July 31 at 4pm Eastern Time, also known as the MLB Trade Deadline, is always an interesting time of year. Fans wait to see if their favorite players remain on their favorite team or did they become a commodity that was bought or sold in some other team’s quest to make the playoffs. At no other time in baseball am I more aware of the fact that  baseball is one of the most entertaining games of chess.

The moves, made by the General Managers of each team, are a part of the strategy to get them where they wish to be…The World Series. Now whether the goal is THIS World Series or a future one is dependent upon each individual team’s situation. The Houston Astros are shooting for a World Series somewhere in the not too immediate future.

Jeff Luhnow is now leading what is a refreshingly huge commitment to the rebuilding of this ball club. If you’ve been an Astros fan or follower for more than five minutes, you are completely aware of the need to strip this team as much as possible and start building from the farm up. We talked about it last year, but didn’t see it happen as the team was bandaided and patched and no real amount of talent was brought into the minor league system.

This year? It’s whole new ballgame. I saw on twitter several times as this deadline approached that the Houston Astros were willing to deal any player on the roster who was over 5’5″ tall. Yes, Mr. Altuve, you are the piece they seem to be building around.

When you go to a game now, you likely find yourself asking, “Who’s on First?” and not meaning to start a comedy routine. Let’s take a look at what moves were made and who’s playing where for the next two months of baseball.

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Who’s Gone

Carlos Lee – traded to the Miami Marlins for minor leaguers Matt Dominguez (infielder) and Rob Rasmussen (LHP).
Brandon Lyon, J.A. Happ, David Carpenter – traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Francisco Cordero (RHP), Ben Francisco (OF), and minor leaguers Joe Musgrove ( RHP), Asher Wojciechowski (RHP), David Rollins (LHP), Carlos Perez (C), and the fun PTBNL (player to be named later).
Brett Myers - traded to the Chicago White Sox. The Astros acquired Matt Heidenreich (RHP) and Blair Walters (LHP) and PTBNL.
Wandy Rodriguez - traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Astros acquired minor leaguers Rudy Owens (LHP), Colton Cain (LHP) and Robbie Grossman (OF).
Chris Johnson - traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Astros acquired minor leaguers matt Krauss (OF) and Bobby Borchering (OF).

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Who’s on First?

Whew! That was a busy trade season. But I have to say that this is an exciting time to be an Astros fan. Yes, these are a LOT of changes. Yes, they are losing a LOT of games, but this is how rebuilding works when it’s done right. Severe and cost cutting trades, strong and smart drafts – they’re the name of the game. And Luhnow and company are rebuilding for the long term. (fingers crossed)

It’s going to take a couple of years to see if this plan works, but I think this team is on the right track.

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.

When the Houston Astros arrived in San Diego late Sunday night from San Francisco, they were 9-35 on the road. That record was haunting them, greeting them in every new city, laughing silently as they continued to fall.

San Diego fans were not kind to the Astros last night during the first game of the series as “Astros suck!” was screamed on numerous occasions, sometimes by the 7 year old kid sitting next to me. But the gods of baseball were kind to the visiting team. They decided last night was the night to end the suffering and torment so they blessed J. A. Happ with the pitching of his past and donned Jose Altuve the prince of the run.

And with steady and reliable pitching from Happ, two runs from Altuve, both courtesy of the bat of Scott Moore, and the short ninth inning from Brett Myers, the Astros held on 2-0 to end their road losing streak giving them that long-awaited tenth road victory.

It could have just been time, it could have been who they were playing, but I choose to believe that it was because the weeone and I were in Petco Park that the Astros won. Of course, we’ll be at Tuesday and Wednesday’s games here in sunny California as well as Friday and Saturday’s in Phoenix…so we’ll see if we’re the real good luck charm or not.

Regardless of why they won, I hope they walked away last night reminded of what it feels like to win on the road, of what it feels like to not hang your head in shame. And I pray to the gods of baseball that they find a way to keep feeling THAT.

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.

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.

I called it. Okay, all of baseball called it, but the Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs last night 5-1. You know what I liked the best about it? In each of the three games in this series the Astros were out hit by the Cubs…and they still won.

