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*Astroday Extra* April 22, 2003
The life of a big-league ballplayer is unquestionably sweet. Starting at the major-league minimum salary of $300,000 a year and stretching all the way into the millions of dollars that many players make, the possibilities for seeking and finding pleasure in a city like New York are endless. Should one wish to forego spending one's personal income by cash or credit card, there is still meal money, too, doled out by the clubs for each road trip--a substantial sum, although it doesn't go as far as you might think in Manhattan, unless you know where to look. Still, a trip to New York is a venture most ballplayers will relish every year, and to have a day off there, as the Astros did Monday, is very heaven. Actually, the Astros had pretty close to two days off there after the flight in from Milwaukee, yesterday and today--a double day, if you will, to rest and relax and recover their strength in the land where the myth surrounding the "inventor" of baseball, Alexander Doubleday, got its start. On this Tuesday night, the Astros had a bit of real history in which to participate, their 500th game against the New York Mets since the two franchises entered the National League together in 1962. Houston marked the moment by pounding out five doubles among their twelve hits and getting six innings of three-hit ball from Tim Redding on the way to the team's 280th all-time win against the Mets, 6-2 in front of more or less 32,000 quiet fans at Shea Stadium. Houston started early against forty-year-old right-hander David Cone, a man trying to recapture some of his past glory as well as one last really nice paycheck. Craig Biggio walked to lead off the game--only the second walk he has drawn this season--and, two outs later, Jeff Kent doubled hard to LF for the first RBI of the game. Orlando Merced followed Kent two-bagger with one of his own, a shot that got over the head of Roger Cedeno in CF, scoring Kent, and bringing boos to Cedeno's ears that didn't let up until Cedeno was lifted from the ballgame in the late going. The Astros didn't score in the second, but they kept generating baserunners. A single and two walks loaded the bases with two out, but Cone caught Jeff Bagwell looking for the third out. If there were good things about an inning in which Houston failed to cross the plate, those good things were that the Astros made Cone *work*, and that the Houston lineup turned over earlier in the game than New York manager Art Howe would have wished. Cone was removed from the game after he finished the second inning with a sore right hip, and the Mets called upon reliever Jae Weong See. See has to be given some credit, I believe, for coming into the game and giving New York some solid long relief. The Astros got to him for a run on two hits in the third, when Richard Hidalgo, launched a home run deep into the LF bullpen and Brad Ausmus followed with a single, and they whacked him around for two runs and four hits in the fourth, including RBI doubles from Biggio and Bagwell, to boost the score to 5-0. Tim Redding (1-2) took this support and ran with it, doing a fine job tonight. It is true that, like Cone, he ran some deep counts, throwing 92 pitches, 52 of which were strikes, but it is also true that New York couldn't touch his stuff when they had to, and he left the New York fans in the stands with nothing to cheer about. Redding struck out six and walked only two, getting stronger and more efficient as the game went along, capping his night on the hill with a very quick sixth of two grounders and a fly out. The Astros added their final run of the night in the seventh when Kent doubled to RF after one out and Merced singled him home moments later. Brad Lidge overwhelmed the Mets in the seventh and eighth with two perfect innings of relief, striking out four of the six men he faced. Scott Linebrink was given an opportunity to end the game for Houston in the ninth, but he had trouble facing the heart of the Mets order. Mike Piazza rocked him for a one-out home run to RF, and Ty Wigginton followed with a single. With the left-handed Jeromy Burnitz coming up, Jimy Williams made a switch to his lefty closer, Billy Wagner, but even Wagner, in a non-save situation, found it very hard to wrap up the game. Wagner hit Burnitz hard with a pitch, got a 1-3 tap out by Rey Sanchez, but walked pinch-hitter Jay Bell, to load the bases and bring up T. Shinjo with the bases loaded and a suddenly-created chance to tie the game. Wagner seemingly never makes things easy upon himself, his team or his fans, but he got Shinjo here in this tough spot. Shinjo got good wood on a Wagner fastball, but no lift to it; he lined hard to defensive substitute Brian Hunter in LF for the final out, leaving the Astros to celebrate a five-hit