave up EIGHT runs in 3.1 IP. EIGHT runs and he STILL gets a ND. Now it IS true that he was tagged with 3 UER, but after Matsui bobbled a ball, allowing Young to reach, Chacon had a lot of trouble finding the plate unless he threw the ball down the middle, and he was actually pretty lucky to escape with just 2 singles and a double. Second inning, he got 3 GB outs and a walk, but again, he had a LOT of trouble finding the plate. Third inning, Josh Hamilton sends a meatball 420′ - which means it was a serious meatball. Then he had a couple groundouts, a walk and a flyout to deep center that Bourn mde a great catch on. And at the end of the inning, he’d thrown 51 pitches, 27 balls. Which is scary.

And sure enough, 4th inning was B A D.

Saltalamacchia, hitting below the Mendoza line, hits a hanging midplate breaker 440′ into the upper deck. Vasquez walks on 5 pitches, and the strike was an act of kindness by the HP ump. Kinsler walks on 5 pitches - and again, the strike was a gift. Young flies out to the warning track in deep right.

Cooper then - foolishly, leaves Chacon in to face the AL (current) MVP Josh Hamilton, who he should know only too well from last year with the Reds and sure enough, he hits THAT ball 461′ into the upper deck in right center - the 3rd longest ball ever hit there.

NOW Cooper decides he has to pull Chacon. Like that old country song goes - waaaaaaaaal, it’s a little too late to do the right thing now…..

This was the Chacon I remembered from August 2006 when he gave up 7 ER in 1.2 IP - AND a homer to Roy Oswalt, a homer to Aubrey Huff and Biggio, 2 walks and a couple of doubles and a single…

Fielding matters. It does. Matsui has now made 8 errors, and at least another 8 plays that were not called errors which allowed a runner to reach base on what SHOULD have been an out. I haven’t been impressed with him and I think that he just is getting so much praise because he’s incredibly better than a doddering Biggio was last year. Of course, Loretta was/is better than Biggio was last year.

Miggy made an error on what should have been an easy GIDP, getting none out (but hey, no one scored) and he allowed an infield single to short because he made a bad throw to Erstad. True, none of those runs scored, but it mattered because he made the pitchers work harder and throw to more batters.

Wiggy made an error - Hamilton was given an IF single by the overly generous home scorer, but it should have been a very easy 5-3, but Wiggy threw it into the bullpen. He played a grounder poorly, allowing Bradley to reach. He bobbled ANOTHER ball, but got lucky because the runner wasn’t running hard, assuming an out.

Towles missed a popup he should have caught, and that failed out led to 3 more runs.

Even Michael Bourn got into the act, bobbling a ball, allowing runners to advance, although they didn’t end up scoring.

But I do have to give props to Hunter Pence for making an absolutely AMAZING catch against the RF wall to end the 6th with bases loaded.

Wesley Wright took the loss - he came in in the 6th with 1 out, no on after Borkowski had pitched 2 scoreless innings, to face Hamilton. And the bases were promptly loaded on an E5, an IBB and an E6, just like that. He then had to pitch to 2 more guys, because Towles couldn’t get to a grounder right in front of the plate in time to make a 2-3 DP. And Pence saved him from 3 runs, yeah, all unearned, but runs just the same, by that Web Gem catch. In the 7th, he got the first 2 guys out, but then got tired, walked the next guy, then gave up the game losing hit. And Kinsler was DEFINITELY out - and that should have ended the inning with NO runs scored. Period.

And it got worse. Yeah. Worse.

Oscar Villareal had the night from he!! - 3 homers, a triple, 2 singles and a ROE - 6 runs, although only 2 were earned. Dewey came out after the third homer, with the score 15-8, and I guess he told him - it’s your inning, dude. I ain’t pulling you until you hit a hundred pitches, so you’d best get your own self out of this one. Here and I thought that maybe Dewey had straightened him out - guess not.

Lance went 2/4 somehow, with an IF single and a piddly bloop single to right and 2 FB outs to the wall. And those were the only well hit balls by Astros all night long - they basically singled and ROE and FC’d and doubled down the lines their way to 8 runs. The Rangers hit 6 homers - 3 off Chacon and 3 off Villareal.

uck - reminds me of the Ezequiel Astacio start there back in 05. YECCCCCCH.

