Same old &*&%$ Astro's bullpen

[Jimcs50]

Astros are 0-2 because of their sorry bullpen. AGAIN!! They spend money on acquiring Carlos Lee and do nothing to improve their %$$$%% bullpen who cost them countless games last year.

Lidge is a headcase and needs to be sent to AA ball for a year and the rest of the sorry asses(Wheeler) needs to be sent along with him.


I am sick of this crap...I watch the Astros play great defense and pitch a gem for 7-8 innings and what do they do? They give the ball to the relievers and they blow it over and over again and again.

:bang

[degenerate_gambler]

It's enough to make me miss Billy Wagner.

[tlongII]

The M's are 2 and 0 baby!

[AFBlue]

Don't worry Jim....I don't think there's a single ballclub in the NL that has a set, good pitching staff.

[T Park]

Very true Phat.

If Carpenter had a better showing sunday, and hadn't developed the elbow swelling, the Cardinals would be the closest.



Lidge is a headcase thats been proven, but Wheeler is a stud, don't dump too much on him.

[leemajors]

wheeler is good, there was no reason not to keep him in on Monday. garner gives players way too many chances sometimes. biggio should NOT be leading off, especially if everett is batting second. lidge, well, lidge.

[Jimcs50]

wheeler is good, there was no reason not to keep him in on Monday. garner gives players way too many chances sometimes. biggio should NOT be leading off, especially if everett is batting second. lidge, well, lidge.


I never can figure Garner out.

Case in point:

He starts Scott over Lane when Pittsburgh starts a lefty pitcher.

He starts Lane over Scott when Pittsburgh starts a righty pitcher.


Now, Scott hits a HR against the lefty in game 1and Lane goes yard against the righty last night.

Now how does that make sense, did Garner just get lucky there?

Stay tuned for more questionable decisions...there will be plenty.

[leemajors]

scott was out with an elbow injury last night, i do know that.

[Jimcs50]

scott was out with an elbow injury last night, i do know that.


I want Scott to get 450-500 at bats one year to see what he can do.

[T Park]

lefty right matchup just sitting here looking at it.

La Russa does the same thing with Chris Duncan and Preston Wilson.

[leemajors]

imo, scott is better overall than lane except maybe defensively. scott can hit lefties or righties and deserves the majority of the starts. i also have no idea what garner is thinking a lot of the time, esp with the bullpen.

[yavozerb]

Speakin of the SOS, my rangers look like its gonna be a long year!!

[T Park]

imo, scott is better overall than lane except maybe defensively. scott can hit lefties or righties and deserves the majority of the starts. i also have no idea what garner is thinking a lot of the time, esp with the bullpen

Jason Lane, is a mystery to me, how he is on the darn big league team. How does Garner keep putting him out there? hes not huge defensive specialist, his hitting is mediocre to bad.

Why wouldn't you play the youngster who has a history of freakin hitting.

[leemajors]

swept by the pirates!

[Jimcs50]

How the fuck is this possible???

[T Park]

light me up lidge strikes again :)

[K-State Spur]

At least your pen didn't blow a 5 run lead to the Yankees yesterday. If the Birds hadn't bounced back today and won, that might have been their season.

[T Park]

The highlight of the day was Lidge trying to brushback Yadier Molina near the friggen head, then the very next pitch, Yadier blasts one to the gap in left.

Way to go Yadi.

[midgetonadonkey]

Lidge is a fucking joke as a closer. Giving up 5 runs in a completely non-pressure situation when they are already 5 down. That homer he gave up to Pujols in the playoffs a while back completely fucked with his head.

Billy Wagner>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Lidge

[T Park]

To lidge's defense, it was a stupid move by Garner to bring him in.

Closers to do well usually have the adrenaline going, have the juices flowing, all the cliches.

Today the game was over after the 8th inning, and a guy like Borkowski should've been brought in.

Not lidge.


Don't put it on lidge.

He actually had good stuff, he just couldn't throw the slider and others for strikes.

The fastball at one time got up to friggen 97.

Unreal.

[leemajors]

To lidge's defense, it was a stupid move by Garner to bring him in.

Closers to do well usually have the adrenaline going, have the juices flowing, all the cliches.

Today the game was over after the 8th inning, and a guy like Borkowski should've been brought in.

Not lidge.


Don't put it on lidge.

He actually had good stuff, he just couldn't throw the slider and others for strikes.

The fastball at one time got up to friggen 97.

Unreal.

lidge has lost the edge on his slider and has not been able to locate his fastball (which has great velocity) for well over a year now. he is either wild or up in the zone with his fastball and slider. there is no reason he should be given the ball, ever, until he gets some measure of control back. it's not like hasn't had to come back from anything before, he had major surgery on his arm and clawed his way back into the majors. tonight, with them down in the hole he could have built up some measure of confidence, but dude is done for the forseeable future. this happens to closers, they should just move on until he proves himself either as a setup man or in the minors.

[T Park]

Bring him on over to the Cardinals.

Dave Duncan would have him as the lights out guy again in no time :)

[degenerate_gambler]

Jason Lane, is a mystery to me, how he is on the darn big league team. How does Garner keep putting him out there? hes not huge defensive specialist, his hitting is mediocre to bad.


