Tri Cities continues to struggle but have shown signs of life over the last month. They are currently 19-27 and 6 games out of first in the NYPL Stedler Division.

The Good:

The Hitters:

Out of the 14 team league, the ValleyCats rank tied for 3rd in HR (29). They are in the middle of the pack in most other areas except those noted below in the bad.

J. B. Shuck leads the league in runs scored (39) and is tied for 6th most hits (50). His 4 triples tie him for 5th most. He has walked 24 times (7th most). His OBP of .393 is 8th.

Phil Disher leads the league in hits (58), RBI (39), total bases (104, and homers (10). He is tied for 5th most doubles and is tied for 10th in runs scored (27). His OBP of .400 is tied for 5th, his SLG (.598) is 2nd best, and his OPS is 3rd best (.998). His .333 average is good for 6th best in the league. (more…)

The farm teams went 4-1 last night with Lexington having the night off.

Round Rock beat Portland to wrap up their road trip to the left coast. J. R. Towles homered and had an RBI single in the game. (more…)

Bourn will likely play against the Reds, Cooper praises his replacement.

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The Astros swept the dicknose Mets, then won that crazy tornado and lightning game before dropping two more to the dumbshit Cubs. Now they’ve got a four-game set with the Dickities before returning home. Lance Berkman hasn’t hit a homer since the Derby, though non-All Star Carlos Lee is ripping one every day.

The Reds have plummeted completely past the underwhelming Astros and Pirates to take sole possession of the NL Central basement. They’ve lost 8 of 10 games and their last four series, including sweeps by Colorado and Washington. Pee-yew. That shit stinks worse than a week-old plate of Skyline Chili served with a frosty mug of Ohio River sewage. The Reds also just dumped the Messiah, and while Adam Dunn is leading the majors with 32 homers he also has 112 strikeouts.

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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Astros 4
Baby Bears 11

W: Marquis (7-7) | L: Backe (6-11)

Footer Recap
AP Recap / Box via Yahoo!
Game Zone

The Good Guys Brandon Backe got lit the fuck up in the rubber game today, dropping this one in spectacular fashion early. I was all set to labor through a few hundred words’ worth of lamentation and dick jokes, but BudGirl stepped up big time, sending me exactly the recap I was looking for…

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“My whole concern was the lightning, but also the fact that it wasn’t on top of us,” Crew Chief Wally Bell said Tuesday.

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Round Rock has started the week with back to back defeats. Mark Saccomanno hit his 24th homer Monday night but the poor pitching performance by Ron Chiavacci put the Express in a hole they couldn’t get out of. Tuesday, the Express stranded 11 runners as they were shut out 3-0. Felipe Paulino’s rehab outing didn’t go as planned. He came out after 20 pitches complaining of a “shoulder/neck injury”. (more…)

Cubs 11, Astros 7

W: Howry (4-4) | L: Sampson (5-4)

HRs: Wigginton (11), Blum (10), Lee (26), Soriano (20)

AP recap/boxscore via Yahoo!

Footer gives her take.

Back at Wrigley for an early game after a long, rainy victory last night, the Astros fell behind early, rallied to take the lead, but the overtaxed bullpen cratered late as the Astros fell to the front-running Cubbies of Chicago, 11-7. (more…)

Astros 2, Cubs 0 (7 1/2 innings)

W: Moehler L: Dempster

The Astros pushed across a run in the first on a strong baserunning play by Miggy, who took second on a deep fly by Berkman (no doubt understanding that Anaheim Jimmy’s arm is toast). That led to a Lee single to right, which drew the worst throw of all time by an outfielder - yes, Bonds in the 92 NLCS has been unseated - as Fukudome managed to bounce one over the dugout when trying to throw home.

Another run followed on three singles and a walk (explanation: Lee was the lead runner).

After that, it was all rain and lightning, and Wally Bell’s stubborn insistence on resuming play when an official game had already been recorded.

