Bearing down on the quarter pole

39 games under their belt, the Blud ‘n’ Mudders sit atop the Central by 1 game, a tidy 9 games above .500 which is the best record on the Senior Circuit. There’s been some oddities for the team: Ensberg’s cold start; Redding’s frigid start; and Roy O’s inability to garner a win despite pitching well. There’s been some fantastic positives too: Clemens; Miceli; Berkman; Everett and even Ausmus.

The Cubs, as expected, are right there, despite having Prior, Wood and now Sosa struck down by the BBGs. Alou must be slaughtering chickens like he’s Colonel Sanders. It will be interesting to see how things go once we (finally) play each other head-to-head. As last year, the Cubs’ stretch run is the soft part of their schedule, so the Astros need to put them away early and often to avoid repeating last year’s disappointment.Read More

It took a couple of days, but after Clemens grabbed hold of the Can o’ OrangeWhoopAss and shook it up on April 7, the Astros have been riding a wave. Who knows how long this run will continue, or if it will still be ongoing by the time this piece is posted, but 9-2 since that glorious day is blitzkrieg in its most literal sense.

It has been a joy to watch. For the most part, each facet of the game has picked up the others when they’ve faltered. Admittedly, on two occasions, the defense looks like all 8 position players arrived at the game in one VW Bug, but there have been some games where the leather has been flashing like Vegas at Christmas. Even without the services of Pettitte, the pitching has been fantastic (AP’s fateful start and AutoPop’s ignominious outings notwithstanding). But replacements Backe and Gallo have been great, while Duckworth has taken up enough of the slack to allow the offense to win.

Remember: Short, Controlled Bursts

Oh, the offense! Almost everyone is playing over their head. Biggio’s shorter swing has allowed him to lay off the low-and-away shit yet still give him gap-power. Bagwell claims that his high walk numbers are because he’s fouling off a lot of pitches instead of hitting them, yet he’s still hitting near .400! Hidalgo is just a brute, and must put the fear of FrankenBarry into pitchers at the moment. Berkman has come alive, even poking a granny right-handed (only in a baseball forum is that an acceptable phrase).Read More

On the eve of baseball in MMPUS, I find myself at a loss for words. Not the words that comprise the rubbish I dump in the TZ on a regular basis, of course, that I can still do. But for the words that comprise the more expansive, grandiloquent rubbish that I serve up as an excuse for an ego column. Much like “The Daily Show” suffering an identity crisis this week when they had Richard Clark in studio: “Are we still a fake news program?”, I find myself with a yen to write a pre-OD column yet I have nothing to say. Does that make me like all the other, allegedly legitimate, online sports journalists? Am I no longer a fake columnist? It’s enough to drive one to drink!

Is this is what Spring Training is like for YankeeFan every year? A roster that’s virtually set? Boringly consistent good play? A comfy execution of the motions required to start the campaign proper? Timely and positive roster moves? I hope that this is merely the product of a spectacularly good off-season by the team’s management, rather than an unspeakable April Fool being shat upon us by the BBGs. To set us up like this, only to rip the rug out would be cruelty beyond reason.

Strangely, I am reminded of a moment from my youth (Warning: rambling, self-aggrandising, allegorical stretch to follow).Read More