ST Games No. 10 & 11: Houston Astros split-squad at St. Louis Cardinals/vs. Washington Nationals
by David Coleman on Mar 13, 2010 12:00 PM CST
in Events
182 comments
Grapefruit League record (though it's essentially meaningless): 3-4
Starters today are: RHP Bud Norris vs. RHP Chris Carpenter and RHP Felipe Paulino vs. RHP Scott Olsen
When I hear about lineups, we'll post them here.
You can listen and watch the Cardinals game here, while listening to the Nationals broadcast on 740 KTRH.
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Pujols and Rasmus with singles
Both good, well-located fastballs, though. First and second with two outs.
In the Nationals game
Bud Norris made it through the first inning stranding two Nationals runners..
Jason Bourgeois tripel to open the Astros half of the inning, scoring on a double (almost an inside the park homer).
Aatros lead 1-0 after one
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 12:27 PM CST reply actions
Geoge H W and Barbara Bush in attendance (free tickets)
and the Mosbachers with them
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 12:30 PM CST up reply actions
Second Inning versus the Nationals
Bud Norris pitching
Castro catching
Pence in right, Bourgeois in center, Carlos Lee in left
Keppinger is playing – not sure where (Second maybe)
Ditto Blum (First?)
Nationals shortstop doubled and was stranded at second.
Feliz playing third. Quintero must be the DH.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 12:37 PM CST reply actions
Astros half of the second
Feliz singled to start the inning.
Castro called out on strikes.
H. Quintero pop out
Maysonet playing second (Keppinger must be the shortstop)
Maysonet flies tro right,
Wind is a factor today.
Feliz stranded at second.
Astros lead 1-0 after two
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 12:42 PM CST up reply actions
Paulino looking good against Cardinals
No runs so far, middle of the second, 2-0 Astros. Had a brief period of control issues at the beginning of the second, but righted the ship after one walk.
Cardinals announcers are being more fair to Felipe than our own radio guys—they said he had a good ratio of strikeouts/walks but allowed a lot of hits.
Now they’re bitching about Carpenter or Wainwright not winning the CY over Lincecum. “Mind-boggling”, they say. Silly.
Inning over, two men stranded, 2-0 ’stros.
Lincecum and Javy Vasquez had to be the top two easily. I’m not sure what they’re complaining about, really.
They were all deserving .
You could say Wainwright and Carpenter split votes. My memory is faint, but I think I would have voted Lincecum.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 12:55 PM CST up reply actions
UH Cougars going to Big Dance
They beat UTEP today to win the conference tournament
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 12:44 PM CST reply actions
Bud Norris makes bad pitch on 0-2 count
Ryan Zimmerman’s homerun ties up the game.
Norris walked the next batter.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 12:48 PM CST reply actions
Norris missing target
Control lost. Q asking for outside pitches and Norris pitches going inside.
After Norris going 2-0 on Willingham, Willingham doubles home Zimmerman.
Nationals up 2-1.
P.S. – Nationals are 0-8 in Spring Training.
Pitching coach to the mound.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 12:52 PM CST up reply actions
Didn't Norris comment on having a lot more movement on his FB this year?
I could have sworn I saw or read an interview where Norris said he has much more movement on his 2 seam this year for some reason. Maybe Arnie has something to do with that.
Anyway, I think Norris is glad about the movement but is having trouble controlling it.
Hard Wind in Kissimmee too
Fly balls are an adventure
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 12:59 PM CST up reply actions
Don't know why...
But angels in the outfield comes to mind
Hunter Pence doubled
As Drayton and Milo chat.
Lee flies to left to strand Pence
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:00 PM CST reply actions
Now fly ball doubles by Yady Molina and Lugo. Wind seems to be really helping out the hitters today. 2-2, nobody out.
I wondered how he could be two places at the same time
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:13 PM CST up reply actions
so manzella and sutil have impressed on defense so far?
i like, i like.
