Communal Astros KTE - May 13-15

[TransMonk]

What do YOU know about the Astros that you can share with the rest of us?

[Edgy MD]

Craig Biggio: retired.

[Ceetar]

Beltran's gonna get booed.

[TransMonk]

Friday, May 13, 8:05 PM ET
Dillon Gee (RHP) 2-0, 3.80 ERA vs. Bud Norris (RHP) 2-2, 3.16 ERA

Saturday, May 14, 4:05 PM ET
R.A. Dickey (RHP) 1-4, 4.50 ERA vs. J.A. Happ (LHP) 2-4, 5.75 ERA

Sunday, May 15, 2:05 PM ET
Chris Capuano (LHP) 2-4, 4.93 ERA vs. Aneury Rodriguez (RHP) 0-1, 5.50 ERA

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

If the roof is open, a player can earn $500,000 by breaking the window of the owner's office with a loooooong home run. And, the turf in the bullpens came from the Astrodome.

[bmfc1]

They have that stupid hill in center field. I hope that Carlos Beltran gives Jason Pridie a lesson in how to navigate that artificial impediment.

From Wikipedia:

In contrast to the ease of hitting a home run to the Crawford Boxes, it is quite difficult to hit a ball out in center field, as the dead-center wall is 436 ft (133 m) from home plate. Fielding is a challenge there as well, due to the 90-foot (27 m) wide center field incline known as Tal's Hill, for team president Tal Smith, an element taken from Crosley Field and other historic ballparks (in a bit of gallows humor, the hill is also known as the "Grassy Knoll"), and the flagpole in play, an element taken from Yankee Stadium before its remodeling in the mid-'70s and Tiger Stadium among others. Milwaukee Brewers player Richie Sexson once hit a ball off the flagpole and there is still a mark there. While Crosley Field's infamous left field terrace, which was half as steep (only 15 degrees) as Tal's Hill (30 degrees), was a natural feature of the site on which the park was located, Tal's Hill is purely decorative. Both structures have been held in equal disdain by the respective outfielders who have had to patrol those areas. This hill has caused some of the most replayed catches in recent baseball history, and plenty of controversy as well. Lance Berkman said, "If the ball rolls onto the hill, it's not steep enough to roll back, so you have to go get it. Then there's the chance of running into the flagpole that's on it and getting hurt.� Fans started an online petition to remove the hill and flagpole, though the petition has since been discontinued.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Best Mets that played for the Astros -- Dwight Gooden, Rusty Staub, Carlos Beltran, Jerry Grote.

Best Astros that played for the Mets -- Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, Mike Hampton, Rusty Staub


Best trade (Mets POV) --- the first one: Tom Parsons for Jerry Grote.

Worst trade (Mets POV) -- Mike Scott for Danny Heep.

Edited May 13, 2011 by Guest

[bmfc1]

Saturday, May 14, 4:05 PM ET R.A. Dickey (RHP) 1-4, 4.50 ERA vs. J.A. Happ (LHP) 2-4, 5.75 ERA

Elias needs to tell us if this is a record for most combined initials by the two starting pitchers.

[metirish]

Ceetar wrote: Beltran's gonna get booed.

it's got to be the most redundant booing going on at the moment.


Gary will be incredulous about the booing.

[Gwreck]

J.A. Happ's real name is John Anthony, but he spells it "J.A." and pronounces it "Jay."

Make up your mind already!

We knocked him around in his major league debut in 2007 when he was with Philadelphia. He went to Houston in the Oswalt deal.

[Ceetar]

metirish wrote: Ceetar wrote: Beltran's gonna get booed. it's got to be the most redundant booing going on at the moment. Gary will be incredulous about the booing.

I think Howie's the one that reminded me he'd get booed. I'd forgotten. He hits pretty well against the Astros, i closed the br page but it was above .850 OPS with a bunch of home runs. I'd like to see his numbers in Minute Maid Park as a Met, but I haven't quite figured out where I can do those double splits.

[Edgy MD]

The starting catcher for the Astros is Humberto Quintero, a righty batter with really big arms. He's nonetheless displaying a lack of power production that defies both his strength and home park, with zerio homers this year and 13 in his 323-game big-league career. Catchers can be like that. Maybe it'll come. He only started one game at Citi and went 0-3.

He controls the running game well and he's got a Brad Ausmus-like nose for picking runners off, so be on your toes. He's a Venezuealan of a Euro-Indian complexion.

