The media has been full of blather lately about how baseball is doomed if the players walk off the job this week in the sport’s ninth work stoppage since 1972. While another late-season strike that threatens the postseason would by no means be a good thing, if the players are only off for a week or so, the damage isn’t likely to permanently diminish baseball’s appeal.
Roaring back into the division race, the Astros have minted a 26-13 record since the beginning of July and a 22-11 mark after the All-Star break. The club has rediscovered itself at the plate and on the mound.
Much to the chagrin of many in the TZ, the Astros remained silent on the trade front during the month of July. Meanwhile, most of the teams standing between them and a post-season berth were active. Only the Wild Card race leading Dodgers, who are on the brink of getting the Plumber back, were Hun-like and unmoved at the deadline.
Therefore, in an exercise of very premature mental masturbation, I’ve decided to see how everyone is doing with their new look rosters:
The Stinkin’ steM
In the midst of their home series vs. the Astros, the Mets engaged in a wholesale exchange of spare parts with Colorado and San Diego. Rather than detail the players involved I’ll simply say that, since the trades were made, the Mets have gone on a five game losing streak. Already dead and buried in the East, they’ve dropped to 5th in the Wild Card race, 2 games behind the Astros and 6.5 games behind the Dodgers.Read More
The Co-Ards have had trouble with pitching all year. From the extraordinary, untimely death of Darryl Kile to run of the mill injuries to Woody Williams and all points in between. So what do they go and do? Trade away two pitchers, that’s what they do. Whaaaaa?
OK. So Rolen is an upgrade over Polanco at 3B. His defense is special, and it does the Co-Ards the huge favour of keeping Pujols off the hot corner. Of course, this puts AlbErt into LF where he’s rapidly garnering a reputation every bit as good as Dimitry Young. ESPN says that this is a good thing because Pujols hits better when he plays LF. Huh?
With the stick, Rolen has better plate discipline and more pop than Placido. But then Polanco hit #2 most of the time, so they’re not really comparable in the line up. I await with baited breath what arrangement Co Russa will make out of this. What I do know is, Rolen will have to generate a shit load of runs.Read More
So. Drayton’s losing money and is threatening to sell the club if there’s a strike. Well he better get his e-bay posting ready, because here it comes folks.
Did anyone hear Richard Justice on 610AM today (7/17)? Apparently, the owners vs. players meetings have been so bad that at one point a players’ rep. (not Fehr) and an owner (Angelos I think he said) got into it pretty hard and started f-bombing each other. The players’ rep. stormed out of the room and had to be calmed down.
The owners say that they’ve put a comprehensive offer to the players, but have heard nothing. The players’ reps say that they’ve made concessions to the owners, but aren’t getting any feedback. The players are making Selig the issue; the owners are making steroids the issue. Bud wants to tour the locker rooms because he doesn’t trust Fehr’s boys to be disseminating the correct information (no one has yet suggested that he wants to tour because he misses getting to see the players naked).
It’s Armageddon time, people. Grab yer ankles and kiss MLB goodbye.Read More
Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com.
The favorite sport of many who call themselves fans of the Houston Astros does not appear to be baseball. Their favorite sport seems to be “Jimy-bashing,” and it looks like a very easy game to master. To be an accomplished practitioner, one has to take note of decisions or moves Jimy Williams makes during games, keep absolutely silent if the decisions work and, in the most strident tones possible, rail at or ridicule the ones that do not work. There is no way the Jimy-basher can be wrong because he or she only points out decisions that have not turned out well for the Astros. The refrain is if Jimy had only … everything would have been different and better. Jimy-bashers have raised second-guessing to an art form and are infallible. To confirm this, just ask them. Jimy Williams gets bashed in Texas and other Astros environs, but second-guessing a baseball manager or coach is part of our national fabric.Read More