The Crawfish Boxes, Astros blogging at its finest.
by Evan Hochschild on Mar 13, 2010 1:19 PM CST up reply actions
so far this spring so far
not in this game. just wanted to clarify
The Crawfish Boxes, Astros blogging at its finest.
by Evan Hochschild on Mar 13, 2010 1:20 PM CST up reply actions
disregard my use of "so far" twice
today is not my day
The Crawfish Boxes, Astros blogging at its finest.
by Evan Hochschild on Mar 13, 2010 1:22 PM CST up reply actions
Lindstrom pitching in the fourth
Maysonet makes nice play to end the inning. No score for Nationals.
Drayton talking about Billy Wagner (interesting )
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:10 PM CST reply actions
Drayton says we're almost a year and a half into the recession
Someone tell Drayton it’s almost three years in now
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:15 PM CST reply actions
What a spot to enter!
Let’s hope he’s not facing Pujols.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:17 PM CST up reply actions
Drayton has something against Stanford
not sure what
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:18 PM CST reply actions
Ryan Zimmerman stole second
Went to third on wild pitch
Tommy Castro almost threw him out at both bases.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:27 PM CST reply actions
Zimmerman Scored on grounder to second
3-1 Nationals .
Nats still batting
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:27 PM CST reply actions
Nats score again
4-1
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:32 PM CST reply actions
Sporting News Evaluates the Astros
Offense: D.
Pitching: D. .
Bench: C.
Manager: C. An incomplete might be more accurate,
Sporting News prediction: With lingering questions about both the offense and the pitching staff, Houston is unlikely to improve upon its fifth-place finish from last season.
Complete article: http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/article/2010-03-12/houston-astros-2010-preview
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:34 PM CST reply actions
Towles on third
With either a double and an error or a triple. Well-struck ball very deep to center, almost a HR.
Start the process over.
I’m getting the Nationals game clearly
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:46 PM CST up reply actions
Wind benefits Astros against Nationals (but Astros don't take advantage)
Keppinger doubled.
Duncan at first misjudged a foul Pop to let Pence continue an at-bat, where he walked.
Carlos Lee flied to center, but center fielder dropped the ball to load the bases.
The Nationals get the next two batters to end the inning without Astros scoring
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:45 PM CST reply actions
Chris Sampson pitching in the Nationals game
3 straight hits (quips Milo “He shouldn’t have gotten that haircut”)
Bourgeois makes tumbling catch in center
Nationals score – 5-1
Castro nails runner at second.
Sampson gets strikeout to end the inning
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 1:53 PM CST reply actions
Castro walked, Q singled, Maysonet doubled
Castro and Qunitero scored
5-3
no outs
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:02 PM CST reply actions
is there a point at which we should become nervous about Bourn? I don’t think we’re there yet, but I really would like to see him get off the snide.
As I recall...
Jeff Bagwell had a couple really slow springs. Of course, he was also a notorious slow starter in April anyways. However, I think there were a couple of times when he hit like .158 in spring and had a big start to the season. I guess I’m saying I’m not worried yet. After all, this isn’t because teams have started pitching him differently. At least, not yet.
by David Coleman on Mar 13, 2010 2:27 PM CST up reply actions
Jason Bourgeois
has been impressive today.
I don’t much about him, but he might be a good addition .
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:06 PM CST reply actions
Ryan Zimmerman doubled
He’s a one-man show
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:11 PM CST reply actions
Nationals have runners on the corners; One out
Shuck playing center for the Astros; Cash catching Loux pitching
DOUBLE PLAY (6-4-3)
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:17 PM CST reply actions
Majewski strands a runner on third
Off a groundball double. Three groundball outs. Still 7-3 Cards.
Majewski looks pretty good. Lots of movement on everything he throws, but he does seem to have a little trouble repeating his mechanics, as he threw at least one pitch well outside the zone on every batter.
Romero in to bat
Singles after a good at bat, lots of contact on pitches inside the zone and finally drops a 2-2 pitch into right field.
he may well be the best candidate for the 5th outfielder position. he is a switch hitter and can hit lefthanded. he has a pretty good minor league record, and has a little ML experience and is only 25 years old.
i couldn't agree more
i’ve thought that since chone came out with their projections…he’s everything you say he is and offers some degree of upside.
