Ortiz thought letting Jerome Williams pitch the 9th against Detroit was the right move. I don't need to waste my time with somebody that clearly is delusional. I just hope he gets help.
That's fair. It's actually really interesting to me that there are so many different opinions about Pallilo. He just rubs me the wrong way. Opening day this year, he was telling callers to calm down and not get wrapped up in Opening Day excitement and that this team is no different than last year's. Sure, we aren't great, but we are better... don't try to rain on the parade on Opening Day. But you're right, though it can be negative he will give baseball more time than most.
He didn't really say that. He did say that they're still a bad team, but he will take any sort of improvement over previous years (and he would be right). He said their winning month of May was a "real" progress/"reason to get optimistic" sort of month.... But over 162 games, bad teams will still be bad (and again, he would be right). He's not a homer, and he's not a troll. It's refreshing to have realistic views on teams chances/success and still get in depth analysis about them. I think he gets an unfair rep as being "negative"... When really he's more telling it like it is (and he's always gone out of his way to praise guys who are killing it).
Jose is ranting tonight. :grin: "I'm gonna call Jim Crane up immediately! We gotta hold someone accountable over here! Jimmy, why didn't you improve the bullpen?! Jimmy, you and Luhnow spent money on the bullpen. Why isn't it fixed?! Jimmy, Pujols continues to smash against us. Why haven't you stopped him yet?!"
McTaggert never has anything insightful to say. I guess if you want pure reporting of what players/front office types tell you and nothing more he is okay. Also comes across as an a-hole. Drellich at least has some critical thinking skills and is not against calling out the front office. Probably from his northeast background.
Pallilo is my favorite host in Houston sports radio. to each his own, I guess. I always enjoyed Wexler and Matt Jackson; why does it seem like they've bounced around? I also enjoy Matt Thomas. Ortiz is awful, and so were those clowns who used to have "monsters of the midday". John Lopez, and who was the other idiot?
It's not the beat writers' jobs to be positive and glowing toward the team they cover, particularly a crappy team like the Astros. With that said, I thought Smith was impressive on the beat last year before he went to the Texans. Drellich has been solid. McTaggart is OK, and has been around the longest and been consistent, so that accounts for something. Ortiz is awful.
Ortiz is a jackass. You try to speak to the fool at the ballpark, he looks at you sideways, pretty much. He's a clown on twitter, too.
Other than Ortiz, I really don't have a feeling one way or the other towards the beat writers. Ortiz is a complete joke, sometimes I wonder how these chumps get a job.
I posted this in the other thread, but Brian Smith's rant last night as the ultimate voice of MLB media authority -- a guy whose entire baseball career experience consists of 4.5 months of one regular season -- was the most bizarre and unprofessional thing I've seen the Chron pull off yet. (And to no surprise, guess who his mentor on the Astros beat was?) In fairness to the Chron, it looks like Drellich was a terrific hire. I think that's because unlike Smith, Drellich had MLB experience prior to coming to the Chron, so he wasn't/isn't as easily influenced by others' culture.
JJO and Smith are embarrassments. I miss Zach Levine. On a related note, we are lucky to have Feigen on the NBA beat.
Oh lord, I forgot about this already. Even more asinine when you look at Alyson Footer's twitter and she is saying things like: "Seriously. Been around MLB for 17 yrs. Feel like I have at least some knowledge on inner workings. Have no earthly idea why this is a thing."
Even though they had a losing season, it's a 19 game turnaround from last years dumpster fire and several teams finished worse off than Astros for a change, including one from our own division. They add an extra 19 games again next season and they make the playoffs. That would be nice, and it's achievable with the talent that has emerged during the season. Perhaps another high draft pick can be another good performer for them as well. Let's see what moves they make in the offseason.
