Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

After Kyle Weiland gave us our first win of the season in game two of that Pittsburgh series, it was up to Milk Carton to give us our second here against Pittsburgh. Bedard versus Milky in the battle for 1st! Let's get it on!


Here's the lineups for both squads today. Keep an eye on Mr. McCutchen man, dude always kills us.


Alright Milky, time to get through this 1st inning unscathed. First batter punches out, second batter reaches on a single. In steps McCutchen who proceeds to hit a sharp liner to Bogey in right field, who decides to pull a DeLOLmon Young out there and fall over himself and let the ball get to the wall. Dickhead...McCutchen can run forever and ends up at 3rd base with an RBI triple. Jesus Milky, suck more why don't ya? You look like freakin' Liriano out there with all the missed locations so far today. He comes back though and strikes out the next two batters (yes you read that right, he struck out the side.) So its 1-0 after the top of the first and we've got our lineup coming on up.

Maxwell singles off Bedard to lead off the inning and in steps Jose Altuve. Altuve takes a low strike from Bedard, then a high strike from Bedard. 0-2 to Jose Altuve and Bedard delivers...oh look out Eric, you hung a hook to Jose. And he hits a line drive to the right fielder, Presley leaves his feet and...


Poor bastard, he just missed. And boy oh boy would he pay for his miss as Jose would trot all the way into 3rd base when it was all said and done with an RBI triple (sound familiar lol?) But the sad thing...we couldn't score Jose from 3rd base with nobody out. 1-1 game after the first inning. 2nd inning would come and go, and we'd plate a run in that inning as well, giving us a 2-1 lead.

Enter Milk Carton failure.


Yeah, that was a 2-R HR by McCutchen in his next AB after the triple. Look at that helpless look on Carton's face. I'm sure his mind is something like this, "Here we go, I've got 5 straight Ks and things are looking up for me. No worries about that leadoff single because I got great stuff and everything will be ok. Fastball down the middle 0-2? Perfect pitch to throw the best hitter on their team. Here we go...oh chit."

3-2 after Cutch trots real slow like around the bases. Too bad he won't get to swing the bat the next time he faces Milk Carton, just saying. Harrell allowed 1 more run in his 6 innings of work. He had 6Ks, 2BBs, and 10 hits allowed. Kinda lucky it wasn't more honestly, but its something to build on. But the story today was the offense. We struck for 5 runs in the 4th inning, and 4 runs in the 7th to put this one out of reach. We got HR balls from Juicin' Maxwell and A-Gon (our A-Gon at least.)



Both of their first appearances in the HR Club for this season. Final score ended up being 12-6 after Carpenter allowed 2 runs out of the pen for us in long relief.


Crazy game, but ya know what? We won that SOB so who gives a rat's you know what. Also, interesting news being reported by ESPN's Insider Buster Olney.



Hmmm...Bondo wants a comeback huh? We may have to take a look at him. If he is anything like his dominant 06/First Half of 07 form, that's a hell of a pickup for cheap.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Office of Jeff Luhnow
April 10th, 2013
11:53 am


Jeff was growing anxious...his deadline was fast approaching and he didn't know what to do. On the one hand, he loved this team and didn't want it to fall into the wrong hands. But on the other, he didn't want to see his wife kidnapped again and eventually killed because of his stubbornness. He had some really tough choices to make and really soon too. But that could wait another day, hell another couple months even. Today it was his weekly meeting with his Assistant GM Gillespie, they discussed potential moves in the organization and things they could do to strengthen the team. Brandon seemed really upbeat and excited about something today. Time to let him in and see what it is.

What do ya got for me today Brandon?

Did you hear about Bonderman? He's trying to make a comeback.

You mean Jeremy Bonderman? The guy who was getting blown up, and I mean both his elbow and his stat line of course. Why would that be significant or matter to me in the slightest?

You didn't hear the whole story then. Bondo missed baseball so much that he got desperate, so much so that he went to Germany and visited with that doctor that did Kobe's knee last year. And apparently, there was a new procedure in which stem cells were injected into the elbow to create new ligaments and strengthen the ones that were still there. Highly experimental, highly risky. But he took the chance last year. Now after a year of recovery, he claims to be getting pop on his fastball and sharpness on his slider again.

I see...if he's anything close to the pitcher who pitched in the 06 Playoffs I can see why he'd be interesting. Maybe you should go down and see him throw, I'd assume he's throwing for scouts no?

He hasn't announced anything yet but I'm sure he will, a guy with an arm like he's claiming will be a hot commodity to say the least.

You'll be the one I send...I know your a Detroit kid and Bonderman may respond to that. Bring him here and you'll have earned us hours of press time if he's anything close to his former self. Can you get him here?

I can sure as hell try Jeff. I'll get on the next flight to Washington, I should probably get two tickets though...since I'll be bringing a guest back.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Well, while our guy heads off to Washington to watch Bondo throw for scouts...its time for yet another game updates! After the Pittsburgh series, we head to St. Louis to play 4 games against the healthy Cardinals. After a Jordan Lyles loss in game one of the series, we send the rookie Paul "Pauly C" Clemens to the mound to make his big league debut against Kyle Lohse. Should be an interesting game and it could play out to be a slugfest, as we don't know if either guy will be on or off.