Without QUESTION this was the worst played game I have seen the Astros play this year - well, except for the game yesterday with Loretta at short (shudder). I hate this lineup. Pence is not a leadoff guy, he’s a hacker. And you concentrate 3 bad hitters in the 7,8,9 hole. And I hate Lance as DH - Carlos Lee should ALWAYS be the DH, with Lance at first where he belongs and Erstad in left. Like I said before, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it - and messing with the lineup, in my opinion, was not smart.

Tomorrow night is Roy Oswalt vs Vicente Padilla

Roy this year is 4-3 in 9 GS: 57 IP - 63 H, 12 HR, 15 BB, 48 K: 5.05 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and a .284 BAA

At Arlington: 2-3 in 6 GS - 42 IP - 43 H, 5 HR, 10 BB, 35 K: 3.21 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and a .270 BAA

Vicente Padilla, age 30, RHP, who we have faced when he was with the Phils and the Rangers, is doing unusually well this year. He’s 5-2 in 9 GS - 55.2 IP - 60H, 7 HR, 19 BB, 35 K: 3.23 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, .283 BAA. Actually, this tells me he’s stranding a lot of baserunners…

In Arlington, he’s 13-9 in 30 GS with 1 CG SO: 177 IP - 186 H, 12 HR, 64 BB, 135K: 4.12 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and a .267 BAA

————

Couple more items:

1 - Geary had to go on the DL (pulled groin muscle - let’s hope it diesn’t take him as long as Wandy to come back. Fernando Nieve has been called up to take his spot in the bullpen. Nieve, by the way, is definitely going to be a bullpen guy for the rest of the year - he just doesn’t have the stamina to go more than a couple innings, at least at this point.

2 - Wandy should be making a rehab start this weekend.

3 - For those of all yall yearning for Quintero to replace Towles, we’re talking about a guy hitting .197/.225/.295/.517 at TRIPLE A!!!! And he has FIVE errors. AND the pitchers don’t want to throw to him. So let’s let Towles work it out for a while, OK???????

Some Lance highlights, thanks to Eric Seidman…

I guess maybe I shouldn’t underplay the years of hatred between the Brewers and the Rays or the White Sox and the Giants, should I?

But fact is that it is a money maker for those 8 teams and that is what matters most to Buddy Boy. It means nothing to him that it completely disrupts any elements of fairness in either league as teams have to play different opponents and different schedules. And it is ludicrous that the Astros have to play more games against our supposedly hated rivals, the Rangers, than the NL East or West. And no, there IS no historic rivalry. Nobody takes the “Silver Boot Trophy” seriously except for Bud and his lackeys. Not that the players don’t want to win, mind - I certainly didn’t mean that. But there is no more significance in beating the Rangers than there is about beating the Mariners or Orioles.

And don’t get me started about how the DH is an abomination against the Church of Baseball (and speaking of a-BOMB-ing-nation, wouldn’t it be the absolutely COOLEST thing EVAH if the Dbax had Micah Owings as the DH?) 

Tonight, it is Shawn Chacon vs Sir Sidney Ponson at Arlington, the best hitter’s park in the AL:

This year, Chacon has thrown 50.1 innings (6 of 8 are QS, averaging 6.1 IP/GS) - 47 H, 6 HR, 23 BB, 35 K: 3.53 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and a .253 BAA

At Arlington, he’s 3-0 in 2 GS and 1 in relief over 15.1 IP - 12 H, 0 HR, 7 BB, 13 K: 1.57 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and a .214 BAA

VS the Rangers hitters: Frank Catalanotto is 3/16, Milton Bradley is 2/11, Michael Young is 5/11, Ramon Vasquez is 4/6, Hank Blalock is 4/6, Josh Hamilton is 0/1 (but he’s bout the best hitter in the AL, so Shawn best be careful)

I look at this stupid IL game like this - if Chacon manages to break the ML record of starting the year with 9 consecutive no-decisions, the Astros will FINALLY get some national publicity. I mean, why would they waste words on Lance Berkman’s excellence?

