The Surprising Astros; Time For A San Diego Spring Clearance Sale; Sumo Wrestling At The Nats New Ballpark

• Astros 4-Phillies 3:

    In their most successful seasons as a franchise, the Astros have always been built around pitching; this year they tried the opposite route and built an impressive lineup and a top to bottom pitching staff of journeymen (except for Roy Oswalt). Things looked even worse as they released the ineffective veteran Woody Williams after a woeful spring and the Astros, with a new manager and drastically remade roster, were expected to be also-rans this season. Instead, they've played extremely well and are appearing to be a close-knit, opportunistic group that is taking to manager Cecil Cooper's laid back and unique style.
    As of right now and without much attention, their record is 29-22 and they're staying around the top of the NL Central and Wild Card without the usual dominance of Oswalt. In addition to that, their heralded rookie catcher J.R. Towles hasn't hit and Michael Bourn is batting .221. The middle of the Astros lineup is relentless with Lance Berkman (left) playing like an MVP; Miguel Tejada leading on and off the field; Hunter Pence emerging into an All Star and Carlos Lee the RBI machine he's been his whole career. The pitching has been adequate enough to keep the team in games and even though there aren't the marquee names of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte around any longer; and even though the Astros bullpen was dismantled to concentrate on offense, they've done enough to stay competitive. If Oswalt returns to his dominant self and Wandy Rodriguez can come back as well, the Astros may hang around in a winnable division.
     What's been most impressive is manager Cecil Cooper. It's natural for a manager in his first big league job (no matter his minor league or playing experience) to do what is easiest to explain to those that would question a certain strategy, but Cooper has shied away from the imaginary "book" that has doomed many a manager. For example, he has used veteran journeyman Doug Brocail to close games when he's felt it was the right thing to do. On April 15th, closer Jose Valverde blew a game against the Phillies by allowing home runs to Chris Snelling and Pat Burrell; the next night, the Astros were leading 2-1 in the ninth inning when Cooper used Brocail to close the game. This was not intended to punish Valverde, but to give him a breather while assuring him that he was still the Astros closer. The decision worked as Brocail recorded a save, but it could just as easily have blown up in Cooper's face for a number of reasons. The easy thing to do in that situation (and what many managers would have done) would have been to go right back to Valverde amid the shaky logic that "he's my closer; that's his time of the game"; Cooper chose to do what was right instead of what was easier to explain and it worked, just as many of his other moves have worked and as a result, the Astros are hovering around and contending when few thought they were any better than a .500 team. They'll have to beef up their pitching if they want to have any chance at a playoff spot, but as of right now, they look pretty good.

• Reds 7-Padres 2:

    And on the other side of the coin is a team that many picked to possibly win the World Series and now looks (literally) like an expansion team----the San Diego Padres. That lineup was bad enough, but now they've predictably lost Jake Peavy to an arm injury and Chris Young is out indefinitely after getting hit in the face with a line drive.
    *Here's a quote from my book regarding Peavy, which I take no pleasure in having become reality:

    Peavy has a stressful motion that would concern me if I were the Padres management. His arm bullwhips violently and he gives everything he has seemingly on every pitch. Eventually, I think he's going to have some arm problems with that motion; it's only a matter of when.

    Now without two of their top starters, they're reduced to using guys like Wil Ledezma and Shawn Estes (who has pitched surprisingly well, by the way), it's time to start clearing out some veterans that contenders could use. Greg Maddux would probably welcome a trade back to Atlanta and Randy Wolf has pitched well and would attract much interest from pitching-short contenders like the Yankees. I would also listen to offers for Khalil Greene. The Padres are not going to be able to keep up with either the Diamondbacks or the Dodgers in that division (if they were in the NL East or Central, I might suggest they wait until the All Star break to see if things turn around), they may as well start to retool now. And why is Chase Headley still in the minors? Does it make any sense at all to be playing Paul McAnulty and Scott Hairston in left field at this point when there's a hot prospect in Triple A?

• Brewers 5-Nationals 2:

    Dmitri Young hit a little dribbler up the first base line and as Prince Fielder grabbed it and went to tag Young, I swear it looked like two Sumo wrestlers getting ready to square off.

     Please check out and purchase my book The Prince Of New York's 2008 Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com and BN.com.