It's been a rough year for the Astros. They are, after all, in the only division in recent memory in which a .500 team might actually take first, and they're stuck in the back of the pack with the Pirates. They've since fired GM Tim Purpura and manager Phil Garner, and are building a new city, hopefully with the brick and mortar of rock and roll. (I have no idea what that means.)
Of all the candidates for the job, [Bob] Watson is the only one who truly knows what it is to love Houston, to love the Houston Astros and to have literally shed his blood and sweat trying to bring a winning product to Houston fans on the field and in the front office.
"I have really a real feeling for the Houston Astros," he said. "As you know, and hopefully our readers know, that in 1964 I signed with then the Colt .45s, so I go a way back. I've been with this organization in a number of capacities. And I left to go to New York, and bottom line is I left a job undone. I'd like to culminate my career of some 43 years as we speak with bringing in and putting this club where it needs to be.
"And I think the other reason is I think Drayton McLane deserves to have a championship club. He has worked so hard and tirelessly. He has spent a lot of his money and energy trying to make this a championship city, and I'd like to help him accomplish that."
So there you have it. Whether or not you think the Purpura firing was a bit of overkill -- the point was made with Garner, who didn't seem to be having much fun anymore anyway -- it's good to see that the Astros have at least somebody waiting in the wings. People, including former employees, actually want to work there! Who knew?
Always lost in the background of incidents like the Phil Garner firing are the guys that replace the guys that used to be in charge. In general, interim manager's and GMs come from one of two stocks, they're either proven guys that ownership is going to use to steer the ship until a suitable replacement can be found (like Astros' GM Tim Purpura's interim replacement, Tal Smith) or they're new guys hoping to find a permanent job. Cecil Cooper falls into the second category.
Cooper's only been a big league coach for two plus years, but he's been working various organizational jobs and coaching jobs both with the Astros and the Brewers for almost a decade in hopes of getting his shot to manage. And now that it' s here, he's excited about it:
"Like Drayton always says, 'Are you ready to be a champion?' " Cooper said. "Well, I'm ready to be a champion. I've been to the World Series as a player and as a coach, and now I want to try it as a manager. I've gone from a complete spectrum today from being all nervous and upset and disappointed, because in some ways I feel responsible (for the firing of Garner)."
He's certainly in a tough situation. No matter what he does to finish out this season, it's possible whoever the 'Stros hire as a permanent GM is going to want someone other than Cooper to manage the team. Still, this is a big audition for Cooper because if he does well, other teams will notice, even if he doesn't keep the Houston job. He doesn't need to look any further than his old boss to know that there's always going to be jobs open somewhere else (Houston was Garner's third, and probably not last, managerial stop).
I know it's become increasing passé to post YouTube videos of Kige Ramsey, (so much so that I really debated posting this or not) but the dude hopped on the Phil Garner firing so quick (seriously, news just came down on this) that I'd like to reward the guy for his breaking news abilities.
So here Kige is with his take on the Astros canning Garner. It's what we've come to expect from the guy: straightforward honesty. Previously at FanHouse: Garner and Purpura Canned in Houston
You're know your favorite team is really bad if it can't even contend in the NL Central. To that end, it shouldn't be a huge surprise for fans in Houston to see that the Astros have decided to clean house. The blog Crawfish Boxes had the scoop earlier today and it's since been confirmed by the team's official website:
The team made a formal announcement at a 2 p.m. CT press conference at Minute Maid Park.
Considering this was Purpura's first job as a general manager, he's probably a little worried about his future, but Garner has been down this path before. In fact, Garner got the Astros job in the first place by taking over for Jimy Williams, who was fired midway through the 2004 season. Since then, Garner has posted a winning record, but ownership clearly had higher expectations than a 58-73 record thus far this season.
This is Cecil Cooper's first chance to manage a big league team, but he did serve as a Triple-A manager in 2003 and 2004 before joining the Astros' coaching staff in 2005. Smith, on the other hand, is a seasoned vet in the midst of his 50th year as a MLB exec. He was serving as the team's president of baseball operations before taking on the interim GM role, and he'll likely play a large role in determining who gets the permanent job this winter.
