Houston Astros Regular Season Thread

[Big T]

First pitch just an hour and a half away!!! Lets Go Stros!

[eagle eye]

The field is in gorgeous condition! The Astros fans correctly booed every Rangers starter and JJ Watt showed quite an arm throwing out the first pitch! The home whites with the home navy caps looks clean--looks like the first day of spring!

Starting Lineups
Rangers Astros
1. 2B Ian Kinsler 1. 2B Jose Altuve
2. SS Elvis Andrus 2. 1B Brett Wallace
3. DH Lance Berkman 3. LF Chris Carter
4. 3B Adrian Beltre 4. DH Carlos Pena
5. LF Dave Murphy 5. CF Justin Maxwell
6. RF Nelson Cruz 6. C Jason Castro
7. C A.J. Pierzynski 7. 3B Matt Dominguez
8. 1B Mitch Moreland 8. RF Brandon Barnes
9. CF Leonys Martin 9. SS Ronny Cedeno

SP - LHP Matt Harrison SP - RHP Bud Norris


Top of 1st inning - Bud Norris mows down the Rangers in order. Kinsler fly out to right, Andrus K and Lance Berkman (DH) ground out to SS.

Bottom of 1st - Altuve leads off w/ first pitch base hit! Altuve called out on steal a attempt. Replay showed Altuve was safe. (Baseball so needs replay reviews), Brett Wallace - K, Chris Carter - K on 3 pitches. Strike 3 was looking.

[eagle eye]

Top of the 2nd - Norris got into a little jam. Beltre lines out to Dominguez. Walk to Murphy - Murphy caught stealing (nice job by Castro). Nelson Cruz BB. Pierzynski single to left. Norris K of Moreland.

[eagle eye]

Bottom of 2nd - Harrison is dominating so far. 4 K's in the first two innings. Pena - K, Maxwell scalded a line drive right to Beltre at 3B, Castro - K.

Rangers 0 Astros 0

[eagle eye]

Top of 3rd - Long inning for Norris. He's already thrown over 50 pitches. Inning ends with a diving catch by CF Maxwell. Totally laid out for the ball. We got a call because the replay clearly showed Maxwell short hopped the throw. Great effort though. No runs scored.

[eagle eye]

Bottom 3rd - No K's for Harrison this inning. Dominguez, Barnes and Cedeno all made contact and forced Texas to make a play. After three, still tied 0-0.

[eagle eye]

Top 4th - Lead off hit by Berkman but three fly ball outs and Norris and company go to the dugout to bat. Well, not Norris. No runs scored.

[eagle eye]

Bottom 4th - Houston scores the first runs of the 2013 season. Base hits by Wallace and Pena and with 2 outs Justin Maxwell, who hit a scalding line shot to 3B in his previous at bat, hit a towering fly ball to left that bounced off the top of the scoreboard. By the time the Rangers got the ball back to the infield 2 runs scored and Maxwell had a stand up triple. Castro grounded out to end the inning.
Rangers 0 Astros 2

[eagle eye]

Top 5th - Norris seems to have found a nice groove. 5 shutout innings after retiring the Rangers 1-2-3 on a strike out, fly out and ground out. Norris looks more in control than he did early and Harrison is struggling the last two innings.

[eagle eye]

Bottom 5th - After Dominguez strikes out swinging, Harrison gives up his first walk of the game to Brandon Barnes. Ronny Cedeno slaps an eye-high fast ball to right field. After RF Nelson Cruz plays patty-cake with the ball Barnes scores from 1st and after the 1B loses the handle on the relay allowing Cedeno to get to third. Jose Altuve hits his own eye-high fastball to right center scoring Cedeno. Wallace had a bad at bat swinging at 2 inside pitches and Chris Carter popped out to second to end the inning.
Rangers 0 Astros 4

[eagle eye]

Top 6th - It looked like Norris ran out of gas a little. He issued a walk to Kinsler, got a K on Andrus . Berkman singles to right - men on first and third. Norris caught a line drive right back at him by Beltre - 2 out. Battling with David Murphy who finally won the battle with a single to right scoring Kinsler. Bullpen up and getting warm. Norris opened up a 0-2 count before he gave up a base hit to center scoring Berkman. Pitching change - Eric Bedard comes in and faces A.J. Pierzynski who flies out to center ending the inning.
Rangers 2 Astros 4

Norris goes 5 2/3 giving up 2 earned runs on 5 hits, 3 walks and 5 K's. Nice outing by Norris who really battled. Now it's up to the offense and the bullpen.

[eagle eye]

Bottom 6th - Pena K's to lead off. Maxwell walks. Castro flies out to center - 2 out. Dominguez Walks. Men on 1st and 2nd. Pitching change Harrison out and Derek Lowe (RHP) in. Astros counter by pinch hitting Rick Ankiel for Brandon Barnes. Ankiel hits a 3-2 pitch deep over the right field wall for a 3-run homer. Cedeno K's for the 3rd out.
Rangers 2 Astros 7

Harrison's line was 5 2/3 innings giving up 6 runs, 5 earned, on 6 hits with 3 walks and 9 K's

[eagle eye]

Top 7th - Eric Bedard stays in to pitch gets the Rangers 1-2-3 on a ground out to Moreland, a K on Martin and ground out on Kinsler. No runs scored.

[Big T]

Doing a great job EE! Just got home a couple of minutes ago but was following your updates. Love what i'm hearing right now GO STROS lets finish and get the win! Only 5 more outs to go!

[eagle eye]

Bottom 7th - Jason Frasor replaces Derek Lowe to begin the inning. Frasor sets the Astros down 1-2-3 on a ground out by Altuve, a K by Wallace and ground out by Carter.
Rangers 2 Astros 7

Derek Lowe's line - 1/3 inning pitched giving up 1 run on one hit (home run) and 1 K.

[eagle eye]

Thanks Big T and +1

[eagle eye]

Top 8th - Eric Bedard is looking great. He records his second 1-2-3 inning retiring Andrus who grounds out (Dominguez to Wallace - nice play on both ends) a K of Berkman on a wicked curve ball and a pop out to SS Cedeno by Beltre. No runs scored.

[Big T]

Is it just me, or does this look like a really good MLB team tonight?! The Stros are playong out of their minds tonight! Just three more outs Cmon Stros!!! This team is playing with a fire that we have not seen for three years.

[Big T]

WHAT A PLAY BY JMAX!!!! Wow that was impressive.

[eagle eye]

Bottom 8th - Pitching change Jose Ortiz comes in for Frasor. Carlos Pena called out on strikes. He had to be fooled by the pitch because it was belt high over the plate and he just watched it. Justin Maxwell took a 92 mph fastball on the inside of the plate on a beautiful inside-out swing and he put the ball deep in the right field corner for his 2nd stand up triple of the game. Castro grounded out to 2B. Matt Dominguez singled up the middle. He got a break because he hit the ball right up the middle and P Ortiz reacted quickly enough to slow the ball rather than field it. It slow rolled to the 2B bag area where 2B Kinsler misplayed the ball trying to bare hand it. Ruled a hit and an RBI for Dominguez. Brandon Barnes struck out to end the inning.
Rangers 2 Astros 8

Jason Frasor's line 1 inning pitched with no runs, no hits, no walks and 1 K.

[Big T]

Victory is sweet!!! the Astros are in first place all alone and the Rangers are in last place! LOL

[eagle eye]

Top 9th - Eric Bedard is finishing the game and he's looked great. (No 5 starter my ass) First batter is Murphy who flies out to center. Next was Cruz to got a broken bat single to right. Next up was Pierzynski sent a fly ball deep to right-center and a blue star special catch by Justin Maxwell who caught it by the fence to the visitor's bullpen. Beautiful catch! Third out was a ground out by Mitch Moreland - Altuve to Wallace. Game Over!

ASTROS WIN 8 -2!!!

Eric Bedard's line - Bedard got a much earned save going 3 1/3 innings giving up 0 runs on 1 lone hit with 2 K's and no walks.

Helluva pitching job by Norris and Bedard. It looked like Norris got tired in the 6th. Understandable this early in the season. He had to battle in the first couple of innings which ran his pitch count up. No worries, mate. Nice job in his first start of the season. Bedard was dominant. The player of the game had to be Justin Maxwell. With two sparkling plays in center field and the job he did with his bat he was clearly the difference in the game for the Astros. He went 2-3 with 2 RBI's and 2 runs scored with a walk and no K's. Two of the three hits were triples. It was a nice start to the season for Houston. Jason Castro and Chris Carter both went 0-4. Carter had 2 K's and Castro 1 K. All in all it was a great start for Houston.
Late Note: Emergency medical services have been called to the Rangers locker room to remote Astros feet from Rangers asses!

[Big T]

HAHAHA! The Rangers looked like an old worn out team tonight. Makes you wonder a bit just how they are gonna look the rest of the year. I honestly think that they expected to come in to MMP and stomp all over the Stros and were suprised when the Stros not only did not lay down and let them win but kicked their asses from start to finish.

[eagle eye]

Tomorrow the Astros face off against the Rangers in game 2 of the 2013 season. The Astros send a guy who I thought was their best pitcher in 2012, Lucas Harrell to the hill. The Rangers 2nd year phenom from Japan, Yu Darvish goes to the mound to face the Astros suddenly powerful lineup. Darvish had a spotty season due to injuries that nagged him all year. When he's healthy though, Darvish is pretty darn good. Hopefully, Houston keeps the hit parade going. The Achilles heel for the Rangers is their pitching right now because they have so many of their best on the DL. If Houston can get to Darvish I really like the Astros chances of winning the game and the series tomorrow night.

[BigRedElsewhere]

As I'm out of the area, I don't get the Astros games on TV. This year, as in past years, I make the deal with myself that I'm willing to subscribe to MLB.TV if the Astros are at least .500.

This year, if they make 20 wins before 20 losses, I'll consider it a success.

My only big negative on the AL move is that my local tickets have become much more expensive -- I'd go and spring for some of the best seats in the house at the NL team when the Astros came to town. Now, that barely gets me in the AL ballpark....

[Big T]

Perfect game through 8 for Yu. God this is terrible. Please not two years in a row.

[eagle eye]

Don't worry Big T, there is a God and he was looking down on Houston last night. Marwin Gonzalez slapped a 2-out base hit in the bottom of the ninth to spoil the perfect game for Yu Darvish. Darvish was outstanding last night and he kept his foot on the Astros throat all game. He even started the ninth like the perfecto was never in doubt retiring Jason Castro and Carlos Corporan on only three pitches. Gonzalez said he came to the plate just thinking he didn't want to be the last out. The first pitch Darvish threw to Gonzalez was a fastball on the outer part of the plate that Gonzalez stroked right back up the middle into center field. As Big T alluded to, the Astros were one out away from suffering a perfect game being tossed at them for the second time in two years. Last year you guys may remember the perfect game the San Francisco Giants Matt Cain threw. It may have been the lowest point of a very low season for Houston. Thank goodness Houston avoided this latest slap in the face last night.
Darvish's performance last night overshadowed a really nice outing by Houston's starter Lucas Harrell. Harrell pretty much cruised through his six innings of work except for the third inning when he got into a full blown one out bases loaded jam. Harrell did a great job of escaping allowing only one run on a Lance Berkman single. The rest of the pitching staff after Harrell didn't fare nearly as well. Only Josh Fields did not surrender a run facing only one batter and retiring him with a strike out. Xavier Cedeno gave up one run in 1/3 of an inning, Rhiner Cruz gave up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning, Wesley Wright gave up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning of work followed by Fields and Astros closer Jose Veras pitched the ninth giving up 2 more runs on two hits and a walk with three K's. Feast or famine with Veras in his inning of work leaving the final score Rangers 7 and the Astros 0.

Up next an afternoon game at Minute Maid Park with the Astros Phillip Humber taking the hill against Alexi Ogando and the Rangers at 2:10 pm. Humber will be looking to lead the Astros to a series win against the Rangers.

[BigNasty92]

Perfect game through 8 for Yu. God this is terrible. Please not two years in a row.


I don't blame you but Darvish is no slouch.

[Big T]

I'll dare to say that Darvish last night was more dominant than Cain was against the Stros last year. That was one hell of a pitching performance. Now Stros show them whos boss and win the series today!

[Big T]

Another shut out loss for the Stros today. Not looking good guys.

[KABrother88]

I'll be captain obvious here...our biggest problem is the most critical aspect of baseball IMO...making friggin contact...43 Ks through 3 games...7 from Carter...Darvish hung several pitches last night that he fouled off instead of making him pay for it...gotta put the bat on the ball better...starting pitching has been fantastic...maybe we should give up the DH and see if they can make contact...can't be much worse...

[eagle eye]

Okay, I think we need to back up a little. I'm disappointed that Houston didn't win this series but maybe we wanted more than Houston can give at this point. Or, maybe the pitchers are ahead of the hitters right now. The guys on the radio broadcast last night said, generally speaking, pitchers who aren't familiar with hitters and vice versa, advantage pitchers. We have 9 players who were in an MLB lineup for the first time on opening day. Give the guys a month. Let's see where they are on May 1st before we judge. To make judgements after 3 games may be a bit premature IMO. I'm still optimistic but after all I said the Stros would win 70 games a week or so ago. That's a winning percentage of .432. Even I, being my most optimistic, don't believe they will go .500. If they do yippee! I just don't think they will. All I saw in spring training was an improved team, not necessarily a playoff team--yet.

[eagle eye]

Alex White is done for 2013. He will be going to have Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow. White was an off season acquisition and the Astros (and their fans) were hoping for White to have some success here in Houston. Unfortunately, he lost the battle for a spot in the starting rotation to Eric Bedard and Brad Peacock but he was going to work long relief out of the bull pen.

Less than two days after getting Travis Blackley from the Oakland A's Blackley will go on the DL retroactive to Friday due to a stained shoulder. The Astros have called up Dallas Kuechel, who enjoyed some success with Houston in 2012, from AAA OKC.

The home town team lost it's third game in a row last night but at least they didn't get shutout. Brad Peacock was having a nice game vs his old team, the A's, when the fit hit the shan in the 5th inning. Peacock struggled but only allowed one run to score but he was pulled for Xavier Cedeno who gave up 6 earned runs while allowing just one hit and three walks. Jose Altuve drove in the Astros 1st run in 23 innings in the sixth but Houston could only manage 3 runs for the game which won't win when you allow 8. Houston did set a record, dubious as it is, of striking out more times than any team in history (53) to begin the season.

The 'Stros are playing the A's again tonight and the score right now is 0-0 in the 3rd with Houston coming up to bat. The most notable thing in tonight's game so far is that that little ol 2nd baseman Jose Altuve is tonight's DH! He's hitting lead off and Marwin Gonzalez is playing second hitting 9th. That's a new one for the books!

[eagle eye]

The Astros broke their hitting slumps in a big way against Seattle in game two of their 3 game series. In a 22 hit, 5 home run onslaught they pounded the Mariners into submission. After being shutout in what seems like every game since their opening night win over the Rangers the Astros exploded for a whopping 16 runs. Yeah they gave up 9 to the Mariners but scoring 6 runs, 2 in the 8th and 4 in the 9th made it look closer but the final outcome was never in doubt after a 6 run 1st featuring Jose Altuve getting two hits in the inning with an RBI and a run scored. Altuve garnered a career high 4 RBIs on the night and Chris Carter ended his hitting woes by belting two of the 5 homers the Astros hit. J D Martinez, Marwin Gonzalez and Jose Altuve rounded out the other home runs on the night. I wish we had ComCast Sports locally, I would have liked to at least DVRed that game. Eric Bedard had his first start of the season and first appearance since opening night. He went 4 innings giving up only one hit and no runs. Paul Clemens, recently called up pitched the next 4 and he was touched up a little giving up 5 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks and he gave up 3 dingers. All that and he got the win. This seems to be following the minor league policy of piggybacking the starting pitchers. It gave Bedard work and allowed Clemens to get some big league experience. Hector Ambriz pitched the ninth giving up 4 runs but only one earned. It seems Houston's defense took the ninth inning off. Now the Astros can win their first series of 2013 with a win tonight in the finale in Seattle. Go 'Stros!

[Big T]

They are leading tonight 5-1 and hitting the ball very well again.

[Big T]

Astros win 8-3! They continued their power display with three bombs last night including another from Carter. BTW I just want to point out that Matt Dominguez is a BEAST defensively at third base.

[eagle eye]

STOP THE PRESSES! ASTROS WIN 2 IN A ROW! ASTROS WIN 1ST SERIES OF 2013! That's worth noting because after opening night they didn't look like they would win again, or even score a run, until they broke out against Seattle on Tuesday night. Now they have won two in a row and, according to the manager in "Major League", win 3 in row and you've got a winning streak. They are facing the Angels tonight for 3 games so getting to 3 in a row may not be so easy but it seems the Astros hitters, except Brett Wallace, have found their stroke. It looks like Chris Carter has busted out of his slump with back-to-back games where he knocked the cover off the ball. I had insomnia last night so I listened to the game from about the middle of the 6th. A lot of credit needs to be given to the pitchers, for the most part, who have kept the Astros close during their 6 game losing streak. If the hitters are really finding themselves we may have a fun little spring on our hands.

[eagle eye]

Who would have thought that the Angels would be dragging up the rear in the AL West. I know! How do you win just 2 of your first ten games with Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton in the lineup? Houston needs to keep the pressure on and Lucas Harrell needs some run support. Going for 4 in row---Go Astros!

[eagle eye]

Win 1, lose 6, win 3, lose 2. Crap, looks like it's going to be one of those seasons. So far Phillip Humber and Lucas Harrell are tied for hard luck starters of the season so far. The past two games really nice efforts went for nothing. At least Houston isn't getting shut out.

BTW I'm sorry I jinxed the 'Stros, people. I just had to dream about a series sweep after Norris lead them to the first game victory over LAA and say it (or post it) out loud. Sorry about that, it won't happen again! lol

[badndn]

Porter demanded patience at the plate after the series with Oakland and Texas, so much so that he benched JD for swinging first pitch and poping up. It appears to have worked. Team is getting much better pitches to hit and guys like Carter and even JD appear to have benefited the most.

The Wallace experiment should be over...Bring up Robbie Grossman and see what he can do at the plate. Move Carter to DH, which is where he will end up eventually anyway. He is a taylor made DH. Grossman in OF, Gold Glover Pena at 1B and Carter at DH is much better defensively and cant be any worse than Carter in OF, Wallace at 1B and Pena at DH. Singleton will be at 1B next season or later this season and Wallace can't hold Dominguezes jock over at 3B defesnively, so why is Wallace still here. Time to find out what a few of these 24-25 year old prospects at the AAA level (Grossman, Elmore, Laird, Parades, Krauss) can do at the MLB level before the real youth movement (Springer, Singelton, Santana, Deshields, Cosart, Torpeano, Correa, Fontana, etc.) takes over starting next season and into 2015.

[Big T]

They played very well this weekend and pushed the Angles to their limit in the last two games. They are not going to win a lot this year but they will be competitive like they were in his series.

[eagle eye]

For all you who quickly tired of Brett Wallace's struggles at the plate fear not. Wallace has been sent down to AAA OKC. Coming out of spring training Wallace looked like a player primed for a breakout year but so far in the regular season Wallace has gone 1-24 with 17 K's. The Astros have brought up Brandon Laird who was tearing up the minors to the tune of a .353 BA after hitting .328 in spring training. Also, relief pitcher Xavier Cedeno was send down as well. He has been struggling having an 11+ ERA.

[Big T]

Stros win 3-2! Lets start a winning streak and get this series.

[eagle eye]

Humber bombed, Kuechel down (to AAA) and Bedard loses a heartbreaker. What a freaking weekend and it could have been salvaged by one stinkin hit from either Chris Carter or Jason Castro with the tying and winning runs in scoring position both men went down. Carter by K and Castro hit a hard grounder to third in the bottom of the 9th down 5-4. Damn. That's okay, we'll start getting those hits eventually. We just need to stop being the team that breaks other teams out of their losing streaks. Damn. I do find it funny that before Chris Carter got his chance to be a hero the Indians intentionally walked Jose Altuve, the smallest guy on the team (with the best batting average!)!

[eagle eye]

The Astros are in a pickle and now they can't even beat the team who was the Astros only series win of the season, Seattle. Losing a 7-1 game that probably wasn't even that close Houston has fallen to 5-14 on the season with 2 more games vs Seattle and road games vs the Red Sox and Yankees. Ouch! The starting pitching began the season pretty darn good but they didn't get any run support but now the starters top to bottom are giving up runs like it's a fire sale at Walmart. I certainly didn't expect Houston to compete for a division crown but, going by spring training, I thought they'd be more competative than they've been. Poor Bo Porter, it seems like it's going to be a loooooonnnnng season. If this keeps up cable and satelite customers will pay ComCast Sports NOT to air Astros games!

[badndn]

In Houston's defense to the 7-1 loss to the Mariners, King Felix might be the best pitcher in baseball on the worst team! Not like they blew one to a bum...They did get the W last night!

[eagle eye]

True dat, badndn! And today the Astros won the series with a 10-3 win that wasn't even that close. Lucas Harrell got his second win of the season to even his record to 2-2 and Chris Carter blasted a 440 ft homer in the 2nd inning to begin the scoring for the Astros and the game. 3-run homers by Ronny Cedeno in the fourth and another 3-run shot by Brandon Laird in the 6th. Harrell was awesome pitching 7 very strong innings and Rhiner Cruz pitched a scoreless 8th. With a 10-1 Bo Porter sent Paul Clemens to the hill in the 9th and he struggled a bit. He gave up 3 hits, including a solo home run by 1st baseman Justin Smoak, and 2 earned runs. Too bad Houston can't play Seattle more often. The Astros have now won their second series of the season, both against the Mariners. Now it's on to a seven game series on the east coast vs the Red Sox and the Yankees.

[eagle eye]

Phillip Humber sucked again. Boston score 7 and that's how many runs Humber gave up including 4 in the first. Can't keep giving other teams a huge lead right out of the box. That sucks.

[Big T]

That's two games in a row he has been off. I think we might see a move coming pretty soon with Humbe beeing either released or designated for assignment. Get ready we might get to see Cosart pretty soon! But to give the guy his fair due, he was very good in his first several starts and was given absolutly no run support.

