Interesting, most useful Astros Notes article in weeks, from JJO:
Oswalt's injury:
“I hit the ball off the end of the bat in my last at-bat. I got a stinger on my finger. I went back out there and tried a few breaking balls and couldn’t throw them. I tried to get through an inning of trying to throw a lot of fastballs, but I knew that wasn’t going to work. I’m hoping in two or three days it should feel better. I might skip my bullpen and let it calm down some and see how it feels going into this weekend.”
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Only Jason Smith and the Brewers' Brad Nelson haven't managed a hit in 15 at-bats. Of course, Nelson is 0x18. Smith, as we've mentioned, is 0x21. And wasn't Smith given IF5 because of his ability to play shortstop? Well...Smith has as many starts at short as he has hits.
Coop:
“He hasn’t gotten any base hits, but he’s hit some balls hard in the games that he did start in. Defensively, circumstances and situations just haven’t developed for him to get in there (at short).”
I don't know about you, but I would prefer a guy who makes it a difficult decision on who starts when. I would prefer the circumstances and situations to develop out of necessity, not convenience.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
