Waiting to Blast Off: The Houston Astros

[Deuce2223]

Bourgeious back with the Astros's. That guy gets around. He has great speed so if you are in need of some SB's you might want to bring him up.

He currently leads my M's with 8 steals but sadly is batting just .195

[WaitTilNextYear]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

Bourgeious back with the Astros's. That guy gets around. He has great speed so if you are in need of some SB's you might want to bring him up. He currently leads my M's with 8 steals but sadly is batting just .195

Yeah, for sure. I have Dee Gordon at SS (speed = 95), Gerardo Parra in CF (speed = 87), and Jose Altuve at 2B (speed = 85), so I'm ok on speed. I think Bourgeois has a 92 in this game.

This was more a depth move, someone who would come cheaply, and a guy to replace Springer in the OF at AA/AAA. Believe me, I don't need any more light hitting with the big league club right now! But, come Sept, you better believe he'll be pinch running in Houston!

[WaitTilNextYear]

Arlington, TX - With the Astros mired in a 5-game losing streak (and 2-9 in their last 11) and tasting .500 for the first time in a while, the division rival Rangers are going for their second series sweep of the season over Houston. Box scores for Houston's misery are below. It's been a combination of little offense and explosive offensive innings for the opponent--Texas' 10-run 4th (including a grand slam by Profar and a 3-run blast by Beltre) off of Lucas Harrell after being no hit through 3.1 IP is a good example.

Tampa Bay Rays at Houston Astros
Jul 2, 2013	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tampa Bay (39-46)	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	7	0
Houston (44-40)	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	0
W: T. Guerreri (1-7) L: J. Cosart (0-4) S: F. Rodney (18)

Tampa Bay Rays at Houston Astros
Jul 3, 2013	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tampa Bay (40-46)	1	0	3	1	4	0	1	0	0	10	14	1
Houston (44-41)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	7	0
W: D. Price (8-5) L: J. Valdez (4-1)

Tampa Bay Rays at Houston Astros
Jul 4, 2013	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Tampa Bay (41-46)	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	7	0
Houston (44-42)	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0
W: C. Archer (2-7) L: C. Fick (5-1)

Houston Astros at Texas Rangers
Jul 5, 2013	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Houston (44-43)	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	4	10	0
Texas (55-33)	0	1	4	2	4	0	1	0	x	12	16	0
W: Y. Darvish (9-4) L: P. Corbin (9-6)

Houston Astros at Texas Rangers
Jul 6, 2013	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Houston (44-44)	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	5	2
Texas (56-33)	0	0	0	10	1	3	0	2	x	16	19	0
W: M. Harrison (4-3) L: L. Harrell (3-8)

Attempting to stem the tide and keep Houston squarely in the Wild Card picture, the hot Phil Humber (won last 3 starts) took the mound against Colby Lewis. In the extreme pitchers' duel, Lewis and Humber matched zeros into the top of the 8th inning, when Houston finally broke through. The sequence was: leadoff walk by Dee Gordon; steal of 2B; RBI double by Brett Wallace; pinch run for Wallace with Gerardo Parra; strikeout Mike Olt; and RBI double by Carlos Pena to give Houston the 2-0 margin.

Humber maintained his shutout going into the 9th inning, ultimately pitching 8.2 stellar IP with 10 K and only 2 BB (5 hits allowed, all singles) before Texas got on the board with an A.J. Pierzynski RBI single. Closer Kyle McClellan came in to K 2B Jurickson Profar to end the ballgame on a nasty breaking ball, and snap the 5-game skid. The win maintains Houston 4.0 GB the Red Sox for the 2nd Wild Card spot.