Jason Lane's got some compromising pics of Garner or Drayton with a farm animal or something.

Dude sucks, period.

Fucker never met a strike out he didn't like.

[Melmart1]

Can Lidge be optioned to the minors at this point? I don't pay a ton of attention to the Astros, so I don't know what the team's options are regarding sending him to AAA or something. But it seems like that would be the best course of action for them. He obviously needs to get his head together, and the minors is the best way to do it, imho. He has been shitty for more than a season now and if the Astros hope to compete they can't be trotting him out to blow the game for them.

He has been given every chance in the world, time to take some (possibly) drastic measures. He is way to young to be 'done' yet, he can still be an asset of the Astros find a way to 'fix' him.

[degenerate_gambler]

Can Lidge be optioned to the minors at this point? I don't pay a ton of attention to the Astros, so I don't know what the team's options are regarding sending him to AAA or something. But it seems like that would be the best course of action for them. He obviously needs to get his head together, and the minors is the best way to do it, imho. He has been shitty for more than a season now and if the Astros hope to compete they can't be trotting him out to blow the game for them.

He has been given every chance in the world, time to take some (possibly) drastic measures. He is way to young to be 'done' yet, he can still be an asset of the Astros find a way to 'fix' him.


I think a change of scenery would be the best thing for him and the Astros at this point.

[T Park]

just read somewhere that Wheeler has replaced him as the closer.

[leemajors]

Can Lidge be optioned to the minors at this point? I don't pay a ton of attention to the Astros, so I don't know what the team's options are regarding sending him to AAA or something. But it seems like that would be the best course of action for them. He obviously needs to get his head together, and the minors is the best way to do it, imho. He has been shitty for more than a season now and if the Astros hope to compete they can't be trotting him out to blow the game for them.

He has been given every chance in the world, time to take some (possibly) drastic measures. He is way to young to be 'done' yet, he can still be an asset of the Astros find a way to 'fix' him.

lidge would have to clear waivers to be reassigned to the minors. that wouldn't happen.

[Jimcs50]

lidge would have to clear waivers to be reassigned to the minors. that wouldn't happen.



To think, the Rangers wanted to trade Hank Blalock this Spring to Houston for Lidge, and the Astros turned him down.

Now please explain how a player such as Lidge can be untradable and still only be one lousy blown save away from being demoted, to where he is now worthless in trade value?????

This is horrible management IMO. Can you imagine having Hank playing 3rd base, and batting 4th or 5th in the Astros lineup? That would have been the potion that Houston has been needing for their anemic offense.

Imagine the possibilities:

Blalock at 3rd, Ensberg at 1st and Berkman in the outfield, and you do not have to have that unholy platooning of Lane and Scott going on.

:bang

[leemajors]

i would rather have berkman at first, it's his natural position. i would rather just jettison ensberg in that sort of scenario.

[Spurminator]

It's early. The starting pitching looks great right now, so all we need is a return to normalcy with the bullpen and better hitting. I expect things to even out over time. I think we're in good shape this year.

[leemajors]

White was like a goalie in the seventh. He took a line drive off his stomach, picked up the ball and threw Michael Barrett out at first. He then grabbed DeRosa's liner to end the inning.

hah.

[Horry For 3!]

Right now, Lidge & Wheeler are fuckin up. Wheeler gave up 2 runs when Stros were up 4-0.

[T Park]

Blalock at 3rd, Ensberg at 1st and Berkman in the outfield

bring that on.

Berkman was lost in the outfield.

[K-State Spur]

Right now, Lidge & Wheeler are fuckin up. Wheeler gave up 2 runs when Stros were up 4-0.

Well, there is a reason nobody was banging down Houston's door to trade for Wheeler to be there closer when Lidge had the job locked up.

Closers are overrated anyways, but if Houston's going to have any long term success at the back-end of their pen, Lidge needs to get right.

[Jimcs50]

bring that on.

Berkman was lost in the outfield.

He made only 3 errors all year in the outfield. I am not saying that he is Jim Edmonds in quality, but if Manny can play left field, then Berkman can play out there too, especially if they had Blalock's 90- 100 RBIs in the lineup.

[leemajors]

nobody does it like sara lee!

[leemajors]

nobody does it like sara lee!

qft.

[leemajors]

damn a come from behind win!

[degenerate_gambler]

damn a come from behind win!


and a way from behind win at that.

[midgetonadonkey]

Lidge just game up a 3 run blast when he came into the 9th with a 4 run lead.

Fuck Lidge!! :pctoss

[midgetonadonkey]

And now he give up a 2 out double. :pctoss

[midgetonadonkey]

They just yanked him. Gardner should've never put that fucking scrub in.

[dallaskd]

trade lidge.

[Jimcs50]

trade lidge.

to who?

Who wants him? They had 2 offers in Spring Training. One from Boston and one from Texas. Now, he is worthless.

[midgetonadonkey]

Wasn't Blaylock offered by the Rangers?

They should've taken that in a heartbeat.

[K-State Spur]

Ensberg > Blalock