[eagle eye]

Well Eric Bedard, being the team player he is, joined his fellow starting pitchers by giving up 5 earned runs tonight to start the game. He did it a little differently though giving up 1 run in the first three innings before giving up 3 more in the fourth when he took a walk to the showers with he couldn't retire a batter. The Astros are in the bottom of the 8th looking at a 6-3 deficit. Light hitting Red Sox catcher David Ross has 4-4 night going with 2 home runs with no walks or K's. Both dingers were solo shots but for a guy hitting .241 that ain't a bad night. Rhiner Cruz is stinking up the 8th giving up 3 singles in a row putting him in a based loaded no out jam. I'm going to bed.

[eagle eye]

What is the friggin deal with these starting pitchers? This is a very disturbing trend. What trend you ask? The recent trend for the starters to give up somewhere between 4 and 8 runs early (like first inning) and put their team in a hole. The last couple of games the offense has staked the starters to early leads which was not appreciated at all considering their performance. Brad Peacock was the latest man to surrender 5 earned runs to the Red Sox in 3+ inning of work. That after being staked to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Oh well, hopefully they can take today's game to salvage some self respect.

[Big T]

We have 3 number five starters and two number three starters. That's what friggin wrong. At least this means that we will see some call ups here pretty soon.

[eagle eye]

Okay. Finally we got a quality start in yesterday's finale vs the Red Sox. Quality? Starter Bud Norris gave up 5 runs. Yeah, he did but if you watched or listened to the game you know that only 3 of those runs were earned. After an error by SS Marwin Gonzalez kept an inning going Norris settled down and made the best of a bad situation. That was in the fourth. In the fifth Norris lost his mojo a little bit and gave up a pair of earned runs. 3 runs in six innings of work ain't bad. I'll take it especially considering the way the other starters except Lucas Harrell have been giving up runs early in games. All could have been forgiven if the top of the sixth had gone just a little different. The Astros had a bases loaded one out situation after 3 consecutive singles but Fernando Martinez struck out and Matt Dominguez hit into a fielders choice to end the inning. Fernandez just missed an RBI double by a few feet before going down swinging. Houston is still struggling to get that hit in the clutch that means the difference in many games. So, now Houston is 0-fer in Fenway and on a 9 game road losing streak. Hopefully, they can take one or two from the Yankees. I'd say they are due.

[eagle eye]

Holy crap on a cracker! The Astros wheeled into the Bronx and opened up a can of whoop ass on the Bombers! Defeating the Yankees 9-1 after being swept by the Red Sox in four games this past weekend is just the tonic Houston needed. It also snaps a 9 game road losing streak. Lucas Harrell pitched 6-1/3 strong innings scattering 8 hits and walk with 4 K's to hold the Yankees to a single run. The win runs Harrell's overall record to 3-2 and probably takes some of the pressure off what has been a very disappointing start to the season. Carlos Corporan lead the offense with a career best night going 4-5 with 4 RBI's including a home run. Brandon Barnes had a big night at the plate too getting 3 hits and 3 RBI's on the night both being career highs. The Astros beat veteran and former Astro Andy Pettitte whose record falls to 3-2. Harrell breaks the string of poor beginnings to games suffered lately by Astros starters. Harrell did benefit from 3 double plays in the first four innings to maintain the 3-0 lead the Astros built in the first inning. Harrell may be a No 2 (Yes, Big T, I am paying attention) but he's been the Astros best pitcher the past two seasons and his youth is all the better for a rebuilding club. The Next matchup tomorrow night features the Astros Phillip Humber and the Yankees Hiroki Kiroda. Can the good guys make it two in row? Hope so.

[Big T]

He's a number three at best. Pettite in the old days was a number two starter.

On another note, it seems to be either feast or famine with this team. Either they lose by 6 or win by eight lol. It was a fun night even though I only caught a couple seconds of the game. The bad news however is that the Astros were on their way to loosing 117 games before tonight. That my friends is terrible!

[BigNasty92]

..and did anyone really expect this season to be any different?

[eagle eye]

Big T, I think you under value Harrell. His is a good pitcher with a lot of upside and he's the best on the staff IMO. We'll just have to agree to disagree. Right now this team is still getting to know each other. This team just doesn't feel like the one that took the field the past two years. Just like last year at this time Houston was a .500 ball club but the first month season wasn't an indication of last year's team, I believe Houston will play better over the long haul. So, yes BigNasty92, I do expect more from this year's Astros.

[Big T]

If they were in the NLC then yes I would expect a little more. However with them being in the ALW then no this is exactly what I expected.

[eagle eye]

According to the game recap Phillip Humber did a decent job starting against the Yankees last night. He did give up 4 runs in his six innings of work but considering how bad he looked in his last two starts it is definitely an improvement. The Astros offense is still looking for their mojo when it comes to getting a clutch hit or two on a consistant basis but I think they'll improve. Brad Peacock appears to have completely lost any mojo he had. Demoted to the bullpen after he really stunk up the join in his last start he came on in the the eighth inning and gave up 3 earned runs on 3 hits including a solo home run by the Yankees Lyle Overbay. Peacock may be going back to AAA because the Astros have announced that pitchers Jordan Lyles and Dallas Kuechel will be called up. No word was given in regard to the roster moves the Astros would make to make room for them but I sure wouldn't be surprised if Peacock was headed to OKC.

[eagle eye]

The Astros tried to overcome the deficit dug for them by starter Eric Bedard but when you only score one inning, even though it was 4 runs, you aren't going to win many games. Our starting pitching is a liability we can't seem to overcome. Astros lose the finale and the series with the Yankees. Last night the final score was 5-4.

[eagle eye]

Okay, I think we can say that the Phillip Humber signing was not that great. In April he goes 0-fer in six starts and so far two batters into the fourth inning he's given up 8 earned runs on 8 hits including 3 long balls. Top of 4 and Houston is ready to stick a fork in them down 8 zip. Son of a bitch! You can't keep digging these holes. Nobody can overcome that. The Astros begin their longest home stand of the year by losing 4 straight to Detroit. The starting pitching is dreadful and it seems like Houston isn't playing anyone but division champs, defending AL champs, etc. Where do the also-rans show up on the schedule?

[eagle eye]

Well, we finally won a game on this home stand. It was a nail biter with Houston hanging on for a 7-6 victory. Jordon Lyles got his first victory of 2013 in his second start going 5 innings and with the offense finally giving the pitchers some run support with a three run blast by Chris Carter in the fifth which gave Lyles the win opportunity. Jose Veras did his job and closed out the game to earn his 3rd save in 5 tries. This was Veras' first save opportunity after he blew a save vs Detroit last Friday night giving up a 2 run homer to a catcher who was hitting .171 going into the game.

Going into the game the Astros had made some roster moves after being swept by the Tigers.
Gone: Rick Ankiel - great clubhouse guy but never found his stick. Designated for assignment.
Fernando Martinez - wasn't getting the job done. Sent to AAA.
Additions: Trevor Crowe - he was a tough cut coming out of spring training
Jimmie Paredes - was doing well in triple A and adds more athletism to the outfield.
Along with Robbie Grossman who replaced an injured Justin Maxwell recently gives Houston a lot of options with their lineup. These three upgrade the overall athletism of the outfield. The fallout here is Chris Carter will likely DH and play 1B more since the outfield is getting a little full. Carter has power but his .207 BA and league leading strikeout rate don't look good.

One other tweek Bo Porter has made is put his best hitter in the three hole which is kind of where you best hitter should be. Jose Altuve and his .338 BA responded with a 2-3 night at the plate which included a solo home run in the bottom of the first. He also scored 2 runs and drove in 2. Since his break out year last year Altuve has backed that first season up with another gem so far. Altuve is a legitimate All-Star caliber player and he should be for years to come. Which ought to have AAA 2B DeLino DeShields Jr wondering when, if ever he'll break into the bigs. Altuve was just supposed to keep 2B warm until DeShields was ready to make the move up to the big club now that story may have to be rewritten.

[Big T]

More good news is that the cast has come off of Maxwell's arm/hand. He will probably get some starts at OKC coming up here in the next week or two. It's gonna be nice to get him back and healthy.

[eagle eye]

The Astros make it two in a row! On the strength of a marvelous outing by Bud Norris who pitched into the ninth inning for the first time in his career and Jose Veras came on to finish the ninth for his 2nd save in as many nights. The Astros scored 3 runs including a solo shot from Chris Carter and that was enough to the beat the Angels 3-1 and guarantee a series win. Hopefully, Lucas Harrell can keep it going and help the Astros to their first series sweep of the season.

More roster moves;

> Phillip Humber is moving to the bullpen. After an 0-7 start to the season and very unhealthy 8.82 ERA and a 16.20 ERA in his last four starts Bo Porter felt the move would benefit Humber as much as it seems to have helped Eric Bedard. Humber has better stuff than he's shown so far in 2013 and the move sure can't hurt.
> Dallas Kuechel is taking Humber's spot in the rotation and he will get the start in the series opener vs the Rangers on Friday night. Kuechel has pitched well out of the bullpen since he was called up but this will be his first start of the 2013 season.
> Eric Bedard will move back into the starting rotation on Saturday night vs the Rangers. Bedard was 0-2 in 5 starts before being moved to the bullpen. He deserved a couple of wins early but Houston's offense was nearly nonexistant coming out of spring training. Bedard has pitched well out of the bullpen and Bo Porter felt he deserved another shot in the rotation. Porter also liked the matchup of lefties Kuechel and Bedard vs the predominantly left handed lineup of the Rangers.

Former Astros pitcher J A Happ got clocked by a line drive earlier this week. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution after being struck in the left side of his face and his ear. Several of Happ's former Astros team mates have reached out to Happ offer their prayers and well wishes. Happ has texted that he is feeling much better which is good news. Hopefully, Happ will be back on the mound for Toronto soon. This has rekindled the discussion about some sort of protective head gear for pitchers. Hopefully, something will come of it because pitchers are very vulnerable to line drives with almost no reaction time to protect themselves. My wish is something is done before someone is killed by a line drive.

[eagle eye]

After coming in and getting totally blown up by the Texas Rangers pitcher Phillip Humber has been optioned by the Astros. Humber leaves with an 0-8 record with 7 starts and a 9.59 ERA. In his last five appearances his ERA was 16.94. Being optioned means the Astros have 10 days to either trade him, release him or designate him to the minors. The last straw for Humber came Saturday with Houston holding a 3-1 lead over the rangers in the 6th inning in relief of starter Erik Bedard who pitched a nice 5 innings before being lifted for Humber. Humber got the first batter he faced then all he threw was batting practice for the Rangers. He gave up a homer, a triple, a double, a walk, a triple, a pop fly out and a single giving the Rangers 6 runs 5 of which were charged to Humber. It's too bad and Humber has seen better days helping Rice to a College World Series title in 2003 and pitching a perfect game just one year ago for the White Sox. Give Humber credit, he took responsibilty saying he was giving his best effort but things just didn't work out for him. His fall is even more surprising since he did have a really nice spring training. There was no indication what has happened was even remotely possible.

Houston finishes their longest homestand of the season 2-8 after being swept by the Ranger over the weekend. This is not what the Astros looked like in spring training but I can't see any way but up for Houston going forward because it sure can't get any worse.

[Big T]

No, but it can stay the same. It's not going to get any better until Singleton, Cosart, Folty, Springer, DDJ, Fontana, and Corea are ready. I believe we will see both Singleton and Cosart called up when the rosters expand. DDJ should be in AA by the time that the season ends.

With that being said, besides the pitching staff this team is fun to watch. Jose at 2B, Dominguez at 3B is very quickly making me a fan, I like Carter despite his K ratio and think he will hit 40 Hrs this year, Brandon Barnes is just that all out scrappy home grown player, I like what I'm seeing out of Castro. There is a small nucleus in place here to build on and it won't be long till we are watching winning baseball in Houston again.

[KABrother88]

No, but it can stay the same. It's not going to get any better until Singleton, Cosart, Folty, Springer, DDJ, Fontana, and Corea are ready. I believe we will see both Singleton and Cosart called up when the rosters expand. DDJ should be in AA by the time that the season ends.

With that being said, besides the pitching staff this team is fun to watch. Jose at 2B, Dominguez at 3B is very quickly making me a fan, I like Carter despite his K ratio and think he will hit 40 Hrs this year, Brandon Barnes is just that all out scrappy home grown player, I like what I'm seeing out of Castro. There is a small nucleus in place here to build on and it won't be long till we are watching winning baseball in Houston again.


Another name to remember is AAA SS Johnathan Villar...started the season a dreadful .059 (2-34) but now is up .308 (44-143) with 8 doubles, 4 triples and 3 HRs with 13 steals

[eagle eye]

The Astros have a lot of pitchers acquired over the last couple of years and they will need to start coming on. Right now, if our starters are not giving up six or seven runs the bullpen is taking up their slack and that's not a good thing. One guy who has been pretty consistant in a good way is Paul Clemens. The guy has really done a good job so far. Travis Blackley has been a pleasent surprise and in very limited work Josh Fields has shown up. The starting rotation really has to figure out how not to give 6-7 runs in 5 innings or less. Most of the time it's the big inning that is killing these guys. They'll put up goose eggs and around the fourth or fifth the bottom falls out or they get hammered in the 1st and recover to shut down the other team. The of the top twenty Astros prospects half are pitchers but when you have a guy ranked No. 10 in Brad Peacock who has been hammered in his 2013 stint in the bigs I have to worry. Yes, we have McCullers, Foltynewicz, Cosart and Tropeano among others. Most of these guys are still in AA or lower. Other than Cosart the only guy in the top twenty in AAA is Asher Wojciechowski. Reinforcements seem like a long way away. I like Lucas Harrell and Dallas Kuechel but they are learning how to be big leagers right now and taking their lumps in the process. I would like to see the offense wake up a little. Sometimes in the American League you have to win 10-9 or 11-8 and Houston isn't getting it done at the plate. Would you think that our starters would like to pitch with a 4 or 5 run lead once in a while? The effort is there. I like Bo Porter's approach and his aggressiveness. I just wish Houston could put it all together a little more often.

[Big T]

Astros won in a thriller today 7-5. They took the lead in the top of the ninth and had to hang on for dear life. Barnes saved the day with a great play in center. I tell you i'm very quickly becoming a fan of his. He reminds me a little of David Eckstein or Brian Roberts. I know they all play different positions but they all play or played with the same all out gritty style that Barnes plays with. Plus he is a product of the Astros farm system.

[eagle eye]

Yesterday was a day off for the 'Stros before they play their first National League game of 2013 when they face off against the Pittsburgh Pirates, a former division foe, tonight at PNC Park but it doesn't mean there wasn't news.

The Astros hired a new team president and it's a name Astros fans are well aware of, Ryan. No it's not pitching legend Nolan but rather his son Reid. From a PR perspective this is a great deal because where Reid is you know Nolan isn't far behind. This doesn't mean Reid Ryan is just a figurehead. He's highly qualified in his own right. Here's a couple of articles from Astros.com about Reid Ryan.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130516&content_id=47709390&vkey= news_hou&c_id=hou

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130516&content_id=47738652&vkey= news_hou&c_id=hou


In about 3 weeks, on June 6th to be exact, the Astros will be making the No 1 pick in the MLB draft for the second consecutive year. The way things are going we will be picking No 1 in the 2014 draft as well, but I digress. Here is an article from Astros.com about the possible choices for that No 1 pick. With no clear No 1 in this year's draft and the Astros not giving any hints, here's a look at the Astros list of possibilities. Who do y'all think the Astros should pick?


http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130516&content_id=47711686&vkey= news_hou&c_id=hou

[eagle eye]

Is Jimmy Paredes trying to get his second base job base by injuring the competition or does he have a vendetta against 2nd basemen? For the second time in a week Paredes had a collision with his second baseman while playing right field. Last week he ran into Jose Altuve partially dislocating his jaw and sending Altuve to the 15 day DL. Now, last night, he crashed into 2nd baseman Jake Elmore despite Elmore being camped under a pop up waving his arms for what would have been the 3rd out in the ninth to send the game into extra innings by preserving a 4-4 tie but just before Elmore caught the fly ball Paredes crashed into him allowing the ball to drop harmlessly to the turf giving Pittsburgh a walkoff error to win the game. On top of that, Elmore had a sore back after the game. Paredes allowed the winning run to score with his gaff but the real culprit that cost Houston the opening game against the Pirates was the 2 run meat ball Hector Ambriz served up to Pedro Alvarez in the eighth inning that erased a 4-2 Houston lead. In a post game comment Ambriz said, "Too high and too middle," Ambriz said of the pitch. "With a game on the line like that, you can't make mistakes like that and he made me pay for it." It's bad enough that the pitching can't mesh between the starters and relievers now we are coming up with out-of-left field reasons for losing. Sheesh! Jordan Lyles had a quality start going 5 plus innings giving up only one run. Relief work by Paul Clemens, Travis Blackley and Wesley Wright got the Astros to the 8th allowing only one more run. Despite struggling in the 9th Edgar Martinez did a nice job of battling and he should have gotten out of the 9th unscathed but Paredes' error took care of that. That was one that definitely got away.

[Big T]

I'm leaning in the direction of a pitcher this year. The Stros have had some solid offensive pick ups in the draft the last couple of years but they desperately need some pitching. Going with my personal preference I would go with Gray over Appel, but with Appel being a senior they would have more leverage with signing him at a lower dollar amount leaving them extra money to go after some players that they originally would not be able to much like last year. However, I just do not think you can take a pass on a guy who throws triple in the 7th inning of games. Plus with his body type he should be pretty durable.

[eagle eye]

Yesterday I posted that Jose Altuve was on the 15 day DL because of a partially dislocated jaw he received in the collision with Jimmy Paredes in the loss to Detroit last Monday. I assumed Altuve was on the DL because he hadn't been in the lineup since then. It was a false assumption on my part. Actually he has been on bereavement leave since Tuesday when the team allowed Altuve to travel back to Venezuela for his grandmother's funeral. He actually got back from Venezuela on Friday but Bo Porter told Altuve to rest on Friday at the team hotel in Pittsburgh. Altuve was very appreciative of the Astros for allowing him to attend his grandmother's funeral and also for the support his team mates have shown him. Altuve was back in the lineup Saturday for Houston's come from behind win over the Pirates going 3-5 with an RBI hitting in the 3 hole.
Speaking of the Astros win it was the first time in 27 tries that Houston won after trailing in the seventh inning. It was also a great moral victory for a team who blew a victory the night before. Eric Bedard had another quality start going six innings giving up only 2 earned runs while scatting 7 hits with 3 K's and no walks. Jose Cisnero went 3.2 innings of scoreless relief and Jose Veras got the save in an 11 inning game. Jason Castro scored the winning run on a Matt Dominguez groundout to 2B on a close but correct call at home plate. JD Martinez added an RBI single later in the inning. Cisnero got his first major league win as a result of his stellar relief job escaping a bases loaded jam in the 7th and retiring 9 of the next 10 batters he faced. Surrendering only 2 hits with a walk and 5 K's Cisnero really earned his first big league win.
Lucas Harrell goes to the hill today to try to lead the Astros to a series win over the Pirates.

[eagle eye]

Lucas Harrell can't pitch much better. He gave Houston seven strong innings giving up only 4 hits with only one walk and 3 K's. Trouble was he made the mistake of the game giving up a solo home run to Pedro Alverez the Pirates third baseman in the 5th with one out. Why was it the mistake of the game? That solo shot was the only run of a 2 hour and twenty four minute game as the Pirates won the series finale 1-0. Pitt's Jeff Locke one-upped Harrell by tossing a 3 hitter. The Astros had no key for this Locke and they were shut out for the first time since May 5 when the Tigers beat them 9-0. The Astros come back to the dome tonight for a 3 game series against Kansas City.

[eagle eye]

Houston hangs on to win the opening game of the series vs Kansas City 6-5 led by Matt Dominguez' glove and his bat. Playing his usual sparkling defense he also shined with his bat with a 3 run homer in the bottom of the 4th that provided the runs that gave Houston a come from behind victory. Dominguez' homer came a half an inning after KC's Miguel Tejada stroked a 3 run shot to give the Royals the lead. Dallas Kuechel pitched 6 2/3 innings and he got the win but it was a struggle. He gave up 4 runs all earned along with 9 hits and 4 walks but he did have 6 K's to help his own cause. He battled all night but it looked like the 3 run shot by Tejada might be his undoing until Dominguez came to the rescue in the bottom of the frame to give Houston the lead and provided Kuechel (1-1) with his first win of the 2013 season. I was looking at the box score and it struck me that besides Jose Altuve (.327) and Brandon Barnes (.317) there wasn't a single player in the Astros lineup hitting better than .250 (Trevor Crowe). Everyone else is hitting between .205 and .245 with the team batting average in last nights game at an anemic .245. Is it any wonder that Houston is 13-32 so far this season. You can't win if you don't score.

[eagle eye]

Houston won another series! They took the rubber game in their series against Kansas City by a score of 3-1. The offense led by Jason Castro, who has taken over the 3 hole in recent games, and JD Martinez who hit a 2 run home run in the 4th. Martinez is showing some of the potential he showed at the beginning of last year before a wrist injury and the resulting loss of confidence derailed his season. Castro is really coming on and as he has more success his confidence has got to be rising as well. Jordan Lyles notched his second win in three tries since he returned to the starting rotation. Giving the Astros 6 quality innings scattering 6 hits and a walk with 3 K's he looked good in the process. He was backed up by scoreless innings by Travis Blackley, Hector Ambriz and Jose Veras who logged his 8th save of the season the 'Stros closed out the series with KC in fine fashion. Next up on this homestand will be the Oakland A's starting Friday night.

[Big T]

Castro has been hitting in the three hole for most of the season. The first Seattle series in fact. There was a time for about a week where Altuve was hitting three but for the most part it has been Castro.

[eagle eye]

Altuve first hit 3rd on May 8 and his last game to hit there was last Saturday May 19 with 4 days off for funeral leave. Your right Big T Castro has hit 3rd more than anyone else on the team this year but what I meant was he just reclaimed the 3 hole spot this past week, Monday to be exact, when Houston began their series with Kansas City. I think Bo Porter is serching for that right combination in his lineup. Houston began with Chris Carter hitting 3rd and has had quite a few guys in that spot. Altuve may have been the most productive player in that spot but there was nobody getting on base ahead of him. Castro actually started the season hitting sixth or seventh but he's proven to be too good a hitter to be that far down in the lineup.