Houston Astros at Texas Rangers
Jul 7, 2013	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Houston (45-44)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	6	0
Texas (56-34)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	5	0
W: P. Humber (9-4) L: C. Lewis (10-4) S: K. McClellan (30)

Houston Astros
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
D. Gordon SS	4	1	0	0	1	0	0	.247
B. Wallace DH	2	0	1	1	2	0	0	.221
G. Parra DH	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.325
M. Olt 3B	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.359
C. Pena 1B	4	0	1	1	0	1	0	.196
M. McKenry C	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.221
R. Wheeler RF	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	.204
T. Neal CF	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.202
R. Cedeno 2B	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	.248
B. Barnes LF	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	.256
TEAM TOTALS	32	2	6	2	4	5	0	--
BATTING: 2B: B. Wallace (22), C. Pena (18), R. Wheeler 2 (7) RBI: B. Wallace (37), C. Pena (46)
BASERUNNING: SB: D. Gordon 2 (17), B. Barnes (3)

Texas Rangers
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
E. Andrus SS	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.290
D. Murphy LF	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	.278
A. Beltre 3B	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.307
L. Berkman 1B	3	1	1	0	1	1	0	.303
A. Pierzynski C	4	0	2	1	0	0	0	.320
J. Profar 2B	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.255
N. Cruz RF	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	.261
I. Kinsler DH	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.285
C. Gentry CF	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.301
TEAM TOTALS	31	1	5	1	2	11	0	--
BATTING: RBI: A. Pierzynski (57)
BASERUNNING: SB: L. Berkman (2), I. Kinsler (1) CS: J. Profar (4)

Houston Astros
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
P. Humber (W)	8.2	5	1	1	2	10	0	4.28
K. McClellan (SV)	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1.32
TEAM TOTALS	9.0	5	1	1	2	11	0	--

Texas Rangers
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
C. Lewis (L)	8.0	6	2	2	4	5	0	3.49
W. Font	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3.75
TEAM TOTALS	9.0	6	2	2	4	5	0	--

Next up after an off day: short 2 game set at STL, off day, then 3 game set against the Rays at the Trop. Then ALL STAR BREAK!!!!

[BlueJays09]

Beauty trade for Hellickson...I like him with your current roster...How did he do in his first start?

[Deuce2223]

Wow T. Guerrieri is 1-7 and Archer is 2-7 when pitching against MLB batters, now I know why Tampa dealt them for Gattis in my Franchise.

July 8th and your are sitting at .500 I would say the real life Astros would be pretty happy with that considering most have them battling the M's for last place in the West.

I find it funny that some baseball writers feel it's unfair having the M's and Astros together in the West, because they believe it gives a unfair advantage to the Rangers and Angels in the Wildcard race.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Quote: Originally Posted by BlueJays09

Beauty trade for Hellickson...I like him with your current roster...How did he do in his first start?

Hellickson did well in his first start, left the July 4th game tied 1-1 in the 7th or 8th inning I believe. Bullpen and offense let him down.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Houston, TX - With July in full swing, and contenders and pretenders being sorted out on a daily basis, trade talks are heating up. Nolan Ryan makes his opening pitch...

Quote:

Nolan Ryan: Hello Michael, it's Nolan. How are things?

Quote:

Marlins GM Michael Hill: Hi Nolan, things are good, man.....oh, who am I kidding, we're miserable here in Miami. Luckily I am not Jeff right about now. Guy has a 24-hour security detail.

Quote:

Nolan Ryan: What do you mean, you're not even in last place? My old Mets have that honor.

Quote:

Michael Hill: Sure, but after building the new stadium with taxpayer money while ushering in an era with "competitive" payrolls--well, man, it got the fans' hopes up. And then Jeff went all Wayne Huizinga--but he didn't even wait until the season was over to have the fire sale. So, while I'd love to be pleased about 4th place in the NL East right now, things are pretty bleak here.

Quote:

Nolan Ryan: Geez Michael, you're not near a ledge right now are you? I mea...

Quote:

Michael Hill: Ha ha. Very funny...Now to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?

Quote:

Nolan Ryan: Well, now I'm not sure I really even want to talk about it. I can just listen?

