Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com.
So far the road is a good place to be… well at least 66.7% of the time… for the Stagnant Stars. Going 4 of 6 on the road is an important piece of most road trips. Never mind that half those wins were against the Brewers, still the Talking Heads favorite baseball team (please choose between “Same as they ever were,” or “This is not our beautiful house”.)
The common goal among most teams is be at or near .500 on the road and make hey with a strong winning percentage at home. The Astros are in the unique position of being better equipped to win consistently on the road. This is mainly due to the continuing battle of tiny confines versus the tiny minds on the pitching staff. The road has the potential of making league average (which is somehow below what should be acceptable average, but that’s another column) pitchers out of a Kent Bottenfield or a Jose “Feces” Lima. The road also allows a still struggling Scott Elarton to hang in games in ways Enron just can’t.
With the hitting being muy bueno 85% of the time in Houston and 60% of the time outside the Bayou, Space, Choo-choo Train City, the onus is for this team to continue to win on the road with (all together now) pitching and defense. As long as Brad “Second-Coming” Ausmus is behind the plate, Julio Lugo keeps his head in the game on defense and Richard Hidalgo stays healthy, the defense looks capable of keeping up its end of the bargain. As any good Follower of the Earthtones will tell you, it’s all in the pitching in 2001.
Around the Leagues…
This time without the creamy filling… A universal truth as that dates all the way back to… well, the Fonz… is that twins are a good thing. Unfortunately for the state of Minnesota, that hasn’t really been accurate since 1991. Suddenly, somehow, be it by hook, crook or Lutheran Voodoo, the Twins are good again, at least through the first two weeks of the season. “Ayyyy,” says Fonzie. By going 9-2 to open the season, the Twinkies have opened up a 4 game lead on the AL Central. They’ve done this by improbably scoring the third most runs in the AL, and posting the 3rd best rotation (ERA wise) in the junior circuit. Unfortunately, three is a number that the Twins should probably get used to, as 3rd place is realistically the best they can hope for this year, and likely only 3 people will show up for any given game not played against the Yankees.
While watching desperately Saturday for any baseball highlight on E$PN that wasn’t about Hockey, it struck me that my calendar must be off. The talking heads from Bristol were so busy jocking the Roger Clemens / Pedro Martinez match-up that I could have sworn it was already October. The best part, at least for me was watching Dante Bichette being struck out by a pitch under his gut. You could call it looking, but I doubt he ever actually saw it.
Delusion, thy name is Pittsburgh. One would think looking in from the outside that it’s just Cam Bonifay who qualifies regularly for a serious therapy session or five. Then it seemed to be catching when new manager Lloyd McClendon was busy all spring pulling his team off of fields and claiming Derek Bell and Terry Mulholland were actually still effective major leaguers. Now it seems to have leaked into the Steel City’s water supply. Pittsburgh’s mayor, Tom Murphy, when speaking about the shiny new PNC Park and its view said, “The only city I can think of with a similar view is Paris.” Are there a lot of pig iron smelting plants and ghettos in Paris?
Or does the Denial run through Cincinnati? News reports out of Jim Bowden claim that the Reds are about to call up Deion Sanders. While this is no more laughable than Charley Hayes occupying the “home-town discount” slot on the Astros’ roster on the surface, Bowden seems to be expecting him to be more than an over priced Glenn Barker. “He is swinging the bat, he’s running great, and he has a great attitude,” said a clearly medicated Bowden. “I wouldn’t bet against April showers bringing May flowers, and I wouldn’t bet against Deion Sanders being in a Reds uniform in May.” Please Jimmy, on behalf of Astros fans everywhere… play him til he drops. Should be around June sometime.
Astro of the Week.
Now I’m not the kind of person to pick fights, but fellow columnist Alkie seems to hate Wade Miller like he was an ex-lover or something. I don’t know anything about that, nor do I want to. WaMi followed up an impressive first game by pitching even better the second time around. When his curve is on, like it was this week, he makes NL hitters look sick. New Orleans Zephyrs manager Tony Pena has said that Miller has the mindset of an ace. Complete game 3 hitters are going to make a lot more people around the league think so too.
Dis-Astro of the Week.
Well, this worked for Jeff Bagwell last week, so lets try for 2. Richard Hidalgo is mired in a horrid 0-16 slump. For the week, he’s 4 for 25 with one stinking double and one RBI. I’m not sure what’s worse, the fact that he’s in full on pull happy mode or that he’s probably more injured than anyone knows. If Hidalgo goes down, Barker is your everyday centerfielder… having one defensive specialist in the line-up at catcher is understandable. Playing Ausmus and Barker everyday is nearly criminal.