[eagle eye]

Houston had a 2 run lead going into the ninth inning and our "closer" Jose Veras was on the mound. About 10 minutes later Houston was watching a 3 run home run fly over the left field wall. A walk, a strike out, a walk and that homer by Chris Young, a K and a ground out and that was it. Oh, the Astros had a little something going in the bottom of the 9th because of two walks but in the end Veras 3rd blown save in 11 opportunities was the killer. You can't have a closer who is only successful 72% of the time. Tighten it up Jose!

It is being reported that OF Justin Maxwell is beginning rehab at the extended spring training in Kissimmee this coming Wednesday. If all goes well he'll move after a week to Single A Quad Cities. My question is this, why so much attention to Maxwell when you have a guy in Brandon Barnes who is playing lights out in center field and hitting .313. To me, Maxwell needs to start worrying about losing his job to Barnes who was only hitting .234 before he broke his wrist. It's also obvious that Robbie Grossman isn't ready for the bigs as he struggles to stay above the Mendoza Line (.208 BA).

This Veras thing is really bothering me. You just can't have a closer you can't depend on.

[Big T]

He is the best reliever on this team. Therefore you can not take him out of the closers role or it will just get worse. This is the worst bullpen I think I have ever seen. :'(

[Big T]

With another win tonight the Astros knock off the Rockies and improve to 7 and 7 in the last fourteen games. This team has been playing much better the last few weeks and has seemed to gel better in the club house. The guys in the dugout seem to be much more animated and energized and have a better chemistry than in the previous few weeks. Personally I think that the improved play and the improved team spirit and chemistry within the club house has to do with the improvements of Jason Castro and Matt Dominguez. Both have been on fire lately and their youthful enthusiasm has infected the veterans on this team. It was fun to watch Jose Altuve and Carlos Pena having a little fun together after Chris Carter and Matt Dominguez hit back to back jacks today. I really think if this team can continue to gel together and the young guys keep improving week in and week out, they will have the opportunity to surprise some teams during the stretch this year. Like what i'm seeing right now. GO STROS!

[eagle eye]

I agree, Big T the Astros are looking better of late. The starting pitching has been giving the team 5-6 quality innings for the most part and the bullpen has been doing their part as well. The one who has really been on fire is J D Martinez. He had a bad night on Monday striking out five times in five at bats but in the last three games he's hit over .400. Nice little hot streak for a guy who season nose dived about this time last year. I'd love to go see the Orioles play next week but I'm working some brutal hours right now.

Here's a couple of interesting articles about Astros prospects in the minors and an article about the 'Stros interviewing OU pitcher Jonathan Gray. BTW the MLB draft is just one week away!

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130530&content_id=49118736&noteb ook_id=49119072&vkey=notebook_hou&c_id=hou

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130531&content_id=49165026&fext= .jsp&vkey=news_milb

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130530&content_id=49101318&vkey= news_hou&c_id=hou

[dacards]

It'd be nice to see if they can keep the momentum going in LA and at home against the Orioles both teams that should be better than they have been so far.

[Big T]

Yet another win tonight for the Stros over the Angels! They are now 8 and 7 in their last 15 games and a very impressive 4 and 1 in their last five games. BTW did y'all realize that Jason Castro is hitting .283 with 7 HR and 15 2B?! And he hit another bomb tonight! The guy is on fire right now and if I did the math right he is 17 for 38 in his last 11 games which computes to a BA of around .454! Matt Dominguez has 8 HR in his last 18 games to go along with 15 RBI in the same amount of games.

[Big T]

Astros win again! Bud Norris pitched a gem and Chris Carter provided the offense with a two run bomb to propel the Astros to a 2-0 victory and a series win! Going for the sweep tomorrow.

[eagle eye]

This past week has seen Houston go on a run of games that we haven't seen in 2013. Beginning Monday Houston took 1 of 2 from Colorado and then traveled to Denver for another two game series that the Astros swept! By the way, that was the first series sweep for Houston this year. Friday the Astros began a 4 game series with the Los Angeles Angels and they have won the first two games in that series. Added up that means that the Astros are 5-1 for the week and regardless of what happens today the Astros will have recorded the best week of the season. They will finish either 5-2 or 6-1 which is the first winning week of the 2013. The previous best was recorded way back on the week of April 8-14 when they took 2 of 3 against Seattle and after winning the opener vs these same Angels dropped the final two games of the series giving them a 3-3 record for the week. Another milestone was the first 4 game winning streak of the season which came on the heels of their first 3 game winning streak of 2013. The last milestone I want to mention is with the two series against the Rockies it's Houston's first back to back series win of the year and if they can take one of the next two they will extend that to 3. It's getting to be a pain in the ass that ComCast Sports and local carriers can't work out a TV deal to show the Astros locally. These Astros, as Big T said, seem to be coming together and they have shown a never give up attitude and lately the hits are starting to fall in for them.

One note: Last night closer Jose Veras can't seem to close games without some drama attached. After retiring the first two batters in the top of the ninth he hit JB Schuck and allowed a single to Erick Aybar putting the tying run at first base with Mike Trout coming to the plate. Fortunately, for Houston Veras got Trout to ground out to Matt Dominguez who got Aybar at second to end the game. Veras scares the heck out of me. He can't seem to just do his job without some drama involved. It reminds me of Brad Lidge's last couple of years with Houston. He got a lot of saves but he blew a lot too.

Today's game has Jordan Lyles (2-1) going up against CJ Wilson (4-3). A tough matchup but Lyles has been pretty good since he returned to the starting rotation. Let's hope he can keep it going.

[Big T]

My bad. During the excitement of winning last night I forgot it was a four game series instead of a three game series lol. Oh well if we win today then we can go for the sweep tomorrow.

[Big T]

NONONONONONONO............................. ok good. Once again the Astros win again! But they made it way to close today. Brad Peacock came in to close out the game and promptly gave up a two run HR with no one out to close the lead to 5-4. The Stros would however be able to hold on for their 5th consecutive win! They go for the sweep tomorrow and with a win tomorrow they would reach the 20 win mark. Yea they have gone on this great streak and they still haven't reached twenty wins...................... But on the bright side they are not the worst team in baseball this year! That honor falls to the Marlins who only have 16 wins and are 16-41. The Astros have a whole three game lead on them! Now getting serious again, the Stros are playing very well right now and they are only a couple games back of Seattle and the Angles.

[BigRed2010]

Big T today's game was win 20. Astros are 20-37, 4 games behind Seattle.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/standings

[Big T]

Yes my bad. At the time MLB had not updated their standings so that's where I got the nineteen. Come on mlb.com get yo head in the game lol.

[eagle eye]

5 in row people and 3 series wins in a row! Even Lou in "Major League" would be proud. He would have to say this is a winning streak!

[Big T]

Here are some stats that put a big smile on this Astros fans face.

Brandon Barnes: BA .286 SB 4 OBP .356
Jason Castro: BA .282 HR 7 RBI 17 2B 15
J.D. Martinez: BA .277 HR 5 RBI 21 2B 10 (In ten less games than the rest)
Domingo: HR 8 RBI 29 2B 8- This guy is bit of an enigma to me. He is only hitting .235 but every time he gets a hit he seems to drive in runs. I absolutely love this guy and the all out way he plays but at the same time that BA and his .261 OBP is terrible.

All of these guys are young and hopefully part of the future the Astros have coming up.

[Big T]

Astros win again last night 2-1 to sweep the Angels in a four game set! They take on Baltimore who has been playing pretty well the last few weeks.

[eagle eye]

The Astros 6 game winning steak came to an end at home last night. Lucas Harrell pitched a whale of a game and left trailing 2-1 after seven innings. The mojo the 'Stros showed in Denver and LA didn't wake up in the 8th and 9th innings. In fact relievers Wesley Wright and Josh Fields gave up a run each and Houston fell 4-1. When I saw the schedule on Sunday and saw Houston playing a night game in Anaheim and coming back and without a day off playing the following evening I thought Houston may be in trouble. It was reported that Houston didn't arrive back in town until 5 AM Tuesday morning meaning most of the guys didn't get to bed until 8-ish. Tired and groggy and jet lagged is no way to play baseball. I'm sure Lucas Harrell came back to Houston on Sunday or Monday afternoon. He was rested and he pitched well enough to win if his team mates could just generate a little offense but credit has to go to Orioles pitcher Chris Tillman who held the 'Stros to just 4 hits, one earned run and 8 K's with 2 walks. Not bad especially when the team you're facing is playing on 4 or 5 hours of sleep.

Notes: The Astros went 6-0 on last week's road trip. It's the first time Houston went 6-0 or better on the road since 1999. That includes a World Series team that included Roger Clemens. The four game sweep of the Angels is Houston's very first such sweep of an American League team. Jose Altuve's batting average has been in steady decline for the past month. On May 1st his BA was .336 and on June 1st it was .296. Let's hope he gets back on a roll but I'll take .296 if the Astros continue winning.

Tomorrow is the MLB draft. Will Houston go pitcher or position player? GM Jeff Luhnow says they will take the best player available. Oklahoma pitcher Jonathan Gray tested positive for Ativan. Was it performance enhancing or was he cramming for finals? Will Houston pass on a pitcher who can throw triple digit fast balls because of this? By this time tomorrow we'll know.

Last thing, Houston bounced back nicely and look to be starting another win streak or are they? In the top of the 8th Houston leads Baltimore 11-6 with one out and the bases loaded. Hector Ambriz is coming in in relief of Travis Blackley who pitched only 1/3 of an inning surrendering 2 runs (so far) on 3 hits, 2 walks and a strike out. He gave up a homer to Matt Weiters after a leadoff double by Chris Davis. Hopefully, I'll wake up tomorrow and the good guys will have held on.

[Big T]

The bullpen is did their best to give up the big lead but they were able to hold on.

As for Gray, what I heard was that it was Adderall which is actually a legal substance in MLB as long as you have a prescription. I hope and think that the Astros will not let this influence their decision as I hope they draft Gray. I know that the Astros office says that they are still not in the position to be drafting specific positions that they will be taking the best no matter what position but they have to look at the lack of pitching depth and see that is the main position in this organization that needs to be filled this draft.

[eagle eye]

I read that Craig Biggio's son is 'within draftable range'. How about a second generation Biggio coming down the dugout tunnel?

[Big T]

Astros fell to Baltimore today but more importantly was the draft and with the first overall pick the Astros selected Mark Appel out of Stanford a RHP. Not surprised by this pick as he was the most safest and sure fire player available in the draft this year and will turn out to be a mid range ace or a dominant number two starter. I still think Gray still has the most upside of the two though.

[KABrother88]

I too wish they would have taken Gray...better upside and possibly at a lower cost...don't get me wrong the Appel should turn out to be an great pick but he'll probably demand all of the slot value with Scott Boras as his agent...maybe he'll give us the hometown discount...seemed pretty happy about coming home on Twitter...as for Cavan Biggio, word can't express how happy I'd be to see that name roaming the field again...Craig is a special assistant to Luhnow and had already given him a dollar amount that would want for him to pass on college...Craig said he will not be in the room when the pick is made so the organization doesn't feel pressured to take him...but I look for them to with the first pick in the 3rd round with starts in just a little while

[eagle eye]

So, Big T, do you waste the No 1 pick in the draft for a mid range ace? If you do then you won't have a job for very long. According to ESPN's Keith Law Appel is a potential No 1 with three plus pitches, fast ball, slider and curve. Throw in a change up he worked on at Stanford and you have a power pitcher with a whole arsenal to throw at opposing batters. The other things that make Appel a good pick is 1) he's from Houston. What kid doesn't want to play for his home town team? and 2) According to reports he's close to being major league ready. Again, according to Keith Law he could see the Astros pitching him in Houston this year and he feels like he'd would do okay. To their credit the Astros don't need to, and are not intending to, rush Appel through the minors. They know he's pitched a whole college season and look to him pitching in the minors some this summer. Nice pick IMO but only time will tell if it truly is. Appel doesn't have the baggage Jonathan Gray picked up by testing positive for Adderall which is legal IF you have a prescription which Gray does not. (I know I said Atavan in an earlier post--my bad!)

The Astros picked up another pitcher late last night with the 40th pick. They chose UC-Irvine RHP Andrew Thurman. Here's a little article from Astros.com.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130606&content_id=49804508&noteb ook_id=48653142&vkey=notebook_hou&c_id=hou

The Astros 3rd round pick (No 74 overall) is Emanuel Kent a junior from North Carolina. He's a left handed pitcher so it looks like Houston is serious about stocking their system with good, or potentially good, pitchers. Here's a scouting report from MLB.com:

6'04" 215lbs DOB: 06/04/92 | Scouting video
As the Friday starter for one of the top-ranked college programs in the country, Emanuel is undoubtedly getting plenty of looks. He gets the job done, albeit without wow kind of stuff. His fastball will top out at around 91 mph, his breaking stuff is fringy and he has a solid changeup. But what he lacks in pure stuff he makes up for with pitchability. He has excellent command and knows how to mix his pitches extremely well. A lack of a true out pitch might mean he doesn't come off Draft boards real early, but he's big and strong and understands his craft, giving him the chance to be a workhorse at the back end of a big league rotation in the future.

[Big T]

When I say mid range ace I mean he will not be a Verlander, Felix Hernandez, or a Haladay. He is going to be more like a Matt Cain, David Price who was a 1 and 1 pick by the Rays, or a Gallardo. A very good pitcher that other teams will fear facing but not the dominant pitcher like a Justin Verlander.

Added on top of that his agent is Scott Bora$$ and because of this the Astros have not been able to be aggressive the next several rounds instead they have been forced to draft safely due to the amount of money the Appel and Bora$$ will demand. I actually would not be surprised if they asked for something over the slotted amount. Bora$$ is just that kind of snake.

I like the pick and am glad that we finally have a true number one in the system.

Other than Appel, the other draft prospect I am most excited about is Kemp second baseman out of Vandy. If you have never seen this guy play he is one of the most electric guys to watch. He speed is second to non, his defense is a step beyond stellar, and he is more than just a slapper at the dish. He loves hitting the ball in the gaps and running like the wind. Just imagine DDJ hitting one and Kemp hitting two! Also throw in Singleton, Correa, Springer, Altuve, Nolan Fontana, Ruiz, Domingo Santana, Appel, Cosart, McCullers, Folty, and Wojo! Stacked is the only word I can think of.

[eagle eye]

The boys from H town got our hopes up with the week they enjoyed two weeks ago that actually bled over into last Monday with the final game of the 4 game sweep of the Angels. This past week Houston had the opposite type of week. Two weeks ago they went 6-1 winning six in a row and last week they went 2-5 losing series against Oakland (1-2) and Kansas City (0-3) to go along with the win against LAA. In the series against KC they only scored 4 runs. I'm talking series now. It wasn't that Houston didn't have opportunities, they most certainly did, but they couldn't get a lousy hit to save their lives. Castro, Martinez, Altuve, Carter and Dominguez were all equally inept this last week as they were on fire the week before. Baseball is a funny game. Just when it looked like they were on to something they regress back to what they had been for most of the season. I guess some people, or teams, don't know how to handle success.

NOTE: The Astros completed their draft over the weekend and what was a glaring need in the organization, pitching, was addressed. Oh boy, did they address it. 24 of their 40 picks were pitchers including the No 1 overall pick in Stanford's Mark Appel. They did waste one of their picks but I suppose it was worth a shot. In the 35th round they chose Roger Clemens baby boy Kacey. Kacey Clemens has already committed to the University of Texas, his dad's alma mater, and if you look at it there's no way Clemens wasn't going to college. It was worth a shot it guess.

[Big T]

So after this draft, where does the Astros farm system rank?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1663276-2013-mlb-draft-re-ranking-all-30-mlb-farm-systems-post-draft/page/30

That's right! Wow this system has come a long long ways in the last 16 months.

[eagle eye]

It's true that the farm system has turned around and it's true that Jeff Luhnow has been instrumental in the changes but let's give credit where credit is due. The turnaround began under Ed Wade. I'm not saying he was the second coming but under his watch he acquired Jonathan Singleton, Jared Cosart, Jordan Schafer, Brett Olberholtzer, JA Happ, Brett Wallace and Jonathan Villar among others. With Happ and Schafer the Astros acquired other picks and prospects under Luhnow. I'm not dissing Luhnow. I like what he's been doing including piggy-backing starting pitchers in the minor leagues. It allows the Astros to see a healthy sample of as many as twice the pitchers than if this was done the traditional way. It will help identify who will be good as starters and who may be more suited as relievers. Before revisionist history takes over let's acknowledge Ed Wade's part in the resurrection of the Astros franchise. That's all I'm saying.

[Big T]

Luhnow has been a part of the Astros organization for less than two years now. Out of the Astros top ten prospects he has brought in five of them and six of the top eleven. And when Appel and Andrew Thurman sign he will have brought in seven of the top ten and eight of the top eleven. He also brought in Matt Dominguez, Jed Lowery, and Chris Carter. In the four years that Wade was here he traded Berkman, Lee, Pence, Oswalt, and Bourn and received only Jonathan Singlton, Jarred Cosart, Bourn, and Mark Melancon. He was also in charge of the Astros draft and managed to only bring in Springer, DDJ, and Folty in the Astros top ten. Wade did not do a good job as GM. Luhnow has come in and completely turned this organization around in less than two years. When Luhnow inherited this mess, the farm system was ranked 22nd in baseball. It is now ranked 2nd just two drafts later. In Luhnow we trust!

The fact that you would mention Wallace, JA Happ, and Schaffer as two of his big pick ups just goes to show you how bad he was. Villar is ranked a number 12 in the system but Olberholtzer is not even ranked in the top 20.

Then on top of everything else, you had to go pick the one thing I think Luhnow is doing wrong and say that you like it. The whole piggybacking thing that's going on is horrible! They pretty much have taken starters and made them into glorified long relievers. A Starter is supposed to go a minimum of six innings and preferably seven. To have one go five innings and the other go four is beyond absurd. It is by far the worst thing that Luhnow has done since joining the Astros. Stretch out your starters and put the rest in the BP. There are not ten starters on every team in the Astros farm system.

[eagle eye]

Nice. A little debate, I like it! First you look at the ownership Ed Wade had to deal with compared to Luhnow. Wade was hired by a guy who was trying to make the team affordable to sell. After whatever caused Drayton McClane to let Gerry Hunsicker go after he built a perennial winner has still got me scratching my head. Then he appoints Tim Purpura GM and he mortgages the whole franchise chasing a world series. He got the Astros a trip to the big dance but destroyed them in the process. Wade comes along with a severely penal budget and precious little support so I think, under the circumstances, he did pretty good. Big T you say "all he brought in was Singleton, Cosart, etc." but who are the first names next up on the road to Houston? Singleton and Cosart. Not chopped liver there. As far as the deals for Happ, Schafer and Wallace I remember how glowing you were when Schafer was brought in. Because he was put on waivers and picked up by Atlanta doesn't make him a bad pickup. It certainly isn't Ed Wade's fault he couldn't stay healthy. As for Wallace he's been a great minor leaguer but not so much in the bigs. You can't win them all. In JA Happ they got good work from him while with the team and in the trade with Toronto Luhnow acquired 7 players including an over-the-hill Francisco Cordero. Not so hot of a deal there. BTW Happ was pitching well for Toronto until he was hit with a batted ball.
Now Luhnow was hired by a new owner with deep pockets and carte blanche to do whatever he wants. He also inherited a team who is doing well to win 50 games and as a reward gets the No 1 pick in the draft two years in a row. Maybe three if things keep going. I'm not downing Luhnow. I like what he's doing overall including the piggybacking of his starters in the minors for just the reasons I mentioned in my post. This is a totally new concept and I really like it and one of the innovative ideas owner Jim Crane was hoping Luhnow would bring to the GM job. It does two important things. First, it's allowing Houston to give needed innings to twice the players which is helpful in determining the role they will play for the organization and second it preserves the arms of the prospects. Stamina isn't much of a factor for a twenty-something pitcher but seeing how they handle both the starters hat and the relievers hat without overusing them is priceless. You still want a little something left when they finally make the big club and you want a player who can handle pressure. Piggybacking delivers on both items. And by the way the Astros minor league system is by your own post one of, if not, the best in MLB and a lot credit goes to Luhnow no question but the turnaround began with Wade.

[Big T]

I'll admit that you do have an argument with the whole ownership thing. However, You are talking about an ace, two of the best RBI bats in the game, and maybe the top leadoff hitter in the game and all he got out of those trades were Singleton and Cosart. And while Singleton is ranked number one in the system, Cosart has dropped from being number two to number four in the system and is projected to be no better than a number three starter. His stock has dropped significantly while in the Astros system. Still at that he is a very good prospect. At the time I did like the Schaffer move, but as we all well know he did not pan out as I and many Astros fans hopped. Happ was never a good pitcher for the Astros and Luhnow received some very good value for him including Wojo at number 15, Kevin Comer at number 17, and Carlos Perez at number 20.

While the number one overall pick has done quite a bit for Luhnow, it is the picks that have come after the number one pick that has made him the best GM IMO in baseball. Nolan Fontana, Carlos Ruiz, and Lance McCullers are all in the Astros top eleven and they were all picked after Carlos Correa.

[Big T]

In other news, the Astros have signed several of their draft picks.

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/team/draft.jsp?c_id=hou

This page updates every day so you can check and see who has signed and who is still pending.

[eagle eye]

I'm not arguing that Luhnow is not as good as Wade. All I'm saying is that Wade should get SOME credit for the turnaround of the Astros organization. To minimize this or that just because Ed Wade had a hand in it isn't fair to Wade and I've explained why I think that way. I'm not a "Wade guy". I just recognize what he was actually able to do despite a next to impossible situation. I'm not saying every move Luhnow has made has worked out because it hasn't but he is doing a really nice job. How nice won't be known for 2-4 years all we can say right now is the minor leagues are much better since he took over.

Back to the present. What the bleep has happened to the Astros offense? The have been pitiful since the 1st of June. In the eleven games since the month began Houston has scored a lowly 28 runs which averages out to be 2.54 runs a game. Throw out an 11 run explosion against the Orioles last Wednesday and the Astros have only scored 17 runs or 1.7 runs a game for those ten games. That plain sucks. The Astros have actually been shut out twice in the last three games. Maybe Bo Porter needs to shake up the lineup again or get everyone drunk before the game--something--to get the bats going again.

