Yet more proof that pitching and defense are important to winning games. Round Rock & Lexington both have multi homer games and get blown out because of poor starting pitching.
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Astros (60-74) at Cubs (68-64)
Friday, September 1st, 1:20pm CDT-FSN
Saturday, September 2nd, 12:05pm CDT-KNWS
Sunday, September 3rd, 1:20pm CDT-FSN
Your newly enthusiastic and fortified Houston Astros roll into Wrigley for a three game set with the temporarily division leading Cubs. Chicago is a mediocre 5-5 over their last ten games but appear to be feeling their oats and spouting off a lot of cocky drivel about being in a pennant race, etc. Perfect timing for the annual summer rite whereby the hopes and dreams of pathetic Cubs fans everywhere are brutally eviscerated by that mean ass son of a bitch, the God of Baseball, in the guise in the next three days of your Houston Astros. It’s coming a little late in the season, but nevertheless, it’s here. Allah, akhbar!
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August 30, 2007
Astros 2, Turdinals 1
W: Albers (4-6) | L: Pineiro (4-3) | S: Lidge (14)
The Footer Recap Who the hell is Jim Carley?
AP Recap! via Yahoo!
AP Photo (more…)
Round Rock:
The Express jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first 4 innings and held on for a 7-4 victory. Brandon Backe got the win going 6 innings, giving up 3 runs and striking out 10.
Quote
“I felt really good tonight,” said Backe, who also made one start for Double-A Corpus Christi. “Hopefully, what I’ve done here will help me solidify a spot in Houston.”
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
Turdinals 0
Astros 7
W: Oswalt | L: Wells
Game Zone
Cut the cheese in the Talk Zone
Other coverage
Footer files feature
AP
“regardless of what’s happening with the astros’ record, their season, their staffing decisions, i like that every fifth day i can turn on the tv and watch roy oswalt pitch.”
-guitarcec in tonight’s GZ
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Round Rock:
The Express survived a triple play and a double play with the bases loaded to beat the Isotopes 6-4. Chris Samson got the win in relief of Juan Gutierrez.
Quote
“You get a triple play and then come back, load the bases with no outs and get the double play, you start to go ‘Whoa, what’s going to happen next?’ ” Express manager Jackie Moore said.
Cardinals 7, Astros 0
W: Looper (11-10) | L: Woody (8-13)
Footer tells it like it is
AP recap
First inning, Woody makes a mistake to Duncan, Astros behind 3-0 before they grab a bat. The Cards only needed one tally as the Astros looked extremely flat and managed a mere 5 singles, a double, and a walk, never reaching third base.
Thanks, Drayton.
New interm manager Cecil Cooper laid down the law with this quote from today. (more…)
Round Rock:
Chad Reineke went 8 shut out innings giving up 4 hits and striking out 5. His offense didn’t produce for him until the 10th when Tim Raines Jr. hit a walk off home run for the 1-0 victory.
Quote
“It was a fastball that just ran into my bat.”
Tied up with an all day training today so here is the Monday afternoon report on the weekend:
Greeneville: 0-3 for the weekend
Friday: Eduin Ciriaco made his 3rd start for Greeneville. I think he wishes he could go back to the pin. He gave up 6 runs in 3 innings bringing his Starter ERA to 11.70. His relief ERA is 2.30 in 13 appearances.
Colton Pitkin pitched 3 innings of shut out relief. His ERA for 3 appearances in August is 0.00. There are words to show the improvement since July when his ERA in 3 appearances was 81.00. He had two appearances in July where he failed to retire a single batter.
