Jeff Luhnow wasted no time Sunday morning in announcing Oklahoma City Redhawks Manager, Tony DeFrancesco, as the interim manager for the Houston Astros. It’s a choice that seems logical given the fact that most of the young Astros team has spent time recently playing for Tony and there will be a comfort level from the get-go.

DeFrancesco expressed his excitement at the opportunity. “I waited a long time to come to this level and be on a big league staff as a manager,” DeFrancesco said. “I want to be the guy who changes the environment out there.”

He spoke openly of the attitude that can set in and the lack of confidence that can take root when a team is getting beat up on each and every day. If you’ve followed me on twitter during a game or sat near me at a game this season, you’ve heard me express the same concern. Let’s all hope that the clubhouse is a fun and encouraging place from here on out, win or lose.

The search for a permanent manager will begin immediately, according to Luhnow. He made no comments to help uncover the possible list of candidates that’s surely in his head, but did indicate there was no time to wait to begin the hunt.

As for the the other two places on the staff that were vacated late last night, Ty Van Berkleo, also from AAA OKC, as the interim hitting coach and Dan Radison, a special assistant to the GM,  as interim first base coach.

The pressure is off for all three it seems as Luhnow expressed that all three of these gentleman will be with the organization next season (but who knows in what capacity). All are clear on the needs and path of the organization according to the GM.

So what now? Now we watch and see if there’s anything an interim manager can do in six very short baseball weeks to help mature a very, very young club. In the meantime, it’s business as usual for this team as they take on the Arizona Diamondbacks for game three at 1:05pm at Minute Maid Park.

Play ball!

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

In a season where Astros fans just sit and wait for the next traumatic experience, the team will hold a presser tomorrow at 10am to announce the firing of Manager Brad Mills, first base coach, Bobby Meachum, and hitting coach, Mike Barnett.

The late-in-the-season timing may seem odd, but with the front office reorganizing the scouting department and casting some out this past week, perhaps it was just a foretaste of the destruction to come. Most surprising to me? The continued employment of third base coach, Dave Clark, whose head I’d like on a platter for ridiculous calls and direction and the continued employment of pitching coach, Doug Brocail, who was basically just filler after the firing of Brad Arnsberg last season.

Interestingly enough, a couple weeks ago twitter and bloggers were aflutter calling for Mills’ head on a platter, but moments after the story of his firing broke on twitter? Many are proclaiming that the poor man didn’t stand a chance with the roster of minor league misfits masquerading as major leaguers that he was handed to manage.

Meanwhile those in Boston who are begging for the return of Terry Francona to the Red Sox are wondering if Batman’s Robin, Mills, would return with him. If given a season group of truly major league players, a team would likely find Mills to be useful and productive.

It’s true that this is a team full of players who’d never likely get a major league call up if they were on another team, but there have been many occasions when the collective fan base asked, “What the hell?” as Mills made a particularly interesting or ridiculous call – having a player bunt in an odd situation, sitting an everyday player to give a wash up a few more at bats, etc.

No word yet on who will replace all three for the remainder of this record breaking losing season, but odds are we’ll see bench coach, Joe Pettini, take the reins for the remainder of the 2012 season. After all, there’s not much left to manage in Houston.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

Last night when new Astro Francisco “Coco” Cordero blew his first save opportunity with the Astros against the Reds, I thought to myself, “Self, he’s adjusting to a new team, cut him some slack.” Tonight when he blew his SECOND save opportunity, I was not so nice. In fact, I’m pretty sure I dropped a multitude of f-bombs while shaking certain fingers in his general direction.

After an impressive start by Studly Cuddly Budly Norris (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1ER, 1 BB and 7 SO) I was optimistic that the Astros bats could maybe eek out a win.

Optimism in Houston is for fools.

There were other jewels in the night – Jose Altuve went 3-4 and scored a run, Scott Moore was 1-3 with a run and an RBI, J.D. Martinez’s shoulder seems better as he was 2-4 with a run and an RBI – so it wasn’t all depressing….just the ending.

In the top of the ninth, leading 3-2 all the Astros needed was for Coco to get three guys out. But in what seemed like a replay of last night, Drew Stubbs put the kibosh on the win when he doubled on a fly ball to center to send  Xavier Paul and Brandon Phillips home. Jay Bruce would then single off Fernando Abad when Coco got benched and that would be the ballgame….because the Astros didn’t quite have the firepower in the bottom of the ninth.

Blown Save. Again. Shit.