Wow, we've won 2 of our first 4 games! Much better than last season to say the least. And here comes Kyle Lohse to pitch in this one, he's been a solid option for Mike Matheny since he got to St. Louis...spotting a 3.16 ERA last season and he was even better the year before that. Point being, he's been real good. But inconsistency has been a big thing for Lohse throughout his career, so who knows what's gonna happen



Honestly, this game was the single most exciting/least interesting game ever played. As funny as that sounds, this game was 0-0 all the way through 6 innings, both teams had their chances but nothing came of them. Oh and Pauly C did work, like JA Happ "That's Gangsta" work. What a way to debut, on the road with an amazing performance like this one. Then the 7th inning rolled around and things got a little wild. Lohse is pitching to Brian Bogusevic with 1 out in the 7th. 0-2 count, he serves up the pitch which was a hanging change...Bogey creams this one too. High and deep, and it is! A ground rule double? What the hell is going on here? The ball took a hop off the ground, a hop off the glove of the right fielder, and went into the stands. I wish I could have gotten a good enough picture to show just how ridiculous this actually was.

Regardless, Bogey is at second with Clemens due up. Pinch hitter time! Theriot, come on down! You've won an AB against a pitcher who's been red hot all day. He'll come after you and that's a prospect we like since you can hit. And wait what? They're walking you? Intentionally? Why? Juicin' is on deck and has been hitting over the last 3 games, there's no reason for that stupidity. And it would bite them as Mr. Maxwell hit a SF after a wild pitch advanced the runners to 2nd and 3rd to give the Astros a 1-0 lead.

Fast forward to the 9th inning, after Jepsen and F-Rod locked down the Cards with dominating performances out of the pen. In comes Sergio "Lefty Grove" Escalona.


Solid numbers early on for a guy who ended the year with a 2.07 ERA last season. Here we go...oh crap Serg, you put a runner on with nobody out in a one run game? And Holliday is stepping up...chit. 1-1 running fastball down and away from Matt gets a slow roller to short. Gonzalez to Altuve for one


Got him there, the relay is...just in time! He got him by half a step, two down here in the inning after a nice twin killing by the Astros! Wow!!! And after that, Berkman would meekly fly out to Maxwell in center to end the ball game. Check out Paul Clemens' line in his debut


What a game for the rookie ehh? Better than Milk Carton ever was, that's for sure. Here's our final score on the day with the pitchers of record as well.


Clemens showed a lot of poise and some excellent stuff up there tonight and it is safe to say that he looks to be a fixture in this rotation this year and maybe for years to come.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

This catch deserves to be shown, but I had no room for it in any of my Pittsburgh posts...so check this out.



This was on a CJ liner that was gonna be off the wall, but instead of extra bases he got an awe-struck trot back to the dugout. He literally planted his foot on the wall and killed my hopes and dreams with that catch.

[AC]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

For some stupid reason, OS unsubbed me from this. All caught up! You're welcome for the tweet idea :wink: Good set of updates. Really interesting with Happ, Crane, etc.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

I'm back, after a concert and the complimentary recovery day afterwards...I bet you all were so worried that this narrator completely abandoned this thing right? Well fear not my friends, as we're back and better than ever. We take you back to St. Louis, where we last saw our boys taking a 1-0 win over the Redbirds behind Rookie Paul Clemens. Bud Norris followed up our 1-0 win with another 1-0 gem. He pitched 6 shutout innings and really shut down a talented Cards lineup like they were a minor league team. Escalona shut the door on his 3rd save in 8 games and Manager Ned Yost said he wouldn't be available for the next game...and with that said we begin!


Here we go from Busch, a matchup of two NL Central squads in the finale of this 4 game set. We send Kyle Weiland to the mound to face off against Chris Carpenter. Kyle put in a hell of an effort in his first start, let's take a look at his numbers on the year.


Not too shabby...he's been our 2nd best pitcher thus far (other than Bud of course) and that's why he earned his #2 rotation spot for us. On to the game, we led off the game with a chance to swing the bats because we were the road team, and we got to Carp early. Maxwell singled. After an Altuve pop out and a Johnson strikeout, we had JD at the dish and he would double sharply to right field, Maxwell would have to hold up as Beltran has a gun out there in right. In steps Matt Dominguez, who won the 3rd base job for us in spring. He works the count nicely before getting a 3-1 fastball right down the middle and he wouldn't disappoint us.


Look out Carp! Dominguez with the 2 RBI single to give us the early 2-0 lead with Kyle on the mound, we are definitely in business here! Ah but wait, we may be in trouble as Kyle gave up a couple runs in the bottom half of the inning to tie it up. He would allow 4 on the day total in 6+ innings of work. It wasn't a bad start considering he didn't have his good stuff tonight. But back to the story of the game, the Houston offense. Jason Castro would drive in a run with this double in the top of the 6th inning.


Boy has he been hot to start the season, hitting over .450 so far with a couple longballs to boot, add an RBI double to that line. Later in the inning, Bogey with Castro on 3rd and Gonzalez on 2nd facing Carpenter. He lines an RBI triple over the head of the left fielder with 2 outs.


