Tag Archives: Astros

14 Sep

big league chew

Tony Sipp’s role with Houston might be considered a small one. But it is hardly insignificant – and he has filled it well. With his team down 3-0 on Sunday, the left-handed specialist out of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College struck out lefty-hitting Kole Calhoun of the Los Angeles Angels to start the bottom of the eighth inning. It was the only batter Sipp faced in his first appearance since Aug. 26; he had been shut down with a back ailment. Sipp then watched from the dugout as the Astros scored five runs in the ninth and beat the Angels 5-3. Houston maintained its 1.5-game lead over Texas in the American League West and pushed third-place L.A. 4.5 back. Sipp, who has been effective against righties as well as lefties, has a 2.12 ERA, 10 holds and 51 strikeouts in 46 2/3 innings this season. … Chris Coghlan, the ex-Ole Miss star, had a day on Sunday, going 4-for-5 with a homer (No. 16), an RBI (No. 40) and two runs. But his Chicago Cubs fell to Philadelphia 7-4 and dropped 6.5 games back of St. Louis in the National League Central. … The Cardinals lead second-place Pittsburgh by 2.5 games but suddenly have some concerns, one of which is Lance Lynn. The Ole Miss product is 0-2 and has allowed nine runs in 8 1/3 innings in his last two starts since hurting his ankle. He is 11-10, 3.17 for the year. … St. Louis recalled former Mississippi State catcher Ed Easley over the weekend. He is still seeking his first big-league hit; he is 0-for-2. The minor league veteran hit .251 at Triple-A Memphis this season. … Taylorsville High alum Billy Hamilton got the first steal of his career against Yadier Molina back on Sept. 2, 2013, and was 10-for-10 career against the Cardinals’ Gold Glove catcher – until Sunday. Molina cut Hamilton down during the Cards’ 9-2 win against Cincinnati. Hamilton has an MLB-best 56 steals and now has been caught eight times. … Former Meridian CC and State standout Tyler Moore went 2-for-4 to climb above the Mendoza Line (at .205) as Washington won 5-0 over Miami. But the New York Mets’ wild win over Atlanta kept the Nationals 9.5 games back in the NL East. Yes, that race is over. … Southern Miss product Brian Dozier had a couple of hits in Minnesota’s 5-0 win against the Chicago White Sox, but he has had a rough go of it lately, batting just .213 with three homers and 12 RBIs in his last 30 games. The Twins, just a game back of Texas for the second AL wild card, need Dozier to heat up. He has 27 homers, 70 RBIs and 94 runs for the year.

09 Sep

chills and thrills

For the first time in a Washington uniform, Jonathan Papelbon got beat. Across the country, Mitch Moreland, another former Mississippi State star, got Texas rolling toward a big win. Just like that, a lazy Tuesday night in September becomes one to remember. The New York Mets made an amazin’ rally from six runs down to beat Washington 8-7 at Nationals Park and extend their lead in the National League East to 6 games. After his fellow bullpen mates gave up six runs in the seventh, Papelbon, the closer, came on in the eighth and allowed a two-out, go-ahead homer to Kirk Nieuwenhuis. It was the only hit allowed in two innings by Papelbon, who was 1-0 and 6-for-6 in save chances over his first 14 games for the club. “It boils down to one pitch. It basically does. … I made one bad pitch,” he told mlb.com. The Nats can’t afford too many more. Meanwhile, at Seattle’s Safeco Field, Moreland blasted his 19th homer of the year in the second inning to put the Rangers on top and they hit three more bombs en route to a 9-6 win against the Mariners. Texas, which has won seven of 10, now trails Houston, a 4-0 loser to Oakland, by a single game in the American League West. “We are a long ways from where we want to be,” Moreland told mlb.com. Presumably, he means the postseason. Moreland is batting .287 with 69 RBIs. He hit just four homers in July and August combined, but he has scary power that could be a factor as Texas continues its playoff push. P.S. Billy Hamilton and Corey Dickerson were activated from the disabled list on Tuesday. Taylorsville’s Hamilton didn’t play for Cincinnati, and ex-Meridian Community College standout Dickerson went 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter for Colorado. … Ryan Weber, who pitched for the Mississippi Braves this season and in 2014, took the loss in his big league debut for Atlanta despite allowing just two runs in six innings against Philadelphia.

