Quite Dead... and Smelling Kind of Rotten

I know - it's totally out of character for me, but I have to admit: I'm kind of tired of this season. Actually, I'm seriously ready for it to end, so I can start thinking about how nice it will be to go to Spring Training next year. (As in "There's always next year" - what you say when your team kicks the bucket.)

Did I mention that we were eliminated over the weekend? Last night, after Rosh Hashanah ended, I immediately turned on my computer, thinking that I'd stay up late and watch all the games that the Astros won between Friday and Sunday. That turned out to be a very small set - none, actually - after their second consecutive series sweep. I was so tired of losing that I went to bed about 9:30 PM.

I'm probably not as tired of losing as Cecil Cooper is. Remember Coop? They guy who used to be the Astros manager? That's so yesterday. Today he's unemployed - a move by the Astros ownership that is sure to surprise no one at all. It's the price you pay when you have a team full of high-priced ostensibly capable players, who can't seem to get past 70 wins this season. After 8 consecutive unsuccessful tries to break 70, the fantasy of coming back to finish with a winning season has been supplanted by the image of just losing all the rest of the games. That would close out the year in a bizarre parallel of Spring Training, where the Astros got off to a record-breaking terrible start.

I'm actually not sorry about the loss of Cooper. He should be glad that he left before Monday night's loss, thus preserving his winning record as the Astros' manager (by 1 game). I hope that the next manager isn't addicted to sacrifice bunts - I don't usually second guess the managers, who know a lot more than I do about baseball. But I'm also tired of precious outs wasted in close games.

Tonight's game - the eighth loss in a row - was not a close one. The Cards won 7-3. Wandy got hammered. He gave up 6 runs in 5 innings on 9 hits. Three of the runs were in the first inning, so it was bad from the start. Wandy's stuck at 13 wins - he's going to have to get lucky to pull off those 15 wins I predicted for him this season.

I can't post without thinking of something to like. Here's one: Bud Lite had another good start on Friday night. The Astros lost, but that wasn't his fault.

Once we get past this series with the Cardinals (who haven't quite clinched, so the Astros have to at least pretend to be trying hard), I hope that they'll play more of the kids. I can squint and pretend it's Spring Training.

Not Quite Dead..

With 16 games to go, the Astros are just 2 games from elimination. Worse, they are 6 games under .500, and unless they turn things around, they stand a real chance of finishing the year with a losing record. They've spent most of the season in that situation, so it's nothing new. Still, it would be nice to surge a bit and come out as winners - statistically, at least.

Getting swept by the Reds was not a step in the right direction. After a long day in the proposal tank, I rushed home every night in time to catch at least half of the Cincinnati games, but was not well rewarded. I won't bother with the stats - just the bottom line: Swept away. The series ended with a game full of irony: The Astros hit 5 homers - and lost. Jeff Fulchino struck out 6 batters in the final two innings of Wednesday night's game - but threw a wild pitch that allowed the tie-breaking run to score. (It was Wright's runner, and he got the loss.)

Meanwhile, after breaking the franchise record for no-decision games in a season, Roy Oswalt hung up his glove and succumbed to the back injury that's plagued his last few starts. It was a lousy season for him - with just single digit wins, and a record book stat that he'd just as soon not have earned.

I have hoped to see a lot more of the minor leaguers, but Cooper's still playing his regulars for the most part, with occasional peeks at the new guys. The pitchers are getting some action, especially with some of the veterans out injured. Bud Norris is getting a regular start now, and is looking just fine. Yoman Bazardo got a start in Cincinnati too, and Sammy Gervacio is seeing a lot of action. The big dude Paronto came up to fill Oswalt's spot in the rotation. Towles is getting an occasional start, especially when his Round Rock teammate Norris is on the mound. But it would be nice to let the young position players into the game, especially against teams that are out of contention, like the Reds. There's a gang of infielders - Johnson, Manzella, and Maysonet - who'd all like a crack at a big league job next year. Maybe Tejada's?

I'm not going to get to see any more games until Sunday night, after Rosh Hashanah ends. I'll have to catch up on the series in Milwaukee after the holiday. By then, the Astros could very well be victims of the Big E.

Seven and Counting...

Another proposal, another Sunday working at the office... On Sundays "business casual" is overdressed - it's blue jeans and tee shirts. So I got up this morning and put on my Biggio 3000 Hits commemorative tee, with a big 7 on the front. (It was sent to me by a dear friend of my late great-aunt's, who got it at the give-away game; she loves the Astros, but tee shirts are not her fashion style.) I came downstairs for a cup of coffee, wanting to spend a few minutes updating my blog before running off to work. Checking the standings for facts and figures, I note that the Astros match my shirt - they've got a big fat 7 in the E column. That means that they are only 7 games away from elimination, with 20 games left to play. Until we hit 0, I teeter between logic and emotion: All those beautiful stats clearly depict a team that will need to hustle to end the year at .500, but there's still that little irresistible voice that whispers "Maybe a miracle..." With the Astros behind by more than 10 games in both the division and the wild card race, that little voice is hard to hear over the boom of "There's always next year."

