Whenever the Reds face Roy Oswalt, I have to believe that half the battle has already been won before the game has even been started. With last night’s 5-4 win over the Red, Oswalt has moved to 20-1 against the Reds in his career.
Geof Blum had the game winning homerun hot on the heels of Adam Dunn’s grand slam which helped the Reds take the lead. But Blum’s homerun put the Astros ahead 5-4 and they never looked back. Blum has certainly been playing good offensively these last few days and I hope he continues to do so.
Roy pitched well enough to get the win. He was on a strict pitch count of 90 pitches for the night and he was lifted in the 5th due to tired legs. Cross your fingers that his hip issue is healed and he will be with the team for the rest of the season.
Astros Continue to Be Buyers
Word on the street is that the Red Sox and the Tigers are both interested in Miguel Tejada. However, word on the street is that the Astros are looking for another reliever. At 12.5 games out of first place, I continue to be confused as to why the Astros are trying to improve the team and shoot for the playoffs rather than rebuild the minor league system by trading a big name.
Hopefully Ed Wade is still testing the waters with Miguel to see what he can get. We traded 5 prospects for Tejada and if we could get 3-4 prospects back, then it would go a long way to helping us build up next year. Our previous trades with Boston have been good. Larry Anderson for Jeff Bagwell. Carl Everett for Adam Everett.
To me, this is a no brainer. We are not going to get the Wild Card this season. The Central Division is too strong and we are too far behind. We would have to be almost perfect to make the playoffs and I don’t see a miraculous repeat of second half surges from years past.
But the Astros are still buyers on the market, convinced that they are a few players away from a winning team. This is delusional and makes me fear for the years to come. We had a good draft in 2008, but I wonder how many of those players will ever wear an Astros uniform.
