The Astros beat the Milwaukee Brewers 14-5 on Saturday night for their second win in the third of their current four game series. Bidg and Mike Lamb each had three run jacks, and Hidalgo continued his torrid early season hitting with two doubles and four RBI’s.
The ‘Stros used six pitchers (why, Jimy, why?) in the rout, including newly-acquired Chad Harville, who pitched a scoreless inning. Roger Clemens takes the hill on Sunday afternoon seeking his third win of the season as the Astros close out the series with the Brew Crew. On Tuesday, the ‘Stros open a three game series with the St. Louis Cardinals at Minute Maid Park.

The Astros swapped young righthanded pitchers with the Oakland A’s Friday, trading Kirk Saarloos (who had been pitching at AAA New Orleans) for Chad Harville. Here is the Astros’ press release on the deal, which the Chronicle dutifully fails to supplement with better analysis of the deal.
My sense is that the A’s got the better of this deal because they got a promising young pitcher in Saarloos when they would have lost Harville had htey not made the deal (Harville was out of options and had demanded that the A’s give him his outright release rather than return to the minors).
Saarloos was a third round draft choice of the Stros in the 2001 draft, and he shot up the organization when he dominated the AA Texas League in the first half of the 2002 season. The Stros called him up in both the 2002 and 2003 seasons, but that is where Saarloos ran straight into Jimy Williams’ impatience with developing young ballplayers and Williams’ disdain for Saarloos’ less than blazing fastball (Saarloos patterns his pitching style after Greg Maddux).
In my view, Williams never really gave Saarloos a fair shot in the Astros’ less than stellar starting rotations of the 2001-2002 seasons, and so Saarloos was stuck in the Astros’ revolving door bullpen of the last two seasons, which is not his strong suit. This season, Saarloos did not pitch well early in the spring, but then recovered nicely, only to be told that there was no way he was going to make the Opening Day roster and that the ‘Stros were trying to peddle him. He promptly went to AAA New Orleans and was bombed in his first two starts there. However, Saarloos is only 25, and his minor league numbers indicate strongly that he will eventually be an effective 200 inning per season major league control artist with low walk and home run rates. Consequently, the Astros have really given up a talent in this deal.
And Harville? Well, he is a 27 year old fireballer who was a relief pitcher for the A’s last season. Here’s how Baseball Prospectus 2004 analyzes him:

The whole right-handed Billy Wagner thing just hasn’t worked out. Harville, once renowned for his small stature and tremendous fastball, pitched well for the [AAA Sacramento] RiverCats, but once again didn’t look particularly great in Oakland. He still throws very hard, but didn’t look completely comfortable with his improving curveball, and occasionally couldn’t find the strike zone with a sherpa and a GPS unit. He’s out of options, so he has to make the club out of spring training if the A’s want to keep him, and he’s still a reasonable bet to be a good pitcher in some role. If and when that actually happens is a matter of speculation.

So, in sum, a deal involving two pitchers of differing styles, both of whom have decent potential. I would have stuck with Saarloos, but perhaps this is one of those deals where both pitchers will thrive in new surroundings. With the Astros’ pitching staff of flame-throwers, Harville will certainly have a lot of company in that department.

I cruised down to Minute Maid for the ‘Stros Friday night game against the Brewers, and I was treated to a masterful performance by Astros ace Roy Oswalt. Roy O shut out the Brew Crew on 3 singles, no walks, and 10 strikeouts as the ‘Stros rolled, 2-0. The ‘Stros didn’t hit much either and Roy O is a notoriously fast worker on the mound, so the game took only an hour and 58 minutes.
Brandon Duckworth gets his first start as an Astro in Saturday’s game as Andy Pettitte‘s replacement in the ‘Stros’ rotation. Note that most Saturday games this season will begin at 6:05 p.m., an hour earlier than other ‘Stros’ night games.

The following is from Dayn Perry over at Baseball Prospectus about the rather odd moves of Astros’ manager Jimy Williams:

Jimy Fun
I got a little excited when I read a headline hinting that Astros manager Jimy Williams might use closer Octavio Dotel in non-save situations. . . . Then I read the article under the headline. It turns out Williams indeed plans on using Dotel in non-save situations, but those situations won’t be high-leverage spots in the middle innings; rather, it’ll be when the ?Stros have a four-run lead in the ninth. Yeah, a four-run lead. The war to maximize bullpen efficiency just endured its Tet Offensive.
According to . . . Keith Woolner, from 1980-1998, there was a 2.3 percent chance of a team surrendering four or more runs in any given inning. In other words, Williams is burning his best reliever–one of the game’s best relievers, in fact–in a situation where he has, on average, a 97.7 percent chance of success. At this juncture, Williams doesn’t have much confidence in his corps of supporting relievers, but this is precisely what he shouldn’t be doing. Let Dotel work some of the critical-mass innings that would otherwise be going to people like Ricky Stone; don’t exhaust him in gimme frames like the ninth inning of a four-run game.
Need more reasons to fear for Houston’s chances with Jimy at the switch? Well, Morgan Ensberg, who in a just meritocracy would be the Astros’ starting third baseman every day, was on the bench Tuesday night for the third time in eight games. This time, Jimy ramped up his Sacco-and-Vanzetti treatment by benching Ensberg in favor of Jose Vizcaino. Why? Yeah, I’m aware that Vizcaino was 9-for-10 in his career against Cards starter Jeff Suppan, but if Ensberg’s manager can find justification to bench him based on a 10-AB sample, then the bar for handy rationalization isn’t set too high. Ensberg deserves better.

As noted here earlier, Williams’ questionable handling of Ensberg last season may have cost the ‘Stros a Central Division pennant in the close race against the Cubs. I do not see the race being any easier this season, so here’s hoping that Williams does not let his stubborn adherence to baseball myths undermine his team’s chances for success.