Jack, you ignorant slut. Time to start posting again. Don't you realize that the Astros are now... let's see... ONE-HALF GAME OUT OF THE WILD-CARD? Crazy. Just crazy. Eleven in a row for the second best win streak in franchise history. Tied with San Fran at a half-game behind Chicago.

Oswalt pitched well enough for the win and the offensive attack was once again led by Beltran and MIKE LAMB! Where did this guy come from? Oh yeah, New York. He's hitting homers daily and has gone 8-for-13 with 2 homers and TEN RBI in 3 games!

Clemens goes tomorrow against Jose Acevedo to complete our season series with Cincinnatti. Too bad, we absolutely OWN the Reds. Oh well, we got five games in four days against the Pirates next. Keep it rolling...

Meanwhile, Brandon Duckworth and Tim Redding just got called up to join Chris Burke and Willy Taveras as our September call-ups. Taveras has been used just as he should be: as a pinch runner. Burke has been a pinch-hitter without a hit to his name. But he's getting some time at second base, spelling Kent. Timmy will pitch in Thursday's doubleheader at Pittsburgh. Here's hoping Timmy does well. I understand that unless another Astro gets hurt, Timmy will be ineligible for the postseason roster. Just as well. He hasn't pitched well all season, including AAA ball.

A note about Clemens and Oswalt: these guys are definitely in the Cy Young race. Think about the other contenders. Johnson and Sheets must be twins. You can't tell their numbers apart: one has a 2.94 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, and 213 Ks; the other has 2.80 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, and 249 Ks. They are also a combined 22-24. Yikes. (P.S. They also both absolutely own the Braves.) Pavano strikes no one out, but has 16 wins! His lack of Ks and the fact that nobody know who the hell he is will keep him out of contention. Schmidt, meanwhile, is falling apart. He's allowed 6 earned runs in each of his last 3 starts. Clemens, likewise, hasn't had a consistent second half. His ERA is now over 3.00 for the first time all season (By the way, that is still INCREDIBLE).

That leaves Oswalt. His numbers are not great. Nowhere near Randy's or Sheets' or Schmidt's or even Pavano's. His 3.59 ERA is a half-point higher than his career average. But he's got wins. Seventeen of them, to be exact. Most importantly, he's been a steam roller down the stretch. He's won eight of his last 10 starts, and picked up a win in relief. Haha.

It's still Schmidt's award to lose. But if the trends continue (Schmidt bad, Oswalt very good), he might stand a chance. Oh yeah, and he's a daddy now. Congrats Roy!

Players signed through 2005: Pettitte, Ausmus, Bagwell. Players eligible for arbitration: Lidge, Everett, Ensberg, Lane, Bruntlett, Backe, Gallo, Harville, Hernandez, Qualls. Players for whom we hold an option : Kent, Biggio. I'm not sure what the situation with Clemens is, but I'm assuming his 10-year personal services contract negates his ability to sign with some other team. Whether or not he'll sign with us (I've heard that he's seriously leaning that way) is yet to be determined. He sure likes to wait it out though.

The big question is, which All-Star do they sign between Berkman, Beltran and Oswalt. I think Oswalt should be our first priority. Sure, his groin gave out last year, but this year he's avoided the injury bug and can now be relied upon as a quality ace. A nice, juicy 3-year, $30 million contract would fit nicely.

So: Berkman or Beltran? Their career stats:

Berkman .301 .416 .561 .977
Beltran .285 .353 .492 .845 (182/209 SB)

Berkman is 28; Beltran 27. Both are switch-hitters. Beltran plays tra-mendous defense in center; Berkman looks foolish in left or right. Still, Berkman gets on base at a higher clip, and absolutely smacks the HELL out of the ball. And while his career OPS is more than 100 points lower than Berkman's, Beltran is the talk of the town. Everyone's talking about him getting $12 million per year. No one seems to be talking about Berkman.

I say we retain Oswalt and Berkman. I bet we can get both for around $10 million per year. We all know they'd be worth that price. Despite what Beltran has done for us this year, I just don't see how we can afford him. We could move Biggio back to center (shudder), or call up Willy Taveras next year. Burke and Lane would get a chance to play full time, as we bid farewell to Kent. Next year's projected lineup and rotation:

Biggio CF $3 million
Everett SS cheap
Bagwell 1B $17 million
Berkman LF $10 million
Lane RF cheap
Ensberg 3B cheap
Burke 2B cheap
Ausmus C $3 million

Oswalt $10 million
Pettitte $7.5 million
Hernandez cheap
Redding / Backe / Duckworth / Munro / Buchholz / Qualls cheap

Jack keeps telling me we're screwed for year to come. I don't think this looks so bad.

