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Astros Criticize Cardinals’ Field Conditions After U2 Concert

July 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Considering they are currently toting a record of 33-69 and are a solid 21 games out of first place in the NL Central, it would be tough for the Houston Astros to blame a loss on anyone but themselves. Rarely does a baseball team get a chance to blame U2 for their misfortunes, but if the opportunity presents itself you might as well strike.

The Cardinals hosted a U2 concert at Busch Stadium recently while St. Louis was on a road trip.  As a result, the stadium’s grass had to be torn up and replaced with a new surface from Colorado that was installed at night during cool temperatures.  It was known beforehand that the new surface could be a little tricky and play a little quicker than usual, but the Astros were still caught off guard.  Hunter Pence fell running in on a fly ball that became a triple and Michael Bourn fell trying to field a ball in center field.  Jose Altuve fell rounding first on a single and Jason Bourgeois had a ball skip away from him, forcing an error.

“I didn’t expect it to be tough until I fell down,” Pence said. “We knew there was a new sod and ground balls were going to be tougher. We really didn’t expect all the slipping to go down.”

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MLB 2011 Preview: Houston Astros Should At Least Finish Ahead of Pirates

February 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Previewing the 2011 MLB season, we’ve already named the Phillies, Yankees and Red Sox the top World Series favorites. Last week we looked at the how the NL Central might shape up with the Cardinals, Reds, Brewers and Cubs Yesterday we previewed the Pirates, and today we finish up the division with the Houston Astros.

The Tweeners: Houston Astros

Off-Season Moves: The Astros acquired utility man Clint Barmes from the Rockies in exchange for right-handed pitcher Felipe Paulino. Essentially, they got a guy who can play almost anywhere on the field for a guy who seemingly has no business in any starting rotation. They also picked up another utility man in Bill Hall and took a flier on left-handed pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith, a guy who showed some promise before a disappointing 2010, both via free agency.

Strengths: The Astros have several guys who can play all over the field. Barmes played second base, third base and shortstop last season and has played in the outfield in the past. Hall played every infield position except first base last season with the Red Sox and also played every outfield position. He even pitched an inning — without allowing a hit or walking a batter. Last year’s primary second baseman Jeff Keppinger also played at shortstop and has played at first and in the outfield in the past.

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Managerial Lineup Card Screwup has Michael Bourn Bat Twice in a Row

May 20, 2009 By 5 Comments

First it was Rays manager Joe Maddon this past weekend, now it’s Cecil Cooper. There’s something about managerial lineup card screwups lately. Maddon had two of his players written in the lineup card as playing third base and thus he had to forfeit the DH spot. Much like Maddon, Astros manager Cecil Cooper fell victim to habit. Cooper made a couple of lineup switches, having usual leadoff man Kaz Matsui slide down to the second spot and bumping two-hitter Michael Bourn to lead off. Problem is although he told his guys about the switch, he apparently didn’t write down the lineup properly on the card:

Because the Astros presented plate umpire Eric Cooper with a lineup card featuring Matsui leading off and Bourn batting second, that move provided embarrassment after Bourn was brought back to the plate after leading off with a single to right.

Once Milwaukee manager Ken Macha questioned the lineup card to Eric Cooper, Matsui was called out with an assist to the catcher and then Bourn had to bat again.

Bourn proceeded to walk in his second at-bat, one that actually counted for his stats. The speedster then scored on a double by Lance Berkman. Luckily the Astros won the game 6-4 so the only things that suffered were the stats of Bourn (who didn’t get credit for his single) and Matsui (who was 0-for-1 without even batting). Weird story. Let’s just hope Cooper’s more careful from here on out. Seriously, do these managers need copy editors for their lineup cards or what?

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Players Gone Crazy: Shawn Chacon

June 26, 2008 By 3 Comments

First it was Sidney Ponson getting released by the Rangers for being disrespectful towards the team, or something like that. Ponson is a guy who once punched a judge on the beach in Aruba, so as you could imagine, the news was quite shocking to hear. Anyway, there must be some sort of a trend going around MLB clubhouses where players are getting increasingly disrespectful these days. The Astros suspended pitcher Shawn Chacon for getting into an altercation with GM Ed Wade. Wade wanted to talk with Chacon privately in manager Cecil Cooper’s office to discuss matters (Chacon has been unhappy since being demoted to the bullpen). Chacon wasn’t exactly cooperating, as he told the Houston Chronicle:

And I said ‘You can tell me whatever you got to tell me right here.’ [Wade's] like, ‘oh, you want me to tell you right here?’ And I said, ‘yeah.’ I’m not yelling. I’m calm.”

It deteriorated quickly afterward, according to Chacon.

“He started yelling and cussing,” Chacon said of Wade. “I’m sitting there and I said to him very calmly, ‘Ed, you need to stop yelling at me. Then I stood up and said ‘you better stop yelling at me.’ I stood up. He continued and was basically yelling and stuff and was like, ‘You need to (expletive) look in the mirror.’ So at that point I lost my cool and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him because at that point I wanted to beat his (butt). Words were exchanged.”

