On Astros and Fissures…

We knew that Kaz was an injury risk coming into this season, but my god – we live in a world of far too much information!

All that I needed to know about Kaz Matsui going on the disabled list is that he had surgery on his groin-area.  I did not need to know that he is out due to anal fissures that required surgery.  My god – that just sounds painful!  The simple concept of anal fissures is bad enough, but to think that they can get so bad that it requires surgery?  Ow! OW! OW!!!!

I guess that this means that we’ll start the season with Mark Loretta at second, so I have to figure that the batting order may change up a bit.  Perhaps now it will be:

1.  Michael Bourn
2. JR Towles
3. Lance Berkman
4. Miguel Tejada
5. Carlos Lee
6. Hunter Pence
7. Ty Wigginton
8. Mark Loretta

So, I moved Towles to #2, and put Loretta in at #8.  I’m not sure how married the Astros are to moving the catcher out of the 8-spot, but he’s definately got some pop in that bat.  I could see them wanting to keep him for late RBI help at the bottom of the lineup.  Loretta can get on base, so he may be the better candidate with Berkman, Tejada, Lee and Pence behind him and Bourn, but I’d like to see Towles get a chance to get us some quick offense.

The season is getting closer and my hopes remain low for this squad.  This remains the most relaxing preseason I can think of in recent memory for me as a fan.  Every negative is accepted and every positive is just a nice bonus!

 Go Rockets!!!!

What?  The Rockets are Rocking.  I’ll cheer for the Astros when the season starts.

I don’t care for pre-season Baseball

I don’t care for pre-season Baseball.  That’s how I know that I’m just a fan, and not a rabid fan.

As much as I enjoy Baseball, there are some aspects of the game which I have never been able to get into that seem to be the glass ceiling preventing me from being considered a “true” fan of the game.  Pre-season baseball is one, and stats are the other.

I am not against pre-season baseball, I just feel that it, like most other sport pre-seasons, goes on far too long.  I understand the need to evaluate talent, and to get a look at the prospects against current major leaguers to gauge their progress…I just don’t need to watch it.  Actually – watching it isn’t the issue: it is listening to it.  I spend far too much time in the car to have one of my sports talk radio options taken away for several hours to broadcast a meaningless game.

I’ll follow pre-season baseball…to a degree.  I’ll read the Chronicle reports on players and activities; but I don’t follow it on a daily basis.  When the season gets closer I’ll pay attention a bit more, but with the length of pre-season, that won’t be for a while.  A lot of my fellow Astros fans are paying close attention this pre-season like to point out that we’re a club of unfamiliar faces, and that they want to know what to expect when the season starts.  More power to them, but I’ll start learning on Opening Day!

 One thing I won’t be learning on opening day are Stats.  Not the mathematics behind statistics, I understand that quite well: it’s just the application to baseball which loses me.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ll follow Batting Average, ERA and Slugging Percentage over the course of the season; but I will not be able to cross-reference the number of home runs a player has hit on a Tuesday with their batting average in AA ball during away games in June.  I have never understood the appeal of such things.

I guess that I do understand how some can find number-crunching interesting.  Personally, I find forensic accounting to be fascinating…but knowing who hit the most triples under a full moon in August in domed stadiums?  Escapes me.

I do marvel at the fans who seem to have this inate ability to calculate and cross-reference statistics.  I look at fans talking on message boards, or I’ll be out at the sports pub listening to people comparing these numbers and it is just a wonder that they can keep everything straight in their own mind while still being able to formulate counter-arguments with contradictory stats.  It is amazing, but it is beyond me.

I’m more of a beer and a hot dog guy when it comes to baseball.

Gearing up for Astros 2008!

You know what?  I’m actually looking forward to this upcoming baseball season now.   The big reason for that is that I am expecting little-to-nothing from my beloved Astros, so any success they have will be a pleasant surprise!  I’m looking forward to seeing how our new pieces mesh with the few remaining vets, and how the kids will step up this season.  We’ll have a very interesting lineup at the very least. 