performance by their pitching staff, an historically-significant win over the team most closely tied to them in the annals of the major leagues, and another evening and two more days in the greatest, bravest city on earth, where anything is possible and everything will happen, sooner or later. If I were among those lucky souls with time on my hands and money to spend in New York (and that day may come), I'd eat my way through that splendid city, sampling all of the cuisines that, to this point in my life, I've largely only read about. But since I'm already lucky enough to eat every day in one of the best eating cities in America, I'll be content tonight to feast upon victory alone, and hope that the Astros can "double up" Wednesday night in yet another way--collect a second win in the three-game set, when Roy Oswalt matches pitches with left-hander Al Leiter. *** Jimy Williams gambled tonight that Billy Wagner could get through the rest of the ninth inning on a minimum of pitches. Wagner *may* have done so, but that remains to be seen. With Roy Oswalt slated to go Wednesday night, Octavio Dotel may be the man called upon to close out the win if the Astros are that fortunate against Al Leiter, who runs hot and cold against Houston. Scot Linebrink has improved as a relief pitcher, but I *knew* he'd have a tough time getting past the middle of the Mets order. I'd have gone with Ricky Stone or Munro in the ninth. I would like to praise Williams for one thing, though. He made a good call in starting Jose Vizcaino over Julio Lugo at SS. *That* is the way to try to help a veteran out of an 0x17 slump--give him a start. Don't send him up in a game situation where it's either "succeed this once, or fail for your team completely. Vizcaino may or may not be in the lineup Wednesday night, but we will surely see Morgan Ensberg against the lefty Leiter. I doubt, by the way, that we will see Berkman back in the order for that very reason--a left-hander-- even if Berkman is ready. I could be wrong, but I'll bet we won't see Berkman until Thursday at the earliest. The death of former Colt45 and Astros pitcher Chris Zachary from cancer at the age of 59 has saddened me. Zachary was one of the players I had in my mind most strongly as boy, along with fellow pitcher Danny Coombs. Zachary could never quite harness his stuff when he was with Houston, and the teams for which he played were, though competitive, pretty poor. It was only after I became an adult that I began to appreciate what guys like Zachary and Coombs went through to claim a spot on a big-league roster. They did it, not for money (no one got paid in the 60s the way they do today), but for the love of the game. And if I hadn't been so dense as a youngster--focused as I was on mere wins and losses for the Astros--I would have appreciated Zachary at his true worth. Now, it is too late to do that, except to acknowledge him here. One of the players that minor-league expert John Sickels has identified as a "key sleeper" in the Kansas City Royals' system is 2B Ruben Gotay, who is a relation (grandson, I believe) of former Astros 2B Julio Gotay, who played for Houston in the late 1960s. As reported by Sickels, the younger Gotay had a terrific year in 2002 for Class A Burlington (.285/9/83), with nine triples and 42 doubles added to his basic stat line. This season, for the Wilmington BlueRocks of the Carolina League, Gotay is lighting it up again, currently standing fifth in batting in the league, with a .362 average and one homer and 12 RBI. Right behind him is Salem's (and the Astros') own Trevor Mote, hitting .360, with 11 RBI. So, in addition to the young arms the Royals have pressed into service to get them off to a fast start in the AL Central this season (e.g.., Jeremy Affeldt, Mike McDougall), Kansas City is also developing a few position players that could very well help them, this year or next. Their system is nowhere as deep as, say, the Yankees' or the Cubs' is, but the Royals are doing the best they can with limited resources. Mote, by the way, is about the only Salem Avalanche player doing any heavy hitting right now. Salem stands last in the Carolina League in team batting with a .231 average. Even worse, however, are the Lexington Legends, hitting only .207 as a team in the South Atlantic League. The Legends have been much better than that in the two seasons previous to this one, but so far, the lackluster hitting is to blame for their 7-10 record this year. The Lexington team ERA is a respectable 3.70. I noticed in a perusal of the Florida State League standings that RHP Robert Person is scheduled to make what I assume is a rehab start for the Red Sox affiliate Sarasota against Dunedin tonight. Boston, which signed Person back on Feb. 22, could really use this guy for the long-term success of their rotation, to add depth to it