In fact, in the series, the Cubs had a total of 27 hits to the Astros 21 and the run count? Cubs scored 6 and the Astros scored 15. Doing more with less? Perhaps, or perhaps it’s just improving plate discipline for the Astros. In total Houston drew 11 walks during this series while Chicago only drew 5. Was that the difference? Maybe.

Regardless, the Astros did, in general, play pretty good baseball through this series. JD Martinez hopefully got his mojo back between he game winning RBI on Tuesday and the triple and three RBIs last night. I hope he’s turned the corner because when he’s on, he’s a lot of fun to watch swing a bat.

The pitching was outstanding, both starting and bullpen. Let’s hope that trend continues as they head out on the road tomorrow to face the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers. Root! Root! Root!

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.

Jed Lowrie's been spending a nice amount of time on base for the Astros.

I love when the Cubs come to Minute Maid Park. There’s a few things that I adore about it. First, the Cubs fans come out in droves. Generally that annoys me at a game, but this year in particular, the opportunity to watch Cubs fans cry at MMP is more than I can resist smiling at. Yep, I know, I’m a bit evil.

But the Cubs are the “Astros of last season” sitting in the bottom of the NL Central standings and that’s just a whole lot of fun for an Astros fan, right? Admit it…you love it too.

The match-ups for this series aren’t too shabby either. The timing in the starting rotations means we’ll see some fun baseball. But when push comes to shove, I expect the Astros to take 2 of these 3 games and really in my heart of hearts I think they should sweep this team of baby bears.

JA Happ’s coming in with momentum after his last start, the same for Cudly Studly Budly Norris and Wandy Rodriguez has to want to come out and prove that the hit parade by the Rangers last Friday was a fluke and he’s still the pitcher we all know he is. After all, at home, Wandy’s ERA is a very impressive 1.52. Come on, Wandy, we know you want to kick some ass this week.

Jordan Schafer will still be sitting out and isn’t expected to play on Monday thanks to that lower leg strain, but Jose Altuve once again proved Sunday he can hit in any spot you stick him and did a fine job as the leadoff hitter. If Schafer was missed anywhere it was in centerfield where Justin Maxwell isn’t quite as quick (or used to Tal’s hill) defensively. That should only affect Monday and possibly Tuesday.

But on the other hand….let me tell ya’ story ’bout a man named Jed…yep, that SS is finding a nice groove at the plate (.273/.354/.461) and I look for him to continue to hit well and make the plays down the middle.

In the meantime, I’ll be waiting on JD Martinez to lose the “lost” look he’s been sporting at the plate and find his swing again. And I’ll be waiting for Brian Bogusevic to fix the little things that seem to be keeping him off-balance from time to time at the plate as well. If the Astros can get those two kicking it old school, I think the Astros will continue to be the scrappy little brother who just won’t give up.

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.

A new face for many fans, Kyle Weiland will be a part of the starting rotation.

During tonight’s game between the Houston Astros and their AA affiliate Corpus Christi Hooks some pitching information was released. By the way, the Astros won, 6-2.

Jordan Lyles has been optioned to AAA Oklahoma City. I think this is for the best. He needs some time to marinate, work on that curveball and just mature in his talent. Fear not, Astros fans, it won’t be long before we see Jordan in an Astros jersey on a regular basis. With the use of another option, the Astros have one remaining on Lyles.

On the side of who’s staying? The Astros announced some guys who will make their first MLB Opening Day roster – David Carpenter, Rhiner Cruz, Lucas Harrell, Fernando (Fernie – I swear it’s what his wife calls him) Rodriguez & Kyle Weiland. Congratulations all around. I’m pleased to see several of those names on the list.

So if everyone keeps their current pitching schedule the starting rotation would be Wandy Rodriguez, Harrell, Bud Norris, JA Happ, and Weiland.

So there we have it, folks. Houston has a starting rotation. 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.

It’s Monday morning and what else do I have to do, but wonder about the Houston Astros 2012 starting lineup? Well, plenty, but it seems like a good use of my time at the moment. I mean, we’re days away from the Home Opener and these are pressing issues in my little brain.

Every time I think I have the starting rotation solidified in my head, someone has a shaky start or a flat out bad one, calling into question everything I thought I knew to be true. So let’s take a look at who the contenders likely still are what this Houston chick thinks the rotation could look like.