We are now 2.5 games back of the Cubs and the Giants for the wild card, thanks to a 3-game sweep of the Reds. This afternoon, Kent and Berkman led the offensive onslaught that has somehow ben missing all year. Kent hit a grand slam and Berkman went 3-3 with a solo homer. Both have hit six homers in the last eight games. In the series, the Stros hit 10 homers and outscored Cincinnatti 28-6. We've won 14 out of 17 since August 15.

But let's not get too excited. Like Larry Dierker reminds us in his article for the Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bb/2771727), we still have a ways to go — and four teams to leapfrog. Still, we have a relatively easy schedule for the remainder of the season. Our next 10 games come against Pittsburgh and Cincinnatti, and we only have three series against playoff contenders (St. Louis 2, San Fran). The Cubs also have an easy schedule; their only difficult series come against Florida (twice) and Atlanta. The Giants, Padres and Dodgers each share two series against one another, so they will hopefully beat up on each other. Florida might have the toughest road — they face Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia twice each.

Well the point is, we gotta win. The past three seasons, it seems like we've had major problems 1) beating the teams we're supposed to beat and 2) ending the season with a bang. But it's been a long time since we've been the underdog. I suppose it might be easier — or at least more exciting — to be playing catch-up instead of looking back over your shoulder all the time.

More importantly, though, I'm 21 now. And it's great.

Guess it's been a while, but both Jack and I have been pretty busy the past, oh, month or so. We've been on the Colorado River most of that time, away from the Rim World and the deplorable Astros. Really, though, there's not much to talk about. Miller and Pettitte are done for the season, and Everett's out for another month or so. After hovering under or around .500 for a large portion of the second half (losing 4 of 6 games to the Expos!), the Stros finally put togheter a good streak, winning 4 straight and 6 of 8. As soon as I start believing that maybe, somehow, 5-and-a-half games isn't too hard to climb, they go and fall again, losing 2 of 3 from the Cubs, just one of the 5 teams they'll have to leapfrog in order to take the wildcard. At this point, We'll have to win at least 30 of our last 40 games, and that's only to get to 90 wins. It won't happen. Maybe if I stop believeing, they'll start winning again.

UGH.

Adam Everett just hit his fourth homer of the season, a two-run shot with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. That would have won the game for us: we were down by one run after seven innings. Unfortunately, we lost the game 7-4, thanks to Paul Lo Duca's grand slam off Dave Weathers in the bottom of the eighth. This time the Stros smacked a grand total of seven hits against the outstanding Mr. Jose LIma. Not like we know his stuff or anything. Beltran had the only other significant hit, a two-run homer in the sixth. He also made two outfield assists. Does anyone else on the team even want to win?

.500 at the All-Star Break. Wow.

How long til the Texans take the field?

Three hits. One run. Against Wilson Alvarez. Another decent Clemens start wasted. Another close game lost.

Nevertheless, I feel a run coming on. Along with most every Astro fan on the planet, I am begging for the firing of Jimy as soon as the retractable roof closes on the 2004 All Star Game. But then comes the good part: the run.

Here's how it's gonna happen: we hire a decent manager. Anyone. Bob Brenly. Bobby Valentine. Jerry Manuel. I don't care. Anyone. The important thing is, we gotta shift things up around the dugout. Send everyone in the organization a wake-up call, that we gotta start lollygagging and get our act together.

Shake up the lineup while we're at it. Bat Beltran second, for God's sake. Then Berkman, Kent, Bagwell, Ensberg, Everett, Ausmus. I hope our new manager hates sac bunts as much as Jimy loves them. I hope he never uses Vizcaino or Palmeiro ever again and gives every possible pinch hit opportunity to Lane.