and at least *try* to match the veteran depth of the Yankees. I'll try to let you know how he did on Wednesday. Iowa and New Orleans played a doubleheader on Tuesday, with Jared Fernandez and Rodrigo Rosario pitching for the Zs. Think of what it was like for big-league hitters to face Joe Niekro and J.R. Richard in back-to-back games, and you'll grasp what the little Cubs were up against. In game one, the Cubs handled themselves pretty well against Fernandez, rapping out five hits and getting three runs across. The Zs rallied from a 3-1 deficit thanks to a solo pinch- homer in the fifth by lefty-swinging Jon Topolski (a favorite player of mine), but lost anyway, 5-3. RP Nathan Bland, a Rule V draftee of the Astros who hasn't been with New Orleans for more than a week, had to work at it but he kept the Cubs in check after taking over for Fernandez. The Zs put two men on in the sixth, but pinch-hitter Colin Porter flew out to CF. After that, LHP Ken Vining and Kirk Bullinger, a fomer Iowa Cub himself, tried to keep the game within range, but David Kelton singled to make the score 4-2, and former Pirates farmhand Midre Cummmings, with nine prior seasons of big-league experience, doubled in another run. Future Chicago Cub closer Francis Beltran pitched the seventh and struggled a little, giving up hits to Everett and Stanley and faced Jason Lane with the game on the line, but he was up to the task. After surrendering an RBI single to Jason Lane, Beltran got in on C John Buck and popped him out to 3B. Kyle Logan was the last hope for the Zs, with runners at 1B and 3B but he flew out to RF to end it. Think "Octavio Dotel" and you'll have a good picture of Beltran, who earned his second save of the season. OF Henri Stanley kept alive his streak of consecutive games in which he has reached base. He has reached base in all seventeen Zephyrs games this season. And, I might mention, too, that SS Adam Everett has an eight-game hitting streak, after he and his teammates spanked out eleven hits. against Cubs pitching. (The Iowa Cubs' pitching coach, by the way, is ex-Cardinal, ex- Astro, and ex-Dodger Jerry Ruess, who knows what the minor-league life is like, having labored for a number of years at Tulsa, which was a Cardinals' affliliate in the 1960s.) But the Zephyrs gave up twelve hits to Iowa themselves, and their record fell to 8-10 with the loss. The Cubs moved up to 5- 13. In game two, Rodrigo Rosario (2-2) limited the Cubs to only three hits and two walks over 5.2 innings while striking out six, as the Zephyrs won, 4-1. Brandon Puffer came in to relieve Rosario for the last out of the sixth (a strikeout) and bolted the win down in the final inning of the game, the seventh, allowing a two-out double to minor-league vet Phil Hiatt but also getting a quick groundout to 3B, a called strikeout, and a concluding strikeout on Bobby Hill to earn his third save. Adam Everett, in his last at-bat, extended his hitting streak to nine games, and New Orleans scored two insurance runs in that last team at-bat when the Cubs' 2B dropped a pop fly in the sun and 3B David Kelton bobbled the ball on a run-down play at third, allowing Jason Lane to score. The Zs collected nine hits overall in game two and held Iowa to five. New Orleans, now 9-10 on the year and 7-5 on the road trip just finished, picked up a half- game in the PCL East standings on Nashville and will have an off-day on Wednesday before returning to the Crescent City for a nice long homestand starting Thursday. Doug Sessions will start the game Thursday for New Orleans and Robert Ellis who, if memory serves, was in Arizona's system but is now in the Texas Rangers system, will start for the Oklahoma RedHawks. In prior action in the series since my last letter, the Zephyrs defeated the Cubs Monday night 8-2 behind eight solid innings of pitching from RHP Jonathan Johnson (1-2), who allowed only six hits and one walk and retired twelve men in a row from the middle of the game through the seventh inning, before giving up a one-out double to Bobby Hill and a bloop hit in the eighth. Johnson got out of the mess with a strikeout and a pop-up from Midre Cummings. The strikeout to which I refer was Johnson's eighth of the game. Santiago Ramirez came in to pitch the ninth to secure the win, allowed an opening walk, but got an unassisted double play from 1B Royce Huffman to ease the crunch. Saladin walked the next man, continuing the season-long problem with walks from the Zs 'pen, but struck out RF Jackson Melian to end the game. Offensively, the Zephyrs were led by Tripp Cromer, of all people, with four hits out of team's thirteen hits on the night. But Cromer also twisted an ankle in the game and he's now out for awhile. The win improved New Orleans' record to 8-9 and it comes after the Zs shut out Iowa Sunday afternoon in Des Moines, 8-0. Kirk