Tag Archives: Astros

28 Mar

wrong turn

Well, that could’ve gone better. Cody Reed, the former Horn Lake High and Northwest Mississippi Community College star, gave up 10 hits, four walks, an HBP and 10 runs in 3 2/3 innings for Cincinnati vs. San Francisco on Monday. The left-hander is vying for a spot in the Reds’ rotation and had pitched fairly well before Monday’s outing, which jacked his Cactus League ERA to 7.08. Reed had a tough rookie season with the Reds in 2016, going 0-7, 7.36 in 10 starts, but is considered one of the club’s better pitching prospects. He had strong minor league numbers (3.66 ERA) coming up first in the Kansas City system and then with the Reds after a 2015 trade. Reed was a second-round draft pick by the Royals in 2013 out of NWCC. … Ole Miss alum Stuart Turner homered for the Reds in Monday’s loss; he is hoping to make the roster as a backup catcher (see previous posts). Itawamba CC product Desmond Jennings, a non-roster invitee, went 0-for-2 to drop his spring average to .195. P.S. Ex-Gulf Coast CC star Tony Sipp, who has been bothered by a stiff back, threw 28 pitches to three batters for Houston on Monday, yielding a hit and a walk with one strikeout. The only lefty expected to make the Astros’ bullpen, Sipp has a 5.06 ERA this spring and is coming off a down year. Still, he told mlb.com, “I feel like I’m ready for the season.” … St. Louis optioned ex-UM standout Mike Mayers to Triple-A. The lefty, who got knocked around a bit in his MLB debut last season, posted a 1.64 ERA over 11 innings in the Grapefruit League. He’ll be back.

14 Feb

on the radar

There likely will be a lot of eyes on Tony Sipp as he goes to work in West Palm Beach, Fla., over the next few weeks. The Pascagoula native and former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College standout is coming off a rough year and is the only seasoned left-hander in Houston’s bullpen. Sipp’s ERA jumped to 4.95 over 60 appearances in 2016. He had a 1.99 in 2015, and his career ERA over eight MLB seasons is 3.65. Batters hit .297 against Sipp in 2016, and he yielded 12 homers in 43 2/3 innings. The beefed-up Astros, picked by some as the favorite in the American League West, surely want a reliable lefty in their pen. If Sipp, 33, doesn’t look sharp, they may have to go shopping. Astros pitchers and catchers formally reported to camp today and will work out at their new spring facility on Wednesday. P.S. Joey Butler, another Pascagoula native and MGCCC alumnus, signed a minor league contract last week with Washington. Butler, a right-handed hitting outfielder, spent all of 2016 in the minors with Cleveland’s Triple-A Columbus club. He batted .276 with eight homers in 88 games for Tampa Bay in 2015 and is a career .282 hitter with 104 homers over nine pro seasons, including a stint in Japan. … Ole Miss product Aaron Barrett may be close to re-signing with Washington as a minor league free agent. He missed the 2016 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. While rehabbing last season, Barrett suffered a fractured right elbow and had another surgery. He ultimately was waived by the Nationals and elected free agency in the off-season. As a rookie in 2014, Barrett had a 2.66 ERA in 50 games for the Nats. In 2015, his ERA jumped to 4.60 in 40 games before he was injured late in the season.

12 Oct

shades of ’86

Anything that happens in the MLB playoffs that rekindles memories of the 1986 postseason has got to be pretty special. And it happened on Tuesday night. The Chicago Cubs’ comeback victory at San Francisco was the biggest in postseason-series clinching history, according to mlb.com. Down 5-2 in the ninth, the Cubs scored four times against the Giants’ tattered bullpen, surpassing what the New York Mets – a team loaded with former Jackson Mets – accomplished against Houston in the National League Championship Series 30 years ago. Davey Johnson’s Mets scored three runs in the top of the ninth to tie the Astros, then won the game and the series 7-6 in 16 innings. Ten former JaxMets played in that epic Game 6. Lenny Dykstra ignited the ninth inning rally with a leadoff triple, and Mookie Wilson knocked him in and later scored himself. Rick Aguilera and Roger McDowell combined for eight innings of scoreless relief, and Jesse Orosco, despite blowing a save in the 14th and yielding two runs in the 16th, nailed down the win by fanning Kevin Bass with two runners on. Ole Miss alum Jeff Calhoun came on in relief for the Astros in the 16th and yielded a hit, a walk and a run and threw two wild pitches during the three-run inning. That NLCS was a thrill ride from start to finish, and the World Series that followed was pretty interesting, too. P.S. Spotted in the Giants’ dugout on Tuesday: former Delta State standout Eli Whiteside, now a bullpen catcher for the club. Whiteside played for the Giants during their 2010 and 2012 championship runs and last played in the majors with the Cubs in 2014.