[Big T]

I just tried to do this a couple of minutes ago and after about thirty minutes I accidentally deleted my post so now I have to start over again. I have compiled a list of guys and their stats from the minors so we can see where the system is at right now. There are some pretty good numbers and some that leave me a little disappointed and some that just surprised the hell out of me.

Name Games BA RBI HR 2B 3B OBP SLG
Jonathan Singleton 13 .286 10 3 4 1 .370 .609
Carlos Correa 50 .292 41 4 12 1 .395 .426
George Springer 61 .303 50 18 18 0 .405 .618
Delino Desheilds 48 .280 22 2 7 5 .369 .402
Rio Ruiz 46 .215 22 3 9 0 .318 .325
Nolan Fontana 44 .303 25 5 8 4 .430 .488
Jonathan Villar 60 .275 31 5 9 5 .332 .424
Domingo Santana 54 .260 36 12 14 1 .353 .515
Preston Tucker 64 .312 58 11 17 1 .373 .518
Tyler Heineman 44 .299 20 2 11 1 .402 .429
MP Cokinos 37 .316 27 4 11 0 .396 .485

Name Games ERA IP W/L BB K WHIP
Jarrod Cosart 13 3.39 63.2 5-3 38 68 1.34
Lance McCullers 15 2.10 55.2 3-4 26 62 1.22
Mike Foltynewicz 16 2.38 64.1 3-0 32 67 1.29
Nick Tropeano 15 3.71 60.2 1-4 20 59 1.35
Asher Wojciechowski 14 2.80 70.2 5-3 23 63 1.12
Brady Rodgers 16 4.41 63.1 5-3 13 55 1.32

There are several other guys with impressive stats but these were the guys that jumped out at me. The Hitters OBP and the pitchers K/BB ratio shows you just how Luhnow and his staff draft use saber metrics while drafting. Even though Appel, Thurman and Emanuel have not signed yet add those three to some of the ones above and we can have a hell of a pitching staff to come in the next few years.

[Big T]

Astros win 6-1! Had to score six in the ninth to do it but they got it done.

[eagle eye]

It took Houston 18 innings but they finally scored a run! After that the flood gates opened and the six runs was the most since the 11 they scored against Baltimore over a week ago. They are home against the White Sox starting today. Win six in the row lose six in a row. Hopefully, as the season wears on the wins will come more than the losses but when you think about it the Astros played .500 ball for the last twelve games before last night. If you look at it like that it doesn't look so bad. Did Jordan Lyles pitch a game last night or what? Seven scoreless and you can't do better than that. It was nice to see the bats finally wake up let's hope this is a trend and not an anomoly.

[Big T]

Nine more draftees have signed with the Astros including second baseman Anthony Kemp!

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/team/draft.jsp?c_id=hou

[Big T]

Just heard that Conrad Gregor has signed as well. That makes both fourth and fifth round picks who have signed early and get to start their professional careers early. I always like seeing that. Looking like Appel is going to hold out a while. Said he just wanted a break...... I already find this guy annoying. I sure hope he does not end up a bust.

[KABrother88]

Just heard that Conrad Gregor has signed as well. That makes both fourth and fifth round picks who have signed early and get to start their professional careers early. I always like seeing that. Looking like Appel is going to hold out a while. Said he just wanted a break...... I already find this guy annoying. I sure hope he does not end up a bust.


I read somewhere that he has to wait until after the Stanford graduation ceremony anyway which isn't until the 16th

[Big T]

Just heard that Conrad Gregor has signed as well. That makes both fourth and fifth round picks who have signed early and get to start their professional careers early. I always like seeing that. Looking like Appel is going to hold out a while. Said he just wanted a break...... I already find this guy annoying. I sure hope he does not end up a bust.


I read somewhere that he has to wait until after the Stanford graduation ceremony anyway which isn't until the 16th


I did not know that. But I either read or heard in an interview, can't remember which, that he was going to take some time off and go on a vacation before entering into contract negotiations with the Stros. The bad thing about this is that he is a college senior so there is not a signing deadline for him so he and Bora$$ can hold out for as long as they want to get the money they want. I hope this does not turn out to be detrimental to the team. Go ahead, sign the contract and get your professional career started so you can get to the majors as quickly as possible to help out the big club. Anyways, I'm worried that Bora$$ is going to ask for something over allotted money that the Stros have available and this is going to turn into a standoff. I really hope i'm wrong here.

[eagle eye]

When the Astros drafted Appel it was reported that they were not in a hurry to rush Appel into the bigs and were content to have him pitch a little bit this summer in the lower level maybe instructional or A ball league because they realized he just finished pitching a full college season. It's not the same as last year when they were able to wrap up Carlos Correa early. It's obviously a whole different set of circumstances but I'm not that worried. Scott Boras is a deuche but I can't believe he'll hold Houston for ransom on this deal. When he'll play hardball with Houston is the next contract if Appel is the real deal. As it is Appel will probably make a nice sum but Houston can't mortgage the rest of their draft to sign one guy and Boras should know this. It's like the NFL before the rookie salary cap. The top ten picks don't sign until No 1 sets the bar.

[Big T]

Hang on, are we talking about the same Scott Bora$$!? This is the guy who stated when the new rules went into place that his mission was to "Break the system." Scott Boras does not care about the teams that his clients play for. All he wants and all he sees is money. I hope your right and I hope i'm wrong, but these two are the ones that held the Pirates ransom last year before not signing because the Pirates were not willing to sign over the slot. I'm hoping that Appel really wants to play for his hometown team and goes ahead and makes a deal or this could get real ugly real quick. Boras is a snake who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

[eagle eye]

I agree with you, Big T. Boras is a piece of excrement. He's out for the most bucks for his client because his share of the pie is bigger. I do have some trepidation about the negotiations and maybe I'm taking the wishful thinking angle but Jeff Luhnow is no rookie and I think he will be able to play hardball if necessary with Boras. Besides, the negotiation position of a college grad is not as good as for an undergrad. What's Appel going to do, play in South America or Mexico for a year? The Astros own his rights so he's not playing for money in the USA. Last year Appel didn't get the deal he wanted in 2012 so he went back to school. That option is off the table now. One other guy in play here is Reid Ryan. As the new team president Ryan has a wealth of baseball front office experience and I'm sure he's had to deal with Boras before. The best option for Appel is to sign and if he sits for a year he will not have had game experience plus a year of salary is lost. The fact that Houston is his home town team may cause Appel and certainly his family to push for him to sign.

The Astros have signed 14 of their 40 draft picks so far with the highest signings being their 4th and 5 round picks.

[Big T]

He can play independent ball and make millions doing it. It wouldn't be the kind of millions the Astros would be willing to give him but it would still be millions. He could do that then become free of the Astros and sign with another team for the amount sought as his rights would no longer be owned by the Astros. Do I think this will happen? No. But can it? Yes. I expect him to sign within the month but not before some heated negotiations and a possible overpay. If the Astros were to sign him for over the allotted slot money, they would not loose their first round pick next year as it will be a top ten pick. However, they would loose their second round pick and get penalized by having to pay a fine and being docked allotted slot money for the next upcoming draft. This is why Bora$$ should be banned from representing any player for the MLB. Hope the Astros stay smart and get the job done. At this point give him all of the allotted money but not a cent more.

In other news, looks like the Astros and second round pick Thurman have reached an agreement and he will sign early next week!

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/06/astros-to-sign-second-round-pick-andrew-thurman.html

[Big T]

Well..... Looks like all of my fear of Appel and Boras stringing this out just my be wrong. Just found this.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/06/astros-nearing-deal-with-mark-appel.html

Like we all suspected it is going to take the whole allotted draft money to get him to sign, but it looks like it will get done. The big problem here is that with him signing for so much that is not going to leave the Astros with any extra money to throw at the other prospects like HS C Nottingham, HS CF Martin, HS LHP Nicley, and HS RHP German. All of these guys have firm commitments to colleges and might take a little extra money to get them signed. So we may loose some of our top 11 draft picks. Hope not and that they all sign. We need SP in this system.

Here are some other Astros fans reactions form the Astros Forum. They all seem to have the same concerns.

http://www.forums.mlb.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ml-astros&tid=87603

[eagle eye]

Tired head is creeping in about this stuff. It's inconceivable that we could pay an untested (in the pros anyway) pitcher more money than most of the Astros roster combined. Okay, that's an exaggeration but you get my point. Appel could be the cornerstone of the staff for years to come if he turns out to be the real deal. That is until the Yankees come calling when his contract is up. In 2012 the Astros signed a phenomenal amount of their draft picks so it has possibly raised expectations for signings. Inking Nos 1 and 2 is nice and getting No 3 signed would give Houston their top 5 picks. That ain't bad no matter how you slice it.

Mendoza Line
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the baseball term. For the musical group, see The Mendoza Line (band).
The Mendoza Line is an expression in baseball in the United States, deriving from the name of shortstop Mario Mendoza, whose batting average is taken to define the threshold of incompetent hitting. The cutoff point is most often said to be .200,[1] and, when a position player's batting average falls below that level, the player is said to be "below the Mendoza Line". This is often thought of as the offensive threshold below which a player's presence in Major League Baseball cannot be justified, regardless of his defensive abilities. Pitchers are not judged by this standard, since their specialized work and infrequent batting does not require as much hitting competence. The expression has been also extended to other realms to indicate a low-end cut-off point.

I printed this just in case fans didn't know the origin of the phrase, 'Mendoza Line'. I honestly didn't know it originated in the late 70's. I thought it was much older than that. Mendoza was a player for the Pirates, Mariners and Rangers who could flash leather at shortstop but couldn't hit a lick. Actually, his career BA ended up his nine year career (1974-1982) with a .215 but Chris Berman and the other guys from SportCenter made the phrase famous when ESPN was in it's infancy.
The reason I went into the history and vocabulary lesson was because Houston has two players in the lineup, Jimmy Paredes (.195) and Trevor Crowe (.196) who are the very definition of why Houston's offense is so bad most of the time. You just can't have your left fielder and right fielder so inept at the plate and yet Houston is actually leading 2-1 going into the top of the 7th. Go figure.

[Big T]

Speaking of Crow.... he single handedly won that game for the Stros last night. It was his hustle and speed that caused the error that led to the two Astros runs.

[KABrother88]

Looks like we got Appel signed for...reported to be between 6 and 6.5 million...if so great job front office

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/jon-heyman/22430071/astros-no-1-pick-appel-agree-to-deal-worth-more-than-6-million

[eagle eye]

Never discount the fury of a mother who doesn't get her way! LOL. Seriously, the fact that Appel is a homer and it was his dream to play for the Astros even Scott Boras couldn't buck that! What's really amazing is Big T got his wish--to sign Appel for less than the slotted amount of $7.8 MM. Even if the final amount is the $6.5 MM to think Appel's agent couldn't, or wouldn't, demand more is down right amazing. Welcome home, Mark!

The Astros held on to win a tight game despite a monster game by Mark Sale the White Sox starting pitcher. Sale went 8 strong innings including 14 K's of the 24 outs he recorded. In fact, the 2 runs Houston scored were unearned. As Big T mentioned Trevor Crowe's hustle to beat a force out at second on ground ball by Brandon Barnes allowed Ronnie Cedeno, who got on base ahead of Crowe because of an infield error, to score when the throw to second by SS Alexi Ramirez missed its mark with Cedeno advancing to 3rd. A ground ball by Jose Altuve ended up being an infield single scoring Cedeno giving the 'Stros all the runs they needed. All this occured in the 5th inning. No matter because Erik Bedard allowed only one run in his 6 innings of work logging 3 BB's and 6 K's. Jose Cisnero, Travis Blackley and Jose Veras pitched the final three innings without allowing a run earning Veras his 12th save.

Tonight the Astros are on TV! The fox game of the week features Lucas Harrell (4-7) facing the Sox's John Danks (1-2). In the top of the sixth the Astros are leading 4-1 lead by back-to-back homers by Jason Castro and Chris Carter in the 4th inning. I missed the time frame but in recent games, maybe the last month the Astros starting pitching is second only to the Oakland A's with a 2.78 ERA. Harrell gave up a run in the first and was in a full blown jam but he pitched his way out of trouble allowing only the one run and he's retired the minimum since the first inning. The sixth inning is over and after another scoreless, hitless inning the home team still leads 4-1.

[Big T]

Sorry EE but I have to correct your post real quick. His name is Chris Sale not Mark Sale. And Bedard did not give up the run. It was scored on an error and was unearned. All three runs scored last night were unearned.

[eagle eye]

Way to keep me honest Big T! Chris Sale is the guy's name but I want to knit pick about the run. I said Bedard gave up one run and he did but I did neglect to say it was unearned.

The 7th inning saw the Pale Hose close the gap scoring 2 runs to tighten the score to 4-3. Lucas Harrell lost his mojo surrendering a lead off homer to Adam Dunn and several other hits around a couple of outs. The last straw came with Gordon Beckham on second Tyler Flowers hit a grounder up the middle for an infield single. If not for a spectacular play by Jose Altuve to keep the ball in the infield Beckham would have scored. Harrell was yanked and Paul Clemens just made Alejandro De Aza look bad striking him out on three pitches.

Houston's half saw a leadoff walk by Carlos Pena and pitching change. John Danks was replaced by Matt Lindstrom who immediately induced a double play ball from Ronnie Cedeno. Matt Dominguez came up and lined a double into center field. Lindstrom then caught Trevor Crowe looking at strike three to end the inning.

[eagle eye]

The top of the 8th saw Clemens give up a leadoff double followed by a strikeout and his night was over. Wesley Wright came in and induced a ground out by Adam Dunn and after an intentional walk to Paul Konerko. Wright was done for the night and Hector Ambriz came in a got Jeff Keppinger to ground out to Ronnie Cedeno. The inning was saved by a marvelous stop by Jason Castro on a breaking ball in the dirt and Alexi Ramirez on 3rd.

[eagle eye]

Bottom of the 8th new White Sox pitcher Nate Jones replacing Lindstrom. Jones has an easy inning retiring Brandon Barnes, Jose Altuve and Jason Castro on routine groundouts. On to the ninth and Jose Veras looking for save number (gulp) 13. Anyone superstitious?

[eagle eye]

Top of 9th and Jose Veras can't do anything without drama. A lead off walk to Dayan Viciedo saw Veras overthrowing his fastball and not even getting close to the strike zone. White Sox starting pitcher John Danks brother Jordan came in to run for Viciedo. Veras switched to throwing curve balls to second batter Gordon Beckham and struck him out. During Beckham's at bat Danks stole second. Veras got the next hitter Tyler Flowers in a hole with his curve ball and he set him down with a 96 mph fast ball. With Alejandro De Aza at the plate Veras picked off Danks at second base to end the game. It was a good play and Danks was half asleep and caught completely by surprise. The replay showed that Danks was clearly out on the tag by Ronnie Cedeno. Veras has been scaring me and now the last couple of game he can't throw his fast ball for strikes. Oh well, a win is a win and I'll take it. Tonight's win guarantees the Astros a series win gives them a 3 game winning streak. Plays by Jose Altuve and Jason Castro save the win for the Astros tonight. Lucas Harrell (5-7) deserved the win and got it. He went 6-2/3 giving up 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 1 walk and 7 K's. Tomorrow's game is a 1:10 PM start with Dallas Keuchel (3-3) squaring off against Hector Santiago (2-4).

[Big T]

Apparently from everything I've read, Appel is receiving a signing bonus of 6.35 million. The contract deal still has a few things to iron out but it should be finalized early this week maybe even tomorrow. I hope y'all realize how huge this is. the Astros now have an extra 1.5 million to distribute between HSP's German and Nicley. Both of whom have solid commitments to Universities and will take some extra money to get to sign. Things are looking good for the Stros and they may actually get all of their top ten to sign for a second consecutive year! Now I just hope that the 6.35 million is true.

[Big T]

If y'all haven't heard yet, the Astros have signed their second round pick RHP Andrew Thurman out of UC Irvine.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130617&content_id=50910398&noteb ook_id=50919952&vkey=notebook_hou&c_id=hou

They are also in "full talks" with Appel. Kent Emanuel is still in the CWS so I don't expect him to sign till after UNC is eliminated.

[Big T]

Astros get a 10-1 win tonight. They got a three run HR from Pena and a grand slam and five RBIs from Matt Dominguez. Oh BTW Jordan Lyles was lights out yet again!

[Big T]

Astros, Appel have reached an agreement and you can watch the press conference here live.

http://wapc.mlb.com/hou/play/?topic_id=16646766&c_id=HOU&content_id=28161513

[eagle eye]

The Astros won another series. This time it was against the Milwaukee Brewers in the rubber game of a three game set to the Astros current home stand which they were very impressive going a combined 5-2 against the White Sox (3-1) and Brewers (2-1). Todays game according to Astros.com was a very sloppy game filled with errors and home runs. Lucas Harrell, who didn't deserve to be in a 3-0 hole early because of fielding errors was done in the sixth on a home run by Jonathan Lucroy that extended a 3-2 Brewers lead to 4-2. Harrell wasn't the only one done in. Trying to rob Lucroy of his homer Trevor Crowe smashed into the outfield was injuring himself. Injured so badly that Houston put Crowe on the 15 day DL with a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder. All was forgotten as the game went to the bottom of the 8th inning, C Carlos Corporan stroked a solo shot to tie the game at 4. Then came extra innings and in the bottom of the 10th with score still tied Jason Castro lead off with a strike out. Corporan followed with a K but a wild pitch by the Brewers Michael Gonzalez enabled Corporan to end up on 1st. JD Martinez followed with a double to right field and the Astros had runners at the corners with only one out. Bo Porter elected to substitute Corporan with P Josh Fields who pinch ran for Corporan. Next up was Carlos Pena who stroked a line drive over the drawn in outfield and right over the right field wall for a walk off 3 run homer. By all accounts it was Corporan's play that was the glue that kept Houston in the game. With timely hitting and stellar work behind the plate he was clearly the player of the game despite Pena's extra inning heroics. Now, it's on to Chicago to play the Cubs for a three game series after which they are home again to face St Louis and the Angels.

Anyone seen the poop-storm over Bud Norris' comments about being traded? At first glance, you think Norris is a major tool bag but at closer examination he was just answering a question. His answer was not politically correct but it wasn't boring or fake. He only said that in his 3-1/2 years in Houston he's seen competent players traded and he wonders why his number hasn't been called. He said it gives him chill bumps to think that he could conceivably go to his home town team the San Francisco Giants. Can't blame him there. That home town attraction is probably a big reason Houston was able to sign it's first round pick Mark Appel. The signing of Appel meant Norris' days as an Astro were numbered anyway, right? With Norris having his best year as an Astro his value couldn't be higher on the trading block. Houston is known to be shopping him so why not dream a little? If you look at it Norris is too old to be part of Houston's long range plans and they figure to be a lower tier team for another 3-4 years. It's not unreasonable to think Norris would like an opportunity to go to a contending team and what better team than the Giants. Dreaming again. Get draft picks, get upper tier minor league prospects, heck get cash and Norris can say goodbye to Houston having been a good soldier. Norris' 2013 season is better than the previous 2-1/2 years when he felt his golf game between starts was more important than his baseball health. He did suffer from blisters on his pitching hand a lot. This season Norris put away the golf clubs and focused on his pitching and it really has paid dividends. Maybe his agent whispered in his ear and said, "Hey dumbass nobody will trade for a pitcher who can't pitch. Lose the clubs and I'll get you a deal." To his credit, if that really happened, Norris appears to have listened. When all is said and done maybe Norris really is a tool bag. Doesn't matter. He's not in Houston's future and if we can get value for him I say, "So long Bud and don't let the door hit you in the ass.".

[KABrother88]

Haha...I think Norris should bring good value back to Houston if/when hes traded...only making 3 million this season and will be under team control until after the 2015 season...his Ks/9 has dropped to 6.2 this season compared to 8.8 for his career prior to 2013...that being said his ERA is down from 4.42 to 3.64 so to me it seems he turning into a pitcher

Speaking of trades the Astros traded Fernado Martinez (I know Big T liked him) to the Yankees for RHP Charles Basford...yawn...

In other news we have signed our 10th round pick Austin Nicely...have seen on Baseball America it was for 600,000 (slot value was just a little over 100,000)...now have 8 of our top 10 signed with the other 2 still in Omaha...should be no problem getting them signed with the 1.5 million discount from Appel

[Big T]

Unfortunately F-Mart never paned out like I was hoping he would. He didn't do it for the Mets, Astros, so now he going to try as a Yankee.

[eagle eye]

Two years in a row signing their top ten picks. Not bad. It seems GM Jeff Luhnow knows a little about being a GM.
Fernando Martinez' trade is good for him and good for Houston because we get some more pitching. It wasn't an earth shattering trade but it worked for both clubs and both players involved although Basford is leaving a perennial contender for a rebuilding club he may find greener pastures in Houston.
Cubs win opener 3-1 because starter Dallas Kuechel gave up solo homers in 3 consecutive innings. The troubling thing here is the low run output Houston puts out day in and day out. That's why they are where they are. Too many strikeouts and too many missed opportunities and too few runs scored. Better days are ahead but in the last month the starters have the 2nd best ERA in the American League. Gotta be frustrating for them.
Despite all their failings the Astros are 13-10 over their last 23 games and that ain't bad.
One last thing, I'm tired of 'The Blitz' guys on ESPN radio bagging on the Astros. AJ Hoffman and Fred Faour have nothing good to say about them even though, as I mentioned above, they are playing above .500 ball and are competitive in every game they are in. I don't like the show anyway because they rarely talk sports and when they do they are rude to their callers. Most of their time is spent talking about TV shows and betting on stuff. Even then, they are boring and unfunny. I miss 'The Drive' with Dukes, Tepper and Takahashi.

[Mahler]

One last thing, I'm tired of 'The Blitz' guys on ESPN radio bagging on the Astros. AJ Hoffman and Fred Faour have nothing good to say about them even though, as I mentioned above, they are playing above .500 ball and are competitive in every game they are in. I don't like the show anyway because they rarely talk sports and when they do they are rude to their callers. Most of their time is spent talking about TV shows and betting on stuff. Even then, they are boring and unfunny. I miss 'The Drive' with Dukes, Tepper and Takahashi.


Truer words have never been spoken!!! I've stopped listening to all local 97.5 shows. Very disappointing for a huge city such as Houston. Very vulgar and crass in topics, especially the noon-3 show. Bleh!!!!!