The two of them score and Bogey ends up at 3rd, giving us the 6-2 lead. After it was all said and done, we had a 6-4 lead going into the 9th inning with Escalona declared unavailable for the night. Who would come out of the pen to close this sucker out? How about Kevin Jepsen? He has wicked stuff and we may as well go to him in our pen. Choice well made, as he punched out all 3 men he faced to get his first save of the season.


An overall good ballgame for us, and its nice to get the Dubbya (no not George.)

Also, interesting news out of Tacoma, Washington

[AC]

Did you use Fangraphs to get Bonderman's ratings?

Does anyone really care where I sent this from?

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Did you use Fangraphs to get Bonderman's ratings?

Does anyone really care where I sent this from?

Kinda...I looked at a lot of data on his breaking pitch and his fastball movement, but I'm no stat guy. So while I did use the info on it, it probably isn't as good as all the respected roster guys around here would have done. However, I'm happy with my results, which is all that matters

[jknott10]

I hate to hijack your story blog. It's great by the way.

But what fan graph are y'all talking about and how do you use it? Does it project where to set attributes?

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

I hate to hijack your story blog. It's great by the way.

But what fan graph are y'all talking about and how do you use it? Does it project where to set attributes?

I looked at Pitchf/x to help me figure out what he threw, how hard he threw it, the movement of each pitch, etc.

But fangraphs is a great resource for more in-depth statistics and can be extremely helpful if you wanted to do re-rates to players.

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

Tacoma Heights High Baseball Field
Tacoma, Washington
6:27 pm


Brandon had just finished watching Jeremy throw. Hot damn was he back, he may have even been better than ever. However that delivery was still a thing of concern, it was the same as it ever had been...and we know how that went the last time. Brandon knew he had to bring him back, he needed to come to Houston and work with him a little. Brandon saw something in Bondo that he could easily tweak to make him more durable and perhaps not at risk for another injury. After the scouts had cleared and Bonderman was alone, Brandon approached him to chat.

Hey Jeremy, hell of a job you did today. You know, that arm reminds me of the old days...when I was a teen in Detroit and you were leading the charge to a WS appearance.

Thanks...do I know you from somewhere?

Well we met once at a pitching clinic when I was a high school pitcher, but other than that...no you don't know me. Name's Brandon Gillespie, I'm the assistant GM of the Houston Astros. Nice to meet you.

Gillespie? I remember you...you were touted as Kid K 2.0 right? The healthy version of Kerry Wood? I remember working with you a little on a slider back in the day. I heard about your injury and couldn't believe it.

Wow, I didn't think you'd remember that. But yeah, that's me. But I'm here more as a friend than a talent recruiter right now. Don't get me wrong, I want you to come to Houston, but right now its more important that I tweak your delivery a tad. Your timing is off by about a couple hundredths of a second and its causing your arm to drag...if you continue on with that delivery you'll blow out that new elbow you've got in a year.

I'll what? Are you serious? How did nobody notice this before...how do I fix it?

Come to Houston and I can work with you to fix it, but if you don't...I can direct you who to go to wherever you go. I just want to see you succeed man, wherever that may be. If you come to us, I can't promise any wins to you, I can't promise the WS this year...or even next. I can promise you that we'll work harder than anyone to get better and to get you back to the Fall Classic. And when you get there, it will come home with you this time. I've got a plane to catch, so I'll give you my card and if you want to come to Houston, give me a call Jeremy. Seeya around.

As Brandon walked away from Bondo, he wondered what Jeremy thought of him. He probably thought he was a sappy kid...nothing more to do other than hope his pitch got through to him.

Hey Brandon! Sign me up. I'll be in OKC tomorrow, so you better get in contact with my agent and get this deal done. Ok?

EDIT: He also got a 2 seamer after further review of his repertoire from the past, he had a 2-seam fastball as well as a 4 seamer. So yeah, added a 2-seamer to his pitches giving him 4.

[jknott10]

I noticed your twitter pic and AC had some in his blog. Are these fake twitters? How y'all doing this?

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

I noticed your twitter pic and AC had some in his blog. Are these fake twitters? How y'all doing this?

http://lemmetweetthatforyou.com

That's the site to go to, really easy to use and credit AC for that all the way. He showed it to me.

[AC]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

This is gonna be interesting.....

Are you gonna work Bonderman up to what he used to be through a training program? I'm doing that for a few guys.

Bet you Webb plays better than Bondo! :wink:

[TheNumber35]

Re: Holdin' Onto Hope Part 2: Cranes, Trains, and Auto-Explosions (The Show 12)

This is gonna be interesting.....

Are you gonna work Bonderman up to what he used to be through a training program? I'm doing that for a few guys.

Bet you Webb plays better than Bondo! :wink:

I bet your wrong about Webb versus Bondo first off. And as to my plans for him, for now he'll be pitching in AAA. Probably be there for the first half of the season at the minimum. If someone gets traded/hurt and I feel like he's ready, he'll get the call

I'd say at the latest he cracks the bigs in 2014. But that's a total ballpark, shot in the dark.