27 Sep

could happen

The game to watch tonight is Seattle-Houston, which could feature a matchup of Mississippians Seth Smith and Tony Sipp in the late innings at Minute Maid Park. The Mariners are 83-73, tied with Detroit and 2 games behind Baltimore, which holds the second American League wild card spot. The Astros are 82-75 after losing Game 1 of the three-game series (4-3 in 11 innings) on Monday night. Jackson native and ex-Ole Miss standout Smith has had a productive year for the M’s, batting .255 with 16 homers and 60 RBIs. The lefty-hitting outfielder is 1-for-5 against Houston starter Mike Fiers and is hitting only .212 against the Astros this year. But Smith, who typically struggles against left-handers, is 2-for-3 with two RBIs against Sipp, the lefty reliever from Pascagoula and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Sipp has had a bad year: 5.36 ERA and 12 homers allowed in 40 1/3 innings. But Houston manager A.J. Hinch may be compelled to go to the veteran. Worth noting: Former Mississippi Braves catcher Jesus Sucre is 11-for-22 with a homer and five RBIs since Seattle called him up when rosters expanded.

26 Sep

spirit of ’96

Jackson’s Texas League franchise won five pennants during its 25-year tenure at Smith-Wills Stadium, but none of the five championship runs had more compelling storylines than the last one. It was 20 years ago this month that the Generals, managed by Dave Engle, plowed through Tulsa and Wichita, going 7-1 overall, to win that title. There was something rare, something controversial and something very heartwarming over those 10 days in September. With future big leaguers Richard Hidalgo and Melvin Mora out with injuries, other stars stepped up and unexpected heroes emerged. All in all, it was a wild ride that started at Smith-Wills and ended in Wichita’s Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. In the opener of the best-of-5 TL East Division series, the Gens got a four-hitter from future big leaguer John Halama and won the game 2-1 on the weirdest of walk-offs. With the bases loaded and one out in the ninth, Tulsa’s left fielder, Mike Murphy, inexplicably caught a deep fly ball, clearly in foul territory, off the bat of Nate Peterson, enabling Russ Johnson to tag and jog home with the winning run. In Game 2, Jackson got a leadoff home run from Buck McNabb – his first bomb in three years – and another homer from another unlikely source, former Ole Miss star Kary Bridges, to take a 6-1 win. (Footnote: Bridges had returned to Jackson from Triple-A just before the playoffs started as a roster replacement for Mora.) Edgar Ramos, who threw a no-hitter during the season, got the victory in Game 2. The series shifted to Tulsa, where the Generals lost Game 3 and also lost closer Manuel Barrios for one postseason game (plus two games in 1997) for intentionally hitting a batter. At least they thought it was a one-game postseason suspension. The Gens took the series with a 7-2 victory in Game 4 as Scott Elarton, Houston’s first-round pick from 1994 making his first Double-A appearance, shut down the Drillers. Then came the controversy. The team learned before the opener of the best-of-7 TLCS at Smith-Wills that Barrios would be suspended for the first two games against Wichita, contrary to league president Tom Kayser’s original ruling. (Footnote: The Gens were miffed, to say the least, that Kayser had arbitrarily changed his mind, issued a release on his new ruling and never called Generals officials with an explanation.) Behind the pitching of Halama and Tim Kester and a couple of key hits by Bridges, the Generals beat the Wranglers 4-1 to open the series. In Game 2, it was Ramos again with a sterling start, backed by the hitting of Peterson, who homered and drove in three runs. (Footnote: Peterson also was hit in the helmet by a pitch with Kayser in attendance; there was no ejection or suspension.) Game 3 took a weird turn, as a rusty Barrios blew a 3-0 lead in the ninth after Jamie Walker had worked a brilliant first eight. Donovan Mitchell, playing center field in the playoffs for the first time in his career, threw out a runner at the plate to preserve the tie. (Footnote: Mitchell had flown home to New York after Game 2 to see his newborn son, Donovan, Jr., then flew back in time for Game 3.) The resilient Gens won another walk-off on ninth-inning hits by McNabb, Bridges and Tim Forkner. The clincher came in Wichita, where Elarton, shaking off three unearned runs in the first inning, kept the Wranglers in check and the Gens scored five in the fourth inning en route to a 7-3 win. Al Probst homered, and Forkner, Peterson and Mitch Meluskey had RBI hits. While the team scored 26 runs in the finals, it was pitching that really stole the show. The Gens put up an 0.50 ERA in the series. (Footnote: The pitching coach in 1996 was Jim Hickey, who has held the same job with the Tampa Bay Rays for several years now.) The title was Jackson’s second in four years, but the club would not make the TL postseason again, coming up short in the last game of their last season (1999) at Smith-Wills.