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By ’strosrays
Birdland Über Alles
Cardinals (63-64) at Astros (58-73)
Minute Maid Park, 501 Crawford St., Houston, TX 77002
a/k/a “The Juice Box”
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Tuesday, August 28 (7:05 p.m. CDT) – FSN
Wednesday, August 29 (7:05 p.m. CDT) – FSN
Thursday, August 30 (1:05 p.m. CDT) – FSN
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”Don’t crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers.” – Noe
Well, save for the appropriate and somewhat moving ceremony on Sunday to retire the number of franchise hero Jeff Bagwell, this homestand has been something of a king-hell bummer, has it not? It is hard to remember now, but the Astros came into it after that rarest of things in Astros history, a successful West Coast swing; and they still had not entirely insane hopes of somehow throwing everything together right at the end to pass up the stumbling Cubbies, the bumbling Brewers, and the staggering 3rdinals and take the Central Division crown this season, after all.
Of course, losing 6 of 8 to the Naxpos and Pirates in the last week-plus killed that crazy idea dead. And now here come Tony LaRussa and his fighting Co-ardinals, on a bit of a roll themselves, having gone 8-4 since mid-month. And a little roll here at the end is about all it will take in the Third World-like NL Central this season. It is easy to say now, but I have been convinced for about a month, since whenever the Hothouse Brewers began to seriously wilt, that the Redbirds would take this thing, in the end. I am no less convinced of it now. The Cubs appear to be blowing their chance, as we suspected they would; and the Brewers (7-16 so far in August) have been godawful. Meanwhile, the Tank Commander’s patched together team is hitting its stride. There is slightly more than a month left, of course, and with the top three teams in the division seperated by two games at this writing, literally anything can still happen. But my knowledge of recent history and my grudging respect for LaRussa the manager, irritating quirks and all, has me thinking the Co-ards are gearing up for a postseason run; and the Astros laying down for them this series is an integral part of their plans.
Meantime, the Astros are occupied by reverently burying their recent past, and appear to be mailing it in, otherwise. I am a bit sad to see that past go, but of course it must. The problem is, I am not convinced anyone, in the Astros’ organization or out of it, has any clear idea of what comes next. The future’s so bright, I gotta wear Q-beams. (more…)
By MRaup
Minute Maid Park
Friday, August 24, 7:05 p.m. CDT – FSN
Saturday, August 25, 6:05 p.m. CDT – FSN
Sunday, August 26, 1:05 p.m. CDT – FSN
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Nationals 7
Astros 6
W: Lannan | L: Gutierrez | S: Cordero
Curse the kids in the Game Zone
Praise the wiener in the Talk Zone
Other coverage:
Alyson soothes
AP tells it like it is.
It had the makings of a classic. Promising young Astros pitcher making his first start vs. young Nationals left-hander the Astros had never seen before. It was all that as Juan Gutierrez and the boys dug a 1st inning hole a bit too deep to climb out of as the gNats took the game 7-6 and the series 3 games to 1.
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Round Rock was postponed due to rain.
Corpus Christi:
The local paper has a story on the balance of development and winning.
Quote
“When you get down to crunch time like now where we’re in a pennant race, it’s about winning right now and I have the support of the organization. They’re telling me, ‘If a guy’s not pitching well and he (gets hit hard) in the first inning and is pitching bad, go get him.’”
August 22, 2007
Astros 3, gNats 2
W: Woodrow (8-12) | L: Bacsik (5-7) | S: Lidge (12)
The Footer Recap
AP Recap! via Yahoo!
Talk Zone
Game Zone thread
Round Rock:
Chan Ho “Can’t keep the ball in the” Park gave up another homer in the 4-3 loss to the Sounds. Atleast the homer he surrendered wasn’t to Laynce Nix, whose home streak ended. Raines & Quintero had solo shots for the Express.
Corpus Christi:
Brian Bogusevic looked good through 3 innings but blew up in the 4th and didn’t make it out. Every hooks batter struck out at least once. The side was struck out in the 7th after bases were loaded with no outs and in the 8th when a runner was at 3rd with no outs. The final was an 8-4 loss.
Salem:
Salem’s game made it to the 9th but was suspended by rain with the score 5-5. It is scheduled to be completed today before the scheduled game.