[Big T]

I to have stopped listening to 97.5. The Drive was the best show on there and now that it is gone the whole station has gone down hill. What really pissed me off was when they had Coach Bruder on and pretty much made fun of the Lamar program and her. That for me was it. They never have anything good to say about the Astros, they never even mention the Dynamo, and personally I don't think half of the things they talk about belong on the radio.

[KABrother88]

George Springer had been promoted to AAA OKC...was hitting .297 with 19 HRs, 55 RBI, 20 doubles and 23 SB...has a lot of swing and miss in his game (96 Ks in 273 ABs) but as you can see when he hits the ball he does damage...he'll be with the big team in September but I don't see them calling him up until around this time next year to keep his arbitration clock from starting...I feel like he's is very underrated in terms of his prospect ranking (#52 overall by MLB.com)...personally I think he is our top prospect...he's got 5 tools and should stick in CF for years to come...only thing I could see to change that is if Delino DeShields Jr. transitions from 2nd to CF and Springer shifts to RF

[Big T]

His K/BB ratio is too high to make him our number one prospect. Springer is not the only one to be called up however. They also called up Buchanan to AAA and promoted Buxton to A+. Singleton is also in AAA now.

Added on top of that, Carlos Correa has been on an absolute tear for the last month. Hitting .375 over that span and hitting close to .500 over the last ten games to raise his average from .292 to .321. Plus McCullers and Folty have both exceeded everyone's expectations. I can see all three of these players at some point in the next several weeks receiving promotions. I really want to see Correa in high A ball.

[KABrother88]

The reasons I have Springer at my #1 over Singleton is he is a better overall player in my opinion and does it at CF and not 1st. While I think Correa will be great as well Springer is closer so he gets the edge...he may not ever become a more patient hitter but he still has time to improve in that area. I love what Folty is doin to and he should get more attention than he does...needless to say the future is bright (I get made fun of at work for checking how our minor leaguers are doing every couple of days)...I understand not every prospect pans out and some of the pitchers will become relievers...but a rotation of Appel, McCullers, Cosart, and Folty would light up some radar guns!

[eagle eye]

KABrother88 you are right about the upside to Springer in my opinion. If Jose Altuve can learn patience at the plate and turn his entire career around it's not unreasonable to think Springer can do the same. Plate discipline is important to learn to reach the next level and if Altuve can learn it in an off season as he did before last season then Springer truly will be a 5 tool player.

I can understand why you look at the minors because the Astros lack of pop in the current line up is frustrating. It's too bad that Jordan Lyles, after a month of phenomenal starts that he came up snake eyes yesterday. I don't understand why Bo Porter didn't pull him during or after that disastrous 3rd inning. It was obvious Lyles didn't have even his mediocre stuff. Even so, the defense didn't help matters by playing like crap. It sure seemed like they committed more than 2 errors.

Houston gets a much needed day off today. Before today they had only 2 days off in the past month.

[Big T]

If you new anything about Springer you would know that plate discipline is not the issue. His issue is that he does not have a two strike approach. All he does is grip it and rip it. When he gets two strikes on him he has the same swing as when he had a 0-0, 1-0, 2-0 count. If he can learn to cut back on his two strike swing and swing for contact and not for the fences with two strikes then I'll agree with y'all. Until then I have Appel, Singleton, Correa, Springer, and Cosart as my top five in that order.

[eagle eye]

The two strike approach IS part of plate discipline. Biggio and Bagwell were two of the best for many years because they looked to make contact with 2 strikes and he didn't try to be dead pull hitters. In fact it's when they didn't use that approach is when they went into slumps. Excessive strike outs are also a part of plate discipline. That's why the current Astros are working to improve Chris Carter and Carlos Pena's approach at the plate. If you want Springer to be the next Chris Carter don't bother to teach him a more practical approach at the plate. If you don't mind the feast or famine approach and a 100+ K's a year because that's what will happen. The higher up in the system Springer goes the lower his batting average will go. In AA he hit .297 with 93 K's. If he doesn't change his approach he'll hit .279 with 110 K's. Nobody wants that.

[KABrother88]

Like I said Springer may not ever improve his approach at the plate but that has been the knock on him since he was at UCONN...yet he just keeps on producing...these are just AA numbers but if a guy is on pace (140 games) to hit .297 with 103 runs, 35 doubles, 35 HR, 101 RBI, and 42 SB and play .994 defense I can learn to live with the Ks...plus down the road if he's hitting in front of Singleton he'll see better pitches early in the count and his 2-strike approach won't be as much of a factor.

In other news, Marwin Gonzalez had been sent down to OKC and LHP Wade LeBlanc had been DFA...does this mean they may call up Jonathan Villar and Jared Cosart?

[Big T]

Springer proved he could hit a good fastball in AA. Now comes the test to see if he can hit the good breaking pitches in AAA. If he can hit there then he should be a very good MLB player.

[KABrother88]

Like I said Springer may not ever improve his approach at the plate but that has been the knock on him since he was at UCONN...yet he just keeps on producing...these are just AA numbers but if a guy is on pace (140 games) to hit .297 with 103 runs, 35 doubles, 35 HR, 101 RBI, and 42 SB and play .994 defense I can learn to live with the Ks...plus down the road if he's hitting in front of Singleton he'll see better pitches early in the count and his 2-strike approach won't be as much of a factor.

In other news, Marwin Gonzalez had been sent down to OKC and LHP Wade LeBlanc had been DFA...does this mean they may call up Jonathan Villar and Jared Cosart?


Nevermind they recalled Brett Wallace and Jake Elmore

[eagle eye]

I hope Wallace does better this time around. He hits lights out in AAA but can't find his behind with both hands in the bigs. On the Astros web site they thought like KABrother88 that Jonathan Villar was on the way up so today's move is really a surprise.

As for Springer, a guy who hits .297 in AAA generally doesn't get better when the pitching gets better unless he learns how to be a hitter not a batter. I'm sure he's got instruction but it's hard to go against your nature but to be a better hitter you have to train yourself to be disciplined. As Springer moves up the ladder he's going to find out talent alone won't matter without some baseball acumen to go with it. Don't get me wrong. I am rooting for Springer but I still think he's got some learning to do and a little chat with Jose Altuve wouldn't hurt either. Don't believe me? Brett Wallace is a prime example. Talent has made Wallace a better than average minor leaguer but his talent doesn't mean much when he gets to the bigs. I want Springer to be better than Wallace. I know you are smirking saying he already is, but, you know what I'm talking about.

[Big T]

EE, sheck your post, he hit .297 in AA and just got promoted to AAA.

[eagle eye]

EE, sheck your post, he hit .297 in AA and just got promoted to AAA.


You're absolutely right but, I think you get my point.

[KABrother88]

FWIW, Springer earned Texas League All-Star game MVP last night going 2 for 3 with 2 HRs, 3 RBI, a walk, SB and 0Ks.

C Rene Garcia got the start behind the plate. Went 0-2 but reached on an error and scored later, threw out a would be base stealer and picked off another at first

3 Hooks pitchers saw action in the 6-0 win over the the TL North team

David Martinez gave up 1 hit pitching the 2nd inning
Jake Buchanan gave up 2 hits pitching the 5th inning
Mike Foltynewicz pitched a perfect 6th inning

[eagle eye]

What have we learned the past two days as the Astros faced off against the St Louis Cardinals?
1) Lucas Harrell is still learning to be a big league pitcher. He has a lot of talent but he needs to work on his mental toughness. Still he deserves a better record than he has but in most starts he hasn't got a lot of run support. Last night was not one of those cases however as a disasterous 4th inning sank Harrell's ship. Better days are ahead IF he can harness his temper.
2) Eric Bedard seems to be developing into the pitcher the Astros front office hoped when they signed him this past off season. He seems to be showing the form he showed in his early days with the Baltimore Orioles before injuries stole the momentum he was building. Bedard was even in the running for the Cy Young Award in 2007 for a losing team. Former Lamar Cardinal and MLB player for Boston, Kevin Millar, once said Bedard had the best curve ball in the major leagues. At 34 he's not going to be in the long range plans for the Astros but we'll take what he can give us, right? Even if it's a valued trade bait as the trading deadline approaches.
3) The Astros are proving that despite struggling at the plate that they can compete with anyone. St Louis, the Astros most recent opponent, and Pittsburgh are tied for the best records in MLB at 48-30 and Houston has split the two games of the series. When the Astros pitching is on they can beat anyone and that is a very good sign. The Astros finish June with a series against the Los Angeles Angels, a team they have owned in 2013. In their last 10 games the Astros are still playing .500 ball and amazingly enough for the month of June they are 12-12. Not freakin' bad.

[eagle eye]

Sorry, I've jinxed the Astros again. I posted that the Astros "owned" the Angels so far this year and darned if the Angels haven't won the first two games of this series. Not only that but Houston has managed to awaken Josh Hamilton's bat. Never fails, spin a little confidence in our boys and it's good for a doggone losing streak. Hopefully, Houston can bounce back this afternoon.

[Big T]

Got swept. Look at Hamilton's numbers, he owns the Astros. If he could just hit against the Astros every game he would be hall of fame worthy in ten years lol.

[eagle eye]

It seems that Lucas Harrell is the new age Nolan Ryan. Back in his day Ryan was tagged with innumerable losses he didn't deserve because the Astros didn't give him run support or the relievers surrendered a lead he left the game with. Well, that's Lucas Harrell in a nutshell. Granted he's no Nolan but he seems to be saddled with the same crap luck. Harrell pitched really well yesterday giving up a solo home run in his seven innings of work. He deserved the win but Houston offense took the day off. Granted the Angels C J Wilson pitched a whale of a game but Houston had their chances and just couldn't capitalize on any of them. The Astros did even the score for Harrell in the 6th but the run was unearned. Jose Cisnero came in for Harrell in the 8th and promptly surrendered the winning runs to LA. The Angels were kind of owned up until this weekend by Houston but two stellar pitching outings by Harrell and Bud Norris were ruined by the bullpen, poor defense and a limp offense. You have to say Jordan Lyle's outing Saturday wasn't his best stuff but Houston had chances to win the series and flat blew it.

[eagle eye]

Several notable items from Astros-land:

Houston got pounded last night by Tampa Bay in the first game of their series 12-0. Dallas Kuechel got run in the 5th after allowing 5 earned runs in 4.2 innings but the real casualty was Hector Ambriz who, in one inning of work allowed 3 runs in 4 hits including a home run with 2 BB's and no K's. Ambriz has had a lousy month of June and his first appearance in July got him sent down to OKC. The Astros called up Brett Oberholtzer who is expected to be used in long relief possibly as early as tonight.

The Astros acquired shortstop prospect Ronald Torreyes from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for two international signing bonus slots.

As a side story Houston began the international signing period's first day today by signing 4 prospects. Here's the article along with a brief bio of the newest Astros.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130702&content_id=52466038&vkey= news_hou&c_id=hou

The Astros have announced the first appearance of their 2013 top draft pick, Mark Appel. He scheduled to make his first start Friday night for Class A Tri-City. Appel has moved into the Astros system making signing his contract just 12 days after being drafted and making his first pro start by Independence Day.

Carlos Pena, who has missed the past two days due to being off for a death in the family. Pena is back but not in the starting lineup tonight because he just did arrive for the game on time missing the pre-game warmup period with his teammates.

Two of Houston's top prospects pitchers, Jared Cosart and Jason Stoffel were named to the AAA All-Star team. Cosart is Houston's #4 ranked prospect and Stoffel, a relief pitcher, is a player that Houston has been high on for a good while according to GM Jeff Luhnow.

Finally, Houston is locked in a battle with the D-Rays which is turning into another ass-kicking. It's 5-0 in the top of the seventh. I posted this before but Houston's lack of offense is a disturbing trend and they are on a pace to be handed their 2nd shutout in as many nights. Granted the D-Rays are good and right in the thick of a very competitive AL East race but the Astros lack of offense puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on their pitching staff. Not to mention adding more grey hairs to Bo Porter's scalp.

[Big T]

Thanks for all the updates EE. I'm going to post the international signings in a few but first I want to point out that our Astros have once again taken first place!!!! For last place lol. That's right, if they keep this up we are going to see Carlos Rodon will be in a Astros uniform in the near future!

Can you even imagine a Rotation of-

Appel
Rodon
Cosart
Folty
FA

That my friends would be SICK! Here's to the number one over all pick in 2014!

[Big T]

So the Astros have been very busy today on the international front despite loosing yet again to the Rays tonight 8-0. So far they have signed:

Short Stop Dominican Republic- Joan Mauricio 16 YO- $600,000
SS/OF -Osvaldo Duarte
SS/C- Jonathan Matute
CF- Nestor Tejada

They have also acquired a AA prospect from the Cubs in exchange for two International money slots. I can't say any of these guys look like sure fire MLB players, but if you spread your money around like the Astros did your more likely to find that kid who turns out to be the next Big Papi, Gurerro, etc. There really wasn't a sure fire player this year in the international pool unlike the previous years with Cespades, Chapman, etc.

[eagle eye]

So the Astros have been very busy today on the international front despite loosing yet again to the Rays tonight 8-0. So far they have signed:

Short Stop Dominican Republic- Joan Mauricio 16 YO- $600,000
SS/OF -Osvaldo Duarte
SS/C- Jonathan Matute
CF- Nestor Tejada

They have also acquired a AA prospect from the Cubs in exchange for two International money slots. I can't say any of these guys look like sure fire MLB players, but if you spread your money around like the Astros did your more likely to find that kid who turns out to be the next Big Papi, Gurerro, etc. There really wasn't a sure fire player this year in the international pool unlike the previous years with Cespades, Chapman, etc.


As I said in a previous post the Astros got Ronald Torreyes from the Cubs. He's a shortstop who could play third or 2nd base. Decent hitter and good fielder.

The international players signed:
Joan Mauricio - "Mauricio is one of the few true shortstops in this year's international market," said Ocampo. "Defensively, he does everything easy -- smooth, silky actions, very good internal clock, quick hands and feet. Offensively, he has a pretty swing from the left side, good pitch recognition, and sneaky left-handed power which we expect to develop as he gets stronger. For us, Mauricio is one of the top 10 players in this year's class -- a true shortstop with projection and offensive upside. We're very pleased to have him as part of the Astros' organization." Mauricio is from the Dominican Repulbic and he's 16 years old.

Nestor Tejada - "Tejada does a number of things well, but his strength is in the batter's box," said Ocampo. "We've evaluated him in a number of competitive environments -- 15U IBAF tournament, MLB showcases and even against our own low [Class] A pitching in Kissimmee, and he has always performed and hit in games. Nestor is a great makeup kid -- intelligent, hard working, a great teammate and a true competitor who leaves it all on the field." Tejada is also 16 years old and he's from Aragua, Venezuela.

Jonathan Matute - Matute is a 16-year-old from Caracas, Venezuela, and has the ability to play both catcher and shortstop. Duarte is the oldest of the four signings, checking in at 17 years old.
"Matute's tools are solid across the board, and he separates himself with his intelligence and aptitude for the game," Ocampo said.

Osvaldo Duarte - "Duarte's best tools are his bat and his plus-plus speed," Ocampo said. "Offensively, Duarte is a line-drive hitter with a short, quick stroke. Defensively, we project Duarte as a future average Major League shortstop, but he also has a good chance to be a plus defensive center fielder because of his speed." Duarte is a shortstop/outfield prospect who is 17 years old.

Note: Comments in quotes are from the Astros international scouting director Oz Ocampo. All four players will report to the Astros academy in the Dominican Republic but they will not appear in games until the 2014 season.

New prospect from the Cubs Ronald Torreyes from Astos.com: Torreyes, 20, was hitting .260 (58-for-223) with 13 doubles, 25 RBIs and a .337 on-base percentage in 64 games for the Double-A Tennessee Smokies. He has struck out only 15 times in 223 at-bats, while walking 22 times. An infielder by trade, Torreyes has played only second base this season, but has also seen time at shortstop and third base in his career.

[eagle eye]

I know fans are tired of the losing. Me too. I know fans are looking for brighter days for Houston. Me too. But the thing I am most tired of is the absolutely horrible offense Houston fields day in and day out. I've posted this before but how can fans have a reasonable expectation of winning when you trot out a batting order with seven of your lineup hitting .224 or less with two of the starters, Brett Wallace and Jimmy Paredes under the Mendoza line? I can't believe it. I feel sorry for Bo Porter having to make out a lineup card with this roster. I'm tired of Carlos Pena and Chris Carter and neither one was in the lineup last night but for veteran players to be hitting .215 and .229 makes you wonder how they are still in the big leagues. Speaking of Wallace and Paredes, isn't it time to cut bait with these guys? As well as they play in AAA they just plain suck in the bigs. The only problem is, do we want to rush the prospects up the ladder before they are ready? We see guys who are tearing up the minors and the temptation is to bring them up. You have to admire the restraint by the Astros front office because they aren't stupid. They can see their offense bites but they stay the course and they aren't trying to rush prospects up if they feel they aren't ready. With the lowest team salary in the league you might think they'd pony up a little dough to get someone who can at least hit .250. This crap about "he's good for the locker room" is just that, crap. Pena, Wallace, Carter and Paredes have all had their chance and they haven't delivered. With the trading deadline coming up would it hurt to invest a little for the now? Is it too much to ask Jim Crane to field a roster where the team batting average is not so embarrassing? Are we giving Jeff Luhnow too much of a pass for not doing more to give Bo Porter some offense? Is Reid Ryan just playing with his pencils up in his office? The Astros have like a $23 mm total salary. It's just shy of the All Star break and it's clear this team can't hit their ass with both hands much less a baseball and a spending a little money wouldn't hurt. The Astros, for the most part have had some pretty good pitching and little offense would have translated into some wins. But, on the other hand, maybe they are just fielding this roster in hopes of scoring the 1st pick in the 2014 draft. May be. Still, it would be nice to have more than 4 players on the roster who hit .250 or better. Wouldn't it?

[KABrother88]

And it has begun. Jared Cosart got the call and will make his big league debut Friday against the Rays. At AAA OKC, Cosart was 7-4 in 18 games (17 starts) with at 3.29 ERA in 93 innings. 93 Ks in those innings but 50 walks which has always been his Achilles heel. Possibly the biggest number I like is his 2.48 Ground Out/Air Out ratio. At 23,he is a big piece of the future so lets hope he has success and builds confidence going forward. Jimmy Paredes was send down to make room

Brad Peacock is also pitching very well of late at OKC...started off pretty shaky when he first got send down but right now he sits at 5-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 59 innings with 57 Ks to 19 walks (pitched 6 shutout innings allowing 2 hits last night)...has only surrended 5 ER in his last 6 starts (37.1 innings)

George Springer is raking since he was promoted (.417 with 7 HRs in 14 games)...a welcomed sign after he struggled jumping from A+ to AA mid season last year

Jonathan Singleton...not so much...hitting .209 with 1 HR in 25 games with 38 punchouts

[eagle eye]

Houston turned the corner out of June and crashed right into July. They ended June 3 games under .500 and those 3 were the last three at month's end. The Los Angeles Angels got some payback by sweeping Houston in 3 games to end the month. Okay, 12-15 ain't bad especially for these no-hitting Astros. But those final 3 games in June set the table for a July swoon. The boys were hammered in a 4 game set against Tampa losing 3 of 4 and getting shut out twice. Then they lost 2 of 3 to the Rangers in Arlington and followed that by losing 2 of 2 to St Louis. Ouch. If you are keeping track Houston is 2-7 so far in July and they haven't won a series since they beat Milwaukee 2 of 3 back on June 18-20. Maybe some time this season they can put good starting pitching with the resurgent offense they have shown in the last 7 games. They have consistantly put up 4 or 5 runs they just can't stop their opponents at the plate. Hopefully, Jarred Cosart won't get pummelled by the D-Rays tomorrow night.

As a motivational tool this site gives me the opportunity to help prod Astros players who are slumping. Case in point, in an earlier post I said Houston should give up on Brett Wallace who was hitting .193 at the time of my post and now he has four doubles, a triple, 3 home runs and 10 RBI's while his BA has climbed to .225. Wallace Achilles heel is common to this Astros lineup-to many K's. Wallace has 29 K's to only 5 walks. Not so good. Of course I'm kidding about my impact on Wallace but it's weird how I bitch about a player he goes on a hot streak and I praise a player, like Lucas Harrell, he becomes a dumpster fire. Like I said, weird. I wish my ju-ju would have worked on Jimmy Paredes but he continued his slump and has been sent to AAA OKC to make room for Cosart.

[Big T]

That's a very interesting move by the Astros sending down a position player and calling up a pitcher. Maybe despite what the front office has said, maybe Harrel's move to the pen is going to be a long term deal. That's the only explanation I can think of. Looking forward to seeing Cosart.

[Big T]

I just wanted to throw this out there. If Norris is not traded (and that's a big if) We could very well see this rotation next year.

Appel
Norris
Lyles
Cosart
Harrell
Spot Starter Wojo
Long Relief Peacock

Then If we get the Number one pick this year then we would draft Rodon.

Rodon
Appel
Norris
Lyles
Cosart

That is sick! But I have no doubt that Norris is going to be gone. But if there was ever a reason not to trade him then that is why.

[KABrother88]

I just wanted to throw this out there. If Norris is not traded (and that's a big if) We could very well see this rotation next year.

Appel
Norris
Lyles
Cosart
Harrell
Spot Starter Wojo
Long Relief Peacock

Then If we get the Number one pick this year then we would draft Rodon.

Rodon
Appel
Norris
Lyles
Cosart

That is sick! But I have no doubt that Norris is going to be gone. But if there was ever a reason not to trade him then that is why.


Folty should be in the mix by the time Rodon would be in the big leagues as well...those two along with Cosart and Appel...might have to invest in a radar gun...

If we end up with the number 2 pick i hope they stay NC State and get Trea Turner (unless Miami doesn't take Rodon for some crazy reason)...kid is a legit bat with plus-plus speed and a cannon at SS. Would allow Correa to move to 3rd with is where he may end anyway unless they would see Turner in CF

[Big T]

As much as I want to see Folty be a successful starter, I see him more as a closer. But yes, if Folty was to stay a starter we could see:

Rodon
Appel
Folty
Cosart
Harrell

That rotation has the potential of the Haliday, Lee, and Oswalt rotation of a few years ago but only ten years younger. Possibly Maddux, Smoltz, Glavin? Not saying it will happen as these guys have all yet to throw a pitch in the Big leagues but the potential is there.