Our schedule right out of the gate from the break is relatively easy. Eighteen of our first 23 games after the break are at home, including series against the terrible Expos, the surprising Brewers, the injury-plagued Diamondbacks and the reeling Braves. Our five away games are at Cincinnatti, where we always seem to hit well (especially Lance) and at lowly Arizona. Immediately after that, we have away series at New York and Montreal, two very beatable teams. That's a stretch of 29 games in which we could easily go 23-6 or thereabouts.

Of course, the way we're playing right now, we could easily go 6-23. But we gotta stay positive.

By the way, Ensberg played shortstop for a couple of innings today, with Lamb at third.

I didn't even see the Yankees - Red Sox game last night, but from everything I've read this morning it sounds like one of the most dramatic baseball games ever played. Check it out.

Carlos Beltran continues to try to carry the Astros but comes up a little short, as Houston loses 5-4 off a Sosa walk-off HR. Any reason why Lidge was pitching after throwing about 40 pitches the game before?

There was a funny quote on TV the other day during the Astros - Cubs day game 2 days ago:

"All of the Astros told me they couldn't believe how good Carlos Beltran is."

This just brings up a ton of funny images for me:

Craig Biggio's mouth dropping open when he sees how much ground Beltran can cover.

Jeff Bagwell rubbing his eyes when he sees Beltran throw from CF.

Pretty much the entire team dumbstruck as Beltran crushes 4 HR's in a 3-game series with the Cubs, only to have the rest of the offense (except Biggio) do very little.

Seriously, it seems like we have to do so much to get a win these days, like Roy Oswalt pitching a shutout, or Craig Biggio hitting 2 HR's. Events like that aren't going to happen every day. We need some 'normal' wins.

Morgan Ensberg, where hast thou power gone? You're slugging .355, or thereabouts. The announcers also mentioned that the Astros are 'happy' with the way Ensberg is hitting this year. WHAT??!!?? The strange this is, I can picture Jimy relentlessly encouraging Ensberg to go the other way, to steal bases, to drop down a bunt, because THAT'S WHAT REAL BALLPLAYERS DO. I, of course, just want to him to crush home runs and draw walks, which is what GOOD offensive players do.

I'm in Flagstaff all week, doing...stuff. Probably trying to meet the NAU tennis coach, getting my AZ drivers license...maybe buying some new clothes, too. Give me a call (on Andy's cell phone).

Oh:

Jack Wade
1607 N. Sunset Dr.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Hey! It's been a while, but I got a house, and furniture, and the Astros got Carlos Beltran!

So it's been a good week. Andy and I got in to the warehouse on Tuesday night I think and there was (of course) a party going on, so we just wandered up and jumped in. No one knew exactly when we were working but they were more than happy to give us food and beer, so it was ok.

We slept in the back of the big trailer that night, and hightailed it to Flagstaff before they could make us do clean-up work around the warehouse.

We got in, called up some friends, and got to house-hunting. We went to a few apartments which were ok but kinda small, and then just happened to be driving by Hospital Hill (a quiet neighborhood about 10 mins. north of NAU and 5 mins. north of Historic Downtown Flagstaff) when we spotted a For Rent sign and a guy (Will Loomis) in the yard. He was a really friendly guy, showed us all around the house (which is awesome...I don't want to describe it too much because you're all gonna come visit), and we really liked it. So we dropped off the application that night, signed it in the morning, and moved in that night! Then we realized we needed a few things. Bed. Futon. Table. Food. Beer.

So we've pretty much been filling in the blanks the past few days. It's been exhausting, lots of driving and shopping and garage sales....but yesterday was the big day, as we bought a great coffee table for 20, a futon (with frame) for 25, and a 3 piece living room set and recliner for 505.

Now we're basically completely moved in, and we found out our schedule for July:

Andy has trips on the 1st and 13th.
Jack has trips on the 8th and 25th.

There are a few more swampers this year, so trips are a little harder to come by. This also means that I'll probably only be doing those two trips all summer, since the folks drive up on the 5th and then JT/Jason fly in sometime in early August, and then Orientation starts on the 23rd. Hopefully I can give Andy all the trips that I would have gotten in August.

So that's my life. As for the Astros: YEAH, BELTRAN.

We're in win-now mode, like it or not. Dotel's great, and I'm sorry to see him go, and Buck might be the catcher of the future, but Beltran is one of the top 20 or so players in the game and brings great defense, speed, and youth to a team that does not have any of those.

