Friday Astros Discussion Thread
by HighLeveragePerformer on Jul 3, 2009 7:00 AM CDT
in News
13 comments
The Astros are moving up the California coastline today and making a stop in San Francisco for three games with the Wild Card leading Giants.
Last season we won three of four in San Fran, ending a seemingly never ending trend of losing a ton of games in northern Califormia. Darin Erstad hit a three run homer! Things were going good last May, that's for sure.
Youth faces off tonight, as Felipe Paulino and Ryan Sadowski take the mound. Multiple Cy Youngs stare the Astros in the face on Saturday and Sunday with Tim Lincecum and Randy Johnson pitching for the Giants.
What do the cities of Houston and San Franciso have in common? Disspointment, that's what:
David Carr, First Pick of the 2002 NFL Draft
First Selection of the 2004 NFL Draft, Alex Smith
Carlos Lee goes from sushi in SD, to heaping helpings of garlic fries in SF. Does Minute Maid Park have a signature food?
The last season that Astro batters and pitchers' average ages were both under 30? 2000. Overall, the team has gotten a year and a half older on both sides since 2004. We're getting to be so grown up!
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I'll try and start it off
One thing I’ll note, and I’m doing a lot of back tracking on previous statements I have made about the way that our organization operates, is perhaps the Giants and the Astros are case studies for different ways of rebuilding.
After Bonds set his record,* the Giants have pretty much paired back their payroll, with the exception of the Rowand signing and Zito’s ridiculous contract, to allow for wholly unproven/untested youth to take the field for them. The Astros have tried to hold together a crop of older/seasoned talent while rapidly infusing youth into the lower levels of the farm system and letting their few promising pieces of talent blossom at AAA this year. By all accounts, next season should likely see promising contributions for Bud Norris, Maysonet, Manzella (possibly), and maybe even Polin Trindad; plus we still have JR Towles and Jason Castro waiting in the wings. Despite the moans and groans we all have about the relative age of this team we’re a scant 4.5 games behind the Giants with much better prospects in our own division and could theoretically walk away from this next series near even with the Giants.
While at this point it’s too soon to tell what this season will hold for the two different models of rebuilding will hold for each club, I have to say I like the Astros chances better. Linceum and Cain are great, but the Big Unit is beginning to show his age, Zito’s contract is worse than Carlos Lee, and the Astros still have an offense capable of supporting their pitchers. So in the end, I have to say I like the Astros chances of making things interesting more so than the Giants.
Discuss.
The Crawfishboxes
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by DyingQuail on Jul 3, 2009 7:29 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Giants fans complain about their team playing too many vets
The team sure didn’t look good last night. On the other hand, they beat Carpenter and played against the Brewers pretty well. Tonight the Astros hold the opportunity to provide a very high Fan Frustration Factor (FFF) for me. The Brewers were handled by Figaro who was promptly slapped around and banished to the minors. Tonight is Sadowski, an uninspiring looking pitcher who shut out the Brewers. If he’s treated like Figaro, well, high FFF.
A side note: Pablo Sandoval is entertaining to watch.
by ol Pete on Jul 3, 2009 12:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
yeah, I agree with the Giants' fans to some extent...
the Giants are in love with vets too. The Giants and Astros are similar in the sense that they are trying to mesh a couple of young star players into an aging pool of veterans. The Giants take a backseat to nobody in veteran-ness: Edgar Renteria, Randy Johnson, Rich Aurilia, Bengie Molina, Juan Uribe, Randy Winn, Aaron Rowand… The Giants’ pair of young stars are pitchers, and the Astros’ pair of young young stars are outfielders. Giants’ GM Saben gets the same pointed jokes and sneering from the saber crowd as Wade. Heck, Sabean tried to pay Carlos Lee more than the Astros if he would sign with SF. The Giants weren’t expected to contend (like the Astros) in the eyes of most sabermetric forecasts and talking heads. Their offense looks too weak on paper. Indeed, the Giants offense bears some similarities to the Astros.’ Both teams are in the upper third of ML teams in batting avrerage, but the Giants are one of the few teams which draws less walks and hits fewer HRs than the Astros.
by clack on Jul 3, 2009 12:32 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Express-Nashville game was on FSN yesterday.
It was a good game, tied until the 9th, when Saccomano hit a walk off HR. That was the first time I have seen Bazardo. His velocity was better than I expected. He had mixed results in this game, giving up 9 hits and 5 runs, but holding the game together. This same Nashville team (Brewers affiliate) hit Bud Norris very hard the previous night. Wesley Wright pitched well in relief. Bogusevic, Manzella, and Johnson also had good offensive games.
by clack on Jul 3, 2009 7:37 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
MMP's Signature Food
It’s the BBQ Stuffed Baked Potato. And it’s pretty well regarded.
by AstroAndy on Jul 3, 2009 8:58 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
this series
the way i look at it is if you look at who is pitching for us this series we are either going to go 1 and 2 or 2 and 1…if we go 2 and 1 then i think we can consider ourselves legitimate buyers…
by HtownBoy1999 on Jul 3, 2009 9:42 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
MinuteMaids Signature food is
anything that taste like crap
by joeljr on Jul 3, 2009 9:53 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
MinuteMaids Signature food is
anything that taste like crap
This.
by Irish Pete on Jul 3, 2009 10:44 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
The Cracker Jack Lady
on the 3rd base line past the dugout is the best! Look for her wearing an outlandish blonde wig and then buy some Cracker Jacks just for the hell of it. You may be as lucky to hear her stunning acapella rendition of ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame.’ Always entertaining!
by backstop8 on Jul 3, 2009 11:56 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Another similarity:
really old veterans signed to one-year deals to reach some career milestone.
vs
Your friendly neighborhood Dream Shake mod.
by Only_A_Lad on Jul 3, 2009 12:34 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Is this the first time the astros could be .500 since opening day?
by mutombo4life on Jul 3, 2009 5:20 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
since game 4 of the season
Your friendly neighborhood Dream Shake mod.
by Only_A_Lad on Jul 3, 2009 5:22 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
St. Louis
|
91 | 71 | .561 | 0 | Lost 6 |
|
Chicago
|
83 | 78 | .515 | 7.5 | Lost 1 |
|
Milwaukee
|
80 | 82 | .493 | 11 | Won 3 |
|
Cincinnati
|
78 | 84 | .481 | 13 | Won 2 |
|
Houston
|
74 | 88 | .456 | 17 | Lost 3 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
62 | 99 | .385 | 28.5 | Lost 2 |
(updated 2.9.2010 at 11:43 PM CST)
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