The Contenders:

Wandy Rodriguez – RHP – Wandy’s a definite and is likely to be the start of the rotation. He’s been nothing short of consistent for this club in recent years. His W/L record, like anyone pitching for Houston lately is not impressive, but he’s had little defensive and run support to back him up. He’ll likely be the Opening Day pitcher (despite the fact that I think Bud Norris deserves a shot) and there’s plenty of reasons to state emphatically that he deserves it. His ST hasn’t been ideal, but Wandy typically turns it on when he needs to and will be a reliable top of the rotation guy for 2012.

Bud Norris - RHP – Studly Cuddly Budly is the guy that the Astros are hoping to build their pitching around in the future, and he’s taken that seriously so far in ST. He’s 2-1 with a 5.00 ERA thus far, walking a few more than he’d probably like, but still managing to strike out 5 in 9 innings pitched. Bud’s made no secret of his desire to go deeper into games this season and is working up to being a 200 inning pitcher. I look for Bud to be the number 2 guy in the rotation this year.

JA Happ – LHP – Happ struggled at times last season, spending a little time in AAA getting the Burt Hooten treatment in OKC. He came back at the end of the season to wow us all with vast improvements. I’m not sure that what we’ve seen of him in ST this year has been as good as he was at the end of 2011, but it’s vastly better than he was at the start of 2011. I’ll take it. He’s 1-1 with a 6.59 ERA in Spring Training and despite walking 7 in 13.2 innings, I believe his control is better that it was in 2011. He’ll be a middle of the rotation starter and I look for him to regain his late-2011 stride when the season starts.

Kyle Weiland – RHP- In my humble opinion, Weiland has earned a spot in the starting rotation. With a 2-0 record for Spring Training and a mere 2.25 ERA he’s shown he’s got the stuff to lead this team from the mound. He had a few issues with command in one of his starts, but he still managed to pull out decants outings in those situations. In my mind, he’s the 4th piece of the rotation puzzle.

So who is the 5th starter? It comes down to Livan Hernandez, Jordan Lyles and Zach Duke.

Livan Hernandez - RHP – The “old man” of the contenders, Livan Hernandez has made a name for himself in the MLB for being able to go the distance in games. His ability to eat innings alone makes him an attractive pitcher. He’s 4-4 with a 4.38 ERA in Spring Training and I believe he’ll be the 5th guy in the Astros rotation. His pitching thus far in camp has been consistent with what he’s done historically in the majors and there’s a lot to be said for consistency in the rotation, especially where the Astros are concerned.

Jordan Lyles – RHP – I’ve made no secret of the fact that despite his incredible maturity, I think Lyles needs a bit more time down in the minors. Despite the fact that I think he’ll start the season in AAA, I’d take him over Zach Duke at this point. For one, he’s a future star for the Astros if he’s properly mentored and developed, but also his command seems to be a bit better. He’ll likely start in the minors, but I also think we’re likely to see him pitch at Minute Maid Park sometime this season.

Zach Duke – LHP – Duke has struggled in Spring Training, going 4-3 with an 11.30 ERA. In 14 innings he’s walked 6 while striking out 8. But that ERA shows just how hittable he is. I think with some time in AAA, he could prove to be a great back up for when someone in the rotation is injured or traded. Is it possible he could spend some time in the bullpen? Absolutely.

Like any of my predictions (or guesses) it remains to be seen what the front office and Brad Mills will do prior to Opening Day. Regardless of their choices, what we are seeing in the options of pitchers is far better than what we have seen. There is hope and potential in this crop and I’m banking on the organization to be forward thinking as they make these decisions.

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 what has to be the least exciting off season ever, I have more unexciting news. The Houston Astros gave JA Happ a one year deal today worth. $2.35 million as well as potential for bonus tied to awards.

That’s a nice chunk of change for a guy who pitched the worst season of his professional career in 2011. Last season Happ made $474,000, making the raise a 494% increase. I want to not do my job well and get that sort of raise.

I will say this on Happ’s behalf, last year’s 6-15, 5.35 ERA season was hopefully an aberration in a career that saw an average ERA that hung closer to 3.oo prior to a very rough year. In fact, after spending some time in AAA during the month of August he returned to the big club to start in six more games, posting a 2.43 ERA in those games to wrap up the season.

