Or as hurler turned father of medicine, Hippo Vaughn Crates, once said…“What medicines do not heal, the Berkman will; what the Berkman does not heal, fire will.”
The biggest statement Roy Oswalt made on Wednesday night at Busch Stadium wasn’t with his best fastball or his knee-buckling curve.
Not long after the Astros lost their third consecutive game in a 3-2 setback to the Cardinals that dropped them a season-high 12 games out of first place in the National League Central, Oswalt stood by his locker and let his frustrations show.
“The team atmosphere is dead,” Oswalt said. “There’s no fire. When you get on a streak, you come to the field expecting to win. When you’re dead, you come to the field just hoping to get by. That’s what it feels like around the clubhouse—just a dead feeling. We’ve got so far behind it seems like we’re going through the motions as a team. You’ve got to play it out. You’ve got to play all the games.”
...Oswalt has seen enough.
“We’ve got an owner that pays us money to come to play, and we’ve got to play,” he said. “If you don’t give 100 percent, you’re cheating him and cheating the fans of Houston. You’ve got to come out there and give everything you’ve got, and if you don’t, you’re cheating the fans coming to pay [to watch us play] the game.”
Oswalt, who saw his five-game winning streak snapped, would like to see a change in atmosphere over the final 36 games.
“It starts from the top,” he said. “You’ve got to get it from the top, to come in and get us going. You can’t play dead, especially against guys in first place. They’re going to come out and give you everything you’ve got, and you’ve got to play it out.”
Repoz
Posted: August 27, 2009 at 03:05 PM |
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1. Barry`s_Lazy_Boy Posted: August 27, 2009 at 03:31 PM (#3306634)They should wait until after today's game: the Cardinals apparently are the only team that hasn't been able to figure out Brian Moehler.
When someone 'we' don't like says something like this they are a loud-mouth malcontent.
Which is Oswalt? I'm leaning towards the former.
I very definately lean toward the former.
I don't think anyone has ever accused oswalt of being a malcontent; not that I've read or heard.
Whats has to beeven more frustrating is that this wasn't seen as the Cards year back in April.
This was the year that the Cubs shot their wad to "buy" a world series.
With the cubbies struggling due to poor GM decisions/injuries, Houston obviously felt thay had a chance.
As a Nationals/Pirates fan, I'd give my left nut to have Oswalt lead my pitching staff!
Besides, I'm old and my left nut barely gets used anymore.
Or something like that.
AO
* It's possible he gets a pass because the entire management team in Houston is largely despised by, well, everyone.
That guy has had one of the most unexpectedly long careers of his generation. Back in 2002 when the Tigers traded him for Noochie Varner and David Espinosa, and then he made 9 starts for the Reds with a 6.02 ERA (43.1 innings; 35 runs allowed; 18 strikeouts) before being released, did anyone think he'd still be in the majors seven years later, let alone still a starting pitcher rather than a reliever?
It was over 10 years ago that he got suspended for scuffing the ball and people thought it might end his career because he couldn't succeed throwing two strikeouts per start without trickery.
I don't follow the NL that closely, so for the last couple of years I had to keep reminding myself that the "B.Moehler" I saw in the boxscores wasn't some rookie named Bobby or Barry, but "that guy who got busted for scuffing the ball". It boggled my mind that he was still out there pitching.
Though, to be fair, I was even more surprised that the "D.Oliver" I saw in the Angels box scores was really Darren Oliver.
As soon as I saw the line about burning Brian Moehler, I wanted to post something. Then I saw these two quotes, and they basically said exactly what I was going to say.
There is no fact of baseball in 2009 that baffles me more than the fact that Brian Moehler is still pitching and actually a member of a team's starting rotation. This surprised me in 2005; it's 2009, and he's still around, and he just keeps surprising me.
I have nothing against the guy. I simply didn't expect him to play for this long. Livan Hernandez was once a great pitcher; Mark Hendrickson is left-handed; Eric Milton and Kris Benson never fulfilled their potential. Even Steve Trachsel was an effective starter from 2002-2004, and he at least has an identity, the slowest-working man in the business. Brian Moehler was last an above-average starter in 2000, and his only other decent year as a starter since then was last year, when he posted an ERA+ of 93 in 150 innings (over 26 starts). I get that teams need the innings, but I don't get why they look to Moehler for them. Why did Moehler last instead of Willie Blair, instead of Dave Mlicki?
Anyway, it made me happy at the beginning of the season to see that Moehler was still sticking around. No, I don't understand how it's happening, but I guess that that's part of the reason why it makes me glad.
Agree. A back-handed way of advocating for a change at the top.
It's time to cycle back to a fiery, angry manager.
Pinella will probably be available this off season.
I seem to remember Blair taking a liner off his face in Cleveland while with the Tigers. Don't know if that caused (or hastened?) his downfall.
(yew hear that soshu????????!!!!!!!)
roy, uh, made his feelings for his manager flet clearly a couple starts ago when coop came to get him and roy was talkin to pudge and didn't even so much as turn to look at coop, made him wait for a few seconds, then handed him the ball sideways, still talking to pudge
roy is not a "malcontent"
i would bet there is not ONE player on that team except for matt kata who has anything good to say about coop. they have had a few players only meetings. there was a BIG deal after coop had the brilliant idea of leaving in his obviously hurt, ineffective righty reliever, chris sampson, who NEVER should have been taken offn the DL and had him walk nick johnson and pitch to hanley ramirez.
it got noticed by the national media - and cooper does incredibly stupid shtt like that all the freaking time - and the players were NOT happy about that. and about his treatment of sampson
what really gets me is that so many people are pissed at roy for saying the obvious truth. if it was the sainted biggio/bagwell who did it, they would be "leaders"
BAH
me, i remember them running off BOTH terry collins and larry dierker. only they did it by backstabbing, not by talking to the media
Wait a minute....Matt Kata is still playing??? Looking it up on B-Ref, I'm not sure I was aware of his 167 PAs in 2007.
#8 was beautiful, btw.
I assume this was directed at me. Lisa and I have been going on about this for quite some time. Her opinion is that Cecil Cooper is a managerial atrocity, among the worst to ever fill out a lineup card. My point, then and now, is that whatever Cooper's failings as a manager are, they haven't exactly manifested themselves when it comes to wins and losses, based on the talent at hand. But if you believe the Astros' talent under Cooper should have produced meaningfully better results than the six games over .500 record they've posted in his two seasons, well, we'll just have to disagree there.
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