(Saturday) “I thought he’d be ready by now,” Cooper said.

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Well, last weekend couldn’t have been much sweeter. The Astros peckerslapped the hated Stem in a 3 game set. Late game heroics won two of the three, and the Good Guy pitching staff, including Randy Wolf and a bevy of relievers, threw a combined shutout in the third. Now its on to Shitsville to play my least favorite team in all of baseball…

Crumbling Piece of Shit Ballpark That Should Be Condemned Then Demolished Wrigley Field

Monday August 4th, 6:05 pm FSN (HD)/ESPN

Tuesday August 5th, 1:20 pm FSN

Wednesday August 6th, 1:20 pm FSN

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Not much to cheer about from this weekend.

Round Rock spent the weekend in the northwest playing Tacoma and Portland.

Friday night, they lost to Tacoma with Oscar Villareal getting the win. Saturday, the Express were defeated by Tacoma 4-1. Sunday, the Express snapped their 4 game losing streak with a win over Portland 7-4. The big blow in this game was a 3-run homer by Reggie Abercrombie in the 11th inning. Ray Sadler continues his hot hitting. In his last 10 games, he is hitting .472 with 4 HR & 6 doubles. (more…)

While this game didn’t have the thrill of a grand slam or the ludicrous athleticism of a Major Leaguesque play at the plate, a shut out has its’ own type of charm.

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Mets 3, Astros 7

W: Doug Brocail, L: Aaron Heilman,

Astros Recap
Yahoo Recap
Box Score

Friday night the long balls won. Kazou Matsui, Brandon Backe, Carlos Lee and Mark Loretta took their swings and made the baseball go long way. (more…)

The calendar has turned to August and it’s time to start checking on our guys on the buses to see how they are doing. Greeneville has already exceeded last years win total but are slightly under .500 at 19-22. They are in last place in the Appy League West but just 5.5 games out. All stats are as of 7/30 because the 7/31 game will be completed on 8/1. (more…)

Greeneville got three perfect innings from Jordan Lyles and then the game was suspended by rain so it will be completed tonight.

Tri Cities’ bats have awakened in a big way. The cranked three homers and 20 hits in their 17-9 win. They did commit 3 errors in the game. They are averaging 2 errors a game so far this season. Danny Meier, T J Steele and Phil Disher went deep. Steele had 5 hits on the night and Meier had 5 RBI. (more…)

Mets (58-50) at Astros (50-57)

Minute Maid Park

Friday, August 1, 7:05pm CDT.  FSN & FSN-HD
Saturday, August 2, 6:05pm CDT.  FSN & FSN-HD
Sunday, August 3, 1:05pm CDT.  my20 & my20-HD (yeah, I don’t believe it either)

Hate the Mets, Hate the Mets,
Step right up and berate the Mets.
Don’t bring the kiddies, don’t bring your wife,
MetFan may force you to run for your life.
Because the Mets are really suckin’ on balls,
Watchin’ our home runs over the walls.
East side, West side, everybody’s coming down,
To HATE the M-E-T-S Mets, of New York town. (more…)

Wade trades another “useless” minor leaguer to the Yankees for a reliever.

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The Good Guys dropped the final game with the Redlegs 9-5, but still won their third series in four tries since the All-Star break, playing .500 ball during the brief stretch. As I’m stuck taking care of a sick family, that’s going to be it for now, but I’ll get back later for a posterity post-cap, no doubt full of wit, whimsy, and tales of projectile vomiting. Something to look forward to.

The big news down on the farm today was that Lexington’s Matt Cusick was traded to the Yankees for LaTroy Hawkins and some cash. Cusick, earlier in the day had driven in two runs for the Legends as they won a late morning affair over the Hagerstown Suns.

“We like Matt. He’s swinging the bat very well at Lexington,” Astros General Manager Ed Wade said. “We consider him a prospect, and obviously, the Yankees consider him a prospect also.”

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