05 Aug

the venezuelan connection

You might not have known Andres Reiner, but if you watched the Jackson Generals back in the ’90s, you know his work. Reiner was a Houston Astros scout in Venezuela in those days and signed most of the Venezuelan players who starred for the Double-A Gens – and there were a bunch of them. Sadly, Reiner died on Wednesday at the age of 81. Baseball America has an obit (that includes a 2001 feature story) on its web site. Reiner was a native of Hungary who grew up in Venezuela and started funneling players to the Astros in 1989 after opening a baseball academy. Among the Generals stars he signed were Bobby Abreu, Richard Hidalgo, Freddy Garcia, Melvin Mora, Roberto Petagine and Raul Chavez, all future big leaguers. Reiner occasionally visited Smith-Wills Stadium during the Generals era, which ran from 1991-99 and included two Texas League pennants.

29 Jul

busy schedule

Roy Oswalt, who won 163 games in the big leagues, second-most by a Mississippi native, is being inducted into the Round Rock Express Hall of Fame on Saturday in Texas. Next week, the 38-year-old former Weir High and Holmes Community College star is going to play again. Oswalt, who last pitched competitively in 2013, was recruited to play for the Kansas Stars, a collection of ex-big leaguers, in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan. Others on the squad include 53-year-old Roger Clemens, Tim Hudson, Josh Beckett, Adam LaRoche, J.D. Drew and Dan Uggla. The field for the NBC is made up mostly of semi-pro teams and college summer league squads. “If you took 10 years off our ages, I guarantee we’d be pretty hard to beat,” Oswalt told the Austin American-Statesman. There is a distinct Mississippi flavor in the NBC event. The semi-pro Laurel Black Cats, champions of the Magnolia State Tournament, are slated to start play tonight. Mason Irby, former Jones County Junior College star who’ll suit up for Southern Miss in 2017, is on the roster of the NJCAA National Team, which opens next week. Oswalt, drafted by Houston out of Holmes CC in 1996, spent the 2000 season in Round Rock. That was the new home of the Texas League franchise that had been in Jackson from 1975-99. Oswalt went 11-4 with a 1.94 ERA for the Express, helping the team win the TL championship. Five years later, he helped the Astros reach the World Series.