Hello Latrell Sprewell, 2008! Maybe he could call Spree for some advice on how to deal with this. And perhaps P.J. Carlesimo could lob a phone call to Ed Wade to offer support. Honestly, I can’t even imagine a dude like that going on the attack after a boss. Sure, everybody says they would want to knock the snot out of their boss, but who actually does it? Chacon says he knows he might be done in the majors after this. I’m not so sure; if teams are desperate for an arm, they’ll come calling. Either way, this is pretty disgusting to read. Who knew GMs had to keep assault in the back of their mind?

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What’s Wrong with Lance Berkman?

May 24, 2007 By 2 Comments

Hey, you remember that Lance Berkman guy? The stud who made you forget who that goateed first baseman was…Bag…er, I forget. I digress, Lance Berkman has been an absolute beast ever since his first full-season in the bigs in 2000. The guys career OPS is .975 — I think that says enough. He’s bombed over 40 twice, driven in over 100 four times, and he’s hit over .300 three times. Simply put, when the guy’s in the lineup and healthy, he mashes. Until this year.

Lance Berkman is struggling like no other. I mean, his .265 batting average isn’t embarrassing. Nor is his .780 OPS. The fact that I’m even writing this considering those numbers speaks to Berkman’s abilities. But check this out: he only has six extra-base hits on the year. Six! That’s it. Five home runs and one double. No more, no less. Lance says he isn’t concerned, just irritated. But come on, when Ryan Freel and Yuniesky Betancourt have higher slugging percentages than you, you know something’s up. And something is definitely wrong with Berkman. I’d like to see him fix it.

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Who is Hunter Pence?

May 17, 2007 By 3 Comments

He’s a rookie center fielder for the Houston Astros, and he’s absolutely killing the ball. The 24-year-old former 2nd round draft pick of Houston in 2004 is batting .355 through 16 games this year, with 15 RBI. But check out what the rookie’s done recently — the Giants haven’t gotten him out once this series. Pence is 7 for 7 against San Francisco, and 11 for his last 14. The kid’s OPSing an incredible 1.071 so far. So what gives? Who is this guy?

Well, according to Baseball America, Pence was the Astros top prospect in 2007. In 308 career minor league games, Pence hit .302 and OPS’d .932. He averaged a home run nearly every five games. And in November, despite hitting .339, Hunter was sent home from the Arizona Fall League because of a DUI arrest. Scouts say he’s very competitive player with an infectious makeup, and high energy. Best part is he teared up a bit when his manager Jackie Moore informed him of his call up. So can he keep it up? Only time will tell, but there’s no question that he has the proven track record. We’ll be keeping our eye on this kid to see if he’s the next great thing in Houston. It sure looks that way right now.

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Baseball Preview: Houston Astros

April 2, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Last year’s record and finish are in parenthesis with projected improvement/decline indicated by plus or minus.

Houston Astros (82-80, 2nd in the NL Central) +1 game

Get Crunked: Roy Oswalt could be the best starter in the NL, he’s consistently awesome. Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman, and Morgan Ensberg will give Houston one of the best hearts of the order in the league. Dan Wheeler was exceptional out of the pen last year, and along with Chad Qualls can come to the rescue if Brad Lidge struggles again. Jason Jennings finally gets out of Coors Field, where he still managed to put together a decent career. Woody Williams can still get the job done as a starter.

Party Foul: There’s a huge rotation drop off in the rotation after slots 1-3. Wandy Rodriguez isn’t much, and who knows what Chris Sampson will bring. Craig Biggio is starting to slip offensively, but he can still hit for some pop. Adam Everett and Brad Ausmus are excellent defensively, but they leave big holes in the lineup. Brad Lidge blew more than Lil’ Kim last year. They can’t compete if he doesn’t turn it around.

Houston’s success hinges upon Brad Lidge’s ability to bounce back

What’d my GM do: He signed Carlos Lee to a six year $100 million deal, which is a lot, but they needed the extra bat in the lineup. They ended a lot of questions by signing Roy Oswalt to an extension last year, keeping one of the best pitchers in baseball around for another five years. They also traded away Jason Hirsh and Willy Taveras to Colorado for Jason Jennings which was worthwhile since Taveras couldn’t get on base, and Hirsh will have to show a lot to match Jennings. Purpura brought in Woody Williams on a two year $12.5 million deal which isn’t a ton of money for the innings Woody should give them. Mark Loretta was an excellent acquisition and provides good depth around the infield.

Lay it on me Straight: The hitting is vastly improved with Carlos Lee’s stick in the lineup. He’ll give the power they’ve needed desperately over the past few years — what Jeff Bagwell was supposed to give them. The team defense is pretty good, and the pitching is questionable, with a lot of it hinging upon Brad Lidge’s ability to close games.

So where my boys gonna finish right now: They’ll be around .500, a few games above that mark most likely. Lidge cannot blow as many games as last year, and if he does, Garner must go to Wheeler and Qualls quicker.

Can we be better than that: Nope, the pitching isn’t good enough. Luckily Carlos Lee makes the offense stronger, but it’s hard to be too improved without Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

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