The remainder of the season looks bleary to Astros fans; both the manager and GM have been fired, and they’re stuck with an owner who wants to have tight control over personnel decisions.

To get an idea of what’s going on in the minds of Houston fans, I called on Lisa Gray of The Astros Dugout.

1. The Astros’ traditional second-half surge never materialized, and as a result both manager Phil Garner and GM Tim Purpura lost their jobs. Do you think Garner and Purpura deserved most of the blame?

– Phil was not a good manager and I wasn’t happy with him last year
– As for Purpura, it has been said by media that he had very very little control over anything in spite of the owner’s denials of this. However, he wasn’t able to pick up even cheap guys off the waiver wire or manage any simple trades. He wasn’t able to work around McLane. I blame the owner for most of the decisions made in the past 3 years, as most of them were strictly his own fault.
– I wrote at length about this in the HardBall Times

2. Who do you see as frontrunners for the GM position?

– unfortunately, Ed Wade
– if not him, whoever McLane thinks he can control best

Who is your personal favorite?

– Dan Evans or Logan White or Mike Arbuckle.

Do you think Drayton McLane will hire from within?

– I wouldn’t be surprised at all. Yesmen aren’t that hard to find.

Should he?

– If he wants to turn this franchise into the Orioles/Pirates

3. Does Cecil Cooper show any promise as a Major League manager — be it in Houston or elsewhere?

– He hasn’t done enough yet for me to judge him.
– However, anyone who is strongly pushed/endorsed as Cooper has been, by Bud Selig is someone I am immediately HIGHLY suspiscious of. Because I consider any “good” word said by Selig about anyone as the kiss of death, Cooper will have to work twice as hard as anyone else to earn MY endorsement. For some reason, McLane is extremely anxious to please Bud Selig on all matters and I would bet that Cooper WILL be manager next year unless he commits some heinous felony between now and the start of the year. This may also affect the hiring of a GM, as they may be told that a condition of emplayment is that they must accept Cooper as manager.

4. Brandon Backe is, um, back. How’s he looking?

– like a guy who had TJ surgery 12 months ago. Problems with control. Fortunately, we’re not going anywhere and I HOPE Cooper won’t be stupid and overuse him.

5. After undergoing season-ending elbow surgery, do you believe Jason Jennings will become a free agent, or will McLane try to re-sign him with the hopes he’ll justify “the trade” ?

– I’m having a very tough time getting a read on this. McLane is the one who ordered “The Trade” but Purpura took almost all the heat for it and Purpura is gone. Jason Jennings finished his 6 years so he IS a free agent whether or not McLane likes it, but I would guess it will depend on how much other teams offer Jennings. I would not be one little bit surprised if McLane thinks Jennings should take a lowball offer, but life ain’t like that and I am not sure he would agree to sign a guy to a long and expensive contract who is coming off elbow surgery and who didn’t tell the team for WEEKS that he was hurting.

If you were making the decision, what would you do?

– problem is that they have knowledge about Jennings’ elbow that I don’t have, such as how much more damage did they find?
– Astros fans seem to think he should be offered middle reliever money for a year, but he is going to get at the very VERY minimum Adam Eaton money (3 years for 24 million) and of course I’d just be gambling with someone else’s money. I would be open to a 3 year deal, provided there’s no no-trade. but I wouldn’t go over 11 million a year.

6. I imagine it’s safe to say that the Astros’ September is “open auditions” for 2008. Are there any youngsters in particular that you will be watching closely?

– J.R Towles, catcher. He wasn’t ever “projected” as a “real” prospect by the Organization, best I can tell, but he hit his way onto the AAA team and if he seems to handle himself well behind the plate and IF he catches, he might could be the starting catcher next year.
– Juan Gutierrez, RHP, starter who will most likely be relieving this monoth
– and unfortunately, that is just about all she wrote.

7. Ty Wigginton was a fan favorite when he came up with Mets. How are the Houston fans responding to his hard-nosed style of play?

– well, a whole lot of fans don’t care if a player can’t play defense worth a darn unless his name is Chris Burke and he is playing in center. As long as Wiggy keeps his batting average over .260, the fans won’t really care about anything else unless he strikes out looking instead of swinging. I can’t see him as a fan favorite. He’s just OK, mostly because he’s not Morgan Ensberg.

8. In addition to Jennings, Mark Loretta, Mike Lamb, Brad Ausmus, Orlando Palmeiro, and Trever Miller are potential free agents, and Craig Biggio is retiring. Do any of those “oldsters” come back in 2008, or is it rebuilding time?

– the Organization has made it more than clear to Mike Lamb that he shouldn’t let the door hit his butt on his way out. Ausmus has already been approached about being the backup next year and unless he gets a better offer from San Diego, he’ll be back. Miller will most likely be back because he’s a lefty. As for Palmeiro, I don’t really have a good read on how Cooper feels about him – Garner thought he was absolutely one of the most important players on the team. I would guess if they sign Rowand/Hunter to play center and move Pence to right, then they will use Luke Scott as the LH PH off the bench (what a WASTE, but they control his contract and they can do it) and Palmeiro will be let go.

9. Will Jason Lane ever come close to 2005, or was he a one-hit wonder? Time appears to be running out for the 30-year-old.