Lexington:
Sergio Severino struck out 4 but also walked 4 in his 4 innings of work. The result was 3 runs. The Legends offense could only muster 1 run in a 5-1 loss. Jordan Parraz had 3 singles for the Legends.
Tri Cities:
The “bark in the park” promotion resulted in a dog of a game as the ValleyCats got skunked 13-0.
Quote
Tri-City has allowed 13 or more runs in five games this season, all lopsided home losses. And for the second time in two weeks, they gave up a franchise-record nine runs in one inning.
Greeneville:
Kyle Greenewalt didn’t make it out of the third inning. He gave up 9 hits and 5 earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. It appeared that his curve was flat and the hits were solid hits against him. The pen did a nice job of keeping the Astros in the game.
Kyle Miller hit a monster shot over the score board in left center in the 1st and Drew Anderson put some drama in the game hitting a 3 run shot in the 9th to bring the Astros within one. However, after back to back walks, Drew Saylor grounded out to end the game.
Marques Williams was two for two on the night but it ended early. He scored from first on Travis Sweet’s triple but slid in head first at home. He got up acting a little hurt and was taken out of the game. I don’t know if the removal was due to injury or due to violating the Astros’ minors policy against head first slides.
The Appy league race has been dominated by the Elizabethon Twins (44-16) and Danville Braves (43-17). Only one other team has a record above .500 and that is the Burlington Royals. The next team in the standings is Kingsport who is two games below .500. All 4 of these teams have complex league that feed their teams and they don’t have a short season A ball teams. So it isn’t necessarily comparing Apples to Apples in the Appy League.
Nationals 11, Astros 6
W: Joel Hanrahan (3-1) L: Wandy Rodriguez (7-12)
HRs: Craig Biggio (10), Ryan Zimmerman (19)
Footer gives her game wrap
AP recap
Craig Biggio started the home half with his all-time NL leading 53rd leadoff home run, but that was basically the highlight of the game as Wandy Rodriguez lost his home mojo and fell to the Nationals at Minute Maid Park for the Astros second straight home loss to the lowly gNats. (more…)
Round Rock:
Laynce Nix of the Nashville Sounds hit a homer in his 6th straight game as the Sounds defeated the Express 6-5. Jesse Garcia is in a streak of his own hitting a lead off homer for the second straight game.
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Nationals at Astros, 8/20/07
Score: gNats 7, Astros 0
W: Timmah (3-3) L: Jennings (2-9)
Home runs: Pena (7), Young (12)
Read Jim Molony’s wrap-up here: Astros.com
Let’s go to the Ricoh scouting report:
“Keep the ball in the park”
Washington – Top of 2nd
W Pena homered to left.
Washington – Top of 3rd
D Young homered to right, F Lopez and R Zimmerman scored.
Any time Butt Beat, Butt Kicked & Butt Whipped is used in coaches quotes, it is not a good sign. So went the weekend.
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By Craig Elliott
Minute Maid Park
Monday, August 20, 7:05 p.m. CDT – FSN
Tuesday, August 21, 7:05 p.m. CDT – FSN
Wednesday, August 22, 7:05 p.m. CDT – FSN
Thursday, August 23, 7:05 p.m. CDT – FSN
The Astros finally had a winning road trip, splitting with the Dodgers and taking two of three from the Friars. But the trip was costly as Roy Oswalt and Carlos Lee both strained something in the same game.
The Astros are still eight games behind the barely-mediocre Cubs, who are sure to collapse into a steaming pile of Suck sometime soon. The Brewers are busy tripping over their own dicks, and the Jakes are lurking back there staring at Bernie Brewer’s ass. The Astros have a week full of gNats and Pi-Roots ahead, so if they’re going to kick it up to .500 by the end of the season, now would be a good time to start.
Meanwhile, the Nationals just lost five of six at home, including a sweep by the ball-licker Mets. The Nats are in last place in the NL East and have lost seven of their last 10 games. They just picked up Wily Mo Pena from the Red Sox, and as for their rotation, well, Tim Redding is about the best they have. (more…)
