GAMES 96-98: Has Oswalt Played His Last?

GAME 96 - July 23: Reds 6, Astros 4
GAME 97 - July 24: Reds 7, Astros 0
GAME 98 - July 25: Astros 4, Reds 0

The chatter gets louder as we get closer to the end-of-July trade deadline, wondering when and where things will be happening for Roy Oswalt. By now, we're all used to the idea that he might be pitching against us soon, and at this point, I'm not even particularly sorry about it. Time to move on to a new phase in our Astro fan lives - it's not as if he asked to be traded in a year in which he's leading the league in wins. But I'd sort of hoped that he'd do something remarkable on his way out. Take over the Astros all-time wins record from Joe Niekro, for sure -- he's only one win away from tying it. Pitch a perfect game - or at least a no-hitter! Unfortunately, if yesterday's loss to the Reds was the last time we'll see the Wiz in an Astros uni, he didn't achieve any of these. He threw a quite unimpressive game, losing it on a  first inning homer. He should know by now that the Astros aren't going to score for him. Perfection is the only possibility. Oswalt still has one more chance to pitch for the Astros before the end of the month, if he's not traded to the Phillies or Cards by then. Still time to tie Niekro. Still time for a no hitter. Of course, it would probably be another bad luck loss.

It's vilely hot in the DC area this weekend, with temperatures and humidity readings reminding me what I hated the most about growing up in Houston. I suspect that my love of baseball began with the building of the Astrodome and the urge to be somewhere -- anywhere -- air conditioned in nasty Houston summer.

I haven't posted much on Astros fashion statements in a while. In my 2005 game journal, I used to note which uni they wore in each game, as well as oddities of hair styles, socks up or down, and so forth. But I do have one thing to say: The Astros should get rid of the throwback uniform games once and for all. For some perverse reason, they always seem to lose in throwback games. Yesterday's 7-0 beating isn't the worst. Remember the July 4th, 2004 shellacking while dressed up as Southwest Airlines planes -- Rangers 18, Astros 3.

Happy ending to an otherwise sorry weekend series against the Reds: At least they didn't sweep us. Wandy did everything anyone could want him to do: Seven shutout innings, 1 hit, 2 walks, 7 Ks. Lyon and Lindstrom each threw a scoreless inning in relief to seal the deal. It wasn't exactly a blowout for the Astros batters, but Michael Bourn led the charge, going 3 for 4 with 2 RBI -- half of the Astros' 4 runs. Cj and Pence were good for the other two runs with solo homers. Unfortunately, I had to spend Sunday in the office, where I put the game on for a little while. Then we had to huddle in the kitchen through a tornado warning and sudden ferocious squall. When I got home, we'd lost power, so I didn't get to watch the happy win straight through.

Cubs coming to town next. Let's see if we can keep taking series from them.

GAMES 90-95: On to the Second Half,,,

GAME 90 - July 16: Astros 5, Pirates 2
GAME 91 - July 17: Pirates 12, Astros 6
GAME 92 - July 18: Pirates 9, Astros 0


GAME 93 - July 19: Astros 11, Cubs 5
GAME 94 - July 20: Cubs 14, Astros 7
GAME 95 - July 21: Astros 4, Cubs 3

The All Star Game has come and gone. The good news is that the National League won, for the first time in a century or so (they hadn't won in the 21st century)! The bad news is that it happened in a year that the Astros won't benefit from home field advantage in the World Series.

I'm dutifully reporting game scores in my blog, for the sake of completeness. But at this point the wins and losses are about as important as the games in Spring Training. It won't affect the outcome of the season - it's likely to be a gruesome record. Bad enough to give Houston a sweet pick in next year's draft, but unlikely to be bad enough to get the first pick. The Astros, with their 39-56 record (holding at 17 under .500), are still doing much better than Orioles (only 30 wins), and a bit better than the Mariners (sorry, Mom!), Pirates (sorry, Bob!), and DBacks (sorry, snakes and scorpions!).

We're really past the point of watching games for the effect on the record. At this point, it's more about the individual performances, the chance of something amazing happen every time someone yells "Play Ball," and the chance to see the youngsters. Take the game on Tuesday, in which the Astros blew away a 7-1 lead in the fifth inning, and lost 14-7. It was ugly, for sure, and starter Wesley Wright didn't make it out of the inning. He gave up 5 runs in the bottom of the fifth, and you could sure see it coming, after an error put two Cubbies in scoring position with no outs. A hit batter. A walk. A homer (one of three by Aramis Ramirez). Before you know it, the game's tied up, and it was all downhill from there. Bummer? Not really, not totally.

