That was definitely a nice play. At the same time, Matsui is making all pitchers and infielders look good these days. Pudge's AB before Bourn's hit was horrible.
What's even worse is that b/c Lee is such a liability on the bases and in the field, Coop had to pull him in a close game. I would've loved to have had Lee up there at the end of the game to face their closer. I used to hate when Garner would do something like that, and it's looking like more and more Lee is going to force the manager's hand in these kind of situations.
i'm sick of this, personally. it's just stupid. how many times have we ended up winning our game because of our "defensive replacements" making a great grab that lee or whoever wouldn't have made? the chances are 1 in a million that making those subs will ever make a difference in the outcome of the game. you're paying the guy $100 million, leave him in. he isn't that awful of a fielder. it's overcoaching.
He wasn't pulled for defensive reasons. He was pulled because he's a slow-ass runner, and he was the potential winning run at 2nd with Miggy at the plate in the 8th inning. If he gets thrown out at home after a base hit, there will be people questioning why he wasn't pinch-run for.
Saw this on The Crawfish Boxes website: "Injuries, poor performance and short outings by starting pitchers have placed a great deal of stress on the Astros bullpen. A look at the disabled list reads like a who's who of important relief arms: Jose Valverde, Doug Brocail, and Geoff Geary are all down for the count at least for the time being. What happens when the relievers are in need of relief? Well, this: 133 IP, 5.01 ERA, 5.41 FIP, 22 HR Allowed, 8 Saves, 10 Blown Saves All rank the Astros squarely as one of the worst bullpens in the game. More than even those number, the Astros 'pen is in the bottom ten in walks allowed, hits allowed, and K/9. Their OPS Against is a less than great .842: lots of walks, lots of homeruns- this all stands to reason." This has got to change. If someone can explain to me why we haven't sent down Wesley Wright, I'd love to know. Meanwhile, we've got 3 relievers in Round Rock pitching very well (Daigle, Paronto and Donnelly) and nobody seems to notice or care.
been trying to tell anybody who will listen for over a year now: it's because he had a good spring training 2008, and pitched well in his first 3 or 4 outings as an Astro in 2008. those are the reasons. first impressions are all that's important in the astros organization. they are clueless. wesley wright is complete garbage.
I don't think that's a fair assessment. Wright is a Rule 5 guy who's only 24 years old. He had to be kept on the roster last season or surrendered back to his old team. He was very good at A ball at 20 and high A ball at 21, and equally good at AA at 22. He just wasn't ready for the majors, like most guys plucked in the Rule 5 (Santana had a 6.49 ERA in his Rule 5 season). Wright's 5 years younger than the next youngest guy in our pen. He's got the potential to be something. That said, he's not pitching well and we are able to send him down, so I agree that he needs seasoning at AAA. He's not the only lefty in the pen. Send him down and bring up one of the guys from the farm that TRex mentioned (hard to call them kids when they range from 28 to 37, which is probably why nobody cares). Based on track record, Paronto would be my choice. Good showing both this season and last in the minors, and did well in his brief stint with the Stros
I clicked the wrong smiley face thing. It is however confusing as to why the dude is still in the Astros starting rotation.
Like clock work ... You know the backend of most pitching rotations strive to be average. You can delusionally expect more; that is your right. The rest of us may chose to expect more from the under-performing frontend of the Astros pitching rotation.
will....not....get...baited...into....internet fights....by....clueless....trolls. arghhh. that was tough. now carry on my wayward troll.