Take that National League Rookie of the Year Award, engrave Ryan Braun's name in it, and wrap it up for the awards ceremony now. Any chance that Hunter Pence had of catching Braun for the award pretty much went out the window today when the Astros said they would have him rehab his wrist injury (which has kept him out since July 23rd) slowly. From the Houston Chronicle:
"He's not ready yet," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "But he was pretty sore (Wednesday). He had a big workout the day before. So he was sore, but he had a good bounce-back day (Thursday). He's probably ready to go, but it won't do us any good right now."
Garner is right on this one, I think. I know the Astros are technically still in the NL Central race at 7.5 games out, but they'd have to leapfrog over three teams in the Central to make it to the top, which isn't terribly likely at this point in the season. There's just no point in risking getting a player like Pence seriously hurt for a season that's already mostly lost, even if it does cost him a shot at Rookie of the Year.
Everyone knows that the scariest thing in sports for any manager or general manager is the "vote of confidence" from the owner. If the owner has to publicly defend someone, chances are pretty good that person isn't doing a good job. Well, today Phil Garner and Tim Purpura both got their second vote of confidence from Drayton McLane of the summer. From the Houston Chronicle:
"As far as I'm concerned, there's no speculation (about firings)," McLane said. "We sure wish the team was playing better. We all sat this morning for over an hour and talked about the team and what prospects we have of improving and how we can move the lineup to enhance that and get players responding better, but as far as concerns for their jobs, no."
A second vote of confidence is pretty much unprecedented in sports, but only because most people get fired shortly after the first. Then again, the rest of the article is full of McLane talking about how he thinks that the fourteen games under .500 Astros are going to make a push for the second half and he's not even sure they're going to be sellers at the trade deadline yet, so it's entirely possible that he's just insane. And yeah, for the record, I think Garner and Purpura will both be canned either before or shortly after the end of the 2007 season.
And I don't mean Lisa Gray's Astros blog, which is, in fact, a fun place to be. I mean the literal dugout of the Astros. The NL Central proved itself once again to be the most fun division on the planet where teams are so good that everyone on every team loves each other... oh wait, I mean the frustrations of another NL Central team boiled over last night when newly demoted ex-closer Dan Wheeler shoved Chris Sampson across the dugout when Sampson tried to console Wheeler after a bad inning.
Still burning up inside over an eighth inning somehow turned disastrous and wound up costing the Astros a much-needed victory Wednesday night, reliever Dan Wheeler was in no mood for consolation.
Astros starter Chris Sampson found that out when he tried to approach Wheeler shortly after the reliever had given up four runs en route to suffering the loss in the Oakland Athletics' 7-3 victory at Minute Maid Park.
Wheeler is, of course, very sorry about the whole thing.
"There's nothing going on between Chris and I," Wheeler said. "I love Chris. That was just frustration on my part. That's all it was. That's really all. I'm a professional, and I should be better than that. I take full responsibility."
Phil Garner actually said he didn't notice the fight until he saw footage of it after the game. A manager with Garner's tenuous job security probably shouldn't be admitting that he's not paying attention to squabbling players in the dugout. Well, unless he's trying to get fired. Given the way this season has gone, maybe he is trying to get fired.
Astros reliever Brad Lidge returned to Wrigley Field on Monday for the first time since the April series in which manager Phil Garner informed him that he had been removed as closer after one week of the season.
Lidge is making a transition back into the closer's role as Garner reserves the right to go with Dan Wheeler depending on circumstances, but it's clear Lidge was pleased to be at the Wrigley Field under a better frame of mind than he had on April 9 when he was told Wheeler would close.
"It's kind of I guess reverse circumstances," he said Monday before the Astros made up a game that was snowed out in April 11. "It's definitely been a good, long stretch, I guess.