 Our projected Batting Order:

1. Michael Bourn – CF
2. Kazuo Matsui – 2B
3. Miguel Tejada – SS
4. Lance Berkman – 1B
5. Carlos Lee – LF
6. Hunter Pence – RF
7. Ty Wigginton – 3B
8. J.R. Towles – C

It will be fun to see what Bourn, Pence and Towles will do in their first full seasons.  We already know that Pence has what it takes in the bigs, and Bourn and Towles have shown promise (especially that huge, 8 RBI game Towles had).  It is just too exciting that we may actually have an offensive presence in the 7 & 8 spots for the first time in years.

Now…our pitching.  Oy vey….this will be interesting, but in an entirely different way:

1. Roy Oswalt
2. Wandy Rodriguez
3. Brandon Backe
4. Woody Williams
5. Chris Sampson

That’s what I’m thinking that it will be.  Backe may move down a spot, and Felipe Paulino may creep in at #5; but for all intents and purposes, the above five are what I’m going with.  Beyond Oswalt, that staff inspires questions more than it does fear.  I like Wandy, but more as a #3 than a #2 at this point.  I think that he’ll have a fine season with some run support, tho.  Backe – I am a fan of this guy, but the big question is how will he do after being out for so long?  No doubt that he’s rested, but is he rusty; and how long will it take him to shake it off?  Woody – I am cheering for him, and I actually think that he is going to have a good season – not a great season, but one that will make people consider bringing him on the roster as a smart move.  As for Sampson – he’ll be a solid #5 – if he fails, that’s tolerable, but if he succeeds then it’s gravy.  Personally, after Oswalt I have the most faith in Sampson going into this season when considering the role being asked of him.

I don’t see a pennant in our 2008 future, but this team could definately play the role of the spoiler.  Whatever happens, I’m just going to enjoy this season for baseball totally free of expectations.

The Astros Off-season gets better and better!

Lovely.

 So now Congress is asking for an investigation into whether or not hasn’t-played-a-game-in-an-Astros-Uniform-yet Short-stop, Miguel Tejada, lied to a federal investigator during the investigation into Raphael “I never used steroids” Palmeiro.  What does this mean?  If he’s found guilty he can be charged with filing false statements with a Federal Prosecutor…which is a felony.

OK – we all know that the jackasses in Congress are just doing this because this is an election year and a lot of them need those wonderful, fist-shaking soundbites to show their constituancy that they aren’t just up there taking bribes and jerking each other off all day…but Federal Prosecutors – they don’t fool around.  If they attack, it is usually because they have the scent of blood.  You can call into question their motives for the selection of their targets, but once they decide to attack they usually do not stop until they get the throat and hang on til the fight is done.

Bottom line: what free agent short-stops are available?  I’m getting a bad feeling that we’re about to really, really miss Adam Everett.  He may not have had a bat, but at least we didn’t have to worry about Federal Prosecutors coming after him.

This whole steroids thing is kind of a joke.  I do not deny that it is a horrible health concern (mostly for kids), and as we’re seeing with the hip-hop crackdown, it’s not limited to the world of sports…but lets face it: no one is going to actually do a damned thing about it.  Congressmen Waxman and Davis?  Yeah – soundbites, make a good show, garner public support, and then when people aren’t paying attention…………forget all about it until they need it again to look good in the eyes of their voters.

Yes, I realize that I may sound jaded, but in this case I think that I am right.  Everyone is talking about how awful steroids are; but why bother with the hard work and sacrifice to do something about it when they get just as many bonus points for talking and doing nothing?

This will be all the rage for a couple months and then it will go away again.  It will leave the steps of Congress and be relegated to the sports section of the paper again by Opening Day in April.  We’ll all show our righteous indignation against these superstar athletes, and no one will do a damned thing about trying to prevent the usage of steroids (which has become a “Coke” term for performance enhancers) in college, in high school or in any walk of life outside of the professional ballparks and fields.  It’s kind of hard to take it seriously when you think of it like that.

For the Astros…well, nice job on that trade, Ed Wade!  Way to trade for a guy rumored to be up to his backne in steroid rumors the day before the freaking Mitchell Report hit.  I don’t buy for a moment the claims from Ed and Uncle Drayton that “we had no idea that Tejada would be mentioned.”  Not for a moment.

Oh well…this must be how the Falcons felt after giving us Schaub right before Mike Vick turned out to be Cujo’s worst nightmare.

