Cardinals-Astros: Weekend Series Primer

(Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

To get you ready for this weekend's series against the Houston Astros, I exchanged questions and answers with James of Astros County. (My responses can be found here.) 

James was part of the Playing Pepper series and made an appearance on the most recent UCB Radio Hour. After the questions, we'll take a look at the matchups for this weekend.

C70: How big was the Ivan Rodriguez signing in your mind?

AC: It was...pleasant. Obviously Quintero and Towles weren't the answer, and Ed Wade had to do something. I think the original plan was to have Toby Hall win the job, but then he got hurt the first week of Spring Training.

They were backed into a corner (and nobody backs Wade into a corner. See: Chacon, Shawn), and Pudge will be better than Quintero—both offensively and probably handling the pitching staff.

C70: The Astros had a very streaky spring.  What was the best thing you saw out of them in spring training and what was the worst?

AC: The starting pitching was solid—I think the starters' ERA was in the 3.00-3.50 range. So that was nice to see. The Astros haven't been so good at the "scoring runs" part of the game of baseball, so to see the offense struggle—yet again—was the worst thing.

It doesn't matter if the Astros hold teams to three and four runs a game if they only score one or two.


C70: You said in the Playing Pepper series that the rotation was the weakest spot going into spring training. Is that still true? How is the rotation shaping up?

AC: It's true, behind Roy there are four question marks: Can Wandy Rodriguez step up and prove to be a valuable, durable starter? Can Mike Hampton stay healthy? Will Brian Moehler continue the good run he had in 2008?

Will Russ Ortiz return to form? But sometimes question marks do have answers, and it could be okay.

The health of the rotation will determine the team, because basically the only pitcher "ready" for the rotation might be Jose Capellan, and he faded at the end of Spring Training. So the rotation has a shape—I just don't know what shape that is.

C70: What are your thoughts and expectations for Miguel Tejada this season?

AC: I just hope Tejada plays 2009 like the contract year it is. I think he's out of Houston at the end of the season, so he's on display—and I'm okay with that. He'll either do well, or he'll tank.

Tejada got off pretty easy with his misleading of Congressional investigators, and the Astros fan in me hopes he plays like a weight's been lifted off his shoulder. Agree or disagree with the punishment, he was still punished, and it's time to move on.

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