After winning 5 series in a row, your Houston Astros are still in last place. But with momentum. I guess.
It may just be me, but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop with this team. Maybe it’s the sudden rash of injuries, or the fact that the current run has been against some of the worst teams in baseball. Maybe it’s that the manager isn’t really skilled at his job or that there just aren’t that many good pitchers in the rotation. Maybe it’s the pin-striped uniforms or the lack of edible foodstuff at Mandatory Concessions Park at Union Station.
Anyway, the team is in, according the schedule, Texas to play the Rangers in a series that has no meaning what so ever, (outside of wins and losses), shiny footwear be damned. I know we go through this every year, but Interleague play is just a bad idea. Besides forcing fake rivalries down the throats of the baseball watching public, besides the competitive imbalance it creates, besides the “rotation” that has brought the Red Sox and Yankees to Houston exactly once in the 13 years while setting up crucial series Kansas City and Minnesota season after season, the whole is flawed because of the one difference between the American and National leagues…the designated hitter.
When the Rangers traveled to Houston a couple of weeks ago, they crushed the Astros, sweeping them and racking up 17 runs to the Astros’ 8. The Rangers, because there’s no DH in the Senior Circuit, were forced to “shuffle” their line up by choosing to play either Hank Blalock (.251/.294/.529) or Michael Young (.316/.359/.500) at 3rd. On a side note, it was the first time in a very long time I remember feeling that the Astros were outclassed. This series the Astros are going to juggle by playing a gimpy Carlos Lee at DH, which is likely going to mean a steady diet of Jason Michaels (.189/.271/.321). American League teams carry a Hank Blalock or Jason Kubel or Jeff Larish on their roster with the express idea that they’re going to hit four or five times a game. National League teams carry bench players like Michaels and Darin Erstad because they can field their positions capably and might be able to provide a little offense here and there.
To win the Silver Boot, the Astros would have to sweep the Rangers while outscoring them by 9 runs overall. Since that’s not going to happen, the Rangers can, to paraphrase the eloquent Tanner Boyle, take their trophy and shove it straight up their ass. Texas has won 20 of 33 home games this season, but have also dropped three of their last four home series (hello, June). The Astros need to concentrate on winning series, and traveling to Texas(?) is as good a place as any to continue that.
But other than winning the games, who cares? There is no rivalry here. I don’t know that there ever has been. Over their respective histories, the Astros and Rangers have mostly inconsequential in the grand scheme of baseball. The Astros have had more division titles, playoff appearances and pennants (1). The Rangers have still never won a playoff series, and are more known for overreaching franchise weirdness than anything else. All things considered, I’d rather have another set of games with the Cubs or Cardinals (or Reds or Pirates or Brewers) than visiting Arlington, or Minnesota or 8 Mile.
I would guess Rangers fans feel the same way, but I’ve never met one. I assume they’re all going to be glued to taped coverage of the luncheon the Cowboys are putting on for their employees in the Jerry Dome. I’m not going to research whether or not they televise that kind of thing, but I’m leaning towards they absolutely do.
Safe At Home
Talk Zone favorite Alyssa Milano has written a book, Safe At Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic. In the interest of full disclosure, I haven’t read it. I haven’t read reviews of it. I have a general idea that it’s some sort of quasi-biography set against her life as a baseball fan. And while I do spend nights thinking about her and balls, in a way, I’m probably never going to purchase this. I did pick it up because I saw this:
in a Barnes and Noble as I was busy drinking over-priced coffee and reading books for free. (Seriously, how do they make money? The mark-up on coffee can’t be that good.) Spoiler Alert: That’s the only picture in the book. I may be just a simple man, not wise to the mysterious ways of publishing, but damn man, how do you not have a a picture of that woman handling balls (and bats). And if the star of Embrace of the Vampire is taking herself too seriously…have this chick fill in:
I don’t know what a Transformer is, but I will gladly give $12.50 to a movie theatre-type establishment if this woman is sweating her way through several scenes.