Astros could need change to reach top SA Express-News

Astros could need change to reach top
Web Posted: 05/26/2004 12:00 AM CDT


San Antonio Express-News

Throughout his career, Jimy Williams' managing style has often represented a
mystery worthy of an "X-Files" plot.

His face scrunched like a chewed-up cigar, the Astros manager seemingly
operates on hunches, the casting of tea leaves, a rolling of the bones.

The truth is out there, and he seeks it out with a wet finger poked into the
breeze.

When it works, we're tempted to celebrate the triumph of old-fashioned savvy
over newfangled scouting. It's quaint.

When it doesn't, as it hasn't in Houston for much of May, we're tempted to
wonder again if Williams is more guesswork than game plan. It's maddening.

If the Astros' season continues to unravel in coming days, it will be
something else.

Time for a change.

It may be May, but the Astros find themselves at a critical crossroads.
Beginning with Tuesday night's matchup with visiting Chicago, Houston faces
15 games in 21 days against the rival Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals. It's a
make-or-break stretch, and will go a long way in determining how things
shake out in the fall.

And who will take the Astros there.

A year ago this month, with a season on the brink, the Florida Marlins cast
for a change in May, and reeled in a championship with septuagenarian Jack
McKeon.

Williams entered the Cubs series with the continued support of upper
management and the locker room, but with his team on an alarming slide that
has carried it out of first place and into a clump of contenders behind the
Reds. The Astros were swept in Cincinnati, and Williams' puzzling lineup
decisions set off as many alarm bells as the team's pitching woes.

The Houston manager was predictably unpredictable, sitting down red-hot
Morgan Ensberg in place of struggling Mike Lamb, resting Craig Biggio for
Friday's game and keeping Jeff Bagwell and Jeff Kent out of the lineup even
as the club fought to regain the momentum that had lifted it to first place
only a week ago.

While it's hard to fault Williams for a four-game series that saw none of
his starters go beyond six innings, and the bullpen blow three leads or ties
in four games, the losses raised more questions than answers regarding the
manager's strategy under fire.

Much as Williams was second-guessed earlier this season when he left Roy
Oswalt in for one pitch too many against Barry Bonds and the Giants, when he
joined Oswalt in allowing a game in Atlanta spiral out of control following
a blown call and when he left gassed reliever Octavio Dotel in to throw a
fat fastball to Mike Piazza last week.

There are more - little decisions, here and there, adding up to big
problems.

Whether owner Drayton McLane will be satisfied with his club operating on a
whim and a prayer over the long haul may provide one of the season's most
compelling stories.

He invested in Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte to eliminate much of the
guesswork.

Yet, history dictates that Williams shouldn't be counted out just yet.

In his first two seasons with the Astros, as with previous stints at Toronto
and Boston, the unconventional manager has impressed players and coaches
with his superb work ethic and reverence for the game. He's old-school to
the extreme, inflexible in his discipline and indiscriminate in who receives
his attention.

Last season, he did an often-brilliant job in coaxing overachievement from a
roster that was short on starting pitching and erratic at the plate.

This season, the expectations have been markedly higher, and the same man
who squirmed in the spotlight at Boston appears to be blinking in the Texas
glare today.

The pressure is on, and Williams best deliver, and soon.

Just a hunch.



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