Dear Santa, thank you for our new short stop, but can we get some pitching?

Oy vey….dark days are upon baseball fans.  Like many, I left during the strike year, and I came back with the excitement of the Home Run Chase; but I fear that tomorrow may squash my love for the old game one more time.  More on that later, tho.

First things first – my Astros made another big move this offseason today, acquiring Miguel Tejada for Troy Patton, Luke Scott, Matt Albers and a couple other pieces.  It looks like Drayton and Eddie are adopting the good, old-fashioned “murderer’s row” concept for the offense, which is good considering that we have Roy Oswalt and…..nothing at our starting pitching.

Miguel – this has nothing to do with you.  Welcome to the team, I am looking forward to seeing you in an Astros uniform; and I hope to god that your name is not on any reports released tomorrow which I’ll be talking about later.

My issue is that for all of the moves we’ve made, we have done nothing to help out Roy Oswalt with our starting pitching.  Right now I’m guessing that Woody Williams is our #2, and we’re hoping that Brandon Backe returns better than ever?  Can we really afford to give up a prospect like Patton; or a servicable starter like Albers?  What are we going to trot out there when the Wizard of Oz has the day off?  I am hoping that we have at least one more move this offseason to bring in some sort of help with our rotation, because right now it looks as if we’re hoping to simply outscore everyone on every night.

Speaking of which – not a bad lineup (on paper).  We’ve already been told that Bourn will lead off, followed by Matsui (if healthy), followed by Berkman, Lee, Tejada, Pence, Wigginton, Towles and whatever pitcher we roll out there.  Personally, I would prefer to see Pence and Matsui (if healthy) switch places in that order.  I know that Matsui (if healthy) is supposed to have superior speed; but do we really want to bury who could possibly be our best bat at the #6 spot?  Here’s to hoping that Cecil Cooper bases his order on production, and not name recognition.

I will give Ed Wade this – he is remaking this team.  Yes, some moves may be lateral at best, but at least he isn’t just clinging to the ghost of Hunsiker.  I know that Uncle Drayton doesn’t like the word “rebuild,” but at some point we’re going to have to do just that with our depleted minor league system.

Now…on to the ugliness.  The Mitchell Report is released tomorrow, and there are going to be around 80 names of current and former players, including many whom are well-known and highly thought of.  A lot of speculation has our new Short Stop on this list, and to be honest it wouldn’t surprise me.

That’s no dig at Miggy – I won’t be surprised by any names on the list, to be totally honest.  I am fully expecting to see my fair share of current and former Astros on this list, and I think that fans of every team should prepare for the same with their players.  I do know this for certain, tho…if the names Bagwell and Biggio show up tomorrow, then it may be worse for me than a shortened season and cancelled World Series.  That could drive me from the game once and for all.

Please don’t let that happen, Santa!

Another new Astro

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5345880.html

 So, the replacement for Craig Biggio is Kaz Matsui, eh?  3 years, 16.5…questionable health and not a lot at the bat.  So why am I happy about this?  I like that Ed Wade isn’t afraid to make some trades, but beyond Michael Bourn, I don’t see a lot of long-term improvement, which is what the club needs to be thinking about.  This past draft was flat-out disgraceful for the former regime in Houston, so I am waiting anxiously to see if Wade can do any better.

Hell, who am I kidding?  As long as he is slightly better than “not-completely-incompetant” then it will be a step up.

The defense in the middle infield should be great for Houston with Everett and (hopefully) Matsui; add in Bourn in centerfield and that is a nice defensive wall in the middle…but defense is gained at the expense of offense.  Bourn and Matsui will be the #1 and #2 hitters, so their job will just be to try to get on base for Pence, Berkman and Lee; but as all Astros fans know too well -that is a lot to ask for.

Prospects, draft picks…wait – make that draft picks whom we actually sign – that is what I’m expecting from the Wade Regime.  I am fully prepared to suck for a couple years.  It’s going to be the price we pay for the complete destruction of our minor league system.