Saarloos rebounded from a tough start the last time out to throw a complete-game shutout this time, allowing only four hits and three walks while striking out five Cubs. Kyle Logan had a homer and two RBI, while Jason Lane drove in two runs and scored one and catcher John Buck scored three runs, batted in one and had two hits. Statistically, 2B Eric Bruntlett is now batting .270 for the season; LF Henri Stanley is hitting .291; Lane is hitting .321; and Buck has raised his average to .283. These are important averages to keep track of even this early in the minor-league season. Lane, Buck, Stanley, and Bruntlett could be key call-ups fairly soon *if* guys on the big club like C Gregg Zaun, OF Brian Hunter, and INF Jose Vizcaino don't start producing big-league numbers on offense or playing big-league defense. Yes, it's *probable* that Buck will be left alone to gain AAA experience, but don't make book on that. If the Shane Reynolds affair taught us anything, it taught us that no roster spot on the big-league level can be taken for granted. Zaun has not shown a decent, accurate arm yet, and the Astros are doing their best to disguise his weakness by pairing him with LHP Jeriome Robertson, whose move to 1B can presumably give Zaun an edge he needs. If so, that edge hasn't materialized so far. I figured that Zaun would get one start a week this season to ensure giving Brad Ausmus a needed day of rest (I'm NOT opposed to resting one's players, especially catchers, as long as the manager picks a good spot to do it.), but it *is* telling that Zaun has been paired with Robertson so far in April. On the Cubs side of the ledger (if we can take a look at an Astros rival for a moment) they are off to that 5-14 start mostly because the talent they used to have (Hee-Seop Choi, Carlos Zambrano) has graduated to the big Chicago Cubs, and the lower-level talent (e.g., 3B David Kelton--seven errors on the season already--RF Jackson Melian and LF Nick Jackson, slated to be Moises Alou's replacement next season in Chicago) hasn't matured yet, even with a second year now at the AAA level. INF Bobby Hill has been up and down with the big club, and he may find it harder to make it back to Chicago since the Cubs brought in Mark Grudzielanek to be either a starting middle infielder or a reserve, but Phil Hiatt might show up in the Windy City this summer because of his bat. The man can hit. Everybody in the Texas League had an off-day Monday, but back on Easter Sunday, Chris Burke went 3x5 with an RBI and the Round Rock Express pounded out 13 hits as a team, but those individual and collective exploits were not enough to prevent El Paso from rallying in the bottom of the eighth for a 6-4 win in El Paso. LHP Greg Miller pitched well, allowing two runs, eught hits and a walk over six innings while striking out five, but Jory Coughenour (1-2) was banged around for four hits and four runs over 1.1 innings of relief and he took the loss. Round Rock is 4-13, in last place in the Western Division, seven games out. Lexington, in SAL play, opened a four-game series against the Asheville Tourists Monday night, and lost 3-1, as Asheville held the Legends to only three hits. Darwin Peguero pitched well for Lexington over 6.2 innings, and the game was scoreless into the seventh, but Asheville scored two runs on four hits in that inning, and held the Legends scoreless until the ninth. The most intriguing game of that four-game set will probably be Thursday's matchup of RHP Derick Grigsby (1-1/3.55) vs RHP Darren Clarke (1-0/2.57). I'll have a report on that one for you and, later this week, I'll have something to say about the Nahville Sounds, the AAA affiliate of the Pirates, off to such a hot start in the PCL. Salem lost on Monday in a tough way, as Kinston scored a run in the bottom of the ninth and two runs in the tenth to win, 7-5. CF Mike Rodriguez went 3x5 (he had half of Salem's six hits), with two RBI and two runs scored. Brandon Roberson continues to pitch well for Salem. He went six innings Monday, scattering five hits and allowing just two runs. He struck out five and walked two. LHP Mark Hamilton (0-2) took the loss. Salem is now 7-8, in third place in the Carolina League's Southern Division, 4.5 games back of the first place Winston-Salem Warthogs, an affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. *** I thought you might be interested to know what Rich Harden is doing since Oakland moved up to AAA Sacramento from AA Midland. Harden, you'll recall, was the pitcher who recently retired 39 Round Rock Express batters in a row over two starts. Since joining the RiverCats in the PCL, Harden is 2-0, with one complete game out of his two starts. He's pitched 12.0 innings and given up four runs and nine hits--not quite as impressive as in AA, but the dominating stuff is still there. He's walked only one