Results tagged ‘ Cooper ’
The Coop Has Flown
First of all, let me say this; no one wants to kick a guy when he’s down (most people anyway.) So let me get the obligatory “it’s not personal, it’s business” out of the way. There. Now I can trash the guy.
I actually feel a little better about this season now. I have been tortured all year with this manager, and I don’t like pain. I’m not a masochist (but as a sadist, let me just say I’m glad they exist.) 
Seriously, most fans are relieved that he’s been relieved of his managerial duties. This took way too long. Then I couldn’t believe it….there were fans/media asking why they didn’t wait until the end of the season? “Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do today.” That’s what Grandma always said.
Wade has been discussing how the rest of the season will play out, and he has basically said that he won’t disrespect the potential free agent vets who may or may not be back with this ball club next season. This means he won’t be sending out the youngsters like CJ and Manzella to play as much as they should be. He said that we all get to wait until spring training to look at them. Great idea! It sure will be a lot easier for them there. WTF? I don’t like it. I’ve seen enough from the veterans this year, and do I have to say that I’m not real impressed? All of our sluggers are hitting mid to upper 20′s for home run totals. This is unacceptable. That was Pence’s total for last year, and probably this one too. Ahem, he’s not considered to be a big bopper. This potential power outage should be a major concern for all fans, players, media, and management going into ’10.
I came across this quote on twitter. It’s Geoff Blum on Dave Clark:
“He’s one of those guys who didn’t forget to take the ‘I forgot how hard it was to play pill.’”
I don’t know about you, but I think the wording in this quote bites. Who knows, maybe Tags didn’t jot it down correctly. I actually expect more from Blum. He is my candidate for player/manager, that’s right, the next Pete Rose (without the gambling issues.)
Bottom line…I don’t give a **** about which veterans need to showcase their talents for their next lucrative contract. Let the youngsters play.
Cut Coop loose/Paulino can stay
This countdown is agonizing. Day after day after day…I check Astros.com looking for the headline “Coop is canned.” I feel dejected, but move on with the hope that tomorrow is another day and possibly that day could be the one where he gets “rung up.” I’m not sure what else you need to do wrong as a manager to be terminated. Not show up for a game? Take a nap in the dugout? (trust me he’s done that, ask Blum.) I will admit he’s a great prognosticator. His prediction of 90 wins can still happen if the team can somehow pull off a 27-2 record to close out the season. It could happen. O.k., no way in hell.
Paulino looked good yesterday. It was almost a carbon copy of his performance against the Rockies back in June where he his stat line looked like this: 6.0 IN 5H 2ER 1BB 7K. Compare that to yesterday’s stat line: 6.0 IN 4H 2ER 2BB 7K. Not bad Paulino. His best start was against the Tigers in June where he posted 7.0 IN 3H 1ER 0BB 9K. Awesome. I think we’re at place now that this team can keep him in the rotation, and he can work through some of the issues that had him yanked earlier. He has shown flashes of brilliance, and with some fine tuning, he’ll be ready for next year.
Hampton has been excused from his pitching duties for the remainder of the season and now has opted for multiple surgeries (pitching shoulder and both knees.) This is even too much action for an old Bulldog like Hampton. My prediction: He won’t pitch in Houston again, and I doubt he’ll even make it back to the show.
Bud Norris toes the rubber once again on Sunday. He’s had some extra rest so we shall see what kind of game the youngster brings. He keeps it interesting, doesn’t he?
Am I the only one that thinks of dentistry when I hear the name Moehler? The potential 5th starter for ’10 was let down by his defense on Tuesday. He’s won only one game since July 20th, and honestly, I’m not impressed. I do feel o.k. with him as a 5th starter next year, but he isn’t #5 now is he?
Things do not get any easier on Friday. We have the newest addition to the Phillies, Cliff Lee, coming to town and he’s had a fantastic season. He’s 12-10 but most of that has been with the lowly Indians. I have bad news though, he had his stink game last time out (6 ER) so the chances he’ll have two stink bombs in a row are slim. Do you know how many runs he normally gives up? Since July 16th (other than his last stinker) he has basically given up one run or less. Wandy better be on top of his game.
It’s time to fly the Coop
I think Cecil Cooper wakes up every day completely amazed that he is the manager of the Astros. Unfortunately, many fans are now doing the same. I think he is losing the clubhouse. When the manager speaks of possible dissention among the troops, phrases like these come flying out: “they’ve got a problem,” “I don’t think it’s on me.” and “I would hope they would have enough confidence and feel good enough to come talk to me.” To me, this sounds like the players need to build up confidence to talk to their manager. Please. Hey Cooper, just because your door is open, doesn’t mean the players feel welcome. The underlying message I’m getting from these quotes is that Cooper has a serious lack of accountability. It sounds like he would throw his entire team under the bus before admitting he has a problem and of course that is the problem.
The lineup card gaffe: This was embarrassing. You have one manager with his head up his ***, and the other one with his head in the game. I love it; Macha sits back and waits for Cooper to hang himself. As soon as Bourn reaches base, he trots out to the ump. Ouch.
Puma ready to pounce: I love it when the Puma gets riled up. I seriously didn’t know a Puma could jump that high. The ump better be glad Coop came out to save him…that’s all I’m saying. I heard from some of the fans at the game that they’ve never heard a crowd angrier. GOOD. I like it….tear it up. These fans need to show some spunk too. My question is this: “Was I kidding when I said this team would reach .500 in 2010?” I hope I was.
The Magic Wand
You must believe in the Magic Wand, my wife does. I’m speaking of Wandy Rodriguez here. I believe in him and most fans do. Cooper on the other hand, not so much. Wandy surprisingly made it to 116 pitches last night and that was real progress. He was a man on a mission. Cooper did give it one more inning just like I had asked him to do. I’m so glad he read this blog and then applies it. In the post game interview, Cooper basically said he wants Wandy around for June, July and August and that, along with the 116 pitches, is why he brought in Hawkins for the 9th. What a crock. I was happy that Wandy was able to go 8 IP, but I wanted more, Wandy wanted more, and he deserved the chance to pitch a complete game. Cooper copped out. He needs to take some lessons from Larry Dierker (the former pitcher and manager of the Houston Astros) he believed in his pitchers, and they respected him for that. His pitchers probably went too far in some cases. Wandy told the media after the game that he was ready to go back out there. I don’t know if Cooper is losing his players, but he could be and it would make sense.
You are probably wondering why I use bigger font. That is because I want it to appear as if I wrote more than I actually did.
The Yank
Many fans are upset with Cooper and his short leash with the pitchers. I can understand being cautious with Ortiz or Hampton, but Wandy? C’mon. Wandy’s highest pitch count is 105, and Roy’s is 108. Wandy has earned a chance to go deep in a game. He’s pitching great at home and on the road, so what more could you want Cooper? God forbid someone has a chance to pitch a complete game, that luxury is only afforded to the competition. It has happened three times to the Astros already with Lohse, Gallardo and Duke.
I mentioned in a comment on Aly’s blog that Ian Snell’s pitch count got up to 131 last week pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Could you imagine Cooper? You know the sweat starts to pour oh, I’d say around 90 pitches. This is when he begins to squirm, and then he makes a bee line for the mound. Cooper I know you’re reading this, so here’s my bottom line for you; when the sweat begins to pour….give it another inning before you yank him out of there. Have you heard of the P word, you know patience? You need some.
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