Houston, Sports and Me

Well, I just finished watching tonights Houston Rockets-Phoenix Suns game.  This is one of the best games I have seen from this team of Rockets under the Adelman regime.  I felt as if we took a trip back in time watching Steve Francis on a couple plays; but the flashy plays were not what impressed me, instead it was his approach to the game while he was in there.  He was out there just to play – it was not about him, it was about doing what it takes to win the game, and that makes me incredibly happy and hopeful for the future of this team.

We had another good outing by Luis Scola, who along with Bonzi Wells, Dikembe Mutumbo and Steve Francis are making this a team with a bench to be reckoned with.  Shane Battier continues to be Mr. Glue, and Chuck Hayes continues to be the most under-appreciated man manning the PF spot in basketball.  Rafer Alston rose to the occassion as well, and I have to think that Francis’ play helped in some way.  We need solid competition between Alston, Francis and Mike James in order to maximize our potential at that spot.

All that said – we will only go as far as Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady will take us.  It felt good to get that win on the road against Phoenix, but we are still only a couple games removed from that shameful 6-game losing skid and there is a long, long season ahead of us.  Keep feeding the ball to the Big Man and ride that pony to the end!

I guess that you could say that I am a sucker for pain and disappointment, not only being a Rockets fan, but also a die-hard Texans and Astros fan.  Yes, they all break my heart, but they’re my teams, dammit!  I am one of the rare Houstonians who liked the Mario Williams selection, and still think that it was the best way to go.  Leading up to the draft I was all about Bush, but once Mario was ours that was it for me.  I cannot stand the Youngsters around town, who still haven’t gotten over the fact that the franchise passed on that guy who played a good Rose Bowl at UT.  GET OVER IT!!!  I like the direction this team is heading in, but there are so many weaknesses that still need to be addressed, mostly dealing with depth and the RB position.  Don’t get me wrong – I love the Dayne Train, but we have got to look ahead past next season.  I am hoping against hope that a player like Mike Hall or Felix Jones will be available to us in this draft.

As for my beloved Astros…I just don’t know what to think right now.  It was weird enough to watch them without Jeff Bagwell; but to watch them now without Craig Biggio as well is just going to be too strange.  Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Dah, life goes on…and so do sports.  I always knew that they wouldn’t be here forever…but it doesn’t make it any less strange.

So, what to do?  Personally, I was not terribly down on Brad Lidge, but I really like the potential of Michael Bourn, and I am a sucker for the hometown kid making it big with the hometown team.  Add in J.R. Towels and Hunter Pence and we have a strong cast of young’uns; along with guys like Adam Everett (who’s still a liability at offense, no matter how great his defense is); Carlo$ Lee; Ty Wigginton; and of course the man, the myth…the legend – the BIG PUMA, Lance Berkman, and we may have a competitive team, if not a division contender.  Losing out on Luis Castillo hurt my hopes for the upcoming season, but for once I am walking into the Spring not expecting much, so they can do nothing other than impress me at this point.

Of course, I have to give some love to our newest team in the Houston family – the back-to-back MLS Champion Houston Dynamo!  Name issues and unintentional insults aside, it is so easy to get behind this team, and not just because of the fact that they are the only Champs that we have going.  Guys like Brian Ching and De Rosario have made the Dynamo and the MLS so accessible to the Houston market.  They have seemed proud to be here, and that has made me proud to support them.  As much as I enjoy playing Soccer, I haven’t been a staunch follower of it in the professional level, but that has changed with this Dynamo franchise.  I am looking forward to checking out some of their matches at the new Stadium once it is built.  I just hope that the Dynamo fanatics aren’t seriously thinking that they’re getting a retractable roof!

A lot of people look at sports as a waste of time and money.  They see it as kids games and think that those who follow them are somehow inferior to them.  Those people just do not understand what these sports, and these teams mean to communities and individuals.  They don’t see how they can be such a uniting force between people.  We are at our best when we try to be our best, and sports exemplify that better than just about anything.  You could throw me in a room with a Democrat from Boston; an Evangelical from Mississippi; and a Green from Washington, and chances are the four of us could talk for days about last night’s games, fantasy football, the 1985 World Series or the upcoming NFL Draft for hours on end.  Sports are not perfect, but neither is Humanity.  At the very least sports are something that can unite even the most different people, and that in itself is worth the price of admission.

P.S. – the Tennessee Titans Suck!