I don’t have high expectations for this ball club. I haven’t since the start of the season. I know what’s going on and the focus isn’t and shouldn’t be the major league club. It’s rebuilding time and that HAS to happen from the bottom up. BUT COME ON! The mistakes these “major league players” are making are little league.

I wish Lou Brown was the GM…he’d make these guys drop and give him 10 every time they screwed up. The games would be like 7 hours long, but perhaps the players would learn a lesson.

Hey Coco…drop and give me 20…you owe us for two nights. And Brad Mills, the next save opportunity that the Astros have, if we see Coco come out to the bump…you can blow me.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

Tomorrow night the Houston Astros start the second half of their season on the road. Yes, that is the Funeral March you hear playing in your head. After all so far the ‘Stros are 24-21 at home (.533) and 9-32 (.220) on the road.

That elusive 10th road win was almost captured on the last road trip when the Astros took the early lead on July 3rd against the Pittsburgh Pirates. I was all ready to yell and scream and buy things in multiples of ten….things like shots…but the Pirates rallied, the Astros fell apart and so we find ourselves as fans here, in this very dark hole, wondering how long it will be until that 10th road win comes.

Last season the 10th road win came at the end of May. So if you’ve been thinking the wait feels longer, it’s because it IS longer.

So why is there such a huge differential between the home and road records? Well, only God knows for certain, but I’ve got my theories. Let’s not forget that this is a young team and young teams are new to a lot of aspects of playing in the majors, like the brutal travel schedule and pace. They’re just getting used to playing at MMP much less in parks they’ve never been to before. Does that excuse it? Hell no. But I think it’s something you have to consider.

Is it a matter of being intimidated? Is it the difference in how they warm up on the road versus at home? Is it weather? Is it the room service at the hotels? Who the hell knows.

But if the wear and tear of the schedule and the travel are an issue…shouldn’t someone be “managing” that differently? Hi, I’m talking to you, Millsie. Tell us, please, what you do differently on the road than you do at home and you’re helping this group of kids become professionals who play the same no matter whose dirt they’re standing on…because if you don’t figure it out soon, you may need to be dusting off your resume.

Of course, that’s not my decision to make, but it’s food for thought, yes? In the meantime, I’ll watch Jordan Lyles tomorrow as he starts in San Francisco. I’ll be cheering for that 10th road win.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

I begged for the bleeding to stop the other day and with a win against the Brewers last night, the Astros have ended their 9 game losing streak. But will the winning thing stick? I don’t think it’s likely for a lot of reasons.

In my house we’ve been joking that the Astros losing streak was because the weeone was at camp, but truth be told, I think the win yesterday had less to do with my daughter’s return and more to do with the insanity of the first inning and the ejection of Zack Greinke. I’m sure you’ve heard the tale or seen the footage by now, but when Greinke and Jose Altuve raced to first, and Altuve was called safe, Greinke spiked the ball in the dirt and was ejected.

I am certain that ejection was responsible for breaking the Astros losing streak.

Now, I’ll give credit where credit is due – the Astros offense was better yesterday than it’s been in a while. They put up 13 hits and attacked the bases full on, giving themselves every possible opportunity to get across home plate  and we hadn’t seen that in a while. Jordan Schafer was 2-4, Altuve 3-4, JD Martinez 3-4, Jed Lowrie 2-4 and Scott Moore hit his 3rd homer in 8 games. The bats were definitely alive. Add to that the 2 stolen bases – one each from Schafer and Altuve and the 2 sac flies from Jason Castro, and you’ve got an offense. Wandy Rodriguez put up another solid starting performance, allowing only 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5 in the 5.1 innings he spent on the bump.

But can the bandaid hold? With today’s series finale against the Brewers being the last game before the break for the All-Star Game, I’ve got to wonder if the turn in the tide yesterday was enough momentum to carry over to a second game? Add to that concern the fact that the Brewers will send Zack Greinke back to the mound today since he only threw 4 pitches yesterday. They’re trying to showcase him before the trade deadline and there was a decent crowd of scouts at Minute Maid Park yesterday who saw much less Greinke than they expected.

I applaud the Astros for taking advantage of yesterday’s events and riding the momentum they were handed in the first inning, but good baseball teams create their own momentum and that’s something this young club hasn’t figured out quite yet. So how long will the bandaid hold? Hopefully at least another game.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

So a road trip where you lose all 7 games is pretty damn painful. Add that other loss and the Houston Astros now find themselves on an 8 game skid. This completely sucks. The last thing you want as the season rolls into All-Star week is bad juju. And yet, all the Astros can find at the moment, is bad juju.

When the pitching is on, the offense stinks. When the offense is on…wait…the offense hasn’t been on lately.