The Crawfish Boxes, Astros blogging at its finest.
by Evan Hochschild on Mar 13, 2010 2:30 PM CST up reply actions
At the same time, he doesn’t have as much defensive versatility as you’d like in a fifth outfielder.
With Michaels also limited in his outfield positioning, it’d leave the Astros weak if Bourn has to come out of the game.
by David Coleman on Mar 13, 2010 5:51 PM CST up reply actions
In AAA, he played more games in CF than any other position. In every D-Backs AAA season, he played all three outfield positions. He isn’t Michael Bourn on defense, but other than Y. Ramirez, who do the Astros have who approaches Bourn’s defensive skill?. I haven’t seen Romero play, but my hunch is that he as good an outfielder defensively as Cory Sullivan.
That explains it
We were talking about different guys. I thought your comment referred to locke not romero. My bad
by David Coleman on Mar 13, 2010 7:15 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
Jason Bourgeois
I know very little about Jason Bourgeois; but he had a good game today in Centerfield against the Nationals. The radio guys at one point when Bourgeois made a run and tumble catch that he looked just like Micahel Bourn. (plus he a had a triple that should have been a inside the park homerun).
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 11:09 PM CST up reply actions
Astros Seventh
Hunter Pence infield single
CJ Steele running for Hunter
Barnes (Who?) (Leftfield) doubled
Steele Scored
Blum singled.
Barnes scored to tie the game.
5-5
Koby Clemens pinch runs for Blum.
Pedro Feliz on 3-2 pitch singled (or an error on short?)- called an error – Clemens to third.
Still no outs.
Navarro pinch running for Feliz
Kevin Cash (Catcher)
Weird play – Koby goes home on suicide bunt – only Cash missed the sign and swung for the fences – in fact the ball hits the fence. Clemens scored.
Pitching change – No Outs
Astros lead 6-5
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:30 PM CST reply actions
Barnes???
Wow. Can someone educate me on who this Navarro guy is?
The Crawfish Boxes, Astros blogging at its finest.
by Evan Hochschild on Mar 13, 2010 2:30 PM CST up reply actions
I don’t know about Barnes. Navarro is a shortstop of the AAAA variety out of the Mariners’ system. He isn’t that old (26, if I recall) and reportedly is a decent defensive player. Not so good a reputation as a hitter. I am guessing he plays 2d base for RR this year.
so, essentially
Jose Vallejo, 2.0? As far as being a AAAA type?
The Crawfish Boxes, Astros blogging at its finest.
by Evan Hochschild on Mar 13, 2010 2:33 PM CST up reply actions
Brandon Barnes
An ex-football player, he spent two seasons in Lexington before finally moving up to High A last season. He actually hit really well in limited playing time (291 PA) before moving up for a cup of coffee in Double-A. I was really down on him two years ago, but he made some solid steps in 2009. If he can hit in Corpus this season, he’s got some upside, I think.
by David Coleman on Mar 13, 2010 5:56 PM CST up reply actions
Strikes out the first batter, Cards announcers praising his “live arm”. Heh. So Lo is a control pitcher and Trinidad has a live arm.
7-5 Astros as another Astro gets a hit
out one
I’m losing track of the action
Kata batting
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:33 PM CST reply actions
26000 fans for a spring training game
The place to be
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:38 PM CST reply actions
Astros seventh ends
7-5
Scorer reverses call and gives Feliz a hit.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:40 PM CST reply actions
Astros minor leaguers take the field
All those pinch runners stay in the game.
