If you were Gar...

[Astro Annie]

Gar said his next choice for pitcher after Clemens was Jason Lane :heart:

The question is, since Gar would have no bench, where on the field would he put Clemens? Or, if Clemens got to go to the showers, where would he put Oswalt?

I have an idea of what I'd do, but I wanna see some others first.

[PopTop]

If I were Gar, then Skippy would be taller and fatter :D

A lot of what Garner might've done would have depended on Clemens, Annie, at least his hamstring might have forced a decision to just remove him completely. But I don't think you could have pulled Rocket out of that game with a Saturn V, to tell you the truth. Why? Well, as my Cajun friends say, "Let me told you."

First, Clemens is nothing short of a stud, reminds me so much of Gibson and Drysdale when he's on the field. Yeah, I know, maybe he hasn't read Miss Manners' latest book titled How to tastefully return retirement gifts when you un-retire. But what do you expect? I mean, after all he's a Texan, and lord knows all us Texans are a bunch of ill-mannered, gun-totin', tobacco-chewin', yee-haw heathens and often can't pour piss out of a boot without directions on the sole ;)

But I also think Clemens really is hanging them up after this season. I've been wrong thinking he wouldn't come back the last two offseasons, but that's still the way it feels to me: He won't be coming back. And that really could've been the last time he had a chance to play in a game, so once he got in he probably wasn't coming out until it was over.

Lane to P, Clemens to 1B, Ausmus to 2B, Chavez to C, Biggio to LF, Burke to CF, Bruntlett to RF....only Viz and Mo would've stayed put if it had come to bringing your boy Jason in to pitch.

[Astro Annie]

I wouldn't've moved Bruntlett. I would've put Burke in RF.And I think I might've moved Viz to 2B and put Ausmus in at SS, which he played some this season and handled his chance.

[PopTop]

Ausmus actually was the pivot man on a 4-6-3 DP when he played SS (8-0 loss to Pirates in Houston on 14 Aug). On 31 Aug, he played 2B at the end of a 10-0 rout over the Reds, and apparently struck such fear in the minds of the Cincy hitters that they dared not hit one Brad's way :D Probably wouldn't have made much difference if he played second or short on Sunday.

The reason I would've moved Bruntlett to RF over Burke is that the position wouldn't be brand spanking new to Bruntlett who has played every slot for Houston except catcher and pitcher. Just would've tried to avoid putting anyone anywhere they hadn't already been at least once before, and Burke has never patroled RF in his brief career.

[Astro Annie]

I'd remembered that Brad had been involved in a DP--I just misremembered how it went. Good point about Burke and Bruntlett.