23 Aug

whatever happened to …

T.J. House, the Picayune High product who had such a strong rookie season with Cleveland, is still on the shelf at Triple-A Columbus with what is described as a “strained left shoulder.” House hasn’t pitched since June 8. It has been a season to forget for the 25-year-old left-hander. A 16th-round pick in 2008, he finally reached the big leagues last season and made 18 starts for the Indians, going 5-3 with a 3.35 ERA. He won a battle for a rotation spot in spring training, but then things went south. Struggling with his command, House made four starts in April, losing all four while allowing 21 hits and 12 walks in 13 innings. His ERA was an unsightly 13.15 when he went on the DL with shoulder soreness. House went to the minors to rehab and then was optioned to Columbus in late May. He was 0-2, 3.38 in five minor league appearances before being shut down. P.S. Things are going much better for Alex Presley, the ex-Ole Miss star now at Triple-A Fresno in the Houston system. Presley is batting .312 with three homers, 47 RBIs, 46 runs and 13 steals in 79 games for the playoff-bound Grizzlies (78-49), who saw an 11-game win streak end Saturday. It would appear the first-place Astros have some strong reinforcements available if they need them in September when rosters expand. … With Mississippi State alum Tyler Moore going to the DL for Washington last week, there are now six Mississippi-connected big leaguers sidelined by injuries. And five others have spent time on the DL. That’s from a group of 25 who have been active in The Show at some point.

16 Aug

celebrate, celebrate …

The party was at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Before a packed house and a national TV audience on Saturday, the first-place Royals celebrated win No. 70 on the season, win No. 900 of Ned Yost’s managerial career and birthday No. 31 for Jarrod Dyson. Dyson, the McComb native and ex-Southwest Mississippi Community College star, partied hard during the game, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, two runs, two steals and an outfield assist to fuel the Royals’ 9-4 victory against the Los Angeles Angels. KC broke the game open with a six-run second inning during which Dyson slapped a two-run single and scored a run. “Any time you get the win, that’s a great day for us,” Dyson, who usually offers something much more colorful, told the Kansas City Star after the game. It was also a great day for Yost, the former Jackson Mets catcher who hushed a lot of doubters by steering this club to the World Series last year. The current Royals have won seven of nine and are running away with the American League Central. P.S. The Houston Astros celebrated their 2005 World Series team on Saturday at Minute Maid Park. Among the stars of that club were Holmes Community College product Roy Oswalt, a 20-game winner, and Jackson Generals alum Lance Berkman, who hit .293 with 24 home runs.

20 Jul

on the move

Corey Dickerson has taken another step on the path to returning to the Colorado Rockies’ lineup. The former Brookhaven Academy and Meridian Community College star played left field and went 1-for-3 on Sunday in the first game of his rehab assignment. He is with Class A Modesto in the California League. Dickerson, dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, has only 127 MLB at-bats this season and is hitting .299 with five home runs and 16 RBIs. He last played a game for the Rockies on June 16. Colorado manager Walt Weiss told the Denver Post that Dickerson would get about 25 rehab at-bats and should be back with the Rockies “real soon.” Dickerson had a breakout year in 2014, when he batted .312 with 24 homers, 76 RBIs and 74 runs in 131 games. He was All Mississippi Baseball’s Cool Papa Bell Award winner, given for the best season by a Mississippian in the majors. … Ole Miss product Alex Presley, designated for assignment by Houston on Saturday, may soon land with another MLB club, according to various reports. Presley, a lefty-hitting outfielder who had just 12 ABs with the Astros this season, is a .259 career hitter who can do a lot of little things well.

16 Jul

breaking away

The big league All-Star break, which continues through today, means different things to different players. Those who are slumping likely welcome the respite, while those on a roll are hoping not to lose their mojo. Seth Smith, the Ole Miss product from Jackson, falls into the latter category. He homered for Seattle in the last game before the break, giving him eight for the year. He is hitting .333 over his last 15 games to lift his average to .268. Former Mississippi State standout Tyler Moore had a big two-run double for Washington last Sunday and has seven RBIs in eight July games for the first-place Nationals. He would like to find his home run stroke, however; his last blast came on June 12. UM alum Drew Pomeranz, who has been rock solid since moving to the Oakland bullpen, had a 1.50 ERA over his last seven appearances heading into the break. The break might have been a good thing for Pascagoula native Joey Butler. So hot for Tampa Bay just a couple of weeks ago, he is batting .098 with one RBI over his last 15 games, dropping his average to .287. Ex-UM star Chris Coghlan’s consecutive games streak ended at 150 when he sat out on Sunday, getting a pre-break break. Coghlan hasn’t produced much of late for the Chicago Cubs, with just one RBI and four runs in 11 games in July. Tony Sipp, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product, has a 5.06 ERA – two runs higher than his season number — over his last seven games for Houston, which fell out of first place in the American League West on the last day before the break.

