Oswalt

[03flht2]

Not only is he missing today's start, he will also miss next Tuesday also. Not sounding good right now
houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080705&content_id=3070075&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

[iowafan]

It would help now if Chacon hadn't gone ballistic. So lets pull up some more dregs from the minor leagues.

[iowafan]

Wandy Rodriguez is not pitching well right now. We have no pitchers that are really pitching well unless Oswalt returns from his bout with the clap and comes back smoking. But you know how sheep can take it out of you. I don't know, we had hogs on our farm. And they were not friendly hogs. So I cannot really tell you what Roy is going through. I am in cattle country now, and so please do not send Roy to recuperate here. These cattle have horns and not only that they kick soccer balls out in the pastures. You don't want to get in the way of one of those kicks. In fact even a flying soccer ball can do a world of damage, ask my wife.

[03flht2]

Ask your wife about flying soccer balls, I am having trouble staying on my chair and typing this from laughing so hard

[iowafan]

Actually I would probably prefer that you didn't ask my wife that. She could probably do more damage than that soccer ball ever did. I hear Roy is back with the team. They have good anti-hip abducter strain medicines these days. I just hope they don't steroid us in the face later.

[vega51]

Tell you the truth, who cares if Oswalt can or can't pitch.

This year is over, lets see what Cassell and others can do because we already know what Backe can't do.

This team needs 2 starters and a number 8 inning reliever, I see Brocail as a number 7 inning guy.

[iowafan]

I would play Oswalt but try every possible way to keep him out of an injury situation. For instance I don't think they need to pitch him 7,8 innings because his ego tells him he wants to win the game. At this point the game means nothing to the team.

[vega51]

We need to see what guys like Hernandez, Cassell, Backe, Wandy and Sampson can do.

Same with Mohler.

Maybe Sampson can be our number 8 inning guy.

I don't know, this team is awful, bad and old, very bad combination.

Look at the Rays, the remind me so much of the OLD ASTROS ( of course, we had a guy named Hunk who went to Tampa). Teh rotation is great, and they are 26 or under, with great defense. Guys able to work counts and give you GOOD at bats.

This team, bad pitching, bad defense, old and guys that have no idea what they are doing at the plate.

And the guys that do don't play, Erstad and Loretta.

I think Wade has made some good moves but was crazy when he tought he could compete with our rotation.

Our rotation is making our bullpen look worse than they are.

Our hitters, it looks as if the only 2 hitters able to get walks are Wigginton and Berkman.

To have Bourn and Matsui hitting 1 and 2 is a CRIME.

[iowafan]

I agree that we need to see what these people can do. And the crazy thing to do now though is to stretch or overwork any of them. I think Backe needs a rest. He hasn't pitched well for awhile. Matsui walks virtually the same as Wiggenton. Probably Matsui is paid more to do that. The only one that has better walk ratio is Berkman except Towles walks. But Towles strikes out often too at least in the little time that he has been at the plate this year.

[vega51]

problem with matsui is a lot of errors, low OBP specially considering he has NO power.

[iowafan]

Has he always had lots of errors, I am a little too lazy to check. I do think Loretta is nearly as good an option.

[iowafan]

Oswalt is back. Tomorrow we will find out if his hip is still abducted and strained or whether it has been rejuvanated into the hip that we remember from years back that hip that used to be an ace hip. Hip or not, Roy, it is good to have whatever we have left of you back and that which is still abducted we will have to get along without.

[iowafan]

Man, we can't hit Redding. The lineup is so c*ckeyed today it is pathetic. I suppose they lead off Pence because he is so fast and steals so many bases. He gets a single and he is almost always caught trying to steal second. What a stupid manager. What a stupid owner. What a bunch of morons.