Sidney Ponson, RHP, age 31 - yeah, that’s right, he’s only 31, hard to believe.

Anyway, he hasn’t had a good year since his 03 season with the Orioles: 5.30 ERA in 04 over 215 IP, 6.21 IP over 130 IP in 05, 5.24 ERA over 68.2 IP with the Cards and a 10.47 ERA over 10.1 IP with the desperate Yankees in 06, 6.93 ERA over 37.1 IP with the Twins in 07 and so far this year, 2-0 in 4 GS over 25.2 IP - 27 H, 1 HR, 9 BB, 12 K: 3.19 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and a .265 BAA.

This year, in his 4 starts, he gave up 5 runs (1 ER) in 5 IP to the Twins, 1 R/8 IP to the Royals, 1 R/7 IP to the Mariners and 6 R/5.1 IP to the A’s.

In Arlington, he’s 4-1 in 10 GS and 1 in relief over 62.1 IP - 82 H, 5 HR, 18 BB, 34 K: 5.63 ERA, 1.60 WHIP and a .319 BAA. Like I said, Arlington is a serious hitter’s park.

He last faced the Astros 2 years ago when he was with the Cards, and of that team, only Ausmus and Berkman remain.

VS Astros hitters: Cheito Cruz 4/27 with 4 BB, Tejada is 5/22 with 2 doubles and a HR, Carlos is 6/22 with 2 doubles and a HR, Erstad is 5/19 with 2 doubles and a triple, Wiggy is 0/8, Loreta is 3/6 with a double and Lance is 1/3.

Tonight, it’s going to be fairly cool outside, somewhere around 74 or so at game time without much wind, so it is possible the balls won’t travel as much as they usually do, you never know…

The great thing about an afternoon game is that you get to watch it with your kids, even though they have gotten to the point where they don’t WANT to sit and watch the whole thing unless they think it will get them out of having to go to B-E-D.

Chris Sampson not only had to pitch with less offense behind him, but he also had to pitch with MUCH worse defense. I never thought I’d actually call Miggy a good defender, but compared to Loretta, he’s Adam Everett. First inning, right off, he costs Sampson 2 runs. With 1 out, man on first and third, he can’t make the play on a ball hit right to him on a hop - it trickles into center, run scores, no outs made. Da Bull scowls, crosses his arms and says - HEY, he’s supposed to catch that ball. Um, yeah.

So Chris has to pitch to 2 more guys, using 9 more pitches and 1 more run scores. He gets 1 ER because you can’t assume the DP, no matter how easy. He gets 1,2,3 in the second, but then again in the 3rd, he doesn’t get enough defensive help. With one on, no out, Matsui bobbles a grounder and it isn’t called an error AND both runners are safe, when it should have been 1 out, man on second. The next hitter hits a double and it should have been man on second, one run. The next hitter hits a grounder to left that neither Loreta not Blum gets near. No Adam Everett here, so it’s a run in, but it should be men on first and third. The next hitter hits a ball to deep center and Michael Bourn of ALL people, misreads the ball, doesn’t catch it - it goes off his glove and it goes for a 2 run double, when it SHOULD have gone for a sac fly.

Sampson gets stuck with 4 runs, when it should have been 2. He’s behind 6-0.

The Astros stun Lincecome by getting 3 runs in the top of the 4th in spite of Lee swinging at a pitch that bounced in front of the plate for strike 3.

Sampson gets screwed again in the bottom of the 4th - He gets 2 out, then Lance gets to a tough hit behind the bag but then drops it and can’t get the throw to first in time. Then Winn hits a ball down the line that Lance just misses and it is men on second and third, 2 out. And then Loretta makes ANOTHER error on a ball hit right to him by throwing the ball very high and outside - should have been out #3, but instead is run #7.

And there he was, behind 7-3 after 4, when he really should have been leading 3-2.

Defense matters. Of course, you COULD say that Sampson should have kept the ball down on those long fly balls, and I wouldn’t exactly disagree, but you HAVE to have good defense for a ground ball pitcher, and Sampson just didn’t get what he needed. Sampson, however managed to get sinkers to sink and cruised through the 5th and 6th inning. Actually, I thought that he’d last 7, but he had to come out for a PH.

