Yardbarker: Wandy Rodriguez

It's A Big Day For The Cassel Family

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:26:49 -0500

The big story of Sunday was the fall of Tom Brady. Perhaps out for the season, Patriots fans and fantasy football players alike shrieked in pain over Brady's knee agony. As bad of a day as it was for the nationwide Brady "family," it was a that good of a day for the real life Cassel family.

Consider newly-minted Patriots starting QB Matt Cassel the Sarah Palin of the NFL. Drafted in the 7th round out of USC Cassel backed up Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, playing rarely but for mop-up duty. Ditto that for his three seasons with the Patriots, albeit this time with Tom Brady. Like Palin, Cassel has been thrust into the spotlight, and nobody really knows anything about him. And much like Palin made a well-received first impression this past Wednesday at the RNC, Cassel did the same on Sunday, putting up decent numbers in a win.

A good day it was for the Cassel clan. It would have been enough! But then entered brother Jack, a reliever for the Houston Astros. There's no Palin metaphor here, really. It's just that Jack became the second Cassel brother to enter the game as an injury replacement, taking over for Wandy Rodriguez in the second inning. This Cassel notched four innings for the Astros, giving up two earned runs.

Sunday was an unexpected day for the Cassel family, with two brothers playing big roles. Like Palin we'll probably be learning a lot more about Matt Cassel over the next few weeks. The only difference being the lack of opposition researchers pouring over his past.

It's A Big Day For The Cassel Family

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 01:19:35 -0500

Diamondbacks rout Astros 12-2

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:51:28 -0500

The Skinny: The Arizona Diamondbacks brought their hitting shoes to Minute Maid Park in Houston, scorching the Astros 12-2 in a game that was never in doubt. The Diamondbacks scored 3 runs in the first inning off of Astros' starter Wandy Rodriguez and never looked back. The 12 runs was more than enough r

Astros at Cubs open game thread

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:58:46 -0500

B-REF PREVIEW | GAMEDAY | WEATHER | ACB CHAT ROOM Wandy Rodriguez vs. Cubs hitters: .262/.329/.437 in 126 at-bats Rich Harden vs. Astros hitters: 9-45, 3 XBH, 3 BB, 9 K When and Where: 1:20 on CSN Most of the Astros at-bats against Harden have come from Daren Erstad who is just 5-26 with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts. Carlos Lee is 3-9. Derrek Lee and Ryan Theriot are about the only 2 Cubs to do anything at all against Wandy Rodriguez.

Astros at Cubs open game thread

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:58:46 -0500

Cubs at Astros open game thread

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:45:53 -0500

B-REF PREVIEW | GAMEDAY | WEATHER | ACB CHAT ROOM Wandy Rodriguez vs. Cubs hitters: .245/.330/.429 in 98 at-bats Carlos Zambrano vs. Astros hitters: .228/.324/.397 in 219 at-bats When and Where: 6:05 pm on CSN Derrek Lee and Ryan Theriot have hit Rodriguez well. Carlos Lee has given Zambrano problems. He's got 9 extra base hits against him including 4 home runs. Berkman also has 4 home runs against Zambrano, but he's done relatively little against him.

Fantasy Rundown: Pedro Returns to the Mound

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:00:48 -0500

Pedro Martinez made his return to the Mets a victorious one. He should provide a huge boost to New York, and he can still help your fantasy team. Some other guy named Joba also debuted as a starter, a pitcher not named Smoltz got the save for Atlanta, and another prospect (Radhames Liz) flew under the radar and pitched well for Baltimore.

AccuScore: Waiver Wire Wonders

Fri, 02 May 2008 12:44:12 -0500

Players on the waiver wire are often met with unfair criticism. AccuScore fantasy expert Tim Williams takes a look at some Waiver Wire Wonders like LaRoche and Gutierrez who mostly do good, but are punished to the waiver wire because of one weakness.

AccuScore: MLB Waiver Wire Wonders

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:58:14 -0500

Adding a player from the waiver wire isn't about chasing the best deals available. It is important to know what your team needs before you go free agent shopping. The question is, do you know what your team actually needs? AccuScore fantasy expert Tim Williams shows you a three step method of evaluating your teams needs, allowing you to determine if adding Frank Thomas will actually help your team.

