Plans for golf, of course. It's too bad they wasted nearly a month figuring out how to play halfway decent baseball. They very easily could've swept the Rays in Tampa - a team with the most home wins in the AL. The starters (Oswalt, Rodriguez & Backe) allowed just 6 runs in 20 innings (2.70 ERA) and helped give the closer the lead in the 9th in all three games. They played passable defense, nothing special - just make the plays you're supposed to make. They didn't even do anything outrageous with the sticks, merely scoring 10 runs in the series.
But they are still the same team that is no better than average. A pitching staff that is outrageously inconsistent with an ace that only recently saw his season ERA dip below 5.00. A group of hitters that are on board with MLB's speed-up-the-game tactics since they are constantly swinging at the first pitch and rarely patient enough to draw walks and actually make the opposing pitcher break a sweat.
For the 100th time - the Astros are an average team at best. Their offense can mash, but when they are not hitting long balls, they basically don't score at all. The pitching staff is not even an average group but Oswalt and Rodriguez are good enough to hold their own with just about anybody. Before you go jumping down my throat for being too complimentary of Rodriguez, just look at his work.
Over his last 15 starts, he's 4-4 with a 3.27 ERA with 64 K's in 78.2 IP. Most of the NL top pitchers this year have made 15 or 16 starts this year. Wandy's ERA would rate 13th, just behind Cole Hamels and Dan Haren, just in front of Brandon Webb - each of whom is likely headed to New York for this year's all-star game.
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Shawn Chacon to the bullpen, replaced Friday by Runelvys Hernandez is a scary proposition. Hernandez has not pitched in the majors since 2006. His numbers at AAA are fine, but I have zero confidence that he can even be serviceable. It's a completely desperate move. I suppose since Jack Cassel was scratched from his last start at Round Rock, that he was not considered for this move. Otherwise this move makes even less sense, since Cassel's numbers are significantly better than Hernandez and his 2 starts for the Astros earlier this year both produced wins - although that mostly had to do with offense scoring a ton of runs.
Chacon was pissed about the move and so what. The $2 million dollar investment is looking worse and worse start by start with Chacon, who at least started this season giving the Astros a chance to win nearly every time he pitched. A 9.35 ERA over his last 4 starts is not cutting it. Sampson pitched poorly and they booted him to the bullpen where he has a 2.61 ERA in 9 appearances. Now it's Chacon's turn to suck it up and...."do what's best for the ballclub," signed Crash Davis.
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All I know is the first thing that comes to mind when I see this aerial display is his airness, Michael Jordan. Well, that'd be the first thing I'd think of if I were smoking crack or if my name was Michael Cooper. Hilarious.
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How far into the sand are their heads buried in Louisiana? This was really the headline when Karl Malone was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame....
LOUISIANA SPORTS HALL OF FAME: For Malone, family matters most
Are they kidding? Surely they've heard of Cheryl Ford? How about Demetrius Bell?
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At least one writer thinks D-Wade is selfish for playing in the Olympics. That's one more than I thought there would be.
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