In came Dave Borkowski - I thought that Coop had thrown in the towel, but Bork gave up a single, then a lineout that Berkman made a GREAT play on to double off the runner. I guess it turned Astros luck around, because Bochy left in Tyler Walker for the 8th, after he’d gotten Pence to ground out after a steady diet of sliders.

Lance meekly grounded out, then Carlos hit a towering homer way over the cars in left and there we were 7-4 with 1 out. Then, it got to be luck time. Blum struck out on a ball in the dirt, which got away from the catcher and Blum beat the throw to first. Loretta singles. Then Coop pinch hits Erstad for the slumping, pressing Towles, and he hits the second pitch onto the RF walkway 10′ to the left of the foul line for a 3 run homer.

Game tied.

Ausmus, sent in to pinch hit, walks. Then Bochy pulls Walker, sends in a tough young lefty to face Bourn, gets him out, gives up a single to Kaz, then gets Pence to groundout - the boy had a bad day with RISP, 2 out - left 2 MOB twice.

Next inning, first pitch, Lance sends a nice, fat juicy changeup mid plate, mid thigh over the right field wall into Barry’s Bay. Yeah, it IS Barry’s Bay - only 16 of the 46 spalshdown homers have NOT been hit by Barry. Chulk gives up a few more singles, but gets pinch hitter Tejada out and Ausmus out to end the inning.

I’m not sure I understand the good sense of throwing Lance a nice fat change instead of pitching carefully and maybe walking him, but hey, what can I say?

Geary came on, got an out, gave up a single and a walk and then left with groin pain. Tim Byrdak came in and got the other 2 outs without giving up a run.

I gotta hand it to Smith-Wade for picking up both Wesley Wright and Tim Byrdak. Dirt cheap AND good.

And last but not least, I gotta give it up for Valverde. Since he adjusted his mechanics after the debacle in Philly, he’s had 14 straight appearances with no ER given up and he has lowered his ERA from 12.27 to 4.15. Over 14.1 IP, he has 10 saves, 1 BS and 2 W. He has given up 6 H, 3 BB, 16 K. And he looks totally ace in every way.

Serious props to Dewey Robinson for finding the flaw and helping Valverde correct it and serious props for Valverde understanding the problem AND for being able to correct it so quickly and completely.

Lance hit another 400 something feet homer last night right handed. I don’t guess turning him around is really going to do the trick this year. And here is what Roy Oswalt, who seldom has much to say, said about Lance:

“Another key to our recent success has been Lance Berkman. He’s really hot right now. He’s been a great hitter for a long time, and it’s largely gone unnoticed. It seems like he comes up big every year, and, even last year, when they say he had a down year, he still hit 30 home runs and drove in 100 runs.

If Lance had the career he has had so far in a larger market, his name would be all over the place. If he ever hit like this in New York or Boston, he would be the next president.”

grinning

Lance is FAR too honest to ever be any sort of politician. Oh yeah - and last year he somehow drove in 100 runs with a guy with a sub-.280 OBP leading off, and a combined .320 OBP from all other 2-hole hitters.

Anyway, I hate these late night starts and am really REALLY glad that the west coast games are now over. But I love the fact that the (home team) broadcasts are available for free on MLB-tv immediately after the game is over, so that if I forget to record the game or am too asleep to get up in the middle of the night to watch the rebroadcast on Fox, I can STILL check out the game, even if it is a tiny picture on the computer. And it is interesting, by the way, to listen to the opposing broadcasters talk about Lance - THEY respect him even though the national sports broadcasters and the supposed baseball “experts” don’t.

Oh yeah - I had to REALLY laugh at the San Fran broadcasters describe a 79 degree game time as “hot.” Those guys don’t know what “hot” is.

In the second inning, Moehler looked awful - single, homer, single, single, FC, ROE scoring a run because Ausmus didn’t catch the soft toss from Moehler. Moehler got the error - but it should have been on Ausmus - and Bowker, the runner, would certainly have been a dead duck at the plate. And that is the second glaring error I have seen Brad make this week - he never used to miss easy catches and he almost never had passed balls. But, hey, what can I say, defense doesn’t matter, does it?

