Brandon Barnes pinch-hits for the pitcher Armando Gallarraga and hits a solo homer to lead off the top of the 6th.

LOL, first Major League home run for Barnes. We call up a guy from the minors and he hits better than the guys we had. That's going to happen a lot over the next few years when they call up Singleton, Correa, Ovando, Springer, DeShields Jr. etc... etc...

That's probably going to be the only run the Astros get off Jeff Samardzija tonight. This team has better position players in the minors right now. 10 strikeouts for Samardjia through 6 innings. The only guy who can touch him so far is a no-name dude called up from the minors recently. That's just sad.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Aug 13 2012 07:50pm

Thank you Rockies, 1st pick is locked up

Great win, and with the Rockies winning also, nothing changes

They went from having a payroll of $92 million in 2006 -- 8th highest in all of baseball - when they still had Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite. To now a payroll close to under $20 million and will soon be the lowest in all of baseball by a sizeable margin once they cut ties with Francisco Cordero and Jed Lowrie this winter. It's quite a shame that they went down this path and couldn't keep buying free agents, a la the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Mets and several other of the big spenders.


On the plus side, they've got an infusion of young talent on the way up. That article mentioned Jarred Cosart and Matt Dominguez as their second and fourth best prospects respectively. They didn't even take the time to mention Jonathan Singleton, Carlos Correa, Ariel Ovando, George Springer, Delino DeShields Jr. and Paul Clemens, who will be every bit as good if not better than Cosart.

This is a better list of the Astros top prospects. It's not updated though. Correa is obviously on the rise since being drafted number one overall.

http://baseballinstinct.com/2011/12/01/2012-houston-astros-top-10-prospects-list/

Singleton just hit another 440-foot blast at Corpus Christi a few nights ago. He may get the September 1 call up.

And also, that article only says the Astros will have flexibility to add talent this offseason. They should have previewed the top prospects who the Astros will target with the first overall pick like Mark Appel. They also should have talked more about the players they added through trades.

I could have written a better article than that one posted by the Washington Post.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Aug 16 2012 04:05am

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/08/19/houston-astros-brad-mills.ap/index.html

HOUSTON (AP) -- After spending all summer dumping players, the Houston Astros didn't stop there.

Brad Mills became the latest to go when the struggling Astros fired their manager and two members of his coaching staff Saturday night.

Mills was in his third season running the Astros, who have the worst record in the major leagues at 39-82. The team announced the moves in an email almost two hours after Houston lost 12-4 to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The three worst records in baseball as of August 19, 2012.

Astros 39-82
Rockies 45-73
Cubs 47-73

A 9-game lead in the loss column over the Rockies and Cubs. At this point, I don't see that 1st overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft slipping away even with a new manager and September 1 call ups, which may feature our best prospect, power-hitting first baseman Jonathan Singleton.

Slashing payroll to roughly $20 million total -- our highest-paid player on the current roster is making $4.5 million this year (Francisco Cordero) and he will soon be dumped this off-season. The Astros payroll may reach an MLB low $16 million before we hit free agency. We have the youngest team in baseball and a couple of exciting prospects that will soon be called up.

All of the numerous trades and the firing of Brad Mills. Not to mention the new uniform changes coming in December and the move to the American League are enough though. I don't think the Astros need to make dramatic changes to Minute Maid Park. I love all the features, including Tal's Hill and the flag pole in play. My favorite is the big train that is going to waste right now because the Astros don't hit many home runs to showcase it.

Tony DeFrancesco, newly named interim manager, is already off to a rocky start. Trailing 7-1 to Arizona in the top of the 8th in his first game.

LOL, a 39-83 record is on the way in 30 more minutes. That's a tough job to give a guy. It's only going to ruin his reputation when he tries to get a real shot at managing in the big leagues. He did such a nice job with the Astros' Triple-A team but they actually have more talent than our big league team.

''There's going to be a commitment to excellence,'' DeFrancesco said. ''Believe me, I want to be the guy that changes the environment around here. I grew up a winner, I had success in the minor leagues, and it's time for it to translate to the major league level. I'm sure I'm going to make mistakes, but that's part of baseball.'' DeFrancesco managed Oklahoma City to a 67-60 record and has the RedHawks contending for a playoff spot this season. Houston entered Sunday with the worst record in the major leagues at 39-82.

Joe Torre in his so-called best managerial years with the Yankees could be our manager and we'd still lose 115 games.

Thank goodness Monday is an off day. The Astros start a three-game series with the Cardinals on Tuesday. It should be an easy three-game sweep for St. Louis and a 39-86 record for Houston. Keep the losses coming! Which is why I don't understand why they couldn't wait until after the season to fire Brad Mills. They just ruined their Triple A team's chances to make the playoffs. I'd rather have a potential championship season with the Oklahoma City Redhawks compared to what, three or four more wins at the Major League level that a better manager will give us the final month and a half?