Good plate blocker, too:


Wifey: Michelle


Backing him up is J.R. (Justin Richard) Towles, whose probably good on D also, because he's a career .201 hitter. But hol' on. Something's amiss. Because that .201 includes a .271 / .386 / .458 // .844 line in 59 plate appearances this season. So maybe he's turning a corner at 27. Maybe he's taking the job away from Quintero. I dunno. He looks kind of scrawny for a catcher, not unlike a petty thief/closet homosexual from a petty cop show that gets in over his head messing around with the big boys, know what I mean? He's handsome, but a little pretty and a little nervous he's about to be found out. Twitchy, you know? Cops in the seventies could see right through a guy like that.



Anyhow, back in 2008 he ran with a girl named Brittany who seemed silly short for him and, well, jailbaitishly young-lookin' at the time.



What's going on at first base?

[Gwreck]

Brett Wallace is Houston's first baseman and is hitting pretty well: .328/.396/.454 although without much power.

Wallace was a college teammate of Ike Davis at Arizona State (Wallace played 3B at the time) and won the Pac-10 triple crown twice.

He was a first round pick of St. Louis in 2008 and was the key prospect sent to Oakland when they acquired Matt Holliday. Oakland flipped him to Toronto as part of the Halladay deal (Toronto got a prospect from Philly that they sent to Oakland). Toronto flipped him to Houston as part of the Roy Oswalt deal (Houston got a prospect from Philly that they sent to Toronto).

Needless to say, the top prospect shine has worn off, although he still may wind up as a productive major leaguer.

[Guest themetfairy]

bmfc1 wrote: They have that stupid hill in center field. I hope that Carlos Beltran gives Jason Pridie a lesson in how to navigate that artificial impediment.

That's my thought.

One day that stupid thing is going to cause a serious injury.

They also have a stupid train in the outfield that runs when an Astro hits a home run. Artificial and lame.

The place does have incredible chili cheese fries, though....

[Benjamin Grimm]

Seeing the name of Humberto Quintero reminds me that the Mets, in their 50th season, still have never had a player whose last name starts with the letter Q.

[Ceetar]

themetfairy wrote: bmfc1 wrote: They have that stupid hill in center field. I hope that Carlos Beltran gives Jason Pridie a lesson in how to navigate that artificial impediment. That's my thought. One day that stupid thing is going to cause a serious injury. They also have a stupid train in the outfield that runs when an Astro hits a home run. Artificial and lame. The place does have incredible chili cheese fries, though....

i'm surprised it's not in the rule book that the playing field has to be flat. But I guess way back when there used to be flag poles there, but it was 490 feet away, not 400. But I guess those non-mandatory rules about uniform playing surfaces are what makes baseball great too.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I hate artificial quirks. The older stadiums were quirky because they had to squeeze into a city block, or because they were playing in an arena designed for another sport. In these new stadiums the quirks are like windmills on a miniature golf course. They're just stupid.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Bill Hall is the regular second baseman. One of those guys who's still starting for a shitty team but might be better as a "young veteran" reserve for a good team.

[soupcan]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I hate artificial quirks. The older stadiums were quirky because they had to squeeze into a city block, or because they were playing in an arena designed for another sport. In these new stadiums the quirks are like windmills on a miniature golf course. They're just stupid.

I agree but I do love this at Petco.



When I took a tour there I learned that the official status of the stadium is an 'addition' to the Western Metal building as the building was the older and pre-existing structure. That's cool.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Bill Hall ain't all that young anymore. Also, he's still about as efficient an air-conditioning unit as one can get to man second base-- 40 fans in less than 120 PAs, and a .216/.279/.315 to go with. (Cue the 4-5, 2 HR day on Saturday.)

He's occasionally spelled by Angel Sanchez, a decent-fielding middle-infield widget. Decent glove, slappy-no-power bat... so nondescript, in other words, his mother probably forgets about him when planning holiday meals. Also splits time at short with...

Clint Barmes. Former Rockie, formerly derailed for a few months by deer meat. Ginger.

Edited May 13, 2011 by Guest

[seawolf17]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Bill Hall is the regular second baseman. One of those guys who's still starting for a shitty team but might be better as a "young veteran" reserve for a good team.

Bill Hall is a terrible major leaguer who's coasting on the fact that he had that incredible 2005 where he hit like 35 home runs.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Starring on my roto team, that's how bad he is.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Starring on my roto team, that's how bad he is.