Oh yeah - props to Carlos Lee, who doesn’t exactly hustle, for getting to Ray Durham grounder and making an accurate throw to Matsui to nab Ray trying to hustle in for a double. That was kind of dumb of Ray because these days, he runs about as well as Clank does…

Anyway, after the second inning, both Misch, who went 6 innings, and Moehler, who went 5, settled down and they scattered a few more hits, but there was no action until the Giants bullpen gave it up. And, by the way, Coop was right not to send Moehler back out for a 6th inning - at the end he was giving up 400′ fly ball outs and when hitters are hitting balls 400′, you have to be lucky when they don’t go for extra bases…

Byrdak darn near gave up a homer to Jose Castillo so it went for a double, and with 2 out, 2 on, Coop sent Oscar Villareal in to get out righty Dan Ortmeier, and he got the job done.

Coop did the Phil lefty-righty thing in the 7th with Wright and Geary, then send in Brocail in the 8th and Valverde in the 9th. 

And has anyone else noticed that Lance is getting Barry’d if he’s up, first is open and runners are on?

And speaking of Barry, MLB is doing this promo showing the 600 HR hitters hitting # 600, then showing Junior Griffey, who is 2 away. No Barry. Then then show a promo with 500 HR hitters hitting # 500, then Manny Ramirez, who is 2 away. No Barry. Guess they have to pretend he never existed. This is reminding me of Bowie Kuhn always being too busy/having meetings/whatever to pay attention to Hank Aaron hitting #700, approaching the record - they were hoping he would just like go away. But what happened, happened and it is stupid and cowardly to pretend it didn’t or insist that only one person bears responsibility for the entire steroid era…

And, by the way, it sure looks odd to see Phone Booth half empty. Wonder why it is????

This afternoon, it’s Chris Sampson vs Tim Lincecum. Last week, I called Chris’ start vs Derek Lowe - Sampson vs Goliath.

Lincecome is the little righty (6′ my foot - he’s Wesley Wright size) who definitely can.

He’s had 7 starts this year, all quality, meaning he’s lasted at least 6 innings every time - although I must note that he gave up 4 unearned runs against Philly in one start…

Over 50.1 IP, he’s given up 45 H, 3 HR, 18 BB, 53 K - 1.61 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and a .243 BAA.

And Miguel Tejada is not going to play today, which means that Loretta will be at short and Geoff Blum at third (Wiggy’s side is still hurting from being HBP a couple days back) so Sampson is going to have his work cut out for him on both offense AND defense. It is gonna be very hard for him to win, even if he only gives up a few runs…

Sampson has faced the Giants twice, and no one has more than 6 AB against him, but everyone has at least 1 hit except for Vizquel and Castillo.

Lincecum has also faced the Astros twice, and scattered a few hits. He has awesome stuff, including a snapping FB that he throws 95-97 MPH - so much for only large males can throw hard, hunh?

For anyone who wants to insist that defense doesn’t particularly matter (and you know who you are) let’s take a look at the first inning:

Backe hangs a slider and Fred Lewis drives it 400 something feet off the wall in right center and strolls into third. Now THAT was Backe’s own fault - Albert Pujols ain’t the only guy who hits hanging sliders, believe it or not. But what happened next was NOT Backe’s fault; Vizquel, after fouling off a bunch of pitches, pops up a high ball into shallow center which SHOULD be an easy out. Matsui calls for it, but doesn’t get to it/lets it drop and Lewis trots home. Fielding. That ball really SHOULD have been Bourn’s, as he was in the best position to get it and then to throw home - that was clear. Matsui should NOT have called for it. After the ball dropped, Bourn makes a stupid mistake - after the ball drops in and he picks it up, he’s busy watching Lewis score and forgets all about Vizquel, who has stopped after rounding first, but then heads into second. Vizquel is credited (by the lousy scorer) with a double, when it sould have been a single and a SB - and, unfortunately, the system doesn’t allow for a fielding error on either Matsui OR Bourn, both of whom should have received errors. (Maybe there should be a new category called eff-ups…)

So now, it’s man on second, a run in and no outs, instead of man on third, one out and no runs.