I have no doubt that next year we will see a line up of

2B Altuve
SS Villar
1B Singleton
CF Springer
DH Chris Carter
C Jason Castro
3B Matt Dominguez
RF Brandon Barnes
LF JD Martinez

I also wouldn't be surprised to see Nolan Fontana get brought up and moved to third if Matt struggles. Also Luhnow has said the Astros will be active in the FA market this offseason so who knows who they could bring in. Hopefully bullpen help and a lot of it lol.

[eagle eye]

So, Big T did you happen to see KABrother88's post about Singleton? Struggling at the plate is not a good sign. Is it temporary or is he fizzling out?

[Big T]

He's coming of a 50 game suspension. It takes about a month to get back into baseball form and he is right about that so we will see in a few weeks if he picks it up. He has put on some weight though. IDK if that has anything to do with his numbers or production on the field but just thought I would throw that out there.

[KABrother88]

Major League debut...on the road facing the hottest team in baseball who have won 8 straight...throw in the reigning Cy Young award winner pitching opposite of you...how would Jared Cosart respond...just 8 innings of 2 hit shutout bal...no hitter thru 6 1/3...also gave up 3 walks but 2 of them were eliminated on double plays (1 of those was with Jose Veras on the mound after Cosart was pulled after walking the lead off hitter in the 9th)...both hits allowed were eliminated on double plays by the next batter as well...great performance and hopefully a glimpse into what the future holds for this team.


As for the Singleton post...I also feel like he will get things together and should see some time in September at the least...just posted it since I was posting about some of our top prospects that were at OKC

[eagle eye]

Welcome to the major leagues, Jarred Cosart! In his first big league outing of 2013 Cosart pitched 8 complete innings giving up only 2 hits and a big fat ZERO runs! I was thinking that if he went 5 he'd be doing well and I was praying that the red hot, 8 game winning streak, D-Rays wouldn't punish him too bad. Well. Were some eyes opened tonight! Cosart actually came in for the ninth inning but after he surrendered a lead off walk he was pulled for closer Jose Veras. More about him in a minute.
Cosart's performance was even more impressive when you realize he was facing one of the best pitchers in baseball in David Price. Price was pretty darn good too going the distance giving up 8 hits but only allowing two first inning runs on a 2 RBI hit by Carlos Corporan after the Astros had loaded the bases on singles by Jake Elmore, Chris Carter and JD Martinez. Four of the 8 hits Price gave up came in the opening frame.
Now for the ninth. Jose Veras is a piece of crap. He nibbled and pecked away at the Rays but he just couldn't help almost blowing another save. Veras is the Latino Brad Lidge. To close out the game Veras threw 28 pitches. 28! He also stranded the tying run at second when he struck out Evan Longoria on a called third strike fastball after throwing nothing but curves Longoria's entire at bat. It's getting to where I hate to see Veras come in the game. You just don't want to have your closer play chicken with a lead you work all night building.
Congrats to Jarred Cosart. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come!

[Big T]

Jarrod Freakin Cosart! You neglected to mention, EE, that he had a no hitter through 6 1/3 innings. Unfortunately from what I've heard this was just a spot start and Cosart will now be sent back down to AAA OCK unless he has forced the hand of Luhnow and Porter with this start. Either way it's good to see the future finally start to make their way to the big leagues and have a little success. Great game by Cosart and a good win for the Stros.

[KABrother88]

He is being sent down to stay on his pitching schedule but I think he has forced the front office to basically make that a AAA spot start and be back after the break

[KABrother88]

In another front office move the Astros gave Altuve a 4 year 12.5 million dollar contract extension with a club option for a 5th (6 million) and 6th (6.5 million) year...so possibly 6 year 25 million...good deal for the Astros

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130713&content_id=53633250&c_id= hou

[Big T]

Really great move here by the Astros, This knocks out two birds with one stone. A) You lock up your all-star caliber second baseman and B) you send a message to all of your young upcoming talent that hey if you do well here in the Big Leagues then we are willing to pay you to keep you an Astro. And thirdly, they have alleviated the fears of all the Astros fans who were worried that this ownership would not spend any money.

[eagle eye]

KABrother88 and Big T you guys are right on. Altuve is part of the Astros future and he deserved to get paid for his work. It's too bad he didn't make the All Star game this year along with Jason Castro but Astros fans know what we have at 2nd base. Cosart is on his way now. I think the Astros front office has to consider a permanent call up. But, lets be careful here. Yes Cosart had a magnificent start but When hitters don't know pitchers usually the pitcher has the advantage. I'm going to trust Jeff Luhnow and Reid Ryan to make the right call here. For sure you don't want to rush a player up and put him in an impossible situation.

[Big T]

I know the whole argument of hitter not knowing a new pitcher, but the other side to that story is that Cosart threw 67% fastballs and a MLB hitter should be able to hit a fastball even from a new pitcher he doesn't know. So that goes to show you that Cosart's fastball was phenomenal last night. Actually, he had two fastballs working last night. His 4 seamer has a natural downward cut that allowed him to get three DPs and a two seamer that has some nice run on it. So don't give all of the credit to the fact that Cosart was new to the Rays hitters, give Cosart credit as well.

[eagle eye]

I know the whole argument of hitter not knowing a new pitcher, but the other side to that story is that Cosart threw 67% fastballs and a MLB hitter should be able to hit a fastball even from a new pitcher he doesn't know. So that goes to show you that Cosart's fastball was phenomenal last night. Actually, he had two fastballs working last night. His 4 seamer has a natural downward cut that allowed him to get three DPs and a two seamer that has some nice run on it. So don't give all of the credit to the fact that Cosart was new to the Rays hitters, give Cosart credit as well.


Slow down there big fella. I believe I said Cosart had a "magnificent" night. I just pointed out that Cosart held the upper hand being a pitcher without much of a scouting report at the big league level. You don't throw 6-1/3 innings of no-hit ball and not dominate. So, if I was misunderstood, I had to clarify.

The Astros lost a heartbreaker today to the Rays 4-3 losing in the sixth inning with Lucas Harrell on the mound. Harrell threw 47 pitches in an inning and two thirds but only 22 strikes. I don't know what happened to Harrell but he can't find the strike zone these days. 47 pitches in that short of an outing is ridiculous. I like Harrell but he may need to go back to OKC for a while to iron his accuracy issues. Personally, I think he's trying to be too fine because he knows the offense isn't going to help much. Harrell isn't wild he's trying to paint corners too much instead of relying on his pitches. When you can't count on your offense to score you try to throw shutouts and it rarely works out that way. The Astros need to do something before Harrell's confidence swirls down the toilet completely.

[Big T]

I was one of the few not drinking the Harrell cool aid last year. I just wanted to see him do it again before I bought in. But despite that, I think that Harrell can be a serviceable MLB pitcher. And I agree with you EE that they need to send him back down. Plus that would make room for Cosart. ;)

[eagle eye]

Houston goes into the All Star break losing another series. This time to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and they got shut out again to boot by a score of 5-0 behind the 5 hit pitching of the D-Rays Chris Archer who went the distance. Archer was pretty efficient tossing 112 pitches for the game compared to Houston starter Erik Bedard who threw 109 pitches in his 5 innings of work. 67 of the pitches were for strikes leading me to believe he went deep into counts. He had six K's and only 2 walks so the Rays worked Mr Bedard pretty good. Bedard only gave up 3 runs and only 2 were earned while he allowed 8 hits. Overall the Rays bashed Houston into submission on a 12 hit attack while the Astros did muster 5 hits but were never a threat. The All-Star break is generally referred to as the midway point in the season but it's actually 13 games past the halfway mark this year. The Astros stand 33-61 after 94 games with a winning percent of 35%. If Houston wins 35% of the remaining 68 then they will end up 24-44 for the second half with a final record of 57-105. Ouch. Three years in a row of 100+ losses. Three years in a row to get the number one pick in the draft next year. Right now Miami (35 wins), the White Sox (37 wins), Milwaukee (38 wins) and the Twins (39 wins) are in close contention for the best of the worst category.

Oh well, I'm going to chill out tonight and watch the Home Run Derby and enjoy the fact that Houston, for the next three days, won't be losing a game! Who do you like for the HRD? The odds on favorite is probably Chris Davis of the Orioles but you can't leave out Prince Fielder in the discussion but the real dark horse tonight may be the Rockies Michael Cuddyer. I'm going with Davis myself although I don't really care who wins I just want to see a good show. The bright lights, the Big Apple, the Mets home stadium---doesn't get much better. Except when you look at Citi Field and it's a biggun. The left field line is 335 feet and the right field line is 330 which are manageable but the power alleys are 385 and 398 respectively and to straight away center field it's 408 feet. So, the winner is going to earn it.

[Big T]

Fielder is gonna win it again. There is a difference between line drive power and just power. And while I'm sure Davis has power, his is a line drive power hitter. Fielder's is a all out uppercut power swing power hitter. There is a reason he has won this thing twice.

[Big T]

If this keeps up, Lucas Harrell won't be an Astro for long.

http://www.astroscounty.com/

[Big T]

Well so far I'm wrong and EE is right. Prince Fielder has been eliminated in the first round while Davis is still in it in the second round.

[eagle eye]

My guys lasted only one round longer. Chris Davis reportedly tore off a callas in the middle of his hand which had to hamper his production on the second swing in the 2nd round. I wasn't sure if my dark horse, Michael Cuddyer, would advance to the final but Bryce Harper put him away which 8 homers in the second round. Yeonis Cespedes of the Oakland A's edged Harper in the final 9-8 in a thrilling finale to the HRD. It looked like Harper had more momentum going into the final after a rather lackluster performance in round 2 but Cespedes had just enough pop left to win the day, or evening. BTW Cespedes was only there for the HRD, he didn't make the All-Star team. Credit captain Robinson Cano for choosing Cespedes. Michael Cuddyer did show that he has legit power and he's not just a Mile High Phenom.

[Big T]

Let me just say that Cespedes was my number two pick. lol

[eagle eye]

I get goose bumps at the end of Major League when Ricky Vaughn is called out of the bullpen and as he emerges onto the field "Wild Thing" starts blasting through the stadium PA. Goose bumps I tell ya. Last night it happened again. When Mariano Rivera ran on the field with Metallica's "Enter Sandman" blasting over the PA the hair on the back of my neck stood up. The fact that none of the AL defense was on the field to give Rivera center stage it was freaking awesome! The fact that he sat down the NL 1-2-3 to end the game was just perfect. Moments like last night are what makes sports so amazing. Thank you Mariano you've been great for baseball.

[Big T]

Two orders of business today. First, congrats to Brandon Barnes for becoming the eight player in Astro's history to hit for the cycle. That helped take away some of the sting of losing the game 10-7. Second order of business. It looks like despite Norris's bad to horrible start last night, last night maybe the last time we see him pitch in an Astros uniform. Jarred Cosart and Ambriz have both been called up. Cosart will go into the rotation meaning that someone in the rotation is gone. Also, with Ambriz being called up to the bullpen, that means that someone is probably leaving the bullpen. Harrell maybe? Maybe he is heading back into the rotation for Keuchel? Or maybe someone from the pen is about to be traded. We will see how it all unfolds. But one thing is for sure, Norris is not going to be an Astro at the trade deadline. BTW, Cosart starts on Tuesday.

[eagle eye]

The post All-Star break hasn't been kind to Houston in the first two games. First, they put up a rarity--7 runs. But, it wasn't enough because Bud Norris had a crap night and the Stros lost 10-7 despite Brandon Barnes big night. Then, last night Erik Bedard takes a no-no into the 7th inning before Jose Cisneros blew the no-no put the Astros in a hole they could escape from eventually losing 4-2 despite only giving up one stinking hit the whole game. Hopefully, Jordan Lyles can help Houston salvage a win and avoid being swept by Seattle.

Robbie Grossman didn't do so well in 28 games he spent with the big club earlier this year but he's back at OKC and he's tearing it up in the month of July. Hopefully, he big July didn't peak with his 5-5 performance against Memphis and against former Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter doing rehab work following some injury issues. Grossman's big league hangover carried over in OKC as he drug his batting average down from .324 when he was called up to Houston down to .228 after hitting .167 in June. Since his hot streak began he's hitting .377 and his overall average is up to .268. He has said that he came back to OKC to work on some things and the changes he has been working on are now beginning to pay dividends. He is part of the Astros future so you hope these changes are long term.

I'm surprised that the Astros haven't mentioned who they will have to send down with call up of Jared Cosart. The Hector Ambriz deal was at the expense of lefty Bret Olberholtzer who goes back to OKC. As Big T mentioned Bo Porter named Cosart a permanent part of the Astros starting rotation but you would think someone has to go and if the info Big T posted about Harrell it would seem he is wearing out his welcome in Houston. Harrell appears to need a major attitude adjustment if he wants to pitch in the bigs.

[Big T]

HUGE NEWS FOR THE ASTROS!

Carlos Pena and Ronny Cedeno are sent down and Jonathan Villar is called up! Now we have both Cosart and Villar up it's only a matter of time till we see Springer and Singleton or Springlton as I like to call it. We could very well see Appel, Folty, and NiTro in the spring and maybe as soon as the rosters expand. Astros fans, the future is starting to arrive!

[KABrother88]

HUGE NEWS FOR THE ASTROS!

Carlos Pena and Ronny Cedeno are sent down and Jonathan Villar is called up! Now we have both Cosart and Villar up it's only a matter of time till we see Springer and Singleton or Springlton as I like to call it. We could very well see Appel, Folty, and NiTro in the spring and maybe as soon as the rosters expand. Astros fans, the future is starting to arrive!


Great news...Villar is an exciting player and I've been looking forward to seeing him (not that I can watch him or anything). He still has a few holes in his game but the guy is only 22 and won't be 23 until May so he has time to work on those parts of his game. Do know he has a cannon for an arm at SS and he is a fast guy. Only time will tell if he will be able to get on base consistently enough to use his legs.

That being said I believe that a couple of SS need to start moving in the minors...I would like to see Fontana get a promotion to CC (currently the only SS on their roster is 2009 first round pick Jio Mier who I think we can say was a miss) and maybe move Correa to A+ Lancaster...Correa has played well all year in Quad Cities...I know management wont rush him but I'm always a firm believer of a player needing to be challenged and Quad Cities just doesn't seem to be doing that anymore

Another minor league note...CC catcher Max Stassi (our #16 prospect according to MLB) who we received as part of the Jed Lowrie deal homered last night for the 5th straight game...he is teamed up in AA with Rene Garcia who was a AA all-star...Catcher has been reported as a weak spot in the oranization but there are guys who are playing well that just aren't talked about...another example is MP Cokinos in A+...a 31st round draft pick last year who is currently thriving in the hitter friendly California League to a tune of .335 with 10 HR and 26 doubles

One more note for the Astros future...the front office did a great job signing 32 of our 40 draft picks including all of our 1st 14 selections

[eagle eye]

+1 KABrother88! As for Big T's news all I can say is WOW! I posted a while back that I haven't been impressed with Pena so I'm glad the Astros made this move. As for Ronnie Cedeno I would rather they sent Jake Elmore down. Elmore has been an error machine since he came up. He's made 5 errors in 15 games and it always seems to be at the wrong time. Elmore hits for a better average than Cedeno but he started out hitting leadoff and now they plug him in at No 9 in the batter order.

Don't get too itchy to get Mark Appel to the bigs. I really think the Astros will be cautious with him and I don't expect them to rush him through the minors unless he's truly ready. Appel will be at spring training next year but I fully expect him to go back to the minors before all is said and done.

As for Villar this is a good thing but I'm wondering what will happen when Carlos Correa is ready to come to Houston. Will they deal Villar or move him or Correa to 3rd? It's a nice dillema to have. We'd have our own version of A-Rod and Jeter!

[Big T]

You can also take Stassi's numbers even further. Six bombs in his last nine games, hitting .342/.413/.868 over his last ten.

As for Appel EE, he has a promotion deadline clause in his contract so he has to be moved up in the organization by a certain date. The absolute lowest we will see Appel in the minors next year is CC. But, Luhnow has already said the Appel will get his shot at the opening day rotation in spring next year. As for Correa and Villar, neither one has played a big league game and both could end up as busts. Don't put the cart before horse. I actually don't expect Villar to be a impact MLB player. A serviceable number two hitter is possible as he is a great bat handler and is a great bunter, but not an impact player. Hope I'm wrong about that.

[eagle eye]

I agree that Villar and Correa can be busts but Villar is kicking butt in AAA and Correa is playing well in A ball. I was a little over the top comparing them to A-Rod and Jeter but I was just having fun. You have to admit that Villar is better at AAA than Jake Elmore and Ronnie Cedano so the hope is he will be pretty good at the big league level. The caveat will be at the plate. Can he hit big league pitching? That's the rub for any player. They all can catch, field and throw but can they hit? I'm a glass-half-full guy where my hopes for prospects are concerned. Nobody is a bust until he is actually a bust.

[KABrother88]

Won't take long for the team to get their first look at him...he will be batting lead off tonight...can't get to the article in a non mobile format to copy the link but in the chronicle Adam Everett said Villar was a special talent and he believed he had the mental make up to be successful in the bigs

Also I haven't seen this anywhere but I think Altuve will have to step up a little more in the leadership department for this team...the Astros have already committed to him with the contract extension and now with the only 2 position players with notable experience gone we will need him assume that leadership role

[Big T]

I haven't seen this level of excitement in MMP this high in the past seven years. Tonight's crowd was large and loud as Cosart made his home debut. And give the fans credit, while some did leave toward the end of the game with the Astros trailing 4-2, the majority stuck it out and was treated to a three run bottom of the ninth for a walk off win for the Stros. First, after struggling through the first inning with 30+ pitches and giving up an unearned run, Cosart proceeded to go seven innings giving up just one other run. When he left the game in the in the middle of the seventh the score was tied 2-2. Then one of the worst bullpens in the history of MLB proceeded to give up a two run bomb to make it 4-2. At this point I turned my XM radio off and said it's over....... It wasn't. Bottom of the ninth Matt Dominguez drills a two run HR to deep left center to the right of the balcony and ties the game at 4-4. Villar and Altuve both reach base with one out and up comes Castro. One of the pitches bounces in the dirt and Villar at second makes a move like he was going to try and take third but slams on the breaks at the last moment. Altuve not seeing him stop gets half way to second looks up and slips down and all the catcher has to do is throw the ball to first base and Altuve is picked off. The only problem is the catcher doesn't know how to throw to first base and throws the ball down the right field line and Villar scores from second on a close play. And I missed all of this because I didn't have faith lol.

[Big T]

A couple more points real quick:
attendance was 32,249.
Villar in two games hitting .500 4 for 8 with 3 runs scored. 3 for 4 tonight 2 runs scored.
Cosart in two starts 15 innings pitched 1 earned run 0.60 ERA but a terrible 6/6 BB/K ratio.
Brandon Barnes was injured. Heard it was a left calf strain or pull. He is day to day.

[eagle eye]

So, Big T, were you in Miami when the Heat made their big comeback in game 6 of the NBA finals? LOL! I also have to slightly disagree with you about the bullpen overall. I think the Astros have stumbled onto a couple of good relievers in Travis Blackley and Paul Clemens and you can include Josh Fields in that but Jose Cisnero is another matter altogether. I can't believe his ERA is only 3.38 because it seems like every time he pitches he's given up runs. You know I have my issues with Jose Veras as well. I'm glad he didn't get the chance to pitch last night.
How about the 'Stros getting to Grant Balfour in the ninth?! Balfour was 26-26 in save opportunities this year and he got smoked! Add the fact that Balfour was on a 44 game save streak dating back to last year and it's was a pretty awesome win! It's only the 2nd time this year the Astros have come back to win after trailing in the 8th inning.
What can you say about Jonathan Villar but wow? Hopefully, he will continue to pace the Astros offense for the rest of the season and Altuve is in a great spot in the 2 hole. Now if we can do something about the bottomless pit in the 4 (Chris Carter .225) and 5 (Brett Wallace .208) holes we might have an offense that scares people a little.

[Big T]

Bullpen blows another one. Astros were leading 3-1 and the pen gave up three runs and Astros lose 4-3. Altuve hit his forth HR today and I think the little man is starting to heat up a bit. It would be nice to see him get back on track and end the year hitting around .300.

[Big T]

Alright, Mike Folty just went eight scoreless with 8 strikeouts. But the most impressive thing is that he threw back to back 99 MPH pitches in the seventh inning. Yet the MLB scouts do not have Folty as a 1,2, or 3 pitcher. In fact, several don't even have him as a starter. So the question is, Is Folty a top of the line starter or is he better suited for a closing or eighth inning role?

Personaly I think this guy could be a very good MLB starter for a while. My only concern with him is that as a fireball thrower, would he wear down as the season progressed and if he had success, could he maintain that over a career or collapse like Tim Lincecum.

I would like to get y'alls views on this.

[KABrother88]

It all depend on his secondary pitches...everyone knows his FB is plus (saw it was clocked at 103 earlier this season on YouTube, albeit in the 1st inning)...his change up is his 2nd best offering and has the potential to be another plus offering...that being said he still needs to improve it to get out Major League hitters consistently...to me his future role all depends on his curve ball...I've seen some that would get out many ML guys and then some that would make you question how he's gotten this far. However he is only 21 and he has improved every year of his professional career up to this point...if he gets the CB to an average pitch I see him as a 3-4 starter depending on how the rest of the rotation lines up...if he an somehow improve it to above average I could see him as potentially a #2...of course his position in the rotation also depends on the development of the other pitching prospects...if that CB doesn't get better he could be a very good closer for a long time

I'm not too worried about the velocity on the FB deteriorating like some guys...Lincecum is a smaller guy and has that delivery that makes pitching coaches cringe...Folty has a good pitchers build and a fairly smooth delivery...that has also changed since last season...before he kept his hand in front now goes over the top...looks similar to Roy Halladay's

[eagle eye]

I agree with KABrother88 about Folty and Lincecum too. Lincecum is still a good pitcher. He slumped last year but didn't he just toss a no-no recently? You never know why a pitcher's effectiveness trails off. Roy Oswalt was like Lincecum, a smallish guy who was effective and at times could overpower hitters. Lincecum will be okay but maybe never as dominant as before.
As for Folty if he can't develop his curve he may be better served learning a cut fastball or a splitter. If he ends up a closer or setup man he can live with 2 quality pitches. Remember Doug Jones? He closed for Houston in the 90's and he threw a change up about 80% of the time. Either way starter or closer you throw fastballs in 100 mph range with good location and have a good change up that's all you need. Didn't Nolan Ryan just have his fast ball and curve? Maybe a change up? That worked out okay if I remember right.