Hey folks, that was little Wesley, the diminutive 25-year-old relief pitcher we got in a Rule 5 deal a few years ago, starting his first big league game. So he was gassed, big deal -- he's a kid trying out for a starter job. He pitched shutout baseball into the fourth, and all 5 of those runs in the fifth were unearned after Kepp's wild throwing error. Who cares if Lefty Wright wins the game (he didn't get the loss, Lyons did) -- in a crappy season like this, the Astros can afford to let a young player like Wright get a try out, experiment with minor league players, fiddle with lineups. It doesn't really matter. The best part of the game for the rest of the season isn't going to be watching El Caballo try to get his BA up to .250, or to wonder if and when the Wiz will get his wish. It's going to be getting to see a preview of future players, who -- just maybe -- will help to lead us to a very different kind of season in a few years. And, of course, seeing Jeff Bagwell in the dugout wearing #5 again.

So I'll try to focus my blog for the second half of the season on the young guys, whether they flame or fizzle. How bad can it be? What's the worst that can happen -- we get first draft pick next year?

Astros in Cincinnati this weekend. Sorry, Cousin Bill -- I'm still hoping we win.

GAMES 87-89: Break Time -- with Bagwell Photos and Video

GAME 87 - July 9: Cardinals 8, Astros 0
GAME 88 - July 10: Astros 4, Cardinals 1
GAME 89 - July 11: Cardinals 4, Astros 2

This is just a teaser. Keep going -- there are lots more pictures (and a video) of Baggy below...

Time for the mid-season All Star Break. For me, that translates into a full week without any live Astros games -- first the 4 days off, and then the Sabbath games that I catch up on when three stars appear in the Saturday evening sky. A whole week! I'll go into withdrawal! It's just not normal to come home from work and face night after night without watching my guys. Tonight I was so discombobulated that I went to the gym after work by accident.

On the other hand, the weekend Astros series against the Cards hardly left devoted fans panting for more. If I were a Cardinals fan, I'd probably be checking the National League scoreboard all the time (Woohoo - Reds lost again!). As an Astros fan, I'm freed from those tiresome tasks - when you're 17 games under .500 going into the All Star break, the standings aren't meaningful to everyday life.

Here's the one-line version of the Cardinals series: Failure to push across runs Friday and Sunday and a terrific start by Myers Saturday. Rather than focusing on the weekend disappointments, let's just go straight to the big Astros news story: BAGGY'S BACK IN UNIFORM! He's going to be the new pitching coach, taking over after Sean Berry got stuck as the fall guy for the terrible offensive performance of the team so far this year. You can check out the blogs of Alyson Footer, McTaggert, and others to get the details of the new position, and how happy everyone is to have Bagwell back, and how sorry they are for Berry because it wasn't his fault that Astros batters suck. As long as you're here on my blog, you might as well look at some of my pictures of Bagwell from the past 6 years. (If you want to see more, check out the Bagwell page of the photo album on my Astros Fan in Exile website.)

Here's a rare one for me, since almost all of my thousands of Astros pix are taken at Spring Training: Bagwell in 2004, playing a home game in Houston (the only time I've ever been in MMP):

Here's Bagwell playing at Spring Training 2005, the year I had a vision in Kissimmee of the Astros in the World Series. (I know, you're tired of that story.)

Here's Bagwell when he tried to make a comeback (unwelcome by the management) at Spring Training 2006:

Here's Bagwell at Spring Training 2008, a couple of years after he retired, hanging out in the dugout and coaching minor leaguers on the practice field:

Here's Bagwell at Spring Training 2009. I missed him in 2010. :-(

Happily there should be many more opportunities to photograph Bagwell in uniform, including when the Astros come here to play the Nats in September. 

There's still a lot more baseball to play before then. (Sorry, Alyson! I know you're tired of this season!) Although we passed the midpoint a week ago, the All Star break feels like the middle of the season. Going into the break with a 36-53 record, on track to lose 97 games this year. I don't think that they will actually manage to accomplish that, given that they've played much better baseball in the last month than in the preceding ones. But, who cares -- if they'll go young, it would be worth losing lots of games for the rest of the year. Who knows, maybe we can really bottom out and get the first pick in next year's draft. 

