So with Geary, Brocail and Valverde going down 30 games into the season, it's messing up Cooper's rotation.
"It's very tough. You have to figure out who's available first. Then you have to figure out what you want to do. Figure it out, according to matchups."
One guy who is pleased by this is Chris Sampson:
"It was a great opportunity [on Thursday in Denver], pitching the eighth inning. I just have to take advantage of these opportunities and prove to everyone that I can help out in the back end of the bullpen when they need me. Hopefully, that would open some eyes this year as well as for my career."
Don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind seeing Sampson pitching some 9th inning. He's the only reliever the Astros have who I don't want to crap my pants when I see him warming up. Enjoy some stats:
22IP, 16H/4ER, 9K:8BB, 1.64 ERA / 1.09 WHIP. 86 batters faced/66 outs (76.7%).
35 ground balls / 34 fly balls.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith