Astros Off Day News and Links

by Evan Hochschild on Apr 14, 2009 3:00 AM CDT

Another one of these weird "play Game One of a series, then take a day off, then play the rest of the series" off days has the Astros licking their wounds Tuesday. Luckily for us though, there is quite a bit of news to sift through:

Harry Kalas, famed Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster, and voice of NFL Films died yesterday at the age of 73. A member of the original Houston Astros radio crew along with Gene Elston, Kalas worked in Houston from 1965 to 1970. A true legend, indeed. He passed away while at the ballpark. I suppose that's fitting for a man such as Mr. Kalas
Just hours after Harry Kalas' death, the sadness around MLB was exacerbated as former pitcher Mark Fidrych was found dead at his Massachusetts home. He was 54. "The Bird" was the 1976 AL Rookie of the Year. A character on and off the field, baseball has lost one of it's genuinely good people
Fangraphs lists the top ten prospects of the NL Central clubs. Our top guy is Jason Castro, followed by Drew Sutton and Brian Bogusevic. I like that Sutton is getting some dap nationally
Richard Justice has a suggestion for Drayton McLane: Cut out the middle men, and manage the Astros yourself. He seems to be on point for the most part in his takes...I fear the apocolypse as a result
Bud Norris' PCL debut was yesterday: 4.1 IP, 0 ER, 4 K, 3 BB, 4 H. I think we're all waiting for him to step up and pitch the way he's capable of. Offensively, JR Towles hit a double in three plate appearances in a 8-4 loss to Omaha
On Sunday, Jason Castro and Koby Clemens continued slugging en route to a 7-4 victory for Lancaster
Burger King is under fire from multiple fronts. First, Mexicans are upset at the fast food chain for their recent ads for the "Texican" burger. Second, feminists are up in arms over a commercial advertising their Kid's Meal...The day it's inappropriate to air sexually suggestive material aimed at children will be a sad day indeed
Unfortunately, I can see Astros fans being sent this card in July.
The Nationals have the right idea- let fans bring their own food into the game. With the economy as poor as it is, any inducement to come out to the park is well worth the effort
We're not the only team struggling with a veteran starting pitcher. Jeff Suppan isn't exactly thrilling the folks up in Milwaukee
A scoreless bottom of the eighth inning of a blowout 15-5 victory for the Tampa Bay Rays was a bit more interesting than one would have thought. New York Yankees first baseman Nick Swisher came in to pitch, and didn't allow a run. He even struck out Gabe "The Babe" Kapler. That's for having a first name that easily lends itself to having the nickname, "The Babe." Here's what his pitches looked like.

0 recs | 9 comments

Comments

I have Swisher on my fantasy team....but I suppose his pitching won't count.

And, by the way, looking at that Yankees’ box score, that is an ugly line for Wang: 8 ER in 1 IP.

clack - April 14, 2009 reply

RJ The Chron column seems sensible to me too, but the question is will he write something that appears elsewhere that says something different.

Suppan He’s on the verge of becoming an adjective as in the pitcher went Suppan. The real curse of his contract is that Milwaukee doesn’t seem willing to accept reality when its ugly. They rivaled olympic gymnasts in the contortions they went through to resurrect Turnbow and likewise Gagne. Maybe Melvin doesn’t want to admit his error or Attanasio doesn’t like those checks being written and not getting something back. My dream scenario is that he accepts 6 or 7 million to buy out the 27 he is owed and they invent a chronic shoulder problem. He can have fun with his restaurant in LA and talk about the Cards WS.

ol Pete - April 14, 2009 reply

Justice nails it here

http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/archives/2009/04/where_did_the_a.html

goingforthecorner - April 14, 2009 reply

Hard to tell whenever Dickie J's just bullshitting all of us

but this seems genuine:

First, I’d sign Cecil Cooper to a two-year extension. Asking an inexperienced manager to work a lame-duck season is asinine.

There’s no way he should be fired. Maybe he’s not the second coming of Tony La Russa, but based on the club’s performance last season, he deserves an extension.

If Drayton was willing to throw money at Carlos Lee, Kaz Matsui and Miguel Tejada—How’s that for spending money wisely? — he should throw a few bucks at Cecil Cooper and remove his job security as an issue.

This is something I’ve never understood: why do managers think it’s their sacred right to always work with a year left on their contract?

In any case, Coop isn’t deserving of an extension. I don’t think he was what caused the Astros to overperform last season: that was a combination of several factors not really involving Coop: Oswalt pitching like a madman after July, Berkman carrying the team in late innings, particularly in May, Wolf pitching very well, LaTroy and Valverde being essentially unhittable, and Wigginton exploding in August.

And none of those things should be credited to him. If anything, he should probably be faulted for: (1) Pissing off and injuring Oswalt earlier in the year, and (2) benching Wiggy in favor of Lorretta and Blum much of the time up until Carlos’ injury. Add in the fact that he cost the Astros several games via stupid management (whether through “run at all costs” or “gee let’s use Brocail every night”), and I’d be wary of offering him an extension until he shows he’s learned his lessons.

Only_A_Lad - April 14, 2009 reply

I cannot agree more with you.

Stephen Higdon - April 14, 2009 reply

I agree, Only_A_Lad

RJ seems to have things backwards. He says give Coop a two-year extension and he’ll be able to focus more and make better decisions. I say Coop needs to show he can make the right decisions first (see yesterday re: appropriate times to replace Q with Pudge as the PH), and then we’ll give him an extension.

We were talking earlier about players not being forthcoming about their injuries. Coop needs to instill that ethic in the clubhouse. This is an area where Coop could really step up and make a statement that he deserves the job long-term. I find it telling that Brocail only came forward to honestly discuss his arm tenderness when Ed Wade asked him about it. That’s Coop’s job, and if he’s got too much on his plate, he needs to delegate to the trainers and pitching coaches.

AstroAndy - April 14, 2009 reply

i seem to recall

that at Camden Yards, you can bring in your own food (or at least you could the last time I was there, which was admittedly 10 years ago). They even had a picnic area out past right field, above the bullpens, with tables and everything. It was great, not only for the folks that brought in their own food, but it caused the vendors to have to be competetive with cost and quality, so you had reasonably priced, very good food options. Of course, no outside alcoholic beverages were allowed, so the hip flask of bourbon was still an essential accompaniment, but still…

littlevisigoth - April 14, 2009 reply