Of course we've lost 2 straight games to the Rangers since acquiring Beltran, but Pettitte's coming back and Jimy moved Everett down in the lineup today (with Bagwell hitting 2nd!)

I like our chances, long term, although the bullpen scares me. Lidge should be solid, but he tired last year and has thrown a lot of innings this year, and Dan Miceli and David Weathers are ok but not that great. Gallo, Bullinger, Munro....yikes.

But we got Beltran, and for now, that's all that matters.

Keep in touch, everyone, although my cell phone gets crappy service out here. I'll probably switch to Spring or Verizon pretty soon.

Panic button: ENGAGE.

Astros get:

David Weathers
Jeremy Griffiths

Mets get:

Richard Hidalgo
4 million

Ignoring the fact that we get to plug in Jason Lane, which of the above would you rather have?

Hidalgo's incredibly streaky, but he's a superb defensive player and put up a 950 OPS last year. He may not be worth 12 million, but he's not bad, and we dumped him at his lowest value possible, instead of this offseason or after his HUGE April. David Weathers is a slightly above average reliever and Griffiths is a non-prospect.

Mets win this one.


What I really don't like about this trade is how truly bad it makes our outfield defense. Biggio has been god-awful in center, with numerous acrobatic collapses on Tal's Hill, Lane has a below-average arm, and Lance can't run (although he always seems to make the play).

In other news, Oswalt is probably injured, Pettitte isn't completely ready, Clemens is starting to show his age, and we traded for Pete Munro. And Jose Vizcaino is our starting SS as Everett has a minor injury. Oh, and we basically released Ricky Stone, while retaining Kirk Bullinger, Eric Bruntlett....damn.

Sometimes I love this team so much that I hate them.

Two more days and I'm off.

Ready for this one?

"Astros SS Adam Everett recorded his 19th sacrifice bunt in the first inning, the most in a single season in the majors since Neifi Perez had 22 for Colorado in 1997."

It's not even the All-Star Break and Adam Everett already has more sacrifice bunts than ANYONE in the majors in 6 years.

Man, I miss Morgan Ensberg hitting 2nd.

It's a quiet Saturday; JT is driving to Baton Rouge to cheer on his beloved Aggies in the College World Series, Mark's driving (!!) to the Pacific Coast of Mexico for some fun in the sun, Jason is recovering from a long week of hard labor, and that leaves yours truly thinking about where I'll be a few months from now.

My brother's back from college tomorrow, and we're going to try and score some Astros tix for the upcoming Cubs series. Game 1: Clemens vs. Prior!! We must do it.

He's back for all of a week, and then we're off for some rafting.

CD of the weekend: "OK Computer", Radiohead. If you don't like it at first, listen again. It grows on you.

Time for my 2004 NL All-Star ballot:

1B - Albert Pujols. Sorry, Sean Casey, but YOU'RE NOT THAT GOOD. Pujols is drawing more walks this year and he's insanely, painfully good (I once dropped him in a fantasy league!)

2B - Jeff Kent. You were thinking Tony Womack? Kent's got a 24-game hitting streak as of Friday, and a cool 905 OPS. Not bad for a 36-year old second baseman.

SS - Jack Wilson. THERE IS NO ONE ELSE. You think I wanted to vote for Jack Freakin' Wilson???? But my god...Renteria and Orlando Cabrera are sucking, Adam Everett is terrible offensively....I have to do it.

3B - Scott Rolen. He's got 63 RBI's. I don't care if you do have Pujols and Edmonds in front of you, that's a lot. Sorry, Mike Lowell - you're good too.

C - Mike Piazza. He got off to a slow start, but the best catcher of all time now has 13 HR's, 30 RBI, is hitting .305, and...is the best catcher of all time. Tough luck, Johnny Estrada.

OF - Bobby Abreu, Lance Berkman, Barry Bonds. I hate to keep Adam Dunn off the team, but Abreu has been damn good, Berkman's got an 1100 OPS and has carried the Astros (along with Kent) for a month and Barry Bonds is still alive.

SP - Roger Clemens. He just barely beats out Randy Johnson and Ben Sheets. Clemens is 9-0, tons of K's...and he's 41. And he was supposed to RETIRE!!

Closer - Armando Benitez. Sorry, Gagne, but you BLEW IT in last year's All Star Game, so take a seat, and let Mr. 40-straight-batters-retired-in-a-row take over (and a 0.54 ERA, too). Oh, and Brad Lidge can set-up...he's got 55 K's!!!