Meanwhile, enjoy your break from the Astros. Cheer for Air Bourn in the All Star game. Maybe they'll put him in as a pinch runner. See you next week!

GAMES 84-86: Clean Sweep! (Even if it's Just the Pirates...)

GAME 85 - July 6: Astros 6, Pirates 2
GAME 86 - July 7: Astros 6, Pirates 3
GAME 87 - July 8: Astros 2, Pirates 0

SWEEP!!! How cool is that on a hot day? Even if it's just the Pirates, one of only 2 NL teams with a worse record than the Astros this season! Here's what's to like about this sweep - and even the lost series that preceded it...

In the past 8 games, dating back to the last game of the Brewers series, Astros pitchers have held the opposing team to just 16 runs, average of 2 per game, and not more than 3 in any of them. (How's that for fancy stats - and I did the math in my head!) Even better, the starting pitchers in those 8 games have given up only 5 runs in 51 2/3 innings. That comes out to a combined ERA of 0.87.  (I used a calculator for that one.) Sweet.

Let's just take a look at Roy O (look fast, while he's still here). In his two starts in the past week, he gave up 0 runs in 16 innings. Seven scoreless innings for a no-decision on Friday, then a one-hitter complete game shutout today. The Wiz might be auditioning for a new job on a team that's going somewhere this year, but we can enjoy watching him while he's still wearing an Astros jersey.

Another thing to like: The Puma found his swing! He's hit 5 homers in the past 4 games, including two in today's sweep. (Oswalt owes him -- those were the only 2 runs the Astros scored to back up his shutout.) Thank heavens for the Crawford Boxes! But hey, a home run is a home run. The first homer, hit in the first inning, to get the Astros off to a good start, was Berkman's 1000th career run scored, all of them for Houston of course. Good timing for this power hitting demo: Berkman's name has been coming up a lot recently in the trade rumor mill. Seriously, can you imagine Fat Elvis in a Yankees uni? NOT! 

In other exciting news, someone named LeBron picked Miami. I'm not sure what sport that is, but it's not baseball.

GAMES 80-83: Didn't Miss Much (from the Astros) While I Was Away...

GAME 80 - July 1: Astros 6, Padres 3
GAME 81 - July 2: Padres 3, Astros 0
GAME 82 - July 3: Padres 1, Astros 0
GAME 83 - July 4: Padres 3, Astros 2

I escaped the 100 degree heat wave in the Washington DC area by flying out to the other Washington, where the 50-something degree weather was downright refreshing. Four days in Seattle, for a delayed celebration of my mom and dad's May birthdays (with Mothers/Fathers Day thrown in for good measure), was a good opportunity to ignore the Astros. Their Independence Day weekend series was a prolonged demonstration of how not to support their starting pitchers. Here's the stats for our rotation in the series:

Game 1: Moehler - 5.2 innings, 1 run on 4 hits, 2 BB, 2 K

Game 2: Oswalt - 7 innings, 0 run on 3 hits, 2 BB, 7 K 

Game 3: Norris - 7 innings, 0 runs on 3 hits, 3 BB, 5 K

Game 4: Myers - 6 innings, 2 runs on 4 hits, 1 BB, 2 K

That looks to me like pretty solid starting pitching overall -- and was just enough to earn each of them a no-decision. Let's not talk about the Astros hitting. The fun seemed to end in the tenth inning of Thursday night's game. Michael Bourn hit a tie-breaking two-out triple in the top of the tenth, scoring Quintero and Navarro, both of whom had walked. Bourn then came around to score on Kepp's single, leading to the Astros' 6-3 win to start the series. That was about it in the fun department for Astros batters this weekend, as they went on to score only twice in the next three games. Roy O and Bud Lite were positively cheated in the Shabbat shutouts. (And NO, I did NOT watch these games after the Sabbath ended.)

I think I've already worn out the subject of this series, so let's just get on to other interesting news... A couple of days after the Astros claimed that they weren't looking for another option at short, they picked up a shortstop, Angel Sanchez. The need for additional help in the infield became more acute when Blum (covering short for Manzella, who's out for another month with a broken finger) hurt his elbow while putting on his shirt. No joke. Something popped, and now he's on the DL too. The Angel Sanchez that the Astros got in trade from the Red Sox for Kevin Cash is not the fashion designer. He's a 27-year old minor league shortstop who has only appeared in a handful of major league games -- 8 for the Royals in 2006, and 1 this year with Boston.