I really can’t blame anything but a lack of offense for this loss-fest happening right now. I was hoping that the trade of Carlos Lee to the Miami Marlins would be seen as change enough to kickstart the team into doing something. After all, they lost their “power hitter.” Everyone should step it up then, right? Apparently not.

So the Houston Astros will return home tonight with their tails between their legs after being swept by the CUBS, yes, I screamed that, and the Pirates. *sigh* What’s a girl to do?

The bright light in this dismal road trip? A little managing by Brad Mills put a smile on my face. When Jordan Schafer had “behavioral issues” on the field during the 2nd inning of game 3 against the Pirates, Mills benched him. He didn’t like what Schafer was doing out there in center field and despite the fact that the move shorted the bench, he did it anyway. Bravo, Brad. I like this style of management. Reward performance, and bench the guys that aren’t following the plan.

Mills did put Schafer back in the game last night to pinch hit, but Schafer struck out (which would stop happening if he would change his walk-up music from “Call Me Maybe” and yes, I know they don’t get their music on the road, but the carryover affect of that song seems particularly lethal).

So the Houston nine play at home tonight, in rainbow should jerseys. Can they stop the bleeding? Damn, I hope so.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

The Houston Astros fell to the…gulp…San Diego Padres 8-7 in ten innings last night at Minute Maid Park.

What is it about extra innings that scare this team? It’s like at the end of nine, they just shut down. *sigh* It’s frustrating. They’re 0-6 in extra inning games this season. Yep. That’s good for dead last in extras in the majors.

In 41 at bats in extra innings, the Astros have exactly 0 runs off 6 hits. They’re batting .146. It’s a bit embarrassing. And that’s coming from a chick that cheered them on all season last year.

I’m not sure what the deal is. Perhaps it’s the age of the team? Of course I use the same rationale for why they battle through every game. They’re young and scrappy, so one would think that the chance to win in extras would be right up their alley. But alas, that is not the case.

So, Brad Mills, what’s the deal? At this point I don’t even need a win in extras, I would just like to see a run, please.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

I can’t help it. When I think of the Cleveland Indians, I think of the movie Major League. I’m sure I’m not the only one. But this is real life and this weekend as the Indians take the field at Minute Maid Park to face the Houston Astros, there will be no Wild Thing on the mound. There will be no Jake Taylor or Roger Dorn. Instead, it will be a 36-32 Indian team looking to improve that record while facing the 28-41 ‘Stros.

Here’s a look at the match ups:

Friday – 6/22/2012: Ubaldo Jimenez (6-5, 5.00 ERA) v. Lucas Harrell (6-5, 5.07 ERA) – On paper, this is the most even of the pitching match ups of this series. Harrell has struggled in his last two starts putting up an 8.37 ERA. His last quality start was June 5th against the Cardinals, but he’s faltered since, allowing 5 runs in each of his last two games. Jimenez hasn’t exactly been on top of his game either as he allowed four runs in his last start, giving up seven hits in those six innings. Tonight will likely come down to whose head is on straight and who can hit their spots.

Saturday – 6/23/2012: Jeanmar Gomez (4-6, 4.95 ERA) v. Dallas Keuchel (0-0, 1.80 ERA) – While Gomez allowed five hits on Sunday facing Pittsburgh, his team didn’t help by committing three errors. He hasn’t gone more than five innings in his last four starts and endurance may be the biggest factor for him thus far. Meanwhile, the Astros will put up lefty Dallas Keuchel who made his first big league start Sunday against Texas. He allowed 4 hits and 1 run in the five innings he pitched that day, and got little run support from his team. Keuchel will be gunning to prove he’s truly big league material, taking advantage of the fact that Bud Norris is on the DL.

Sunday – 6/24/12″ Derek Lowe (7-5, 4.30 ERA) v. J.A. Happ (5-7, 5.15 ERA) – Although his record doesn’t necessarily reflect it, Happ has been a very consistent starter for Houston this season, pitching 9 quality starts thus far. At home he’s 5-4 with a 4.08 ERA this season and I expect he’ll be equally as consistent this weekend. Lowe’s last start was a rocky one as he allowed 7 runs on 11 hits agains the Reds. Key for him thus far? Run support. The Indians have been able to put up the numbers behind this pitcher, but he’s not gotten a win since June 1. This might just be the most fun pitching matchup to watch this weekend.