Well, that's my team. Bring it, JT.

Well, the Astros scored 4 runs in a 3-game series - AND WON 2 OF THEM!! That's pretty good, but not as good as back-to-back shutouts off starts by Clemens and Miller. Our pitching is looking solid, especially our 'best 6' or so that teams would see if we make it to the playoffs: Oswalt, Pettitte (or Miller), Clemens, Miceli, Lidge, Dotel. That's tough.

Jason Lane finally got a start last night and did nothing with it, unfortunately. He just needs to play more, but I wish he'd get some hits so Jimy would have to notice.

We had a great small party last night, with beer pong and Michelle's crazy dance music leading the way. Then it got a little too wild as Michelle wandered off and we looked for her and...well...things just got a little weird from then on. But it's all good, and I can't wait to do it again, especially since Mark is quite good at beer pong - at least, someone to challenge me! Mark - ARE YOU ASKING FOR A CHALLENGE?????

Jack's 2004 AL All Star Team

C - Jorge Posada, Yankees. Victor Martinez (and Pudge Rodriguez, actually)are close, but Posada doubles Martinez in walks (36 to 18) despite playing in 3 fewer games and has a 78-point OPS advantage over the 2003 World Series Hero.

1B - Ken Harvey, Royals. What happened to all the AL first basemen? I thought about taking Jason Giambi, but he just came off the DL and might be hurt. No one else has really stood out, and I thought about going with Rafael Palmeiro since he's almost done and is having a solid year, but Harvey has been quite good (.375 / .412 / .543) So I'm going with the Big Fella. Although he did just put his own pitcher on the DL yesterday by running into him.

2B - Juan Uribe, White Sox. Ugh!!! But I have to; he's the best right now. Believe me, I want to pick Alfonso Soriano, but 1) he's not as good as everyone thinks he is and 2) he's not as good as even someone like ME thinks he is. Soriano is at .284 / .326 / .431 with 19 extra-base hits; Uribe is at .309 / .368 / .508 with 21 XBH!! Send him in.

SS - Carlos Guillen, Tigers. I wonder if Seattle regrets trading Guillen (who's got a 961 OPS and 28 XBH) so they could sign Rich Aurilia (633 OPS, 12 XBH). Oops. Sorry Tejada - you gotta swing HARRRRRDAAAAA.

3B - Alex Rodriguez. I'm not looking Melvin Mora in the eye when I make this pick, but ARod is unstoppable, and is finally dominating after a slow start. If an All-Star Game in the next 10 years does not include ARod, I will be ill.

OF - Manny Ramirez, Carlos Beltran, Vladimir Guerrero. Ok, no more crazy picks like Harvey, Uribe, and Guillen. I mean....come on. Look at that outfield, and tremble in fear.

DH - Frank Thomas. He'll always be underappreciated. Arguably the best non-Bonds hitter of the last 20 years. 51 walks so far this year, and a 1053 OPS.

SPs - Curt Schilling, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, C.C. Sabathia, Freddy Garcia. Schilling deserves to start, Hudson and Mulder are the only ones with sub-3.00 ERAs, and Sabathia and Garcia are close.

RPs - Mariano Rivera, Keith Foulke, Franciso Cordero, Francisco Rodriguez. Saves leader, Foulke Foulke!, Cordero's been tough, and K-Rod is going NUTS.

So that's my team. Check out JT's at his blog.

Coming soon: NL!

I finally gave my boss my two weeks' notice on Friday, so I'm officially heading off to The Big Ditch with Andy on June 21. We'll be rafting the Colorado River for a couple of months, and then I start school Aug. 16, but I think he's planning on rafting a few more trips (he doesn't start his senior year at NU until late September). So it's kind of the end of an era here in The Woodlands, and I'd like to say I want to do all the things I never did...but I've done a lot, and I'm still doing my favorite things, like tennis, Mario Tennis, bridge, frisbee golf, and watching Jason eat cheese fries. So here's to a good last few weeks.