In other young player news, Chris Johnson has continued to hit well since he's become the Astros' everyday third baseman a couple of weeks ago. He's gone 17 for 40 with 6 doubles. He's had a few glitches in the fielding department, resulting in 5 errors. Jason Castro hasn't been too exciting at the plate (he's only batting .182), but he's thrown out 6 runners in the 11 games he's played. Hopefully, the Astros will stay with their young blood and keep him in the lineup, even if he can't maintain his current offensive pace.

Meanwhile, Bourn has been selected as the lone player to represent the Astros on the All Star roster. It was pretty slim pickings from the team this year, with a good case to be made that none of them should make the trip to Anaheim. But every team gets at least one player, and Bourn is ours. (Probably doesn't hurt that Charlie Manual, this year's NL ASG manager, knows Bourn from his days with the Phillies before the Lidge trade.) It's kind of a shame for Oswalt, who's pitching really well this year. But with all of the great NL pitchers to pick from, why take a guy with a 5-10 record, even if it's not his fault?

Strasburg Watch: Stephen Strasburg had his shortest outing of the year on Saturday, pitching only 5 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, 3 BBs, and 5 Ks for a no decision. The Nats ultimately won the game 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth. Strasburg wasn't selected for the All Star Game, which (in my opinion) was the right decision. If he's as great as he seems, he'll have plenty of chances in the future. Meanwhile, the NL is full of other deserving pitchers.

Astros are back home now, hosting the Pirates and Cardinals before taking off for the All Star vacation. July is a big month for home games, with a 14-10 split of home to away games.

GAMES 78-79: A Brew with a Nice Finish

GAME 78 - June 29: Brewers 7, Astros 5
GAME 79 - June 30: Astros 5, Brewers 1

After Tuesday night's big come-from-behinder, I was suckered into believing up until the last out, that the Astros would somehow heroically win last night's game. Myers, uncharacteristically, had given up 7 runs on 4 homers and the odd double to put the Astros in a hole. He hung on for 6 innings, keeping his streak of 6+ inning starts going, but it was hardly a quality start. But the Astros had some pop of their own, scoring 3 runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, thanks to a homer from Feliz, a 3 for 5/2 RBI night for Berkman, and 2 for 4/2RBI game for Bourn. All in all, a respectable performance against the Brewers' ace, Yovani Gallardo. Coming into the ninth inning 3 runs down was a bit of a bummer, but once you get that come-from-behind mojo going, you believe anything is possible. The inning didn't start auspiciously: Bourgeois was a statue, past which one ball and three called strikes whizzed by. Bourn singled, and (of course) stole second, his second SB of the game. Keppinger, however, struck out for the second out. Berkman kept the hope going with a double, scoring Bourn. Lee walked, bringing up Pence - and the go-ahead run - to the plate. Homer, homer, homer, I chanted from my bed, where I was watching the game on my iPod touch and earphones.  He grounded out to end the game.

This afternoon I was sitting in a long meeting at the office, getting a little grouchy. At the end the meeting, my colleague Ann P. (a huge Twins fan) remarked that my mood was understandable since my team had lost. The Astros were playing an afternoon game, which had started around the same time at the meeting. But Ann had been in the meeting the whole time, with no sign of a Blackberry or other internet-accessible device. So how did she know the Astros lost? Turned out that she was just giving me the business. I ran back to my office and checked the score online -- the Astros were leading late in the game. So here I am now, eating my dinner with mlb.tv on my iMac, watching Wandy have a good start, and knowing that there's going to be a happy inning. I'm going to pour a glass of wine now and then I'll finish this blog post up when the game's over. Here are some pictures of Wandy from Spring Training to tide you over until I come back...