We're getting to see bits and pieces of next year, now that the Astros have called up some of their future talent. I expected to see a bunch of them this weekend in the series against the already-E'd Pirates. What better time to play the new kids than in a game that won't affect the outcome of anything? Sure enough, Friday's box score (Game 141) looked a whole lot like one from the tail end of Spring Training - starters at the top of the order, with recent callups filling out the bottom. Bud Norris was matched up with his Round Rock backstop JR Towles, and Chris Johnson got a start at third. Sammy Gervacio and Yoman Bazardo each got an inning in relief. Tommy Manzella and Edwin Maysonet made appearances as well.

So how did the Astros fare with all these newbies in the game? They beat the pants off the Pirates, 9-1. Granted, all of the RBIs were credited to the veterans - Lee had a 3-run homer, Berkman had a solo homer and RBI double, Matsui hit two runs in on a 3-for-4 night, and Bourn continued to show why he's second in the league in hitting with RISP. But the callups definitely contributed to the fun. The star of the show was Bud Lite, who threw another terrific game - six innings, 1 ER (solo homer), 6 hits, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. Manzella got his first big league hit, pinch-hitting in the eighth. Gervacio had a 1-2-3 seventh, and Bazardo struck out the side in the ninth.

Last night's game was an all adult affair, not a September callup to be seen. Moehler threw a quality start - 6 innings, 2 ER on 7 hits, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts - but left with the game tied, 2-2. The Astros only runs had come on Lee's 2-run homer. Fulchino, Hawkins and Valverde held the Pirates at bay for the rest of the game. Tejada hit the tie-breaking homer in the seventh. Coop used his veterans, Erstad and Michaels, to pinch hit.

This afternoon Paulino will take the mound, hoping that the Astros have saved a bit of fire power for him. He's been robbed in his last two games, throwing quality starts and then earning the losses when his teammates failed to provide any run support for him - literally, not one run while he was in the game. Now that Berkman's regained his home-run swing (after a 32-game drought), perhaps he'll help to give Paulino a chance.

This has been quite the homestand - first the mind-blowing sweep of the Phillies, then the disappointing series loss to the Braves, and now a chance for a sweep of the Pirates. The Astros may be just 7 games away from the Big E, but there's still room for fun and fantasy in the meantime.

Just Plain Swwwweeeeeeeet!

Not a sight of Brad Lidge on Sunday and Monday, as the Astros completed their four-game sweep of the World Champion Phillies. I have to say it again, it sounds so good: The Astros swept the Phillies.

A couple of True Fan Confessions:

Confession 1: The win today brought tears to my eyes. Not out-and-out sobs like when the Astros won the pennant, just little tears of joy. This far behind, this late in the season, it's hard to get very emotional about the outcome of a game, especially when you're watching on the Internet from Exile. But still, those last three really really close games were pretty exciting. And sweeping the Phillies - a great team - was fantastic and worthy of just a few tears. Now, if we'd swept the Cards and advanced 4 games on the division leaders, I probably would have burst out in tears.

Confession 2: I was not at all gracious about it. I posted uppity messages on the Facebook walls of my Philly-loving friends. Yes, I'm referring to you, Bob, and you too, Cara. I sent emails too.

Just to net it all out: The Astros pitchers were outstanding. Wandy did his usual magic on Friday night, pitching 6 shutout innings. The Wiz didn't let a run score on his watch Saturday night either, before he come out with a sore back - his pair of ERs were courtesy of the bullpen. (His situation is TBD - they're checking out flu symptoms now.) After a couple of rough starts, Bud Lite came back to his top-prospect form in Sunday's game, allowing only a pair of long balls to the homer-hungry Phillies. And Moehler didn't do badly today either - giving up 3 runs (including a pair of solo shots) in his almost-six innings.

Really nice work by most of the relievers as well. Special kudos go to Valverde who logged 2 saves and a win in 3 hitless innings - he only gave up a single walk, and has reduced his ERA to a sweet 1.96. (By the way, in case you haven't seen it yet, check out Valverde's website. It's a hoot.) Welcome back to Brocail, who pitched the ninth on Friday night. I almost didn't recognize him without the beard.

Bourn continues to be everything we wanted him to be, and more. He was so terrific this holiday weekend that one would think that he had something to prove - to the team that traded him to the Astros! He went 6 for 16, with hits in every game, with 3 stolen bases, and made some terrific fielding plays.

Pence is back on his game, with 3 home runs, and 8 RBI in the series. Tejada went 4 for 4 on Sunday, pushing his series batting to 7 for 15, and his BA back over .300. On the flip side, Berkman is way off his hitting - he got more walk (3) than hits (2) against the Phillies this weekend. He hasn't hit a homer in more than a month - a time frame that aligns pretty closely with the Astros slide from close contender to the losing side of .500.

But today's not a day to dwell on negatives. Our "E" number is up to 14 - hope springs eternal. With 4 wins against the mighty Phillies, who knows - maybe the Astros will win all the rest of the games of the season! If they do, you heard it here. (If they don't, it was just a joke.)

