First of all, as I always have said, I am a die hard Astros fan. I go to games and root, root root! But, I also have to scream at them when they keep doing the same thing every day.

During the first couple of games in the season, the announcers said that our relievers will be better than last year. Kind of a bold comment to make especially when we have a lot of the same players. Well, the relievers are 4-18. Do we blame the pitching coach for the way he works with the pitchers? Or do we blame the manager for calling in the relievers. And, what is it with F Rodriguez? He is 1-8 with an ERA above 6. And, talking about other relievers, how many times are we going to bring in a left handed reliever to face a left handed batter and we walk that left handed batter.
In extra inning games we are 0-8. Hate to say it but wins and losses in extra inning games are a reflection of the manager. He makes the calls and he decides the strategy.
So, while we talk about major changes in the dugout, we may want to look at the coaching staff because this team is too good to lose over 100 games again.

While the team is in rebuild mode, 2-3 seasons of 100 losses is not a bad thing. In Luhnow We Trust.

The Astros lead the majors in batters being struck out.

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp?c_id=hou#playerType=ALL&elem=[object+Object]&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Team+hitting&sectionType=st&statType=hitting&page=1&ts=1341967351168&sortColumn=so&sortOrder=%27desc%27&extended=0

A/C isn't cheap at MMP, exploring alternative energy.

At least with are 20th in walks

Changes?

If they were trying to win these are the changes to the current team I would make. (Luhnow is not trying to win right now and I agree with his philosophy.)

Wallace would play 1st Johnson would move back to 3rd.

Paredes would play CF, Martinez LF and Moore RF. Shuck would replace Schafer as 4th OF Bogy 5th OF

Starting rotation would be Wandy, Norris, Kuechel, Happ, Harrell

Bullpen, Cedeno, Lyles, Lopez, Wright, Lyons, Cruz, Myers

Everyday lineup

Altuve 2B
Lowrie SS
Moore RF
Martinez LF
Wallace 1B
Johnson 3B
Castro C
Paredes CF

Thoughts, This team has a chance to not lose 100 games. Not that that's a good thing. LOL

Platoon Dominguez and Johnson at 3b.

I like this lineup. I also like the platoon ling of Dominguez and CJ. Id drop Bogus back to OKC and give Brandon Barnes a shot at right, with Moore being our new Bixler.

They're both right-handed o_O

You and I think a lot alike. Let's hope they keep Lowrie and Wandy.

And, I know we are not supposed to win now. I would just like to see some good managerial decisions during the game. Last Sunday's game was ridiculous. Not walking Braun in the 8th inning when he owns us. In regards to relievers, Wright still worries me as you can almost guarantee that he will walk a batter and that batter will score. Definitely a fan of Wallace. And, if we do get rid of the veterans, it would be good to at least get one player who is young but is at least at the AAA level. Let's hope they come out swinging. If the Pirates can win 2 of 3 from the Giants, we should at least win 1 of 3.

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d-bill : "I know we are not supposed to win now.
I would just like to see some good managerial decisions during the game. "
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That's where I am on all of this. I'm behind the total organizational rebuild 100%. Personally, I wanted it to start a few years ago, but we had to get rid of The Grocer first. Fine, we're here now, and I'm glad. We have a few tough years ahead while we undo a decade of damage the previous owner inflicted on our farm system.

That said; While I don't really care about win\loss for the season, I'd prefer it not be embarrassing to watch. At the very least, I would hope to have some idea of what the manager is actually trying to do out there. With Mills' constant in-game line-up changes and the back & forth shuffling between the club and the farm, it's reached the point of just being weird.

It seems like Crane & Luhnow have a plan that extends several years into the future, while Mills has a plan that only extends a few batters into the future.

I agree dbilly. F.Rod must have incriminating pictures of Mills.

The Fernando Rodriguez thing has me utterly puzzled. He was mediocre last year and has been terrible this year. His mechanics are also awful IMO. For him to still be on this roster when they could option him and not have to potentially lose him, not to mention you have Mickey Storey lightning up AAA out of the OKC bullpen, Mills must love him or something.

Fernando Rodriguez needs to go. He's been blowing games left and right all season.

"A/C isn't cheap at MMP, exploring alternative energy."

Brilliant. It went right over my head the first three times. Is T-Boone one of our new owners?