Bazardo pitching
First batter singled
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:42 PM CST reply actions
Trainer, manager and pitching coach to visit Bazardo
Bazardo leaves the game – unknown injury
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:43 PM CST up reply actions
Gervacio new pitcher
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:44 PM CST reply actions
I haven’t been following the action that closely because I’ve been reading Joe Posnanski’s essay on Pedro Feliz. It’s rather long because it’s a take off from Bill James’ recent essay on RBI hitters (which has drawn a lot of discussion at the Book blog). Part of this is painful, because Joe is pointing out legitimate criticisms about Feliz, which I know are true. And I think he is pointing to a weakness of the Astros’ front office’s decision criteria with respect to RBIs and clutch hitting—-something I mentioned in a comment here a few weeks ago. Basically, James said that adding a big RBI hitter to bad team will make the bad team worse. I think the gist is that bad teams need players with good OBP a lot more than they need a low-batting average player who can drive in runs.
Error stolen base Wild pitch dropped ball
Nats score
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:48 PM CST reply actions
Cardinals announcers mixed up
They’re saying Paulino is the new pitcher, which of course he’s not since he’s already done for the day.
It’s actually Villar. He allows a double and hits the next batter with a pitch.
Since you're watching the Cardinals game...
Milo reported something curious about the Cardinals’ game…they said Paulino pitched two innings, left the game, and then worked in the bullpen because he hadn’t thrown enough pitches. That seems odd. Any thoughts?
Astros 8th in Nationals Game
Steele out
Barnes singled
Clemens struck out
Navarro flied out
Inning over – no score
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 2:59 PM CST reply actions
Gervacio back out for the ninth
Somebody from the minor league camp was hustled into the bullpen just in case
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:02 PM CST reply actions
First batter walked on four pitches
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:03 PM CST up reply actions
Eric Bruntlett doubled
Runners on second and Third . No outs
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:06 PM CST up reply actions
Nationals tie the game on a grounder to second
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:07 PM CST reply actions
7-7 in the middle of the ninth
Let’s go Astros
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:10 PM CST reply actions
Kevin Cash
on a 3-2 count
(injury report on Bazardo – shoulder tightness)
Cash out someway
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:15 PM CST up reply actions
Humberto Quintero
on 3-2 count
walked
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:16 PM CST up reply actions
can we get a pinch run for Quintero? As I say that, they answer on the radio: no players available, even from the minor league camp.
Quintero scored from first on a double earlier in the game
(and just scored on a looping single to win the game )
He lost weight over the winter – must have made him faster – or gave him endurance
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:21 PM CST up reply actions
and Quintero is NOT even the player of the Game
Radio guys interview Bud Norris.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:23 PM CST up reply actions
Matt Kata
singled to left center field.
Q to second
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:18 PM CST up reply actions
Jack Shuck
Looping liner
Q Scored from second to WIN the game
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:19 PM CST up reply actions
ASTROS win one, lose one
Beat Nationals
Lost to Cardinals
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 3:21 PM CST reply actions
KTRH web site
By the way, the article links to the KTRH web site for live streaming audio. However, KTRH and KBME have been blocking the MLB games on their live streaming audio.
IIINNNNteresting…I’ve just been listening on Gameday Audio; and linking to the local stations b/c I assumed they’d stream the games too. Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll just mention the local station carrying the game in Houston from now on.
by David Coleman on Mar 13, 2010 5:54 PM CST up reply actions
Thank goodness for that
That’s 2 of the Astros five wins
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 4:29 PM CST up reply actions
Yikes. Um, Bud?
If you’re not having any physical problems… why are you making such a big deal about being healthy?
“I felt good,” Norris said. “That was the big part was staying healthy. It felt good to extend myself a little bit more, but the No. 1 priority was to go out there and be healthy and throw strikes, which I did. The conditions were a little tough, obviously, but being healthy was the key.”
Somebody tell me I’m reading too much into this?
http://brianmctaggart.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/03/day-21-recap-astros-split-a-pair-of-games.html
maybe a premature assessment
but it looks like the Astros will have players at Round Rock ready and able to contribute when needed at the MLB level during the season.
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Mar 13, 2010 11:13 PM CST reply actions
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cincinnati
|
78 | 55 | .586 | 0 | Won 4 |
|
St. Louis
|
69 | 62 | .526 | 8 | Lost 5 |
|
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|
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|
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(updated 9.2.2010 at 9:47 AM CDT)
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