AccuScore: MLB Waiver Wire Wonders

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:58:33 -0500

Are you tired of streamers ruining the integrity of the game in your league? Well you will find no sympathy here. AccuScore fantasy expert Tim Williams explains why streaming is perfectly acceptable, and gives you this week's Waiver Wire Wonders, which includes spot starters like Dana Eveland on Sunday against the Royals.

Fantasy Baseball Pickups on the Mound- Week 3

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:14:17 -0500

We look at and take a look at some of the most added pitchers in the game and see if they are worth adding to your fantasy team.

What's worse? Nationals or Astros rotation

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:55:00 -0500

With the recent announcements today from both the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros I found myself wondering what was worse. Were the Nationals worse off with a bunch of guys who had no big league experience or the Astros who have an ace but a rag tag group of injury prone or other wise long relievers filling out their rotation. The Nationals today announced that former ace John Patterson had been released leaving the team while Cecil Cooper went ahead and announced the first four members of his rotation. While Manny Acta hasn't been as forthcoming as Cooper only announcing that Shawn Hill, Jason Bergmann and Tim Redding had made the rotation it's safe to assume that Matt Chico who was the workhorse of the staff and possibly even John Lannan will fill out the final two spots. Of course with Odalis Perez still in camp the team could choose to go with the veteran to start the season in order to give Lannan, their minor league pitcher of the year, a few more starts in the minors.

NL Central Preview: Can Cubs Reverse Curse?

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 23:17:20 -0500

The Chicago Cubs went from worst to first to win the NL Central last year. Can they repeat or will another team have a say? Here a preview of all six teams, their projected starting lineups, rotations, fantasy impact players, and overall outlook.

D-Bag(s) Of The Week: The Astros Pitching Staff

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 09:59:35 -0500

This week's winner of the Douchebag of the Week Award was really tough to pick. We thought about Andy Roddick because of his lame "it was the Big Mac's fault excuse" but we gave him a pass. Ruslan Chagaev also got some consideration for backing out of his October heavyweight title unification bout with Sultan Ibragimov, allowing Evander Holyfield to take his place ... and possibly die in the ring. But in the end we found only one entity worthy of this lofty award. For the first time we have a group of people taking home the award. So congratulations to this week's winners, the entire Houston Astros pitching staff. This award is designed to go to the worst in sports every week, and you can't get much worse than the Astros hurlers were this week. On Sunday they combined to give up 18 runs (16 earned) in an 18-11 loss to the Padres, who possess one of the worst offenses in baseball. In their next game on Tuesday, they allowed 12 runs (10 earned) in a 12-4 loss to the Braves. Wednesday night they gave up 12 more (all earned) in a 12-3 loss and Thursday night they allowed 11 runs (all earned) in a 12-11 win in 14 innings. That's a total of 49 earned runs in just 39 innings, good enough for an 11.30 ERA. Let's go deeper inside the numbers shall we? -By giving up 11 runs in just 2/3 of an inning against the Padres, starter Jason Jennings became the first player since 1900 to allow 11 earned runs in a first inning. His ERA for the game was an astounding 148.50, and his season ERA went from 4.74 to 5.99 in just 39 pitches. -In four games so far this week, the starters have given up 31 runs (all earned) in 13 2/3 innings. That's good enough for a 20.41 ERA. -Reliever Matt Albers pitched 4 1/3 innings during the time frame, giving up seven runs, all earned. -Brad Lidge tossed 2 2/3 innings and gave up five runs, all earned and blew his fourth save of the year. -The staff combined to throw 185, 189, 157 and 257 pitches in the four games. That's 788 pitches in 39 innings, or 20.2 pitches per inning. -They surrendered 13 home runs over those four games. -In the 39 innings pitched, there were only six where an opposing batter failed to reach base. -They gave up two or more runs in an inning 13 times or once every three innings. -The Astros team ERA went from 4.56 to 4.83 over this stretch. -Here's the truly shocking statistic, after all of that, they still don't have the worst ERA in the National League. That distinction goes to the St. Louis Cardinals, who sit at 4.89, while the Astros are at 4.83. So here's to you Houston Astros pitching staff, your incompetence makes the rest of the league look damn good. Thanks.

Need a MLB Fix

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 13:21:27 -0500

Man it's time to take a look at your team, and here are some players that can make a quick fix to anyone's. It's new to the site, so check it out....