Since May 1st, Lidge has only allowed two earned runs in 21 and 1/3 innings. He's struck out 28 batters in those innings and unintentionally walked only six. He's only given up eight hits in that span. On one hand, he's got to be the closer. Everyone else in that pen, current closer Dan Wheeler included, has been pretty bad. On the other hand, he's been such a mess at the end of games the past two years, is there any Astro fan out there that won't be peeing their pants when he takes the mound in a save situation?
You'd think a guy that's actively appealing a two-game suspension -- incurred when he ran back on the field after being ejected from the game -- would learn to tone things down a bit. You know, sit a few plays out. Take a deep breath. Etc.
Nope, not Lance Berkman. He has the fiery passion that no man can restrain, not even himself:
Berkman, who is appealing a two-game suspension announced Friday by major league baseball for his outburst following an ejection earlier this week, was tossed again in the fourth inning for arguing a called third strike with home plate umpire Sam Holbrook. Berkman had to be stopped from going back to the plate by Carlos Lee as Garner argued. Moments later Garner was also ejected.
"I clearly wasn't talking to him. I was talking to Garner," Berkman said. "I didn't realize you could get thrown out of a game for talking to your manager, but apparently you can. ... I'm more baffled than I am upset."
"We are 2-0 when I get ejected," Berkman said, trying to inject some humor.
Sorry, Lance, but if you're appealing a suspension, and you seem to be making some very clear overtures at the ump after a called third strike, you can probably expect some sort of retribution. Might be best to stop talking for a while, lest your team continue winning without you on the field, causing them to reconsider just how much they need you after all.
Perhaps that's going a bit far. The Astros will win again, maybe as soon as toinght. But still, the Astros dropped a 4-3 decision to the Reds last night, their second loss to the worst team in the National League, and have now lost ten in a row. Here are some fun quotes and stats from the Houston Chronicle about the streak:
"That's how many? Ten? And really in crappy fashion," manager Phil Garner said. "We have not hit the ball. We went a bunch of times without scoring runs when (Roger Clemens) was pitching, and I called that stupid, but this is bordering on stupid now, too. This is really ridiculous."
The Astros have given up more runs (72) during their losing streak than they have hits (71). They managed just six hits, including two doubles, against Reds starter Aaron Harang, who needed only 105 pitches to throw his ninth career complete game.
Garner is very much on the hot-seat at this point. Both he and general manager Tim Purpurra have gotten "votes of confidence" from owner Drayton McLane, which pretty much means that they're screwed sooner rather than later. Garner's semi-explosion there sounds like a guy that knows he's on his was out the door and one would think heads would almost have to roll after a ten game losing streak in which a team has given up more runs than they have hits. I guess we'll just have to see.
The Reds, to their credit, have now won three games in a row. After a terrible stretch in May, they're close to escaping the cellar in both the National League and the NL Central. If they keep this up, they'll be in second place in the division in no time.
It's been a rough year for the Astros. They are, after all, in the only division in recent memory in which a .500 team might actually take first, and they're stuck in the back of the pack with the Pirates. They've since fired GM Tim Purpura and manager Phil Garner, and are building a new city, hopefully with the brick and mortar of rock and roll. (I have no idea what that means.) 
Always lost in the background of incidents like the 
You're know your favorite team is really bad if it can't even contend in the NL Central. To that end, it shouldn't be a huge surprise for fans in Houston to see that the Astros have decided to clean house. The blog 
Take that National League Rookie of the Year Award, engrave Ryan Braun's name in it, and wrap it up for the awards ceremony now. Any chance that Hunter Pence had of catching Braun for the award pretty much went out the window today when the Astros said they would have him rehab his wrist injury (which has kept him out since July 23rd) slowly. 
Everyone knows that the scariest thing in sports for any manager or general manager is the "vote of confidence" from the owner. If the owner has to publicly defend someone, chances are pretty good that person isn't doing a good job. Well, today 
Does anyone think this is that bright of an idea? Then again, does 
You'd think a guy that's 
Perhaps that's going a bit far. The Astros will win again, maybe as soon as toinght. But still, the Astros dropped a 4-3 decision to the Reds last night, their second loss to the worst team in the National League, and have now lost ten in a row. 