12 Jul

whatever happened to …

Travious Relaford, a former juco All-America shortstop at Hinds Community College, is back on the field at Class A Augusta, where he is batting .272 with 24 RBIs and 24 runs in 48 games. Relaford went 3-for-6 with an RBI and a steal in a doubleheader on July 7, his first game action after a month on the disabled list. It’s hard to get a read on how Relaford stands in the San Francisco Giants’ grand scheme. Drafted in the 44th round in 2011, he didn’t start his pro career until 2012. He got a look in Double-A in 2013 but hit only .188 and found himself on a short-season Class A team in 2014. He batted .283 with three homers and 28 RBIs for Salem-Keizer and made the Northwest League All-Star Game. He appeared in a couple of major league spring games this year, then was assigned to the low Class A South Atlantic League. He isn’t on any of the lists of the Giants’ top prospects, but he is only 23 and he appears to be progressing. P.S. Sixteen years after the Jackson Generals last played at Smith-Wills Stadium, there are two alums of the old Houston Double-A affiliate still playing. Daryle Ward, at age 40, is in the independent Atlantic League, batting .253 with one homer for Southern Maryland (Jackson native Stan Cliburn’s club). Ward hit 90 MLB homers and has 189 others as a pro. Freddy Garcia, 38, is pitching in the Mexican League. The big right-hander, in his 21st pro season, has a 6.00 ERA in five games for Tabasco.

03 Jul

welcome back

Ole Miss product Alex Presley, back on Houston’s roster, is in the lineup for tonight’s game at Boston. Presley, who took the spot of injured George Springer, is batting ninth and playing center field for the Astros, who are in first place in the American League West. Presley, a 10-year pro with 321 big league games on his ledger, was batting .308 with two homers, 35 RBIs and 10 steals at Triple-A Fresno. The left-handed hitter batted .244 with six homers and 19 RBIs for the Astros last season; he was designated for assignment in the spring. … Also back in The Show is another ex-Rebels star, David Goforth, recalled today by Milwaukee from Triple-A Colorado Springs for a second stint. The right-handed reliever did not allow a run in four appearances during his previous call-up, his first in the big leagues.

28 May

some rain must fall

Tony Sipp had gone all season — 16 appearances out of the Houston bullpen — without allowing a home run before last Thursday. That’s when Detroit’s James McCann took Sipp deep for a game-winner in the bottom of the 11th inning. Sipp, a Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Moss Point High product, made his next appearance Wednesday in Baltimore. The left-hander was brought in to face lefty Chris Davis in the bottom of the eighth with the score tied. Davis hit the first pitch out, and the Orioles went on to win 5-4. “I just missed with it, just left it up, middle,” Sipp told mlb.com. Sipp hasn’t missed much this season. The 29-year-old has a 1.53 ERA with 20 strikeouts over 17 2/3 innings for the surprising Astros, who continue to lead the American League West. For his MLB career, spanning seven seasons, Sipp has a 3.64 ERA, 20 wins and six saves working mostly as a situational lefty. Not bad for a 45th-round pick (by Cleveland out of Clemson in 2004). P.S. With the Wednesday recall of Donnie Veal by Atlanta and the recent promotions of Jacob Lindgren (New York Yankees) and David Goforth (Milwaukee), there are now nine Mississippi-connected pitchers in the big leagues and two more on the disabled list. Picayune High product T.J. House, assigned to Triple-A after a recent rehab stint, could be close to returning to Cleveland. … Former Mississippi State star – and Ferriss Trophy winner — Ed Easley was recalled by St. Louis from Triple-A Memphis on Wednesday but didn’t play against Arizona. He is still seeking his first appearance in an MLB game. Catcher Easley, 29, also was on the Cardinals’ roster for three games in April.

21 Apr

big league chew

Houston sits atop the tightly packed American League West, and Pascagoula’s Tony Sipp has played a key role in the Astros’ 7-6 start. Sipp, a left-handed reliever, got the win in Monday night’s victory over Seattle. His ERA over six games (7 2/3 innings) is now 1.17, and he has three holds. This is Sipp’s second season in Houston. … Ole Miss product Zack Cozart homered in Cincinnati’s win over Milwaukee and now has 14 hits in his last 34 at-bats. Cozart is batting .326 with two homers and five RBIs. … Ex-Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman, making his third start for Oakland, was staked to an early lead but was pulled in the fourth inning of the victory over the Los Angeles Angels. He had allowed four hits, three walks and two earned runs. Graveman, rocked for seven earned runs in his first start (the first of his short MLB career), is now 1-1 and has trimmed his ERA to 6.94.