This game was largely the Wandy Show -- good pitching, good fielding, and (what I always love) supporting himself at the plate. In the pitching department, Wandy threw 7 innings, giving up only a single run on 7 hits, a walk, and 6 strikeouts. With base runners in every inning, he kept his cool, pitched out of trouble, and kept them Brewers from scoring. His best fielding move came in the sixth inning with a runner on second. Wandy he fielded a ground ball, faked a throw to first, and then whirled and threw out the runner, who decided to make a try for third. Sweet. Helping himself at the plate, Wandy put down a perfect bunt for a suicide squeeze, scoring Blum from third. The RBI put Houston ahead 2-1, and they never gave up the lead. The Astros added a trio of runs in the seventh, but it was all insurance, since Wandy and the bullpen had things under control. Lindstrom and Lyon pitched two hitless innings in relief to keep Wandy's "W" intact.

Wandy got some nice support from his teammates, both in fielding and at the plate. Bourn had another terrific catch, leaping at the wall to catch a ball that appeared to be heading out of town. Chris Johnson had another 4-hit game, his second of the roadtrip. Blum got on base in every at bat, with a double, a single, and a pair of walks. Berkman hit a double and walked twice. All in all a fun game, once with very little stress -- especially since I watched it knowing the outcome ahead of time. :-)

So that's it for June - a fantastic month for the Astros! Hey, it's all relative. When you start the first two months of the season as miserably as the Astros have, a .500 month is a huge improvement. We're a long way from getting back to an overall .500 record (still 17 games under), but the overall direction is positive.  I'm off to Seattle for a long Fourth of July holiday weekend with my folks and siblings, planning to celebrate my mother's birthday belatedly with a weekend of mah jongg and good food. And maybe some baseball watching too. Tweet me.

GAME 77: A Weeknight Double Header Surprise

GAME 77 - June 28: Astros 9, Brewers 5


Bonus Game: Braves 5, Nationals 0 (Nats leave Stras hanging out to dry)

Somewhere around 8:30 PM last night, I tweeted:

   Guilty admission: the Nats game is much more entertaining than the Astros game tonight

Well, it was! At the end of 6 innings, Strasburg had just struck out the side against the Braves, with a 0-0 score to testify to the quality of his pitching match with Tim Hudson. Meanwhile, the Astros were down 4-0 at the end of  2 innings, after having their own side struck out by Manny Parra. A hard night for Bud Lite Norris, who was just returning to the rotation after his trip to the DL. I was lying on the couch in the family room, watching the Nats game on my TV, with my ancient 12" Dell laptop on my lap (where else?) for the mlb.tv broadcast of the Astros game. And tweeting about both games.

And then things took a mighty spin. Down in Atlanta, Strasburg walked Chipper Jones on 4 pitches to lead off the seventh. The next batter singled. The next batter hit into what looked like a double play, but the Nats shortstop blew the play and both runners were safe. Bases loaded, no outs. Trouble. A sac fly gave the Braves a 1-0 lead. Would have been nice if that were the third out, not the first, but it was just the start of trouble for the Nats. Strasburg lasted one more runner, giving up a single that allowed the second runner to score. But his replacement, Sean Burnett, gave up two hits (one on a ground ball that both the Nats SS and third baseman couldn't handle) for 2 more runs. Down 4-0 now, the Nats switched to Drew Storen. Sac fly made it 5-0. Braves batted around and then some before Chipper Jones struck out to end the mess. Of course, like the last game in which Strasburg pitched, the Nats failed to score at all. So after that first sac fly run that Strasburg gave up, the game was over anyway.

Once Strasburg was pulled, I shut down the stinky old Dell, and came upstairs to resume watching the Astros losing to the Brewers on my nice big iMac with the HDD broadcast. Only something weird happened. Our guys scored a pair of runs in the third to cut the Brewers' lead in half. Then three runs in the sixth, two more in the seventh, and another two in the eighth! Came from behind! Lots of runners (14 hits and 6 walks). Bourn hit his first homer of the year, plus 3 singles, and a stolen base. Pence went 3 for 5, Lee went 2 for 4, Feliz went 3 for 5! It was a bonanza of bases for the Astros, a momentary rise from the cellar of nearly every offensive stat category. And just to make sure that they didn't blow it, the bullpen was excellent. Chacin, Lopez, Brydak, Lyon, and Fulchino combined for 4 scoreless innings, giving up only 3 hits and no walks between them. Lyon struck out all 4 batters he faced, and Fulchino struck out 2 more in the ninth to end the game.

Now THAT was a Great Game! (When was the last time I actually wrote a blog just for one game?) Can they do it again tonight? Brett Myers is going to try. First pitch in about 45 minutes. I'll be tweeting - see you there?