I admit that I've been following the Astros a little less (though I still watch every game I can and keep updated on everything possible) and baseball in general a little more. Guess I'm just a fan of the game as a whole. Actually JT and I have had a little argument going about who should be voted to the All Star Game - 'proven' superstars that everyone wants to see regardless of their statistics (a.k.a. Nomar Garciaparra is leading the AL for shortstops, despite not playing a game yet), or guys that kind of came out of nowhere to dominate so far this year (Sean Casey, Victor Martinez, Joe Kennedy). Well, in my next post, I'm going to unveil my 2004 AL All Star Ballot, and I challenge JT to do the same, and we'll compare. Oh, and stop by his blog, too. It's good stuff.

I had a GREAT weekend up in Chicago, where I learned a few things:

1. I will never be as good as my little brother at Caps.
2. The Northwestern Campus is a lot nicer during the spring and summer than the winter

and most importantly

3. Girls still have an (apparently infinite) capacity to surprise me.

So I got in around 4pm Saturday (which happened to be Dillo Day, a joyous day when all the Northwestern students join hands and sing campfire songs while drinking poisonous amounts of alcohol. I arrive to fanfare as most of Andy's frisbee buddies and Dano the Man-O are all there and we immediately start playing Caps, grilling some burgers and dogs, and talking about life. Then we decide to go listen to the Wailers, Bob Marley's old band! They started off slow but then peaked with "I Shot the Sherrif" and "No Woman No Cry" with fireworks going off in the background.

The next day we went and visited Toni, my Mom's Mom, who's doing great, and was pleased to hear that Andy's new gal Katie is an Alpha Phi just like she used to be! Small world. Then we went and saw Shrek 2 with Uncle Marty and his lady, which was pretty good - a little cheesy, but Antonio Banderas steals the show.

So then FINALLY my good buddy Jess gets in about 10:30 pm to Union Station...she took a train from East Lansing and it got stopped because of tornadoes! But eventually she made it, fresh from camping that morning, and we went and chilled at Andy's friend's place for a while and caught up on stuff.

Then: The Day With Everything.

Running, home run derby, frisbee, Al's Deli, iced butter cookies, Cubs game, sports bar, dancing on tables (Katie and Jess....not me....sigh), Caps, hockey game (Flames lose....NOO), and deep dish pizza. It was an amazing day.

Then I don't really remember this morning very well but I'm typing this from Houston, so I must have made it back all right. And now I gotta go to work, so I'll leave you with that.

Andy, Katie, Dano, and especially Jess, great to see you guys.

Remember all that talk about Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens bringing a new 'attitude' to the Astros?

The new attitude seems to be one of utmost seriousness.

Don't get me wrong - we NEED to go for it all this year. At the end of this year, we will lose (or should let go of) Clemens, Biggio, Kent, Hidalgo, probably Miller, maybe Dotel, PLEASE Vizcaino, etc...to be replace by The Kids: Jason Lane, Chris Burke, John Buck, Brooks Conrad, Willy Taveras, etc.

But the season is just over 1/4 of the way through, and already the Astros are taking everything really...seriously.

The Chronicle urged the Astros to "Get Angry" today, after Richard Justice advised them to have fun and play the game the day before. I'm more on Justice's side on this one. Maybe it's just me, but the whole team seems a little tight right now. It's hard to play well when you're putting tons of pressure on yourself. That's one thing I admire so much about the Yankees; every year, they've got huge expectations to live up to, and every year they're right there at the end. But I don't know if that's good for every team. Clemens and Pettitte have been awesome so far, but hopefully they're not making the game less fun for everybody.

Houston: Relax. It really IS a marathon, not a sprint, and you simply can't have extreme intensity every single game for 162 games, or you'll go crazy.

That said, here are some minor-league stats on "The Kids" that I mentioned earlier that we might see a lot of in 2005:

C John Buck .290 / .372 / .435, 5 HR, 14 BB in 131 AB.
1B Todd Self .354 / .450 / .543, 15 2B, 6 HR, 32(!!!) BB in 175 AB.
2B Chris Burke .324 / .393 / .495, 12 2B, 5 HR, 17 BB in 182 AB.
2B Brooks Conrad .297 / .370 / .475, 13 2B, 3 HR, 21 BB in 158 AB.
CF Willy Taveras .356 / . 420 / .401, only 5 XBH, 17 BB in 177 AB.

Buck - starting 2005 C
Self - backing up Bagwell
Burke - starting 2005 2B
Conrad - has played 3B and SS - no more Viz!
Taveras - overrated. Singles hitter with a lot of speed. Late-inning defensive replacement and pinch-runner extraordinaire, though.

