How to Respond to Last Night's Loss

Ok, so obviously I have no say in what happens to the Astros as they move forward from last night's debacle, but here's what I would do:

1) Send Jimmy Paredes back down to AAA where, if we're serious about making him an outfielder, he plays nowhere but the outfield EVERY DAY. Just pencil him in there: Paredes, 9. While the error was inexcusable last night, let's face it, the guy was a second baseman, we turned him into a third baseman, then last year he was a second baseman again, and now he's looking like an outfielder. Yes, playing the outfield is easier than playing the infield, but a guy's still not going to be good at it without playing time. Paredes can hit, but letting him learn the outfield at the Major League Level isn't going to do anything but mess up his confidence.

2) Keep Jake Elmore around. Elmore is versatile, and he can hit, run, doesn't strike out... In three games in which he spelled Jose Altuve, he basically was Jose Altuve hitting safely in every game and batting .364 (4/11). Reminds me of a faster Mark Loretta.

3) Make Brandon Barnes our every day centerfielder, shift Grossman to left and put J.D. Martinez out in right. Barnes is the only outfielder on the roster hitting above .240. And he's hitting .320. He's our best defensive outfielder, he runs well, he has some pop. LET HIM PLAY.

4) Move Hector Ambriz out of the 8th inning slot. Hector gets a bad wrap for what's really only amounted to two blown leads, but I don't see him as an 8th inning guy. I'd like to see him flipped with Paul Clemens or Travis Blackley and take some of those 6th inning responsibilities until he can harness his stuff. The only pitcher in the Astros pen with worse numbers is Edgar Gonzalez, there's no way he should be in there with the game on the line right now.

5) Less over-managing. I appreciate that we're playing the percentages, but I'd like to see our lefties face more than just lefties. Travis Blackley was an effective Major League starter last year, and Wesley Wright sports the lowest ERA in the bullpen. They don't have to come out of the game every time they're due to face a right-handed hitter.

Random Thoughts on Things We Can Do Better

1) While I understand Bo Porter wants to settle on a lineup instead of continuing to play musical chairs with his outfielders, I can't say I'm thrilled that he selected J.D. Martinez over Trevor Crowe or Brandon Barnes. While J.D. hits for power, and he's had a good series against Detroit so far (4/7 with 3 doubles in the first two games), he doesn't strike me as someone who's ever going to be anything more than mediocre. He doesn't run well, he's not a plus defender, he doesn't draw many walks... I guess I'm not sure why he opted to go that direction instead of giving more playing time to Barnes (the only outfielder we have hitting over .250), or Crowe (switch-hitter with good speed). The only thing I can think of is that J.D. is getting one last chance to prove he's able to play at this level, and playing him every day is the only real way to assess that. And if that's the case, I'm all right with it as I get that this season is about more than just winning games. Still, I think Barnes and Crowe both deserve a chance to show they're more than role players... And as I write that J.D. hits a 3-run homer off Scherzer. Still not in love with the guy's game though.

2) I get that our pitchers are young, but you CANNOT give up a Grand Slam on an 0-2 pitch. That's horrendous. I pitched through college, and I know nothing would fire up my coach like a bad 0-2 pitch. And by bad, I mean good. That pitch is supposed to be unhittable. It's a pitcher's opportunity to waste a pitch and get a guy to chase. Bud Norris, our ace, giving up a Grand Slam on an 0-2 pitch in a 3-2 game is not good. It put a close game out of reach and as the ace, it's his job to keep us in games like that and give us a chance to win. It's little things like that that separate us from the good teams in the AL, and until we can learn to execute, we're going to continue to struggle.

3) We're 40 games into the season and Carlos Pena has THREE home runs. That concerns me. I think it's great that he draws walks, and that he's scoring runs, but how's a guy like that only have three homers? Carlos Corporan has three homers. MARWIN GONZALEZ has three homers. If Pena's not going to hit for power, he shouldn't be hitting in those power spots in the lineup. Let him hit #2, we know he can bunt.

4) What's Paul Clemens got to do to get some meaningful innings? Yes, he's been great as the long man in the pen, but why not use his talents at the back end of the bullpen. Let Cisnero and Edgar Gonzalez be the long relievers. Ambriz hasn't been BAD, but he hasn't been good enough that we shouldn't be looking at other options there. I think Clemens has that power arm that could be a game changer for us, and I just feel like we're wasting him on mop-up duty right now.