The biggest challenge for the Astros coming into this series? Hitting. When the bats are hot, the Astros find themselves leading ballgames, but they often struggle when the bases are loaded, leaving more players on base in a game than any fan would like to see. Brad Mills constant adjustment of the batting order hasn’t hit on a winning lineup quite yet and I’m not sure with such a young team that it ever will this season.

Despite the disappointing two losses against the Royals, I suspect this scrappy team from Houston will find a way to squeeze two wins out of the Indians to take another series at home. I’ll be at MMP for all three, screaming my head off and praying I’m right.

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

At the beginning of the season it felt a little bit like the Houston Astros could only win on get-away days…you know, the day that they were about to leave to head to another city? That seemed to have rectified itself, but this series against the Giants left me thinking that perhaps they haven’t completely bucked that trend.

Yesterday, the Astros beat the San Francisco Giants 6-3 to avoid being swept in the city by the bay. Turns out that my gut feeling about them winning the last game in a series more often than losing the last game in a series was just flat wrong. Ten times this season they won the final game and eleven time this season they lost the final game. There is absolutely nothing special about the last game.

Well, what about if they’re flying away that day. Does that make a difference? Apparently it does. When the Astros are going to board a plane after the game to travel? They’re 5-11. Yep. Another reason for the Astros to just play games at home. I’m not sure if there’s any rhyme or reason for why that is, but my guess is age and maturity of the team.

Over time a ballplayer adapts to a big league schedule and travel demands and pressure. It doesn’t happen overnight and with a 25 man roster that’s average age is currently getting younger, there are going to be some maturity pains and perhaps this is one of those.

So, if I ran the team what would I do about it? Brad Mills has been quoted saying that he thinks the higher number of road losses may have something to do with how much workout time that the team gets before a game, so if that’s the case,I’d structure things a bit different. Give these kids a regimented schedule to follow that is the same on the road and off, getting on plane or in a car or on a bus. A sense of normalcy helps to take location out of the equation. Of course, we’ll always have the road-weary games where they play a night game, travel then play a day game the very next day and you sort of expect the heavy eyelids for those.

I’m not a team insider and I don’t know how the schedule differs at home games, away games and get-away days, but I’d guess that there’s a little something to the impact that the differences have. Do I think this is a major issue and THAT big of a deal? Nope…but it was a little something for me to think about on a delayed flight last night between Chicago and Houston. If I was antsy and tired and just plain worn out from traveling twice in one week….made me consider the prospect of having to play baseball today….and there’s no way I could do it!

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.

How could I not come talk to you about that ridiculousness of a baseball game last night? I mean, really. It started off like any normal game and then J.A. struggled big time from the third inning on. I kept glancing over at the bullpen thinking certainly they’d kick him to the curb soon, but, nope…he stayed put a lot longer than I expected.

As the game spiraled out of control a few notable things happened that are worth mentioning and commenting on.

#1 – David Carpenter got his first major league hit of his career. It was a single hit with one of Bud Norris’ bat. We had a good time with the whole “Carpenter is batting 1.000″ in my group last night. It’s the little things that keep me smiling in a blow out like that one!

#2 – Carlos Correa was introduced to the crowd at Minute Maid Park after signing on the dotted line to come play in the Astros organization earlier in the day. He walked by me a couple of times and from what I could tell, he was joined by his parents, brother, sister (who is cute as a button!), grandparents and all the pomp and circumstance of the Astros front office. He was greeted with a standing ovation by the crowd at MMP, Astros and Cards fans alike. You can’t help but cheer for a 17 year old kid that worked his ass off to make a dream come true. It’s the stuff Disney films are made of. Welcome, Carlos….and best of luck to you.

#3 – In the top of the ninth there were some…um…changes to the positions being played. Jason Castro was brought in to catch because Chris Snyder was moved to first because Brett Wallace was moved to third because Chris Johnson was moved to right field because….well, because Brian Bogusevic was going to pitch.

Yep, you read it right. Makes sense – why should Mills burn a reliever’s arm when the game’s a blow out? He has a great right fielder who happened to be drafted out of Tulane as….a pitcher. And frankly, Bogie didn’t do too shabby. His first fastball? 88mph. For a guy who hasn’t been throwing bullpens, I was impressed. Of course, so were the Cards batters who knocked in a couple more including a homer off of him. Meh…at that point – who cared? It was a novelty little league game being played at a big league park.

So, the Astros lost this series to the Cards, but that just evened the season series up since the Astros took the last one. There are a couple more meetings of these two teams while they’re in the same division….should be fun. I doubt we’ll see Bogie pitch in any of those games though!

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the tortured Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her ridiculous ramblings on sports, vodka and the weeone on twitter @agirlinthesouth.