and fanned 19 batters. I'd say he's on a pretty quick track to challenge for a lower rotation spot on the Oakland staff next season, or perhaps even to step in later this season if somebody goes down for the Athletics. *** In the big leagues (in games before Tuesday night's action, the Yankees sit atop the AL East at 16-3 with nearly complete mastery over every other club (including the Minnesota Twins), yet the club cannot avoid controversy. Joe Torre has objected to George Steinbrenner's overrule of Torre's decision to send Jose Contreras to AAA Columbus. In most quarters, Steinbrenner's decision is regarded as typical high-handed King Georgeness, while Torre's displeasure is regarded as something understandable and long overdue. The Red Sox are hanging close at three games back (13-6), but there's already separation starting to build between these two clubs and Baltimore, Toronto, and Tampa Bay. In the AL Cemtral, the Royals continue to lead things with a 14-3 record, while the White Sox at 11-8 and the Twins at 9-10 are still struggling to find some consistency. One day after pounding Cleveland on Saturday, my spies in Chicago tell me that the Sox did not look good at all in losing Sunday afternoon to the 6-12 Indians, and they certainly didn't look good on Monday in losing again. In the AL West, Seattle has taken the lead in the standings, but only at 11-8, while Oakland, Anaheim, and even Texas at 10-9, 9-10, and 8-11 are right there behind 'em. In the National League, it's far too early to get excited about Montreal's 11-8 record and its lead in the East. The Braves, who were 4-8 at one point, are now 10-9 and tied with Philly. Florida and the Mets are puttering along at 9-11 and 8-11, but NY, at least, is making a bit of move after a rough opening stretch of the season. In the Central, it does not appear to *me* that any team will run away with the division, but Chicago's early-season pitching has been impressive, at least as long as Mark Prior and Kerry Wood are on the mound. The key for Chicago will be how well Matt Clement develops. If that pitcher remains as inconsistent as he was with Florida, it will be hard for the Cubs to pull away; if he commands his stuff, Chicago will be a threat to win any series it plays. St. Louis needs to get its players back, but that won't happen for a while yet. Houston is engaging in its second straight season of treading first-month water, losing games it should win against division opponents while showing brief signs of being very hard to handle on offense. Pittsburgh is playing without fear, but needs to get Brian Giles back before any of us can say that they will be a serious contender, and now they've lost P Josh Fogg to the DL for a while. Milwaukee and Cincy either do not have enough talent to start with or have lost by injury the talent they need to stay in the race. The only race that appears not to be a race at this point in baseball is the NL West, where the Giants, at 15-3, are going to be hard to catch. The Rockies are a surprise at 12-7, and *some* people are surprised at the Dodgers' 8-11 start; but not I. What Jim Tracy did with that bunch last season was remarkable; I just don't think he can get the collective effort out of the same group this season. Questions remain for LA on the mound, and guys they need (the 35-year- old Brian Jordan, young Adrian Beltre) will have a hard time duplicating their efforts or improving upon them. Arizona is dealing with age and injury, too, but their track record tells me not to give up on 'em. They'll be a threat for the Wild Card. The Padres have interesting young pitching but not enough offense to cause trouble for any team except the Astros as the season moves along. *** An off-topic recommendation of a good television movie to see: USA Network just finished showing its two-part movie "Helen Of Troy." It was very good. If you have cable, I encourage you to check the schedule and catch it when it re-runs (as it surely will.) If you *don't* have cable, don't despair. This movie will almost surely show up on DVD some day soon. It's well worth a rental or a purchase. The recapturing of the passion and the spirit of Homer's *Iliad* was much more involving than I thought it would be, and Sienna Guillory as Helen of Troy was *very* well cast. She does indeed have a beauty that could launch a thousand ships, and not only because of her physical characteristics. She imbues Helen with courage and intelligence, a welcome departure from the demureness with which Helen has previously been depicted on screen. See you tomorrow. During the season, Astroday Extra is published daily and is a real bargain at only $20. This includes the post-season, which we're pretty confident the Astros will be involved in this year. You can pay here with PayPal
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