I'm not sure that's something you want to talk about in polite company, man.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I hate artificial quirks. The older stadiums were quirky because they had to squeeze into a city block, or because they were playing in an arena designed for another sport. In these new stadiums the quirks are like windmills on a miniature golf course. They're just stupid.

Agree. Totally. I'm already missing the cookle-cutters. Who says you can't design an architectural cutting edge symetrical donut?

[Chad ochoseis]

The guy with the baseball goatee, the goofy expression, and the Texaco attendant's cap is Chris Johnson, second-year third baseman for your Houston Astros. After a surprisingly productive rookie season (.308 batting average, 11 HRs in 341 ABs), he's off to a slow start this year, batting .185.

Or maybe he's just a .185 hitter who got lucky last year. His BABIP for 2010 was a ridiculous .387. Bleacher Report states that he swung at 43.1% of pitches outside the strike zone, which means that Jeff Francoeur could give him a few lessons on improving his batting eye. He does have 3 HBPs this year, seventh in the NL, so he hits the ball with his body about as frequently as he hits it with the bat.

No need to worry about this guy. Keep the ball off the plate and watch him swing.

Next up, shortstop.

And, yeah, what Grimm said about artificial quirks.

[smg58]

Wallace is a prime example of a prospect whose bandwagon filled prematurely and then emptied prematurely. His first 144 ABs in the majors had lots of people writing him off, but he seems to have adjusted. The power may or may not come, but I think he's a legit .300 hitter.

Brandon Lyon was ineffective as a closer and then got hurt. The closer of the moment is Mark Melancon, a young guy with a live arm. Wilton Lopez might actually be the better pitcher, but he was just getting back from an injury himself when Lyon went down, and groundball specialists have a way of getting passed over when the closer role is vacant.

[Frayed Knot]

Carlos Lee is the Astros' LFer and he's just really awful at this point.

Oh, he can still hit a few jacks now and then, but he's currently raking to a tune of .229/.268/.366; IOW, low average, few walks, and only occasional power from a guy who plays a power position in a home stadium where the only LF walls that are closer are covered with the name of the local Carvel so as to cue all the players where to bug their parents to take them after the game. Lee is listed at 265 lbs but the team is probably just reprinting that figure each year the way American men of a certain era reflexively quoted the weight from their army induction physicals long after that figure was closer to their belt size than actual poundage.

Meanwhile I seem to remember him making two fairly nice catches against us in the earlier series - at least one with several on base that probably saved the game for them - but since those two represent at least one nice catch over his usual seasonal total we can pretty much count on that not happening again. The aforementioned small left field in Orange Juice Park is perfect for him though since he has the range of a lawn gnome. In fact, the LF is so small there that OUR left fielder is going to hit multiple HRs this weekend. You heard it here first.

[Guest themetfairy]

soupcan wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: I hate artificial quirks. The older stadiums were quirky because they had to squeeze into a city block, or because they were playing in an arena designed for another sport. In these new stadiums the quirks are like windmills on a miniature golf course. They're just stupid. I agree but I do love this at Petco. When I took a tour there I learned that the official status of the stadium is an 'addition' to the Western Metal building as the building was the older and pre-existing structure. That's cool.

Yes - the Western Metal Building doesn't count as an artificial quirk because it was there first.

The stupid hill at the Juice Box, however, has no excuse.

[Guest attgig]

lee's had multiple good defensive plays this year:
http://mlb.mlb.com/search/media.jsp?query=%20defense%2C%20Carlos%20Lee&start=0&hitsPerPage=12&hitsPerSite=10


as for the SS position, currently listed on top of the depth chart is Clint Barmes. After overcoming a broken hand earlier in the spring, he has become the starting SS for the astros because of the inability for Sanchez to get any hits. currently sporting a line of .194/.275/.278, it's obvious that Clint has been a godsend for the astros.... or not.

Angel Sanchez is the backup. but if he's being replaced by clint barmes for offensive reasons... he shouldn't be anyone to worry about either.

[seawolf17]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Starring on my roto team, that's how bad he is.

My team is undefeated (we play head-to-head weekly). Thank you, Jose Reyes.



Clint Barmes is the 'Stros SS, which surprises me because I thought he was still in Colorado. So, apparently, does a Google Image Search. 7-for-36 since coming back from a hand injury. 14-for-100 career against Mets pitching, so something tells me he'll break out this weekend.

(Looks like attgig beat me on this, but I'm posting it anyway.)