- 1st time they've been swept in 3 at Wrigley in 23 years. (remember in their most recent road series prior to this one they were swept by Milwaukee in a 3-game series for the first time EVER.
- Astros starters in this series: 14 IP, 18 ER (that's at 11.57 ERA if you're wondering) and a whopping 29 hits. Btw, the guys who got the 3 starts, Jennings, Oswalt and Rodriguez are the team's top 3 starting pitchers.
- Mentioned this several times after Rodriguez tossed 16 scoreless innings on the last homestand. His home ERA is 1.81, which is 2nd among ML starters. His road ERA is now 7.45, that ranks 102nd out of 106 among ML starters.
- Let this one sink in a bit...for the Astros to win 90 games, they must finish 51-19. The 3 teams currently tied with the best record in the NL, Milwaukee, New York and Los Angeles, are 51-40.
-- Can we please start admitting the Astros need to be sellers and look forward to '08???
-- Available, in this order, Jason Jennings, Mark Loretta, Mike Lamb and Brad Lidge. Lidge, I'd prefer to keep, but he can do more for the team if he's moved, than if he's kept. Because if he pitches poorly, then an asset has been wasted and so have the millions he's being paid. If he pitches well, then the team has to make a tough decision about committing to for the long term and the big bucks that go with it. Also, everyone other than Oswalt, Lee, Pence and Berkman can be had - if there are any takers, that is.
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It's well established that Phil Garner has the respect of his players. The guys in his clubhouse have no problem with his attitude, his style or his treatment of players. He's loyal to them, they're loyal to him. That is one aspect of being a good manager. Phil has that going for him. But at this point it is just simply not enough to outweigh his shortcomings when it comes to actually managing a ballclub. I mean actually making decision during the game.It is inexcusable to pull the move he made in the 7th inning of the final game of the Cubs sweep of the Astros. Pinch-running Eric Bruntlett for Mark Loretta at 3rd base with one out and Brad Ausmus at the plate of a game the team trails by one run. This is merely an example that Phil is in over his head. The excuse most often being used in his defense is that the team just isn't really that talented, while true, is not applicable any longer. We keep statistics in baseball for a reason. They are a fairly accurate assessment of success and failure in certain situations. I would imagine those numbers are available to Garner, yet he insists on managing as if he has never seen them.
In this situation in particular, Garner is reasoning that having the marginally faster Bruntlett at third base can help the team tie the game provided his weak-hitting catcher cannot come through with a hit. Is he playing for a tie?? They're down one-run, why are you taking the second best hitter in the line-up out of the game when you are down a run? So if the move works, Bruntlett scores and now you still need at least another run - and guess who is no longer available to help you get it? Try the league's #1 ranked hitter with runners in scoring position. Yep, Loretta leads the league with a .418 batting average with runners in scoring position (among those with 50 plate appearances) and he is now useless.
You have one out, the runner is going to score in so many situations, why are you yanking this guy for a pinch-runner? It's not like it's Tony Eusebio we're talking about, Loretta is more than capable of running from 3rd to home in less than an hour. I could go on and on, but rather than that, I'll simply thank Garner on Drayton's behalf for making his decision easier on what to do in the offseason with the on-field management of this team.
Starting Morgan Ensberg as often as he does, when he's got Lamb who hits .300+ off lefties?? Starting Loretta at first to make sure the defense will be as poor as possible. Btw, that move was only necessary because Ensberg was in the line-up at 3B. Like I said, I could go on and on and on. But I'll leave it to you to reference previous posts to drive the point home.
And yet this still has no bearing on GM Tim Purpura who has done nothing to show he needs to return to his post.
Hopefully they can make it a somewhat interesting final couple of months, but this opening series does not lend me to believe that.
Still floating around all over the SportsRadio 610 airwaves, this week it's afternoons 2-6pm, filling in for Matt Jackson.
----- WEX
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