[eagle eye]

So, I was just looking at the MLB standings and there was one number that jumped out and just smacked me in the eye. Knowing that Houston's offense is bad is one thing but seeing evidence of it in black and white is another. The thing that caught my eye was the runs scored for/against differencial for Houston is -160. That's minus 160! No other MLB team is even in triple digits! The second worst differencial in all of ML baseball is the -93 of the Miami Marlins and the next one after that is the Chicago White Sox is -65. The utter futility of Houston's offense shows right there. I got to looking at team hitting stats and it turns out these three teams are neck and neck in team runs scored. HA and CWS have scored 376 runs and MM have scored 319 and these are the bottom three in MLB. Miami's total team hits sits as the league worst 785 and Houston is second with 786. In team batting ave Miami is rock bottom with a .232 ave but Houston is 2nd with a .234 team BA. As a team Miami is the worst without question so how in the world have they won 4 more games? Another shutout yesterday suffered against Toronto and futility continues.

[Big T]

Hey EE, the horse is already dead. We all know how bad this team is and how futile the offense is. But the good news is that Springleton are getting ready to make their move up in the next couple of months and Jon Villar is already here. Preston Tucker is in AA and tearing it up and Carlos Correa is getting ready to make the move to high A ball. And if you really want to be optimistic, thank this horrible offense for potentially getting to draft Rodon and the Astros potentially having a rotation with both Rodon and Appel. Sorry, but I'm in a really good mood today and your negative remark almost ruined it. ;)

[KABrother88]

In case you guys looked at this Jonathan Mayo has re-ranked his top 100 prospects and his top 20 per team with 2013 draft picks included

Astros land 8 in the top 100 with 4 of those in the top 30...Correa (9 overall) is our new number one followed by Singleton (22 overall), Springer (27 overall), and Appel (29 overall)

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2013/index.jsp?c_id=hou

[eagle eye]

Hey EE, the horse is already dead. We all know how bad this team is and how futile the offense is. But the good news is that Springleton are getting ready to make their move up in the next couple of months and Jon Villar is already here. Preston Tucker is in AA and tearing it up and Carlos Correa is getting ready to make the move to high A ball. And if you really want to be optimistic, thank this horrible offense for potentially getting to draft Rodon and the Astros potentially having a rotation with both Rodon and Appel. Sorry, but I'm in a really good mood today and your negative remark almost ruined it. ;)


I guess you're right BT but not only did I sort of beat that dead horse a little bit but way in the back of my mind I thought maybe I can help Houston alter their fortunes a little. If you go back through this thread I have praised some players who then went completely into the tank. The latest being Lucas Harrell. I liked him from last year and saw him as a guy who could be part of the Astros future. AAAAAAAA! The buzzer goes off and Harrell may not even be in the Astros future now. On the other side of the coin I have criticized the heck out players or the team as a whole and then they started playing better. In 2013 it's uncanny how many times this has happened. I realize it's all coincidence but look what happened today. The Astros scored 8 runs, 4 in the first inning and Dallas Kuechel battled his ass off for 7-1/3 innings! Even Jose Veras couldn't blow this save going 1-2/3. Houston ended up scoring 8 runs and actually winning the game! Maybe there's a little life in that horse yet. Austin Powers ain't got nuthin on my mojo! LOL!

[KABrother88]

Astros have traded Jose Veras to Detroit for 19 year old OF Danry Vasquez and a PTNL.

Vasquez is Detroit's #4 prospect according to MLB.com and #6 according to Baseball America. Was hitting .281 in A ball this year. Still very young and raw but some scouts think he has .280 to .300 with 15 HR potential.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130729&content_id=55148144&vkey= news_hou&c_id=hou

[Big T]

I think that Veras for Vasquez straight up would have been a very fair trade but to also get a PTBNL as well is great. Now it may turn out to be nothing but any addition to this trade makes this a huge win for the Stros. Looking forward to seeing who the PTBNL is. Luhnow strikes again!

[eagle eye]

I think that Veras for Vasquez straight up would have been a very fair trade but to also get a PTBNL as well is great. Now it may turn out to be nothing but any addition to this trade makes this a huge win for the Stros. Looking forward to seeing who the PTBNL is. Luhnow strikes again!


I think to say an established reliever for an A-ball prospect is a fair deal is crazy. The numbers being projected for Vasquez aren't all-star numbers unless he has base stealing ability that translates into great field coverage in center field and 30+ stolen bases. The numbers don't suggest a corner outfielder so I would be suprised if he is anything but a center fielder. I would have hoped Houston got more young pitching from this deal. Detroit needed Veras so Houston was in a position of power in that deal. Now, if Vasquez blossoms into an Andruw Jones in his Braves years then we may have something. As it is IMO the Veras deal wouldn't work at all without the PTBNL. As it is the Astros don't have a real closer type on the squad so I guess it will be closer-by-committee. Some might suggest bringing Folty up but I think this does him a disservice and could do more harm than good.

[KABrother88]

MLB.com placed Vasquez at 16 on our top 20 prospects...interestingly they dropped AAA C Carlos Perez from the top 20 to add Vasquez...Perez was a spot or 2 ahead of Stassi who was #20 when they updated the other day but now they took Perez out and left Stassi.

Not sure if it is a sign of just how deep our minor leagues are getting or a sign of the Tigers having a poor farm system or maybe a combination of both but going from 4 to 16 is a big difference

[Big T]

EE, you have constantly bashed Veras on this thread week after week yet you complain that we didn't get enough for him. Lets remind you of a few things about Veras.

32 years old
Up until this year had three times more blown saves than saves
Career 2/1 K/BB ratio
Whip 1.315
3.88 Career ERA which was above 4 before this season started.

So in other words you have an over the hill middle reliever who was forced into a closers roll this season because he was the best out of one of the worst bullpens in the history of MLB. And granted he did a very good job in that roll despite your bitching and complaining about him. This is a guy that in any other year of his existence in MLB wouldn't even get a top thirty prospect in return.

Now what was Luhnow able to get for the over the hill reliever? A 19 YO outfielder with the potential to be a middle of the order kind of bat. .300 15 HR 30 2B 80 RBI kind of bat. That is the perfect number five or six hole hitter. But that is not all, the guy is 19YO and still developing and growing into his body 6'3 177 with a chance to reach a power potential of 5 out of 7. That comes out to be a 15-20 HR guy if he develops like the scouts think he will.

The issues with him are his arm, range and speed. He is below average in all of these catagories so he is destined for left field. He also needs to work on plate discipline, once again he is only 19, but his .333 OBP and his 56/31 K/BB ratio will not cut it.

This is a very fair deal. By fair I mean mutually beneficial to both sides. Other than Domingo Santana, who it looks like is going to have to repeat AA, and 23 YO Preston Tucker, there really isn't another LF prospect worth talking about in the Astros system. This was a very good trade EE.

KA, It is a bit of both. Danry is considered to be a B- type of prospect but we need to remember that is after the Tigers demoted him last year after tanking he lost quite a bit in the scouts eyes. He then bounced back in the same league he tanked in the previous year and is now more than holding his own. I think he will continue to move up in the rankings of the system as he proves he can hold his own at each level. If he continues his current line I could see him moving up a spot or two.

In other news, the Astros have recalled Chia Jen-Lo from AA Corpus. I'm guessing he is taking Veras's place in the pen.

[Big T]

Here is what the experts have to say.

Baseball Prospectus: Detroit's #4 prospect pre-season

The Tools: 6 potential hit; 6 raw; 5 arm

What Happened in 2012: A false start in full-season ball was merely a minor roadblock, as the young Venezuelan showed off his offensive chops in the New York-Penn League, hitting over .300 in a solid 72-game sample.

Strengths: Highly projectable frame; could add weight/strength; whippy swing that shows impressive bat speed; natural hitting ability; it’s very easy; good present pop; good power projection; bat has the potential to play in corner.

Weaknesses: Overall profile dependent on offensive utility; arm is only average and better suited for left field; below-average run; lacks up the middle skill-set; doesn’t yet have a good plan at the plate; can chew fastballs, but struggled with secondary stuff and would chase.

Overall Future Potential: 5; solid-average major-league regular

Explanation of Risk: High risk; has yet to find stride at full-season level; huge pressure on bat; questions about approach.

The Year Ahead: Vasquez just turned 19, and will take another swing at the full-season level. The ability to fail and respond to failure is paramount to future success, and the adjustments made after his initial failure in Low-A speak volumes about the makeup of the player. He’s a natural hitter with a projectable body, so if he grows into his frame and adds strength, the juice in the bat could make him a very good prospect. The defensive profile will play in left field, but the path to success is in the promise of the bat, and that could develop in a number of different ways.

-------------------

Keith Law

"He’s a lottery ticket for Houston, a guy with everyday upside if the strength ever comes, but a low-probability prospect until then. They’re also getting a second player as a PTBNL, reportedly another good flier for the Astros, which will make this a very good return for two months of Veras plus an option year, especially since a closer is a needless luxury for a team en route to 100 losses.”

[eagle eye]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree Big T. I don't think much of this trade because of the reason I posted yesterday---Houston was dealing from a position of advantage with Detroit. Vasquez is young and raw, I don't have a problem with that but I do have a problem with a kid who is slow, average arm (at best) and is undisciplined at the plate. Anyone can hit fastballs but if he struggles with off speed stuff can he really learn to hit junk pitches? To me, there are way too many "ifs" in regard to Vasquez. The other side of the coin is Veras. Yes I bitched about him and he deserved it but he was 19 of 22 in save opportunities. My gripe was, he flirted with too many blown saves. I like my closers to be more automatic than Veras was for us. Sort of like Billy Wagner in his prime. The fact is Detroit absolutely needed a closer and of the ones available Veras was the best on the market. Houston had to know this and could have gotten a better prospect than an iffy 19 year old left fielder with questionable skills. Houston didn't have to deal Veras. He would have been a stop gap player until someone, like Folty, came up to settle in as Houston's closer for years to come. Veras' salary wasn't prohibitive to just dump him so, for all these reasons I don't feel it was a good deal much less a great deal. For all his home runs, to me, this is a swinging K by Jeff Luhnow.

[KABrother88]

Alright tomorrow is the non-waiver wire trade deadline as we all know...tonight Bud Norris takes the hill in Baltimore in what could be his last outing as a Houston Astro...reports are out there that Pittsburg will be the other party...what I'm seeing is that Pittsburg will not part with AA OF Gregory Planco but Houston is intrigued by A ball pitcher Tyler Galsow who has been very good minus his walk rate...but he's another 19 year old and 6'-7" and scouts slobber all over that...FB and CB have potential to both be plus...that being said I would think Luhnow would still ask for more...would love for them to land another arm in this deal. The Orioles have shown alot of interest in Norris so maybe if a deal is not on the table tonight he can go out and have a good showing against them to help drive up his stock...if anything is close to happening look for Norris to be scratched

[KABrother88]

Alright tomorrow is the non-waiver wire trade deadline as we all know...tonight Bud Norris takes the hill in Baltimore in what could be his last outing as a Houston Astro...reports are out there that Pittsburg will be the other party...what I'm seeing is that Pittsburg will not part with AA OF Gregory Planco but Houston is intrigued by A ball pitcher Tyler Galsow who has been very good minus his walk rate...but he's another 19 year old and 6'-7" and scouts slobber all over that...FB and CB have potential to both be plus...that being said I would think Luhnow would still ask for more...would love for them to land another arm in this deal. The Orioles have shown alot of interest in Norris so maybe if a deal is not on the table tonight he can go out and have a good showing against them to help drive up his stock...if anything is close to happening look for Norris to be scratched


I'll be damned...as soon as I hit post I look and see that Lucas Harrell will start in place of Norris...now we just wait and see

[Big T]

Looking like it's going to be a package based around Glasnow. I can't find out who the other player or players are but Glasnow looks to be a very good prospect. He is ranked at number 7 in the best farm system in the Majors after starting the season number 19.

http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2013/index.jsp?c_id=pit#list=pit

Here are his stats from this season. I really like this kid. Young, big, projectable could be a nice pick up for the Astros here. Can't wait to see who else is coming with him. Of course it may not be him at all lol. This is all just speculation for now.

[Big T]

Well, so far there is no news on the Norris front but there is some good news. The White Sox have decided to not trade Jake Peavy. This means there are only two starting pitchers on the trade front. Bud Norris and Cliff Lee. The Phillies are asking an absurd price for Lee so right now anyone who is looking for SP is looking to Houston. Norris's trade value has gone up even more. Thank you White Sox!

[Big T]

Welllllll, after all of the talk about Peavy being off the block, he is traded to the BoSox in a three team trade that also included Detroit. Norris is now the only pitcher left besides Lee. Should be interesting.

[KABrother88]

It appears that Pittsburg is now unwilling to let go of Glasnow...Arizona (who was making a push for Peavy) is also a player in the mix now. Not sure what they are willing to give up but they have a guy in AA who I like...LHP David Holmberg...he isn't a big strikeout guy but has 4 pitches and throws a sinking fastball which Luhnow said earlier this season is what they would like to have their rotation throwing. He has already logged 130 inning in 21 starts this season so he's shown he can go deep into games...compare that to Norris' 126 inning this year in the same number of starts...teams have been more reluctant to give up top prospects at the deadline the last few years but with Arizona having Skaggs, Kennedy and Corbin in the Majors and Archie Bradley on the way and now looking up at LAD they may be more willing to give up Holmberg...guess we will just have to wait and see what happens...just hope Luhnow doesn't make a deal to make a deal...Norris can still have value in the offseason

[Big T]

Agreed KA, but his value will never be higher than it is right now. You also forgot Baltimore who at this point may be the biggest player for Norris.

[KABrother88]

True Baltimore is now a big player in this with Peavy going to a division rival. Bundy and Gausman are gonna be untouchable of course and personally i would love to get a LHP in return...Baltimore does have a few that are listed in their top 20 but non of them really stand out to me aside from maybe Eduardo Rodriguez who Baltimore may view as untouchable as well.

As for Norris' value, yes it is at an all time high at this point but to me with the new CBA rules regarding signing of free agents and losing draft picks, Norris will still have good value at seasons end from a team that does not want to give up the pick to sign a pitcher. I more made the comment as to say don't trade Norris for a bucket of balls cause its the deadline...if the offer is there and it seems good then by all means take it

mlbtraderumors.com is reporting that the Giants, Rangers, and Braves have all joined the party in some form as well...also says that "The Astros need to lower their asking price on Norris significantly for the Orioles to be serious players"

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/houston_astros/

[KABrother88]

Justin Maxwell has been sent to KC...didn't see that one coming...still waiting to see what we got in return...good day to have AutoCAD down at work so I can track all the Bud Norris reports lol

[KABrother88]

Justin Maxwell to KC for RHP Kyle Smith and Bud Norris to Baltimore for OF L.J. Hoes, LHP Josh Hader and the second pick in Comp Round A

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/houston_astros/

Kyle Smith was KC's #11 prospect according to MLB.com

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=smith-005kyl

Josh Hader was Baltimore's #5 prospect

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=hader-000jos

L.J. Hoes was Baltimore's #7 prospect

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=hoes--001jer

Overall I like both deals

[Big T]

The Maxwell trade is amazing.

The Norris trade was a little disappointing at first but got much better as more and more info began to emerge. The Astros traded Bud Norris and the number 91 international bonus slot worth 213K for Hadder, Hoes, and the number 33 overall supplemental draft pick in 2014 worth 1.588MM!!!!!!!!!! This is Awesome! Luhnow Strikes Again!

[KABrother88]

I definintly think Luhnow did a great job with this...while I would have liked to have seen Rodriguez come from Baltimore we would not have been able to land another good prospect in the trade or the draft pick. All three players acquired today are listed in our top 20 prospects now...Hader at 13, Smith at 15, and Hoes at 18...also Hader has been pitching at class A so I'm assuming he will be sent to our class A affiliate in Quad Cities...that would give us Appel (for now), McCullers, Velasquez, and Hader in a rotation together...all in our top 13

[eagle eye]

Unlike the Veras trade I have to agree with you guys today's moves were more like it. Unfortunately, I wasn't on top of this today because my equipment didn't malfunction! (ha). The best thing was the addition of 2 pitchers to the system. I worry about Kyle Smith's size (6'0" 170 lbs). He certainly isn't what most teams are looking for dimension wise but if Tim Lincicum and Roy Oswalt taught us anything it's that you don't have to be 6'5" and 230 lbs to be a good pitcher.
I was disappointed about the trade when I heard Norris was dealt to Baltimore because I heard about it on ESPN radio on "The Drive" and Fred Faour said all Houston got in the deal was a so-so minor league outfielder. I was thinking that maybe Luhnow had lost his mind. Imagine my pleasent surprise when I see KABrother88 and Big T's posts about the deals. The Drive guys totally messed up the reports on the Norris-Maxwell deals. I don't know why I bother listening to that show--it truly sucks.
Good job, Jeff and way to go Astros!

[KABrother88]

Alright...first I need to vent for a second...I'm getting sick and tired of the people complaining about the Astros trading everyone away...its obvious they are oblivious to to what exactly Luhnow has done with this team and I'll even give Ed Wade a little credit in what has happened since he was the man in charge when we acquired Jared Cosart, Jon Villar, and Domingo Santana via trade and drafted guys like Springer, Folty, DeShields and Velasquez...that's 8 of our top 12 prospects. Now I agree that the rebuilding process needed a guy like Luhnow to be completed but Wade did put it in motion. But back to the "fans", no one likes being the laughing stock of the league but there is something special brewing in Houston and I'll be the first one to tell them to keep their bandwagon rolling and don't stop in at MMP...this is probably falling on deaf ears cause I don't know if anyone besides us three even venture to this thread...but that's ok...its nice to be able to read posts from people who share my views of this organization and not from these "fan" who don't realize that Justin Maxwell in nothing better than a 4th or 5th OF and Norris who is a 4th to 5th starter for a contending team.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest, back to baseball. Amidst all the trade deadline chatter we failed to mention Villar's steal of home...Matt Wieters didn't even come out of his crouch and the throw actually hit Villar in the back...love the aggressiveness

Last night Brett Oberholtzer pitched great in his first career start and earned his first career win with Houston topping Baltimore 11-0. Oberholtzer has been shaky out of the pen in Houston and starting in OCK this year but he turned in 7 innings of three hit shutout ball with 6 K's and no walks...would be nice if he could continue to be reliable and bridge the gap to the wave that is coming in the next few years.

Also having big nights were Jason Castro and Matt Dominguez...Castro went 3-4 with 2 doubles and a grand slam and Dominguez went 4-5 with a HR.

Houston has recalled Jimmy Paredes from OKC to take Bud Norris' spot on the roster...kinda figured they might call up Brad Peacock but I guess not. This may be Paredes' last shot to prove he can play for Houston. He has hit very well in the minors the last few years but just can't seem to make it click in the bigs.

[Big T]

+1 Those who complain about the rebuilding process don't know how baseball is run. They look at the NBA and the NFL and to some extent NHL and see these guys getting drafted and coming in and contributing to their teams right away. Then they see the Astros trading guys like Bud and J Max and getting the first overall pick two consecutive years but don't see them contributing to the MLB team and think that the Astros aren't doing anything to improve. They don't realize that unlike the NBA and NFL, the game of baseball is so intricate and you can't just come in a contribute right away. These players have to go into the minors and completely relearn how to play the game at a completely different elite level. Then maybe they can become decent players and hopefully one, two, or even three will become superstars. But the casual fan doesn't know this so they complain about the process they know nothing about. It is very frustrating as a fan who does know and can see what the Astros are building and it's a pretty damn exciting time to be an Astros fan.

As for Villar, there is no doubt the guy brings some excitement to the field. But he seems to be all or nothing though. he's either 2-4 with a walk, double a couple RBIs and two stolen bases or 0-5 with three strikeouts. It's early but he needs to get a little consistency to his offensive game. His defense is stellar though. Nothing to complain about there.

I to thought Peacock or Wojo was going to get the call so I'm really surprised to see Paredes called up. Yes at one point I was high on Jimmy but I am no longer. I think they need to move on and Peacock deserves the call. They guy has been on fire at AAA OKC.

One last thing, I don't think we will see Springer this year after getting Hoes. I think we will see him compete for a spot in ST and get called up in June.

[KABrother88]

I could see them giving Springer a chance to get his feet wet with a few ABs in September but not much more than that...calling him up in June next year would be ideal delaying his arbitration clock and getting a little more out of him...at this time the only guys that are expected to be long term fixtures in Houston I could see getting a September call up is Springer, Wojo and maybe Folty...but I wouldn't just bet the farm he will be one of them...if Singleton gets things turned around and gets hot then they may call him up as well but as of now I wouldn't put him in a position to lose more confidence than he probably already has.

Also have a feeling Erik Bedard will be placed on waivers and traded sometime this month...was a little surprised he wasn't dealt before yesterday but I'm ok with that...he wasn't going to net a huge return but he would have value to a team in a playoff race...and you never know...Boston may see him as the next Larry Anderson...we all know how that worked out lol

[eagle eye]

As life is often more freaky than fantasy even Hollywood would say, "yeah, right!" when it would be suggested that a guy is traded on Tuesday and is pitching against his old team on Thursday. Norris has had quite a few quality starts this year and he's pitched really well at times. He has had nights like tonight for Houston only to get a loss or no decision because the Astros can't generate enough offense to overcome a 2 run deficit. Norris may have been a little dicey for the locker room after he wondered aloud why he hasn't been traded sooner when he's seen a lot of his ex-teammates go on to greener pastures. Well, he's got his wish and I hope he gets what he's looking for. In the past he's been more intent on playing golf on his off days and I really think it contributed the blister issues on his pitching hand the last couple of years. This year he dedicated himself to baseball in a way he hadn't before and it has paid dividends.
I have to contend with so-called "fans" at work and even some of my friends won't listen to reason. All they have seen is the Astros play terrible for the past 4 years setting records for futility the past two. Unfortunately, it looks like it going to be 3 years in row. The worst thing is I'm going owe Big T a stupid hat because the Astros won't win 50 games this year. (I really don't care even though I really believed they would be better.) The shame of it all is Miami is a bigger joke than Houston because they have been to the mountain--twice--and then blew up the team--twice. I don't understand that thinking. When they beat Cleveland in the World Series I was soooooooo pissed because I didn't believe they deserved it. At least not like Cleveland deserved to win. An upstart expansion team beating a franchise that has been around forever with no luck deserved their day in the sun. But Miami won and then proceeded to blow up the team.
I agree Houston is looking toward the future and I am so hoping that they do what I told a coworker today. I told him, after he needled me about Houston being a loser despite the 11-0 win over Baltimore Wednesday night, that in four years Houston is going to beat the crap out of his favorite team, St Louis, in the World Series. Lord, I hope I'm right. This same guy bet me a few years ago that his favorite football team would win more games than Dallas and it was so sweet watching him walk around wearing a Cowboys hat all day at work. If I had lost he would got to watch me wear a Raiders hat all day. Lord, have mercy. Was that sweet or what! Houston's day is coming and it will make these dark days seem worth it.
BTW KABrother88, if you look at the hits on this post a lot more than you, Big T and I look in here. We just post more than they do. There seem to be a lot of Astros fans keeping it all on the down low for now. That's okay because we know they're there.