An awesome win for the Astros tonight: 5-0 over the Cubs. Roy Oswalt pitched great, allowing 3 hits/1 walk in 7 innings, striking out 8, and Lance Berkman continues to crush, hitting a 2-run HR.

This is how games are supposed to go: rely on your best players (Oswalt, Berkman) to get the win.

I'm heading up to Chicago this weekend to visit the younger bro, enjoy Dillo Day, and catch a Cubs-Astros game at Wrigley on Monday afternoon. Can't wait.

What's happened lately?

Well, the Astros have gone 1-3. Lance Berkman has been going crazy, our starting pitching has been a little iffy, Morgan Ensberg is hitting almost nothing besides line drives...

...and I'm getting tired of tennis. I didn't think it would ever happen, but teaching it 4/5/6 hours a day and playing for another 1 or 2 is wearing on me.

The NL Central is now in a 3-way tie, with the Astros, Cubs, and Reds all at 24-18, and the Cardinals only 1.5 games back. Once again we're trying to the best 'Pythagorean' team in baseball (the greatest differential between runs scored and runs allowed) and somehow not make the playoffs:

We've outscored our opponents by 61 runs (233-172).

Cubs? 206-160. (+46)

Reds? 197-206. (-9!!!)

Cardinals? 211-193 (+28)

Why is this? Why do we win blowouts and lose close games?

1. We have a team that (no matter what Jimy Williams wants it to be) is built for the big inning: a couple of walks and a 3-run bomb.

2. Inefficient bullpen usage. When is the better team to use your best reliever:

A) Up by 4 in the 9th inning (a 'Jimy save')
B) Up by 1 in the 8th inning

3. Pinch-hitters. Pinch-hitters come up in a lot of big situations in close games (and should come up even more often for us, since we're carrying Everett and Ausmus), and our "Ace" pinch-hitters, in order of at-bats:

1. Jose Vizcaino, 41 (.171 / .261 / .195 = 456 OPS)
2. Orlando Palmeiro, 34 (.176 / .263 / .294 = 557 OPS)

What can we do? Jimy can learn a few new tricks, Hunsicker could trade for a bat off the bench...or we could get ready for a few more close losses.

Astros 9, Marlins 2.

Lance Berkman and (gulp) Brad Ausmus lead the hitting attack, Wade Miller pitches well enough to win, and we actually work some counts against Dontrelle Willis. He threw a 91-pitch complete game against us 5 days ago; he had thrown 96 pitches through 4 innings this time.

The big news last night was, of course, Randy Johnson's perfect game. I got home at 8 or so, flipped by the Astros game, saw we were up 6-2 or so, and then heard the announcers mentioning that Randy was perfect through 7 innings. So I hurry over to TBS and watch the last 2 innings. Randy was still throwing 98mph fastballs and 88mph unhittable sliders those last 2 innings, and it seemed almost inevitable that he would get the perfect game, which he did, striking out Nick Green and Eddie Perez in the 9th to end it. Randy pumped his fist and pointed to the sky, but his young catcher Robby Hammock did him one better, jumping for joy several times before rushing out to envelop Randy in a bear hug. The funniest thing is that Randy is at least a foot taller than Hammock, so it looked like a little kid running up to hug his Dad. Good stuff. Congrats, Randy.

Jason Schmidt didn't pitch too badly last night, either - he allowed only an infield single to Michael Barrett (on an incredibly close play at 1st, and only after juuuuuuuuuust missing on a 2-2 pitch) and struck out 14 Cubs in a 1-0 shutout.

Oh, and the Yankees lost, 1-0. All in all, a good day to be a baseball fan.

I've got a tennis tournament coming up this weekend, and my first match will be against either: 1) my good buddy Jason - check out his blog, too or 2) a guy I've played about 20 times and beaten once, Robert Bickmore. Urgh.

Oh, and I'm playing doubles with JT, and we're playing the Tate bros. The older one, Matt, played high school tennis with the two of us before playing college tennis for four years. The younger one, Mark, just won the 4A singles state championship. Our goal: to peg Mark. Nah, we'll play hard, and it should be a fun match.

It's a beautiful day outside, so it's time to play some tennis. See ya.