– I SERIOUSLY doubt he will be given another chance with the Astros. He might could catch on somewhere else.

10. Other than the Texans, who will you be rooting for down the stretch and into October?

– I detest football and wouldn’t ever root for ANY football team for ANY reason. That said, I would like to see the Brewers win. And I will always root for any NL team except the Cubs. But I will be totally stymied if the fall classic turned out to be Cubs vs Yankees/Red Sox, Fox’ greatest fantasy come true. I have no idea how I could possibly decide which team I hate least…

Thanks again to Lisa for her honest answers. Check out her great work at The Astros Dugout to learn all you need to know about the ‘stros.

After firing their manager and general manager, and remaining mired near the bottom of the NL Central, the Houston Astros season is all but over. Almost ten games out of first with 22 games to play, it would take a major miracle for the ‘stros to get into the postseason, even in the most fragile division in MLB.

That said, it should be interesting to see how Houston performs in this weekend series at Shea. Unlike the Reds, who are auditioning Pete Mackanin for the 2008 managerial job, Astros interim manager Cecil Cooper has little to no chance of returning at the helm next year — not with a new GM coming in, who likely will want to hire “his guy” to take the reigns. However, a number of veterans likely won’t be back in ’08, such as Craig Biggio (who is retiring), and potential free agents Mark Loretta, Brad Ausmus and Mike Lamb.

Game 1: Mike Pelfrey (1-7, 5.43) vs. Wandy Rodriguez (8-12, 4.49)

Can Mike Pelfrey build off the momentum of his first win of 2007? Can the Mets reverse the curse of Wandy Rodriguez?

We can only hope that Pelfrey can pitch effectively again. We don’t need a lights-out performance, just enough to offer encouragement — something to show us that he’s advancing, making steps forward. With a boost of confidence, who knows what this kid might accomplish.

As far as Wandy goes, it’s a tossup. Without the Mets on the schedule, who knows if this guy would still be in MLB? In his last game against New York, he threw a 4-hit shutout. If he has his great curve working, it could be a similar performance. However, there is one thing going against him — a 2-9 record and 7.11 ERA away from Minute Maid Park.

Game 2: Tom Glavine (12-6, 4.06) vs. Woody Williams (8-13, 4.95)

Interesting, isn’t it, how often Glavine starts against the other team’s oldest geezer? Or does it just seem that way because we notice it every time it happens?

Anyway, Tommy is coming off two excellent starts against the Phillies and Braves, and pitched seven strong innings against the Astros earlier in the year. If the ‘stros start a lineup full of aggressive youngsters, it should be a good thing for Glavine.

Woody Williams is not the worst starting pitcher in the NL, but he’s close. Adam Eaton, Scott Olsen, Kip Wells, and Josh Fogg are probably worse … strangely, though, the Mets have had trouble with all of them. In fact, Woody’s ERA would probably be over 5 if not for the seven and two-thirds innings against the Mets on July 7th, when he gave up only three runs. Like the Wandy game, who knows what to expect? For whatever reason, the Mets don’t hit well against mediocre pitchers.

Game 3: Pedro Martinez (1-0, 3.60) vs. Roy Oswalt (14-6, 3.35)

Oswalt is having another stellar season, and pitched seven strong if unspectacular innings against the Mets back in July. If I remember correctly, however, that was one of those games that the Mets packed it in and gave up after the third inning — but then, you couldn’t blame them with Dave Williams on the mound and David Newhan batting second in the lineup. Had Williams not started and given up eight runs in four innings, the Mets might have had a shot, as they touched Oswalt in the sixth and seventh innings — but it was too little, too late.

But, we don’t really care how Oswalt pitches, do we? We’ll be concentrating on every pitch that floats from Pedro’s fingers, from the first through the 80th. Can Pedro throw 80? Can he get to 85? Will he complete five innings again? Can he get into the sixth? This will be Pedro’s first start after his first start, so everyone is wondering how he rebounds after five days of rest. What if it’s not enough? What if it’s too much? What if he regresses? This game will be less of contest and more of a litmus test.

Bottom Line

Usually, you can look at the pitching matchups and get some idea of how the series might turn out. In this case, though, nobody knows. All year, the Mets offense has flopped against mediocre pitchers such as the Wandy and Woody show, and woken up against the Roy Oswalts of the world. Mike Pelfrey is as questionable as Pedro Martinez, and Tom Glavine’s effectiveness is often directly tied to the size of the home plate umpire’s strike zone.

Carlos Delgado will be missing for the entire series, which could be either a good thing or a bad thing. Sure, the Mets will be a little stronger defensively, and have a little more speed on the bases, but Delgado was starting to heat up and provide protection and production in the middle of the lineup. Can Shawn Green and Jeff Conine pick up the slack? Will Delgado’s absence turn out to be a blessing, because Endy Chavez and Lastings Milledge will be playing more regularly?

My guess it the Mets will take two out of three from the downward spiraling ‘stros, but if they don’t, it might not matter. After all, the Braves are too far behind to be a concern, and the Phillies seem to have shot their load in their four-game sweep of the Mets last week. Unless the Phillies get hot again, it’s just a matter of time …