Back in April, I wrote a column where I expressed nagging fears that this season might blow-up, destroying all our hopes and dreams for the glorious campaign to come. “BANG!”, I said. I was wrong. This is no bang, this is a whimper. OK, so Miller and Pettitte have spent some time on the DL, and Oswalt is nursing a bum rib, but that matters ought when you look at any or all offensive categories. “Operation Shutdown” has been executed flawlessly, and the Astros’ season has been scuppered as a result.

As I write this, Scrap Iron appears to have beaten some life into the Astros offense. This, coupled with some unexpected pitching fortitude from Munro and Redding, has resulted in a rally that has reinvigorated certain sectors of the fan base, and seemingly convinced the organization to press on with this campaign instead of cutting bait. They announced this renewed commitment to winning by trading for Darren Oliver. Of that I will say nothing except, “WTF”? Read More

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