3. Fire Garner
2. Stop playing Lane when a lefty pitches
1. Bench Biggio. Screw the 3000 hit club. this is a business and when someone isn't producing consistently, time to move on. without a solid leadoff, the offense cannot set itself up.

I don't care how good our defense has been, we need to get Loretta in there as much as possible. I feel like we have 6 sure outs in a 9 man lineup these days.

It isn't Biggio's fault that the Astros don't have a legit leadoff hitter. He knows that he is batting out of place. On a team that has a legit leadoff hitter, Biggio would be batting 7th and the 19 extra base hits that he has would be nice production.

Berkman's 6 extra base hits are a cause for concern especially given what he is supposed to be doing with the big $14.5M salary.

The fact that Jason Lane and Orlando Palmiero are in the big leagues and Chris Burke is in the minors makes little sense to me.

Its scary to think how bad this team would be without Carlos Lee. Hunter Pence has been everything he was cracked up to be. That's been nice too.

Here's what I'm thinking:
Pence-CF
Loretta-SS
Berkman-1B
Lee-LF
Lamb-3B
Scott-RF
Biggio-2B
Ausmus-C

I'd like to see Everett in there quite bit too because of his D. Maybe keep Loretta rotating between 2B, 3B, and SS so that Ensberg, Everett, and Biggio still play a lot, but just not every day. There's so many things you can do with this set of players, it just depends on the philosophy you want to go with.

i like that lineup reebus

That lineup makes too much sense. Old Scrap Iron Brains will never make that change.

Think about this. When the lineup against lefties looks like

Biggio
Loretta
Berkman
Lee
Pence
Lane
Ausmus
Everett
Pitcher

On these days, after the first inning the opposing team gets to pitch to 5 consecutive batters that are almost a sure out. When the opponents have to get 27 outs and if you figure in 9 baserunners for a given game you have 36 PA. 20 of those are at bats that the pitcher doesn't have to work as hard. If the opposing team only has to grind for 4 batters or 16 PA a game it makes it much easier to work through a lineup. It is just crazy that the Astros continue to limp along with this sorry of a lineup.

Reebus,

Put Loretta at 3B and Everett at SS.
Have Everett hit 2nd to move over Pence when necessary. Have Loretta in the 5th spot, Scott 6th, Biggio 7th, and Ausmus 8th. It think that lineup is better. I'm sorry, but Lamb should be a pinch hitter and not an everyday starter. His defense is atrocious and has already lost us one game and hurt us in another. His bat is only good once every 4 or 5 games. Give him some spot starts to give Loretta a day off. Lamb should be the first pinch hitter up instead of Palmeiro.

I agree, lets fire the only coach who has ever gotten us to a World Series. In fact, I hope our next coach is a bandwagon fan pulled off the internet!

Yeah, I don't agree with firing Garner.
But I do think that Lane and Ensberg should be shown the door. Cruel I suppose, but that's life in professional sports. Produce or else.

Bring up more of the youngsters and give them a chance. Let Biggio hit wherever he can in the lineup, get the 3000 and then sit him. Let him retire so he can open an auto-dealership named "Mr.3000" or something.

bring back jimy williams!

We made it to the world series on the back of one of the sickest postseason pitching staffs ever assembled. Tell me what spot did Garner occupied in that rotation? I'm pretty sure a brain dead moron could figure out Roger, Oswalt or Pettite for 6 innings then Qualls, Wheeler, Lidge and hope we score a run or two. In fact one could argue a brain dead moron did.

I agree Poppa. We had arguably the best pitching staff in the national league that year. How many managers would keep doing the same thing over and over knowing it doesn't work, ie putting lane in when a lefty starts.

And where was that pitching staff in the World Series? Ya they were great, but coaching had some to do with the success that year. Remember.. we went from leagues worst with Jimmy at the beginning of the season, to leagues best with Garner at the end of the season.

It doesnt matter what manager we have.. Mcclain will have a leash around whoever he throws out there. Why do you think Garner doesnt argue much anymore? Has he lost his fire? Ya right.. more like.. he had it stolen from him.

Plus, no coach could perform with half of their lineup batting under .250, and a bench that only performs as backups.

[This message has been edited by mazag08 (edited 5/23/2007 10:29p).]

He should be fired for putting the lineup he did on the field tonight. We have an automatic 4 outs with tonights lineup. Why Jason Lane is even on the field is a freaking joke. I don't care how bout Lance is struggling. To bench him is beyond stupid.

Didn't Phil take over in 2004?

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And where was that pitching staff in the World Series? Ya they were great, but coaching had some to do with the success that year. Remember.. we went from leagues worst with Jimmy at the beginning of the season, to leagues best with Garner at the end of the season.

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The revisionist history in this statement is going to make my head explode.

1.) We went from Jimy to Phil in '04 when we went to the NLCS...an offense with Kent, Bagwell, Berkman, Beltran, Biggio, Ensberg and a rotation with Clemens and Oswalt (Pettitte was injured) at the top had no business not running away with the division to start.

2.) The pitching staff wasn't as good in the World Series...and the Astros didn't win. Hello Jeff Bagwell as the DH when he couldn't bat his weight and had ZERO pop because of the shoulder. So thanks for making the point about Phil only being able to go as far as his pitching would carry him.

your right, i got mixed up. My bad. But still, the run that year, followed by the success the next year wasnt just a fluke. We had excellent pitching, but good coaching got us all the way.

Im not saying he is the best out there, Im just saying that firing him is really stupid. Our problems go way deeper than coaching.

Well then fire Triple Cheeseburger since he is the one who put this team together. So either the GM or the coach or both need to go. Other than signing Lee which was a no brainer what exactly has purpura shown he can do?

Where was the pitching staff?

You're kidding me right?

Clemens got injured in game 1

Qualls served up a grand salami in game 2 wasting a decent starting pitching performance

Game 3 went 14 innings with Astacio getting the loss

and Game 4 was a 1 to 0 loss

quote:

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It isn't Biggio's fault that the Astros don't have a legit leadoff hitter.

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You're right.. Its PooPoora's fault