Winn is up. Backe throws him a FB upper outer third and Winn sends it to the right field gap. Now that was BACKE’S fault and Lewis would have scored, with Winn on second, one out, one run in. Molina then hit a perfectly good slider 400 something ‘ to the warning track for what SHOULD have been out #2 and Winn goes to third.

Aaron Rowand is up - Backe throws a perfectly catchable FB outside, but TOWLES makes an error - lets the ball pop out of his glove and roll away and Winn scores. Rowand then GO to short for what should have been out #3.

So Backe SHOULD have been out of the inning with 1 run scored, not 3. Not that Backe’s stuff wasn’t getting hammered 400 something feet all inning, I’ll grant you that.

Backe discovered his slider and curve and kept the FB down - he was pretty much nails for the remainer of his 6 IP except for giving up a homer to the pitcher, but it was already too late because Cain had his A+ game goin on and he even shut Lance Berkman D O W N. Yes, I know that Lance got a “single” but it was actually an error on the first baseman, who got a glove on it and it should have been an easy 3-6-3 GIDP. That should have ended the inning for Cain, but he had bad luck with his fielders, too. But then he managed to get outs 2 and 3 stranding runners at first and third.

And that was all she wrote for the Astros - Cain gave up a homer to Carlos Lee, but besides that, he only scattered a double and 2 walks over the next 4 innings and there was no miracle comeback this time. It isn’t going to happen every time, I know, but if you are facing an ace - and yes, Cain IS an ace - when he’s got it goin ON, you just can’t afford to give up runs on bad fielding. I would guess Backe figured - well, it’s only 3 runs and the way this team has been going, I’ll just shut em down and the guys will score me some runs. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. And after watching Lance bat in this park, which is an incredibly tough park, all I can say is that I have even more respect for Barry Bonds doing what he did there for 15 years…

Tonight, it’s Brian Moehler getting another start (because Wandy is still rehabbing). He threw 5 hit, 1 walk, 5 shutout innings against the Furcal-less Dodgers his last start.

Moehler hasn’t exactly excelled in Phone Park - he’s started 2 games and relieved in 1 for a grand total of 9 innings - given up 22 H, 16 ER, 1 HR, 5 BB, 3 K.

Of the Giants hitters:

Ray Durham is 11/43 with a double, 3 triples, 3 BB, 3 K for a .723 OPS
Omar Vizquel is 11/25 with a double, a triple, 3 BB and 1 K for a 1.060 OPS
Randy Winn is 12/21 with 4 doubles, 1 triple, 1 BB, 2 K for a 1.448 OPS
Bengie Molina is 2/13 for a .308 OPS
Rich Aurilia is 1/9

Pat Misch is a 26 year old lefty, drafted by the Giants 7th round 2003. He was a September callup in 06, when he pitched 1 inning. In 2007, he started 4 games and relieved in 14 more: Over 40.1 IP - 47 H, 3 HR, 12 BB, 26 K - 5.63 ERA, 1.38 WHIP and a .254 BAA. Not bad, actually, for a spot starter and mopup guy.

This year, he’s the spot starter again and this will be his 3rd game started. He gave up 2 R/6 IP vs Cincy (mopup duty after Barry Zito gave up 8 ER/3 IP), 4 R/4 IP at Philly and 4R/6 IP vs Philly. Not bad.

He’s only faced Geoff Blum, who is 2/4 with 2 doubles and Kaz Matsui, 0/1.

I would think it would be a leeeeeetle bit unreasonable to think that Moehler will again pitch 5 shutout innings, so the guys best get ready to hit.

Here’s a riddle for the Houston Astros to chew on: how valuable is an incredible base runner that rarely reaches base?When the Astros acquired Michael Bourn they envisioned a spark plug at the top of the order, a speedy center fielder who could get on and steal bases. So far Bourn has fulfilled only the less important of the two expectations: he leads the Majors in stolen bases with 17, but that’s only because he steals just about every time he reaches base. In 34 games, Bourn is hitting .198 with an OBP of .269. Houston is playing some great baseball at this stage of the season, so it’s easy enough to overlook Bourn’s struggles. But at some point, a “slow start” or an “early-season slump” are no longer fair descriptors for plain ineptitude.If the Astros plan to make a run at the NL Central, they need to end the Bourn Experiment sooner rather than later. Let Hunter Pence play center and bat leadoff, and use Bourn in the role best suited for his talents: pinch runner.