[Big T]

Another gem from Cosart! Another blown lead from the bullpen.

[eagle eye]

After an initial splash Jonathan Villar has struggled at the plate. I'm not worried about it too much because his volume of at bats is low and it doesn't take much to alter a batting average. I am hoping Villar doesn't lose confidence, that would be bad.
With the departure of Bud Norris there was an opening in the starting rotation and it was filled right out of the box by Brett Oberholtzer whose first start for Houston was a gem against Baltimore that saw Houston shut out the O's 11-0. Oberholtzer's outing was so impressive Bo Porter officially named him a starter going forward.
Since being called back up to the big club Robbie Grossman has become a different player at the plate. When he was sent back down in May he was hitting .198 and hitting a lot of lame fly balls. When Houston sent him back to OKC he was told he needed to work on hitting line drives and eliminate hitting fly balls. Grossman took it to heart and since his recall he is hitting .583 with two doubles and a homer. In fact the only fly ball he has hit was that home run. Hitting line drives allows him to utilize his speed and that's something Houston needs more of.
Big T should be happy because Jimmy Paredes was called back up and last night he was in the lineup at 2nd base. He also had a SportsCenter play getting a ground ball deep up the middle that he snagged and made a really nice throw off balance going away from first base to complete the out. As posted earlier this could be Paredes last shot for Houston in the bigs. Hopefully he is able to hit the ball better than his previous stints with the big club.
With August here it won't be long until the rosters expand for the home leg of the season. Who will Houston bring up. That is a good question!

There were reasons for some hopeful signs for the team in May and June but Houston's July was a disaster. Their overall record was 6-18, the worst W/L for any month this year, and to make matters worse they only have 2 wins since the All Star break. There was an arguably a so-so deal for closer Jose Veras but they made a nice deal in a trade involving Bud Norris and a surprising deal involving Justin Maxwell. We saw the call up of Jared Cosart who has pitched pretty darn well. Chris Carter is still on the roster but Carlos Pena is not. Carter has had some nice and timely hits but he's not the future in the outfield and I see him riding pine a lot in September to see what the young players can do that are called up from the minors to finish the year. It would certainly be nice if Houston wins a little more in August.

[eagle eye]

What happens when a team is bad as the dog days of August begin? They tend to get younger in hopes of seeing what they have coming up to make their team better. That's what Houston has done recently with trades of Bud Norris and Justin Maxwell and it's also what they have done by calling up some of their prospects. Within the last week Houston has called up Robbie Grossman who is hitting so well in his second stint in Houston that he was slotted in the leadoff spot today and went 2-5 at the plate. Bingo. They brought up P Jared Cosart and he has done nothing but impress. About a month ago Houston brought up OF Marc Krauss who has been pretty solid both at the plate and in the field. Bingo. Jordon Lyles was brought up some weeks ago and pitched very well for the most part. Bingo. About 2 weeks ago Houston brought up Jonathan Villar. He's been really good defensively but he has struggled some at the plate of late and as a fan I'm concerned his confidence as a hitter may be damaged but I liked the move anyway. You need to see what these guys have at some point. So yeah, Bingo.
Now, Houston has brought up a pitcher, Brad Peacock, that struggled in his first go-round in Houston. Maybe struggled is being kind but since his demotion back to AAA OKC he's gotten himself back on track over his last 13 starts. Today Peacock turned in the best performance of his career going 7 complete innings giving up 4 hits, 2 BB's and 3 earned runs. He did give up two home runs but if you only give up 3 runs as a starting pitcher going 7 strong you are giving your team a chance to win. Peacock gave up a 2-run shot in the first and a solo shot in the 7th but was more than solid in between logging a personal best 10 K's. It wasn't Peacock's fault the Astros offense was 2-9 with runners in scoring position.
The addition of Peacock who is 25 a really young starting rotation. To go along with Peacock the Astros have Jared Cosart (23), Brett Oberholtzer (24) and Jordan Lyles (22). The rotation is anchored by 34 year old Erik Bedard. A guy who has pitched well this season and offers real veteran leadership for such a young staff. It still isn't beyond the realm of possibility that he could be traded to a contending team before the August 31st deadline.
My point is, Houston is starting to see the fruits of the labors of GM's Ed Wade and now Jeff Luhnow who have been building the organization back to prominence by laying the foundation for long term success by building from the minor league up. We are seeing tangible evidence that the long road back to respectability is beginning to pay dividends. If you are an observant fan you know this already. It's disappointing to see Houston lose so much but it's encouraging to see players with real potential doing well. Pay attention because we will see more and more of these players come September. Despite their record the beginning of fall could be a very exciting time.

[Big T]

We are not going to see very many player be called up that haven't already been with the big club until September as to avoid starting arbitration clocks. Even then I don't think we will se either Springer or Singleton. The Astros are being very cautious with both of these players and Springer's K rate is still to high. If the Stros bring him up and he struggles he is going to take a huge hit to his confidence. Plus, If you don't think the Astros front office aren't looking over their shoulders at the ChiSox and see them looming in the rearview mirror for the number one pick then your crazy. And if you bring up Springer and Singleton and they do jump start this offense and the Astros lose the first round pick as a result, we will forever be regretting the day that we missed out on the biggest sure fire pitcher since Stephen Strausburg in Carlos Rodon. I think that they will get their shots in Spring training next year and that they both could very well break with the big league club.

[Big T]

Astros Farm System Update.

Its been a while since the draft so I just went and looked through some of the players numbers.

Mark Appel: in 19.2 Innings pitched over six games, 3.20 ERA with a K/BB ratio of 20/5 and a .247 BAA. The numbers aren't to shabby and he seems to be getting better every start.

Conrad Gregor: in 47 games, .244 AVG 2 HR and 4 2B with 42 hits. If you look at that line it's pretty unimpressive. Then you see his decent OBP of .353 with a K/BB ratio of 25/25! That is the epitome of the Luhnow system. The players may not be flashy but they get on base and score runs.

Anthony Kemp: IMO this was the steal of the draft by the Astros. I watched this guy all through out his college career and I have never seen a more exciting player than him. 48 games .282 AVG, 2 3B, 7 2B, 1 HR, 17 SB. OBP of .355 with a 21/29 K/BB ratio.

James Ramsay: 41 games .275 AVG, 3 3B, 1 2B, 2 HR. OBP .357 16/16 K/BB ratio.

Kyle Westwood: 6 games 24 innings pitched. 1.13 ERA, 18/3 K/BB ratio, .163 BAA. Mr. Westwood has looked mighty impressive.

Chris Cotton: 7 games .133 ERA, and check this out a 19/1 K/BB ratio! with a .221 BAA. The former LSU Tiger is putting up some dazzling numbers.

Jordan Mills: 10 games 5 games started 1.59 ERA in 34 innings, 35/8 K/BB ratio, and a .200 BAA.

Randall Fant: IMO this guy could turn out to another steal by the Astros out of Arkansas. 8 games 5 games started 3.56 ERA in 30.1 innings, 20/3 K/BB ratio, and a .285 BAA. While he is a little older than some of the guys drafted , he was a great pitcher for Arkansas and they have had a great top ten team year in and year out.

Zach Morton: 9 games 4 games started 1.93 ERA in 32.2 Inning pitched, 16/7 K/BB, with a .152 BAA.

Tyler White: 18 games 68 AB .365 AVG, 9 2B, 1 HR, .474 OBP with a 7/7 K/BB ratio.

Top 20 Prospects:

Carlos Correa: 90 games .326 AVG, 2 3B, 25 2B, 7 HR, 9 SB, OBP .409 with a 67/44 K/BB ratio. He has moved up from preseason number two in the system to now number one.

Jonathan Singleton: No doubt about it he has been struggling at AA OCK since coming off that 50 game suspension. He has picked it up a bit in the last ten games however so maybe he is starting to turn it around a bit. 65 games .234 AVG, 1 3B, 10 2B, 10 HR, .343 OBP with a terrible 85/39 K/BB ratio.

George Springer: 109 games .309 AVG, 3 3B, 25 2B, 29 HR, 89 RBI, with a .410 OBP and a terrible 96/42 K/BB ratio. How he maintains that OBP with all of the strikeouts I don't know but you really can't complain about any of his numbers.

Lance McCullers: 23 games 17 games started 94.3 innings pitched 3.04 ERA, 108/44 k/BB ratio, and a .238 BAA.

I'll post the rest of the list tomorrow.

[KABrother88]

Springer's 96/42 K/BB ratio is actually only for AA...in AAA it is 41/21 bringing it to a grand total of 137/63 in 401 total ABs...yes this is a red flag but his K rate has actually went down slightly...30% of PAs at AA and .28% at AAA...his walk rate has come up a percent from 13% to 14% with the move as well. These numbers don't suggest he has greatly improved his plate discipline but gives hope that he is making strides to get there...his last 10 games have seen only 10 Ks in 45 PAs vs 9 BB. He is probably able to maintain that higher OBP due to his speed helping beat out double plays and also forcing the infield to rush their play and cause errors.

Singleton showing signs of life is very encouraging...hopefully he will continue to progress and develop into the hitter most scouts predict

Big T I'll let you continue with you with your update but I just wanted to say Ive been waiting to post about a certain minor leaguer on an absolute tear but everytime i do that the player will hit a little slump...so I have refrained from commenting for now...sure you are already on top of it though

Have to post this though http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/astros-minor-leaguer-vinnie-catricala-strikes-one-pitch-182609577.html

[eagle eye]

I would really like to see the Astros get serious with every player including George Springer and do whatever they can to eliminate all these damn K's. We all know how bad Houston has been offensively this year. If you follow this thread you KNOW I've documented the futility of the Astros at the plate. Well, here's another lesson in that futility--Houston has set a record as the team in MLB history to reach 1,000 K's in a season the fastest. With almost two full months left in the season! So when I see posts excusing Houston prospects for their K/BB ratio I want to hurl. Just like the game the other day when Houston out hit Minnesota 9-5 bit were only 2-9 with RISP. Houston whiffed 8 times in that game. I am so sick of seeing the futility at the plate I want guys who make the opposing team put them out because they put the ball in play. Who would you rather have, a player who hits .250 with 150 strike outs or a guy who hits .250 with only 85 K's and 100 walks? I'll tell you right now which I'd rather have. You want the former? We had him in Carlos Pena. Do you really want a guy like that? Houston didn't even want him. Clean up the K's Houston and don't rush players up until you do.

[Big T]

My bad on Springer. For some reason I took the top line instead of the bottom. However, 137/63 is nothing to be proud of in 109 games.

Mike Foltynewicz: 25 games 17 games started 197 innings pitched 2.94 ERA but a 2.67 in AA. 111/55 k/BB ratio and a ,237 BAA.

Delino DeShields Jr: This guys numbers, as impressive as they are, don't reflect just how scorching hot this guy has been lately. 90 games, 10 3B, 21 2B, 3 HR, 42 SB with a .314 AVG, and a OBP of .396, 80/46 K/BB ratio. But to show you how hot this guy has been month of July .342/.419/.711 and as of August 3 in his last ten games he's hitting .535/.565/.884!!!

Nolan Fontana: One of my favorite players in the Astros system. Once again he's not flashy but gets on base at an extraordinary clip. In 85 games ,272 AVG 5 3B, 16 2B, 6 HR, a k/BB ratio of 84/84!!! and an OBP of .426!!!!!! I have two words to describe him as......... David Eckstein.

[KABrother88]

My bad on Springer. For some reason I took the top line instead of the bottom. However, 137/63 is nothing to be proud of in 109 games.

Mike Foltynewicz: 25 games 17 games started 197 innings pitched 2.94 ERA but a 2.67 in AA. 111/55 k/BB ratio and a ,237 BAA.

Delino DeShields Jr: This guys numbers, as impressive as they are, don't reflect just how scorching hot this guy has been lately. 90 games, 10 3B, 21 2B, 3 HR, 42 SB with a .314 AVG, and a OBP of .396, 80/46 K/BB ratio. But to show you how hot this guy has been month of July .342/.419/.711 and as of August 3 in his last ten games he's hitting .535/.565/.884!!!

Nolan Fontana: One of my favorite players in the Astros system. Once again he's not flashy but gets on base at an extraordinary clip. In 85 games ,272 AVG 5 3B, 16 2B, 6 HR, a k/BB ratio of 84/84!!! and an OBP of .426!!!!!! I have two words to describe him as......... David Eckstein.


Ding ding ding...hitting .490 during his current 12 game hit streak bringing his average up from .284 to .314

And I compared Fontana to Eckstien to a friend the other day...a guy that will drive you batty cause he just always seems to be on base

[KABrother88]

I completely missed this but it's worth a look...Lancaster's box score from August 1st

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t491&t=g_box&gid=2013_08_01_lesafa_l ncafa_1

Every starter had 2 or more hits except for 2 guys...and one of those was Fontana who drew 5 walks...that's insane

Brady Rodgers probably doesn't get enough discussion as he should...yes he has a 5+ ERA in A+ but that's pretty much expected in that league...he has made 2 starts out of there this season...1 in AA (5 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs with 6 Ks and 0 walks) and 1 in AAA (5 innings, 5 hits, 1 run with 4 Ks and 0 walks)

[Big T]

Anthony Kemp has been promoted to Quad Cities where last night he went 2-4 with a walk, double, and a run scored. This guy is really exciting and I expect him to do great things.

[KABrother88]

Anthony Kemp has been promoted to Quad Cities where last night he went 2-4 with a walk, double, and a run scored. This guy is really exciting and I expect him to do great things.


When the drafted Gregor in the 3rd I thought they should have taken Kemp but it worked out with him still being there the next round

Josh Hader also pitched 6 innings of 1 hit ball for QC last night

[eagle eye]

The big club is playing the Red Sox and Brett Oberholtzer began the series with a shutout performance. He went 7 strong with 2 K's and 2 BB's. You go, boy-eee! Game two say Houston take a 7-3 lead into the 5th when the wheels came completly off. Houston allowed 10 runs in the 5th and 6th innings sinking their chances to win their second in a row from the Sox. Jordan Lyles gave up 8 runs, Dallas Kuechel gave up 4 and Jose Cisnero gave up 3 at the Red Sox bats came alive. Houston has a chance to win the series however as Jared Cosart takes the hill agianst Ryan Dempster.

Jonathan Villar is day to day with a sprained thumb last night vs Boston. There is a discrepency about when he hurt it. Villar says he injured it diving for a ground ball by David Ortiz in the sixth and manager Bo Porter says he did it when he was caught stealing third base in the fourth inning. Either way, Villar will ride pine for a couple of days at least.

Brandon Barnes won Houston's Heart and Hustle Award. The award is voted on by the MLB Alumni Association with close ties to the team. It rewards a player for his performance on the field as well as his contributions to the community. According to all who know him it is an award that is well deserved.

George Springer was named Minor League Player of the Month for July after he posted some awesome numbers, .344 BA, 9 HRs, 4 Dbls, 2 Tples, 27 RBI's and 10 stolen bases for the OKC Redhawks.
Asher Wojciechowski was Minor Leage Pitcher of the Month in AAA notching a 3-0 record with a 2.00 ERA in 27 innings in July.

In AA Pitcher of the Month was starter David Martinez who won for the second straight month. Martinez 2.01 ERA is second in AA among starters.
The Astros AA Player of the Month is Max Stassi took home Texas league honors for July.

Lefty Tommy Shirley and infielder Matt Duffy were July's best at Class A Advanced Lancaster. Righty Jordan Jankowski and infielder Rio Ruiz were the River Bandits recipients at Class A Quad Cities.

Overall, the Astros' combined Minor League mark of 369-270 (.577) is the best of any team in the Majors, a far cry from the last-place spot the affiliates aggregated for the 2010 and '11 seasons.

[Big T]

Bad game for Cosart. He only gave up the two runs but had five walks and seven hits in five innings. Despite all of that, the Astros had the 5-4 lead heading into the ninth where the closer for the night gave up a three run home run and the pen blew yet another lead. Astros lose yet again 7-5.

[eagle eye]

I was listening to the game and the "closer of the night" was Josh Fields. His best pitch is his fast ball and he spent the whole inning throwing off speed pitches nibbling at the corners. That's why there were two men on base when Stephen Drew jacked the homer that proved to be the game winner. The guys on the radio said Drew was a good fastball hitter but apparently he's a pretty good hanging curve ball hitter too. Fields, or catcher Jason Castro, seemed like he/they were trying not to lose the game rather go and win the game. When I heard that the ball left the yard I went to bed.

I appears the Astros will have a new closer Friday night vs the Rangers. They have called up left handed reliever Kevin Chapman up from AAA OKC. Chapman, 25, was 1-2 with a 3.20 ERA in 45 appearances for the RedHawks, with two saves and 61 strikeouts in 50 2/3 innings of work. In his past 10 games, he posted a 1.42 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings pitched. Chapman earned a save in his last appearance on Tuesday, throwing a scoreless inning against Colorado Springs. For the season, left-handed hitters are batting .193 against him.

To make room for Chapman the Astros have designated Travis Blackley for assignment. Despite some early success Blackley has struggled of late and it is probably for the best to send him down to relocate his mojo.

Talk about get younger, the Astros now have rookies in the bullpen with only Wesley Wright and Lucas Harrell the only vets. Chapman joins fellow newcomer Jorge De Leon who was called up before Wednesday night's game. Neither player has any big league experience and the next time they pitch it will be their MLB debut. The other rookies in the bullpen are Chia-Jen Lo, Josh Fields and Josh Zeid.

[eagle eye]

It has got to be frustrating pitching as well as Brad Peacock and Erik Bedard did the last two games and watch as the bullpen gift wrap runs for the Rangers to cost them victories. It's no different that the last couple of weeks have been. It didn't matter if it was vets like Travis Blackley or Lucas Harrell. In fact it was the young guns just recently brought up in the past 10 days. On Friday it was Josh Zeid, Josh Fields and Jorge De Leon who gave up six runs in the last two innings to cost Houston a victory. Last night it was Kevin Chapman and Lucas Harrell who handed the Rangers a come from behind win. In fairness to Kevin Chapman both the runs he was credited with were unearned as SS Jake Elmore began the Rangers resurgence by booting a routine ground ball. Elmore is not a dependable SS and it seems like every time he plays he makes and error. He doesn't but it sure seems like it. It's a wonder manager Bo Porter doesn't go to post game press conferences with a bottle of Jack Daniels. Lord knows nobody would blame him.

[Big T]

This bullpen is setting records for futility. I honestly have never seen a bullpen this bad. On the bright side, the Astros have gotten to the bullpen with the lead quite a few times in the past couple of months. So in the offseason if they address the bullpen and we can hold onto those leads next year, the Astros could be sitting pretty come August and September next year. Am I saying they will be competing for a playoff spot? No, but they could be looking at .500 and I truly believe that. Get bullpen help, add a little offense, and bring up Springer and Singleton and things are looking a whole lot better.

[KABrother88]

Rangers completed the sweep against Houston taking the final game of the 4 game series 2-1 this afternoon. Yu Darvish had a no hitter through 7.1 when Carlos Corporan broke it up with a solo home run...Darvish finished the day with 15 Ks in 8 innings of work.

Also saw a report on Bleacher Report that Wesley Wright has been claimed by Tampa Bay and will be traded for cash considerations...haven't seen anything on Astros.com or ESPN but I wouldn't be surprised if it was true. If so that would leave only Erik Bedard as the only player making over 1 million dollars on this team...by my calculations over half of this team are rookies and they may add another one to the mix now with an open roster spot. This season has been over for a while but these guys will have to grow up fast and Bo Porter isn't holding back on playing the rookies (not like he really has any other option though). I still wouldn't be surprised to see Bedard go before September 1st though...and I'm sure he would be more than happy to get outta town.

[KABrother88]

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130812&content_id=56759324&vkey= pr_hou&c_id=hou

Guess I just missed it...and they will recall Phillip Humber

[KABrother88]

I don't think it is a secret that I like to monitor our minor league often. Today I decided to take a look at the standings for each league and I came away even more excited for the future...here we go. (Note: AA, A+, and A seasons are split into first half and second half with winners of each making the playoffs, standings and records read overall, 1st half, and 2nd half)

Level League Team Standing Record
PCL AAA OKC 1st 69-54
TL AA CC 1st, 1st, 2nd 72-48, 42-28, 30-20 (1 GB 1st in 2nd half)
CAL A+ LAN 1st, 1st, 1st 70-50, 39-31, 31-19
MID A QC 2nd, 4th, 2nd 68-50, 38-31, 30-19 (1.5 GB 1st in 2nd half)
NYP A- TC 1st 32-22
APP R GRE 1st 33-18
GCL R GCL 3rd 22-23
DSL R DSL 3rd 31-29

Overall that puts our minor leagues at 397-294 (.574) which would equate to a 93-69 record in a 162 game season

[AceHigh]

2013 stats

Chris Carter - Salary this year $494,000
AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI BB AVG OBP SLG SO
360 48 76 155 14 1 21 54 50 .211 .312 .431 155(JEESH)

Josh Hamilton - Salary this year $17,000,000
AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI BB AVG OBP SLG SO
421 55 94 173 24 2 17 56 32 .223 .280 .411 116

Who's better for the money?