09 Jul

four things

Thinking about:
Tim Anderson’s agility. The East Central Community College product turned a slick triple play for the Chicago White Sox on Friday night. The rookie shortstop trapped a sinking liner to his left off the bat of Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman, tagged a runner trying to get back to second base, stepped on second and threw to first. All in one motion. “I was kind of like a basketball player in that role,” Anderson said in an Associated Press article. Anderson was, in fact, an All-State basketball player in Alabama before electing to play baseball at ECCC. There were concerns about Anderson’s defense in the minors – he made 25 errors last year and 34 in 2014 – but he has been money in his 26 big league games, with one error in 102 chances.
Billy Hamilton’s speed. The former Taylorsville High star ran down yet another fly ball in deep center field for Cincinnati, stretching for the catch just before he jumped into the wall. With apologies to Dominique Wilkins, Hamilton is another Human Highlight Film. Hamilton still isn’t hitting a bunch (.240), but he saves a ton of runs with his D. Not only does he have great range, but last season, Hamilton didn’t make a single error. He has two this year in 166 chances. The converted shortstop also has six assists in 2016.
Mitch Moreland’s health. The Mississippi State alum, troubled by a calf injury, was supposed to start for Texas on Friday but didn’t. He last started a game on July 2 and has just one at-bat since then. Perhaps is hitting has been affected. He’s at .228 with 11 homers and 34 RBIs, .216 with just one bomb over his last 15 games. The Rangers also miss his glovework at first base.
Tony Sipp’s effectiveness. The former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College standout, a key piece of Houston’s bullpen in 2015, is in a very real funk. The veteran left-hander has seen his ERA balloon to 5.40 in 23 1/3 innings. Right-handers are hitting .327 against him and lefties .300. The Astros have seemed reluctant to use their only lefty reliever of late. “We have to get Tony going in our bullpen,” manager A.J. Hinch recently told the Houston Chronicle.

18 Jun

listen up

Listened to Cody Reed’s MLB debut on XM; there is such an old-fashioned comfort in listening to baseball on the radio. … Among the five batters the former Horn Lake High and Northwest Mississippi Community College standout faced in the first inning were George Springer, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Carlos Gomez. At Minute Maid Park in Houston. Welcome to The Show, indeed. … None of those four got a hit, but Marwin Gonzalez, the second batter in the Astros’ lineup, hit a home run to put Reed and Cincinnati in an early 2-0 hole. … The Houston broadcasters discussed Reed’s lucky glasses – the ones he has worn since 10th grade – and marveled at the action on his slider. “A lot to like” and “flashing brilliance” were among the comments during the game. … The Reds battled back against Dallas Keuchel, the 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner. Ex-Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton, who made what was described as a sensational catch in center field in the second inning, drove in a run in the fifth on a ground out. … Ole Miss product Zack Cozart made it 2-2 with his 10th homer of the season in the sixth. … It was still knotted at 2-all in the bottom of the seventh when Evan Gattis, the former Mississippi Braves slugger, crushed a Reed fastball for a two-run bomb. … Reed finished the seventh and was done for the day. The left-hander fanned nine, walked three and yielded just six hits. He was on the hook for the loss before Adam Duvall hit a game-tying homer in the ninth. Still – from the sound of things – Reed proved he is ready for the big leagues.

15 Jun

big picture

The last impression of the college season in the state is of that ground ball leaking into right field at Dudy Noble. The base hit by Cesar Salazar scored the game-winning, series-clinching run for Arizona in the Super Regional in Starkville. The crowd was crushed, and so was one of the great seasons in Mississippi State’s deep history. But that final thud was preceded by a whole lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ in the Magnolia State. To wit: Jones County Junior College won 54 games and a national title. Five four-year schools won 40 games, and three won conference titles. Each of the Big 3 NCAA Division I schools played in a regional, and so did D-II Delta State and NAIA William Carey. Jackson State (34-26) and Belhaven (20-18) had winning seasons, the Blazers while making the tricky transition from NAIA to D-III. Millsaps slipped to an uncharacteristic 20-21 overall but did go 12-10 in the Southern Athletic Association. Alcorn State, under first-year coach Brett Richardson, was 16-33 but 14-13 in the SWAC. Mississippi College, still in transition from D-III to D-II, improved from 12-34 to 17-30 under first-year coach Jeremy Haworth. Blue Mountain, still building an NAIA program (and a new field for 2017), set a school record for wins in a 23-32 campaign. Only Mississippi Valley State (6-36) and Tougaloo (9-42) had truly bad years. The disappointment in Starkville — and Oxford and Hattiesburg — will diminish with time. Looking back on the 2016 season, the sad end shouldn’t wipe out the joy of the journey. P.S. Southern Miss catcher Chuckie Robinson, a 21st-round pick last week (see previous post), has signed with the Houston Astros, according to mlb.com.