OK

Let me see if I get this straight - after 145 PA as a major league regular, Kevin thinks the Astros should completely give up on this 25 year old guy and relegate him to the Cheito Cruz rubbish heap. Yes, I know his numbers aren’t even up to his numbers last year as a PH/DR - at this point he’s 26/131 with 13 BB, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 3 HR, 16 RS, 17 SB, no CS for a .198/.269/.298/.567 line and yes, I know it isn’t even up to Adam Everett’s line that everyone was screaming about last year, seeing as how Adam Everett was responsible for the Astros not winning last year. And, by the way, Bourn plays defense at an Adam Everett elite level even though I know that a whole lot of people really REALLY think that saving runs has exactly zero value to a ball club, that only BA/OBP matters.

Even though Bourn is technically not a rookie, having spent the entirety of last year on a ML roster, he IS a rookie as a full time position player and he is still learning;  he’s not a washed up vet like Cruz and yet, Kevin thinks it is more than reasonable to permanently determine that a total of 145 PA in the major leagues is sufficient to eliminate him as a major leaguer.

He GOTTA be kidding.

Let me get this straight - any rookie hitting like Berkman after 145 PA really IS the next Pujols? (Might could I remind Kevin of the April whiz kid, Chris Shelton)? Good thing the Red Sox last year felt that 145 PA was more than enough to evaluate, then DFA that April washout, Dustin Pedroia?

On what planet is 145 PA is more than enough to judge a ballplayer learning to adjust to ML pitching AND hitting leadoff? We aren’t talking about this new player becoming a superduper star, we are talking about him becoming a ML regular. We aren’t talking about having him bat second, or even 8th or 9th. We are talking about deciding right here and now that this kid is now and forever, a failure, and should not figure in the plans of the team, except as a PR/DR, seeing as how he sure won’t be even pinch hitting much.

I understand why the team removed Chris Burke last year, after approximately the same number of PA, and, by the way, hitting MUCH better, and we all know that “good guy” Biggio wasn’t about to let Burke near second, home or away, after getting his 70 hits; actually, they should have just traded Burkie-poo after they decided to go with Pence, but I digress… Anyway, they removed Burke because they had a CF in waiting at AAA who they believed could hit ML pitching better than the man they were replacing and who, if he succeeded, would be a regular OF for years to come. And Burkie-poo, by the way, was removed when he was hitting .238/.344/.388/.732 - and he was hitting in the 6-hole, not even his natural spot, which was leadoff (my “good guy” and his .240 OBP was cemented there. But I digress…) and that was, essentially, the end of his Astros career.

Anyway, I think the team had a very reasonable plan - discard one player for a MUCH better one, AND one who will most likely be a better CF for the next 6 years.

But with Bourn, who is going to take his place? Kevin wants Pence to leadoff. Why? He doesn’t walk much, won’t have that magical .350 OBP unless he gets his batting average up over .310 and it wastes his power. He strikes out a lot and doesn’t take many pitches. Why wouldn’t you put Kaz Matsui, who has essentially a .330 OBP and is a singles hitter and base stealer at leadoff? Matsui takes more pitches than Pence, too.

And then the Astros should replace Bourn with exactly who? And remember we are talking about essentially removing him from the Astros future plans because he sure as heck is not gonna learn to hit ML pitching sitting on his dead butt on the bench all year long. Who is this new Pence?

Let me guess - Mr. Singles Hitter, 34 year old Darin Erstad, Mr. If he ain’t hurt, he’s gettin ready to get hurt, a guy who is now on the downside of his career - should play right and Pence play center. Because let’s face it - Erstad is not going to be even as good as Pence in that enormous CF at home - he can’t run as fast as he used to and his range ain’t what it used to be - and he isn’t even up to Pence any longer and Pence was basically just a little above league average.

Let’s take a look at Erstad’s last 5 years performance (let me guess - years and years of stats mean zero compared to this year’s 55 PA, right? I mean, you don’t need no stinkin 145 PA for THIS guy because he happened to start off strongly, right?)