5) Couple roster decisions looming as Josh Fields continues his rehab and Justin Maxwell gets closer to a return from his broken hand. My gut tells me Cisnero and J.D. are the two on the hot seat. Cisnero hasn't necessarily done any wrong, but he's not getting any work, which means he isn't going to be getting any better. He's young enough that he still needs to get innings so when Fields comes back, it makes sense that he'd go unless Ambriz just completely implodes. For the outfielders, I think it has to be J.D. unless he keeps hitting the way he has in Detroit in which case it probably means Crowe is the odd man out. At least there's competition. It's not much, but it's a start.

Humber Out, Edgar Back In

After last night's Philip Humber meltdown, you kinda saw this move coming. After starting the season 0-8 with a 9.59 ERA in 9 appearances, Humber was designated for assignment today. The Astros didn't waste any time filling his roster spot either as they signed free agent Edgar Gonzalez who was recently released by Toronto. If the name sounds familiar, it's because Gonzalez made the Astros out of Spring Training, but was designated for assignment before appearing in a game this season to make room for Travis Blackley. Now he's back and will help out in long relief for the Astros. How long he stays on the roster remains to be seen as Josh Fields is getting closer to returning from injury. Gonzalez made 4 starts for AAA Buffalo going 1-0 with a 5.49 ERA, and 3 relief appearances for the Jays in which he posted a 7.88 ERA (7 runs in 8 innings). Gonzalez made 6 starts for the Astros a year ago, going 3-1 with a 5.04 ERA. He beat the Pirates, Reds and Brewers. Is he "the answer" to our problems? Probably not. But, he buys us some more time so we don't have to rush the kids (Cosart, Wojo, etc.)

Some other notes from last night:

1) I really like Trevor Crowe. He did three things last night that stood out for me:

*A two-strike base hit off of closer Joe Nathan in the 9th inning to drive in a run
*Threw out Ian Kinsler at home on a would-be sacrifice fly
*Went from 1st to 3rd on a wild pitch in the 9th inning to set up a run

A switch hitter with good speed, Crowe present us with some interesting possibilities moving forward. A former first round pick, it'd be great if he finally put things together.

2) Erik Bedard was terrific yesterday and deserved to win that game. He left with a 3-1 lead in the 6th after fanning 7 and allowing just 4 hits in 5+ innings. His most impressive inning was the 5th in which he worked out of a 1st and 3rd no out jam without allowing a run. That's the Bedard we thought we were getting when we signed him. He's had an interesting season so far. Let me break it down for you in three parts:

Part 1 (Apps 1-2): 7 1/3 IP 2 H 0 ER 2 BB 5 K - 0.00 ERA 0.55 WHIP
Part 2 (Apps 3-6): 11 1/3 IP 21 H 17 ER 10 BB 16 K - 13.50 ERA 2.74 WHIP
Part 3 (Apps 7-8): 8 1/3 IP 6 H 3 ER 3 BB 10 K - 3.24 ERA 1.08 WHIP

Now if we could just harness parts 1 and 3 and keep THAT guy going forward...

3) Nice to see Sweet Matty D go yard twice against Darvish yesterday getting his first 2 home runs of the year and notching his first career multi-homer game.

4) Jose Cisnero pitched well in relief of Humber allowing a Lance Berkman home run in 3 1/3 innings of work. While Cisnero has pitched well for the most part during his brief tenure in Houston, I think he's the likely guy to get sent back down when Josh Fields returns. It's not a knock on Cisnero's performance at all, but being a young guy, it's more important for him to get work than it is for him to sit on the bench in Houston.

Cisnero Debut a Success, but That's About It

The losses are starting to pile up again, but the truth is, there's not a lot of shame in getting shut down by King Felix. It would've been nicer to see Peacock go a little deeper into the game, but short outings are apparently all the rage right now. At least we got a great outing from Jose Cisnero in his debut. Some more thoughts on last night's game:

1) Brad Peacock had his worst outing of the season allowing 3 homers in 4 1/3 innings skyrocketing his ERA up to 7.50. After striking out 7 his last time out, Peacock managed just 1 strikeout last night, and once again just threw too many pitches. Unfortunately, no one else is pitching any better right now, so it's hard to justify making any sort of move.

2) Jose Cisnero was terrific last night in relief logging 3 2/3 scoreless innings in his Major League debut. He becomes the latest in a long line of long relievers that have appeared on the Astros roster this year: Edgar Gonzalez, Travis Blackley, Dallas Keuchel, Paul Clemens, Brett Oberholtzer, and now Cisnero. If nothing else, Cisnero has earned the right to stick around a bit. The kid has pretty good stuff, so many he can help out sooner than expected. I just wish we could have a game where our best player wasn't one of our long relievers.