In expansion news today, the Astros are bringing up shortstop extraordinaire Tommy Manzella, along with Chris Johnson and pitcher Billy Sadler, who was picked up last month from the Giants. Although Coop hinted that there was to be a surprise in the September callups, it's hard to imagine that any of these players were what he was alluding to as a real surprise.

Bittersweet...

It was a bittersweet moment last night, watching Brad Lidge walk off the mound with his head down after his tenth blown save of the year. I rejoiced when he dropped to his knees after throwing the final pitch of the World Series last season, finishing off his perfect year with the Phillies. But that success didn't have anything to do with the Astros. Lidge's meltdown last night, allowing Matsui to knock in the winning runs in the bottom of the ninth, gave the Astros a rare opportunity to rush the field in joy. There haven't been that many fun moments for them lately, and as we get closer and closer to the E-word, anything that keeps the rest of the season from just being a drudge is more than welcome!

But it's sad that it had to to come at Lidge's expense. I always liked Lidge and I'm sorry that he's having such a poor year. I'd be really happy if he doesn't have any more grief from the Astros in this homestand - providing that it's because Houston is so far ahead in the remaining two games that the Phillies don't need to use a closer.

My first live glimpse of Lidge came at Spring Training in 2005, when I was sitting in the second row of Section 103, right next to the Astros' bullpen (a bench with a cooler). Shortly into the game, Lidge came out and plopped onto the bench, right in front of me. You might remember that 2005 was kind of a special year for the Astros. For me it started out with my first trip to Spring Training, sitting so close to the pitchers that you could eavesdrop on their conversations during the game.

It's more than a bit ironic how things have played out with Lidge and with the player we got for him in the trade, Michael Bourn. Lidge had the season of his career in his first year for the Phillies, with a perfect save record, and a World Series championship. Meanwhile, Bourn

was reviled by fans and sportswriters for being a loser who couldn't manage to get on base, a player whose tenure as the Astros leadoff hitter can be summed up in one sentence: You can't steal first.

What a difference a season makes. Even as Lidge was humiliated again last night, in the latest of an ongoing string of failures this year, Bourn was celebrating a milestone in his own career: His 50th steal of the season. In a breakout year of his own, he leads the league in steals, triples (what would be doubles for anyone else!), infield hits (what would be ground outs for most), and bunt hits. He's batting .296 with an OBP of .369 (80 points over last year). His BA with RISP is .385, tied for second in the league with Hanley Ramirez - fairly exalted company! He's grounded into only one double play all season. He's also second among the league center fielders for outfield assists. (The photo illustrating Bourn's stealing prowess was taken at Spring Training - that's the Nats' Hernandez flying over Bourn's headfirst dive.)

At this point in the season, with the Astros 15 games behind the Cards in the NL Central, a game-by-game dissection of their performance is overkill. Their "E" number is down to 12. But none of this matters until they get their win-loss record back up - they are currently 5 games under .500. It's fun to see back-to-back wins against the Phillies, who are aiming for a second consecutive trip to this fall's Main Event. But the Astros are still 4-6 in their last 10, which is the wrong direction in their journey out of Loserville.

Good news/Bad news:

They came from behind! The Astros pulled off a wild, bottom-of-the-ninth win last night. Matsui's bases-loaded, 2-out single led the Houston home crowd into a joyous frenzy, and redeemed a game that took a worrisome turn in the seventh. Oswalt had been pitching a great start, when he was pulled for back pain in the seventh with the Astros ahead 3-2, and 2 Phillies on base. Byrdak and Fulchino promptly gave up hits to the next two batters, scoring both of Oswalt's runners, and leaving the Astros with only a one-run lead. Hawkins jumped on the bad news bandwagon in the eighth, allowing another pair of runs on 4 hits and a walk - and giving Oswalt the dubious honor of tying the team record for no-decisions in a season. (Hey, there's still plenty of time to break that record!) After Valverde's perfect ninth, the stage was set for the big come-from-behind win.

Wandy Rocks and Rolls -- and Hits! Wandy is making good progress towards meeting or exceeding the 15 wins I predicted for him back in the Spring. Another great start on Friday night: Wandy pitched seven scoreless innings, helping Houston to its 7-0 win over the Phillies both on the mound and at the plate. In the second inning, Wandy's bases-loaded double plated the first two runs of the game.

Not Quite a Full House. The Astros have added on a few newcomers, as well as several returning DLers, since the first of September. Most notable, of course, is Aaron Boone, whose amazing come-back from last spring's open-heart surgery will be one of the top feel-good stories of a not-so-wonderful season. His home-field debut on Friday night got Boooone an ovation - right before the Phillies pitcher hit him with a pitch. Minor leaguers in the dugout these days include Edwin Maysonet (again) and JR Towles. The Astros still have a bit of space for bringing up a few more players for a cup of coffee - or even a latte or cappuchino. Other than a mid-month series against the Cards and final week series against the Phillies, the Astros are playing non-contenders for the rest of the season, so why not give some kids a chance?

Not that I'm admitting that the playoffs are not possible, of course - we're still 12 games away from the Big E.