Thursday, June 02, 2005

Well, the Grand Canyon is still there, and still pretty grand. I'm back from my first river trip of the season; what did I miss?

Humberto Quintero has been called up to replace Raul Chavez, who is out of options and is likely to be released. Sweet! Quintero was hitting .299 with 7 HR and 28 RBI at Round Rock, he's just 25, and he's slated to keep catching Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez, who I guess is our 5th starter now? Is Astacio our long reliever out of the bullpen?

Our OF last night was Chris Burke / Willy Taveras / Todd Self. I like the idea of getting our rookies plenty of playing time, but it seems strange to have a 2B as our LF and a 1B as our RF. If we're going to play Berkman, why not let him play RF and Self play 1B. Actually, why not play Jason Lane? Yes, he's going through a slump, but does he really deserve to lose starts to two rookies who aren't OF's to begin with? Lane's still slugging .450, and he had a big pinch-hit 2 run double last night - let the man play.

I read something before I left that I forgot to talk about - Phil Garner says he doesn't want to 'wear the rookies out' too early in the season. Um, Phil...who's more likely to wear down: a 25 year old rookie or a 39 year old second baseman who has seen his offense drop after the All Star Break for 2 straight years? Give Biggio more days off, especially if Chris Burke is now on the team.

Good to see Lance Berkman is starting to get his swing back a little bit. Although he struck out looking with the bases loaded and 0 outs in the 1st inning, he had a walk and a HR in his next 2 AB's, and he was 2-3 with a walk in yesterday's game. Keep it up, Lance.

Well, that's all for now. Comment on stuff that I've missed these past 10 days, so I can catch up.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Astacio was sent down for Burke, he had been dropped to the bullpen and was still getting drilled. Berkman is still a bit gimpy, isn't running well yet, so having him at 1B is working for now. Self seems pretty athletic. I figure as soon as Lane regains his stroke (his 2B last night may help his confidence), Self & Burke will platoon in LF, with Burke occasionally spelling Biggio at 2B.

Jack said...

Sounds good to me. Sorry to hear Astacio was getting 'drilled' - I thought he showed good control, albeit not electric stuff, in his first few starts. Hope he makes it back soon. I also support the Self / Burke platoon in LF, though I hope Burke does occasionally spell Biggio at 2B. Jason Lane desperately needs playing time. It's hard to regain your stroke if you don't face major league pitching, and it's hard to argue for starting any 2 of Self / Burke / Palmeiro over him.

Anonymous said...

I KEEP HEARING THEY WILL TRADE ROGER CLEMENS TO NEW YORK. I WONDER IF THEY WOULD INCLUDE CRAIG BIGGIO IN THAT TRADE. NEW YORK COULD USE HIM, MAYBE THET WILL GET TO THE WORLD SERIES. I JUST KNOW THAT CHRIS BURKE IS WASTED IN LEFT FIELD. THIS SEASON SEEMS CRAZY TO ME AS THE ASTROS BRING UP ROOKIES AND THEN MOVE THEM TO OTHER SPOTS. MAYBE THEY SHOULD DO JASON LANE A FAVOR AND TRADE HIM TO A TEAM THAT WILL GIVE HIM A CHANCE TO PLAY.