3) All or Nothing Ankiel crushed another homer last night raising his average up to .237. Ankiel is now  9 for 38 with 24 strikeouts. He has two singles, two doubles and five home runs for a team high 11 runs batted in. When he puts the ball in play, he's batting .643. Simply ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is that he still hasn't drawn a walk in 2013.

4) Jose Veras tossed a scoreless inning in relief last night, but once again allowed a hit so he's now gone 8 straight outings without retiring the side in order. On the plus side, he has gone 3 straight appearances without allowing a run after blowing that save against Albert Pujols and the Angels.

5) Jason Castro had his 3rd multi-hit performance in the last 4 games with a pair of doubles and a walk raising his average up to .242. Unfortunately, the walk was just his 2nd of the year which is way down from his walk rate a year ago. He's not the only one this applies to on this roster, but Astro hitters need to work more counts, and draw more walks. Cutting down on the strikeouts would be nice too. Yes, I'm talking about you, Chris Carter. Carter picked up a hat trick last night giving him 31 strikeouts in 70 at bats this season. No good.

6) Jose Altuve went 1 for 4 to extend his hitting streak to 8 games and he's now hitting .377 on the year. The only other Astro hitting over .300 right now is reserve outfielder Brandon Barnes (.333 - 8/24).

Harrell Roughed up as Streak Hits 5

Lucas Harrell had far from his best stuff today as the A's lit him up, knocking him out of the game before he could get through 5 innings. Harrell struggled with his control, and when he did find the plate, the A's made him pay. At the end of the day, he'd walked five and conceded three home runs. Not exactly what we were hoping for. Some other thoughts and observations from Game 6:

1) Brett Wallace looks like he's lost all confidence at the plate. He went 0 for 3 today with 2 more strikeouts bringing his season totals to 1 hit in 17 at bats with 13 strikeouts. You can tell he's all up in his head right now, and that's a tough thing to break out of. He needs a hit, and he needs it bad. The only guy who probably needs one worse right now is Rick Ankiel who fanned for the 10th time in his last 11 at bats as a pinch hitter in the 9th. If they keep it up, you have to wonder how long they'll last, especially when you've got guys like Brandon Laird (6/16 with 6 rbis), Jake Elmore (7/16), Jimmy Paredes (8/15 with 3 doubles), and Robbie Grossman (5/13 with 5 walks) off to fast starts in AAA.

2) Am I the only one who's wondering where the heck is Josh Fields? With our bullpen logging crazy innings, our Rule 5 draft pick has faced just 2 hitters. Surprised he didn't get work yesterday or today, especially when you consider we were extending Dallas Keuchel and Xavier Cedeno beyond two innings of work.

3) Speaking of Xavier Cedeno, it was nice to see him have some better luck today. After facing seven hitters on Friday night and retiring ZERO, he tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings today. His control was still a bit shaky, but he appeared to be able to work through some of that and he got stronger as he went. It was also nice to see a 1-2-3 inning from Hector Ambriz, especially after allowing 7 hits in his previous 2 innings of work.

4) Carlos Corporan and Brandon Barnes each logged their first hits of the season today meaning every position player on the roster now has at least one hit this year. It was nice to actually see Barnes in the lineup today too, especially with the way Ankiel has been struggling.

5) I'd say I was concerned about Jose Veras being our closer, but the way we're playing right now, we don't really need a closer, so I guess it doesn't matter. Veras has yet to record a 1-2-3 inning in three appearances this year and he's allowed 7 baserunners (5 hits, 2 walks).

6) Nice to see Chris Carter finally get an extra base hit. I think it's funny how everyone was ragging on Justin Maxwell this spring, when it's been Carter who's been ice cold out of the gates. Carter, who legged out a triple to left center in the 8th, is now 2 for 22 with 11 strikeouts. Conversely, Maxwell, who only had 9 hits all spring, is 8 for 21 and has scored a team high 5 runs. Meanwhile, our leadoff hitter Jose Altuve has scored ZERO. Figure that one out.

7) Edgar Gonzalez, who was designated for assignment following the trade for Travis Blackley, didn't clear waivers and is headed for Toronto. Gonzalez, who did not pitch for Houston this year, was 3-1 with a 5.04 ERA in 6 starts in 2012.

8) Next up for the Astros, a West Coast road trip that includes stops in Seattle, L.A., and Oakland. Things aren't going to get any easier for this club, they're just going to have to keep fighting. Eventually the hits will start dropping in there. As frustrating as it is, it's still really early in the season. There's lots of time for the boys to turn things around.