Quote:

Michael Hill: No, it's ok. I'm in therapy 3 times a week working for that guy. Just has a way of sucking the life out of us. I mean, here I am, one of the pioneer African American GMs in America's Pastime--something I always dreamed about, and am VERY qualified for--and I'm relegated to being the affirmative action show piece in a market that doesn't even care about baseball and signing the Adam Greenbergs of the world to 1-day contracts. But, don't wind me up again, you'll get me off track. Seriously, what were you calling about?

Quote:

Nolan Ryan: Alright then. I was actually calling you to inquire about the availability, at this point in the season, of Logan Morrison, Jeff Mathis, Steve Cishek, and maybe another pen arm. How would you feel about dealing those guys? I can offer you Jordan Lyles, Rio Ruiz, Carlos Perez, and another piece like Ronny Cedeno, Chone Figgins, or Takashi Saito.

Quote:

Michael Hill: What, not interested in Stanton? This is the first call where someone hasn't mentioned him. Ha ha, well we're not interested in Figgins. You are aware we cut him in favor of Greg Dobbs in the Spring? And no offense to Greg--he's actually one of my favorite guys here--but if Dobbs beats you out, that's pretty much it. Anyway, I definitely think those parameters could be hashed out. We don't really have any interest in Cedeno or Saito as you may have guessed. But maybe someone like Nick Tropeano could be included instead?

Quote:

Nolan Ryan: Now 3 of our top 20 prospects [Tropeano, Ruiz, Perez] and a dynamic young starter [Lyles] for a 2nd division starter at 1B/LF, a backup catcher, a set-up guy, and a pen arm...doesn't exactly seem fair, does it? And, let's face it, Logan's stats are trending in the wrong direction.

Quote:

Michael Hill: OK, you make a decent point. But, we're going to need Tropeano to get this done. Are you willing to trade him? We could see him as a possible replacement to Cishek a few years down the road. And don't undersell Cishek, he's a great young player. Being picked for the WBC and everything has really lit a fire under him to be great too.

Quote:

Nolan Ryan: I suppose I could include Tropeano. He's pitching very well so it's unfortunate, but we really have our sights set on making this work. At 45-44 where no one expected us to be, we HAVE to make the effort to compete to our best ability, that means front office any everything.

Quote:

Michael Hill: I sure do envy you guys. If there was going to be a shocker team, it should've been the Marlins. Ah well....but, hey while I have you here, are you interested in Pierre, Polanco, Ruggiano, Dobbs, Rauch, Qualls, or...Nolasco!! Would love to trade Ricky and some pieces to you for that young 1B you have there in Singleton.

Quote:

Nolan Ryan: Absolutely not. Singleton is staying put. No interest on any of those other guys, sorry. We're really confident with what we have at 3B, CF, and after the trade for Hellickson, we like our rotation. So to be clear: you're interested in a Lyles + Tropeano + Ruiz deal for Morrison + Cishek + Mathis + pen arm? If it helps, off the top of my head, that's something like $3.5M going out and 750k coming in. You also shed Cishek and Morrison who are in their last year before arb, and gain an extra year before arbitration with Lyles.

Quote:

Michael Hill: When I present this to Loria (who insists all offers pass his desk), I can tell you the financials are the first thing he'll check. So, that's good to know we're on the plus side of that. I can't promise you he'll go for it, but I'd say it has a solid chance. I'd do this trade if it were up to me, which it should be. I can tell you we'd love for you to take Qualls or Rauch as the other pen arm. But, probably Webb is the next option.

Quote:

Nolan Ryan: That's not too important. I'd be satisfied with Ryan Webb, A.J. Ramos, or Tom Koehler. We'll cross that bridge soon I guess. Oh and Michael, don't take this the wrong way, but you really need to look for a new front office job at a different team. Take it from me, I had a good situation in Arlington and an extension, but then things went south and it just wasn't a good fit anymore. We'd love to have you as an assistant here in Houston.

Quote:

Michael Hill: Don't I know it. The pay's good though....I'll get back to you about this deal in the next week or so....Loria's on vacation...Bye bye.

[Deuce2223]

Love the GM trade interaction, reminds me of Moneyball when Beane is on the phone making deals.