Climbing Tal's Hill » Bill Hall

Jim Crane is Cleaning House

Brian Hamilton — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:15:31 +0000

As we here at Climbing Tal’s Hill reported late yesterday, new Astros owner, Jim Crane, has fired President of Baseball Operations, Tal Smith, and General Manager, Ed Wade. Brad Mills has not been fired as George Postolos hinted in his statement yesterday that the new General Manager will have the final say so on the managerial job. That is a very good sign as it means Crane and Postolos are going to allow their GM to do his/her job, which is something Drayton McLane rarely did. These firings come as no surprise as quite frankly, anytime you finish the season with the worst record in club history, drastic changes should be made and jobs should be replaced.

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Astros’ Season in Review

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:45:54 +0000

Now that the Astros season is 60 games in and currently have a 23-37 record, I thought it would be a good time to look back and reflect on the clubs progress, or lack there of, to this point. I think one word that could sum up the first part of the season would be disappointment. Many people projected the Astros to be last, which they are, but I was one of the few who was cautiously optimistic because of how the team finished last year.

The fact the Astros are in last place is not the reason I am disappointed but rather how they got there. The bullpen has been blowing leads left and right and Steve Campbell of the Houston Chronicle posted on Twitter at the end of May via the Elias Sports Bureau that the Astros had lost 11 games when they were up two runs, lost eight games when up three or more runs, and five games when up four or more. This a tough stat to swallow and the reason this season has been so disappointing. After the jump, I will be going through the infield and giving grades on their performance to this point. Tomorrow I will touch base on the outfield and the pitching staff.

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Keep Your Heads Up

Fri, 27 May 2011 23:10:58 +0000

If you want to dig for dirt, don’t bother getting a shovel if it is on the topic of the Astros. It doesn’t take a baseball fan to recognize that the 2011 campaign for the Astros thus far has been rough to say the least. In a Zachary Levine article today, readers could see why the Astros have had such a terrible start, and it frankly didn’t take any stat bending to do so. Here, though, we can take a look at what we have to look forward to as 2011 progresses.

Many Astro fans are frustrated by Hall's frustration at the plate

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