I had a conversation with a friend over Christmas about the fact that I really hoped whatever was challenging Happ last season was worked out over the winter and that we’d all get a chance to see the pitcher we know Happ really is in 2012. Now, with a salary bump the size of Texas, I don’t just hope for that reappearance of good pitching, I expect it.

As for the only other arbitration-eligible player without a new contract, Jed Lowrie, he was not able to reach an agreement with the Astros prior to the deadline. We know he’ll be in Houston, but as for what he’ll cost, who knows. We’ll see if they are able to come to some sort of agreement prior to a February arbitration hearing.

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.

It’s that time…you know, the time when I get to start burying myself in the numbers from the 2011 season and trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. I’m a science geek, after all, and one of the things that keeps me addicted to baseball is the stats. In my crazy noggin’ it seems there just HAS to be a statistic to explain it all. There’s a magic number that once I find it, will explain the horrid season.

I know, I know…this season was a long time coming and made over the course of a lot of bad decisions and then bad playing and then more bad decisions and then the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball jacking around with a potential new owner. I know all of this, intellectually, but my head has a hard time convincing my broken heart.

So we’ll blame the stat analysis on the heart and a little less on the head this year.

What’s below is a graphic representation of the Battery Combinations from the 2011 season. For those unfamiliar with the term, Battery simply put is the pitcher and catcher together. I looked up why they call it that (again, GEEK!) and according to Wikipedia:

The use of the word ‘battery’ in baseball was first coined by Henry Chadwick in the 1860s in reference to the firepower of a team’s pitching staff and inspired by the artillery batteries then in use in the American Civil War.^[2] Later, the term evolved to indicate the combined effectiveness of pitcher and catcher.

Who knew? Back to the graphic below. It shows pitching appearances and which catcher caught each pitcher. You will find trends in the season and can start to see how Brad Mills makes catcher decisions in the lineup.

So what I notice right off the bat is that Brett Myers and JA Happ were caught almost exclusively by Humberto Quintero. Q was the senior catcher on the team this year and has a penchant for catching base stealers, so it’s not surprising we’d see him used more often. He’s also a better hitter than the other choices available. The only time we see other combinations with those pitchers is essentially the time that Q was out on the DL with that high ankle sprain – which I should mention that he got because he’s an awesome catcher that wouldn’t back down.

Now, you can’t expect Q to catch everyone all the time, so you see Wandy Rodriguez caught almost exclusively by the “non-Q” all season, whether that was JR Towles or Carlos Corporan at the time. Quintero is thrown in from time to time, and my guess would be that was Mills making decisions based on the opponent sometimes, not the pitcher.

We also see that Bud Norris’ time on the mound is split pretty closely between Q and the “non-Q” catcher. It made sense that Aneury Rodriguez and Jordan Lyles were caught by Corporan more than Quintero as that’s who they threw to in the minors. If you’re going to start a 20 year old kid, it’s probably a good idea to have him pitch initially into a glove and toward a guy he’s comfortable with already. But you notice that as the season progresses, Lyles is caught by Q. My guess? Lyles got to know him. Comfort didn’t play as big a role in the decision at this point, rather putting in the best catcher that night was more important.

What I find interesting about this is that if I had to name the Astros two most vulnerable positions in terms of lack of depth this season, I’d say pitching and catching. We all know this starting rotation had about 2 1/2 actual starting rotation guys on it. And with Jason Castro out for the whole season this year, the catcher position was thin and our catchers took an incredible beating. Were there combinations and timing of combinations that would have been better? Oh how I wish I could say yes, but frankly, the team was just thin in these pivotal spots this year. No way around that.

There’s nothing magical about any of this information, it’s more fascinating than awe-inspiring. It’s interesting to see. If you watch a lot of games these are trends that you probably already picked up on, but it’s nice to have a graphic representation of it if nothing else.

I promise not to shove things like this down your throat all season, but I will admit that I like it. I can’t help it, it’s the geek in me.

*Thanks to Tara Franey, the lead writer for C-ing Red, the Aerys Sports home of the Cincinnati Reds, for the great chart!

Terri Schlather (AGirlintheSouth) is the Senior Houston Astros Writer for Aerys Sports. You can read her Astros blog at www.talesfromthejuicebox.com, email her at agirlinthesouth@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @agirlinthesouth.