2003: 284 PA - .252/.309/.333/.642 - 9 SB, 1 CS
2004: 543 PA - .295/.346/.400/.746 - 16 SB, 1 CS
2005: 667 PA - .273/.325/.371/.696 - 10 SB, 3 CS
2006: 105 PA - .221/.279/.326/.605 - 1 SB, 1 CS
2007: 347 PA - .248/.310/.335/.645 - 7 SB, 1 CS

Average OPS over those 5 years is .689. Whoopie doo. Definitely worth throwing a good young player out the window after his first 145 PA. AND he won’t be near the distraction on the bases that Bourn is, neither.

Or maybe Kevin thinks we have all these Hunter Pences in the minors, just ready and waiting. Let’s see:

At AAA:

- Yordany Ramirez, age 23, RH: .186/.198/.271/.470 over 118 AB  (might could he be a tad overmatched by AAA pitching? Makes you wonder why the team released Victor Diaz and his .395 OBP/.350 SLG)
- Reggie Abercrombie, age 27, RH, AKA “The Windmill” - 45 K in 129 AB - .271/.293/.465/.768 - 3 E, 4 BB, 9 SB, 5 CS in 134 PA; and, in case you are wondering, here are his ML numbers over 331 AB: .208/.263/.329/.592 which, by the way, are not even up to Brad Ausmus/Adam Everett…
- Nick Gorneault, age 29, RH: .218/.307/.376/.683 in 101 AB: 1 E, 4 SB, 1 CS

Josh Anderson looks like Matt Holliday next to these guys.

At AA:

Mitch Einertson, age 22, RH: .229/.271/.420/.691 - 2 E, no SB/CS in 131 AB
Josh Flores, age 23, RH (on DL)
Billy Hart, age 25, RH: .288/.380/.442/.822 - 0 E, 6 SB, 4 CS in 104 AB
Eli Iorg, age 25, RH: 264/.314/.448/.762 - 2 E, 5 SB, 3 CS in 125 AB
Ray Sadler, age 27, RH: .316/.391/.568/.958 - 1 E, 2 SB, 1 CS in 95 AB

Do any of all yall see any Hunter Pences, because I sure don’t. And I don’t know if any of these guys can play center OR right - and I SERIOUSLY doubt that this Organization is going to promote a guy who is almost 28 from AA to the bigs, don’t you? Hart was long ago designated as a minor leaguer lifer - he might could be the next Chris Coste, but with Ed Wade’s prize at stake, I wouldn’t hold my breath and I seriously doubt Billy is holding his either. I didn’t bother going down to search A ball - those guys really only get called up straight to the majors in “Bull Durham” so that Annie doesn’t have to tell the poor guy she’s in love with someone else so he gets all depressed and develops Steve Blass Syndrome and is OOB after the year and has to work selling insurance and Annie and Crash feel so guilty that they never get together and Crash goes on to work at the gas station and Annie leaves the Church of Baseball and joins a convent. That’s what you call a bad ending that the audience doesn’t like any bettern Crash, Annie and Nuke do - and this is why we aren’t going down to look in A ball.

Where was I?

Oh yeah. I sure as heck don’t see any Hunter Pences that other teams are ready to trade away and frankly, if you are worried about Michael Bourn’s bat being such a detriment to this team, I sure can’t see trading away any quality bat we have in the minors (and, by the way, I sure don’t see one) and we don’t HAVE any more quality pitchers to trade.

I certainly hope that Kevin doesn’t mean signing the overcooked Jim Edmonds who can’t hit anything faster than Roy’s slow curve and has lost more than a few steps in center. For goodness sakes, the Padres, who are STARVED for hitters let him go.

And last but not least, WHY replace Bourn at all? This team is winning like crazy even WITH his .297 OBP and after all, a win is a win and it is not as if we just needed one more big bat and Pence is clearly blocking him. We have no NEED to replace an ace glove, ace baserunner/basestealer and his weak bat for the average glove and the mediocre bat of a vet on his last legs because right NOW, it surely isn’t needed to help the team win and it CERTAINLY won’t help the team win in the future, neither.