Rangers at Astros – Return of the Silver Boot and the Hippy Hoppy Bunny EditionMinute Maid ParkFriday, 7:05 PM on KNWS
Saturday, 6:05 PM on FSSW
Sunday, 1:05 PM on FSSW
Notable giveawaysYou want some free shit? This is the series for you!!!! Lookie Here….
http://houston.astros.mlb.com/schedule/promotions.jsp?c_id=houFriday—fireworks, Coca Cola Value Night, and straw cowboy hats
Saturday—Camouflage Cap, Armed Forces Day, and a country concert with Jason Boland and the Stragglers (as opposed to Jason Bourne and the fuck-em-uppers).
Sunday—Astros wives versus Ranger wives in a softball game (betcha money Mrs. Ensberg looks at strike 3 to end a feverish comeback), and Lone Star Series T-Shirts
Projected Matchupshttp://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/probable_pitchers.jsp?c_id=hou Tejada/TBA/McCarthy versus Albers/Wandy/Woody!!! Scoreboard operator is going to get a hernia hanging all the crooked numbers up this series. Wandy has the best ERA of any starter going this series. You can actually smell the runs scoring.
Here's hoping TBA isn't a hard throwing righty the Astros have never seen before.
Injury ReportTexas – Kevin Milwood. Hee hee hee. Tom Hicks just can’t help himself with Scott Boras comes a-callin’. Do you think Scott sends taunting emails reading “PWNED!!!”?
Brad Wilkerson is also on the shelf though Eric Gagne is currently healthy.
Houston – Jennings looked good in his first rehab start. Chris Burke is suffering from a bad case of vaginosis down in Round Rock.
I H8 the GiantsI’ve had a dislike for the Giants for awhile now, mainly because they’ve managed to beat the Astros fairly consistently over the past few years. So while I’m happy the good guys took 2 of 3, I really wanted a sweep.
My college roommate was from California and was a big Giants fan. Listening to his "Hummmm Baby" shit during the 1989 playoffs was wretching. Fuck'em. Roger Craig can kiss my ass.
Stranger RangersGreatest players in Texas Rangers history is probably a contest between Juan Gonzales and Pudge Rodriguez, with Raffy Palmeiro coming in third. Nice to see the Rangers historical identity so closely tied to steroids. In fact, you could make the case if not for steroids, the Rangers would be the LA Clippers of MLB.
Question is, why have the Rangers sucked so bad? They’ve spent money (A-Rod, Chan Ho Suck, Kevin Milwood). They draw well. They’ve made some nice draft picks (Sammy Sosa, Kevin Brown, Mark Tiexera immediately come to mind).
I think their biggest area of concern has been pitching. For years they have seemed to favor offense over defense, and haven’t really developed a pitcher since Kevin Brown in the early 1990’s. The best they’ve done since then is Chris Young, which they promptly traded for Adam Eaton who then left for Philly after one injury-filled year.
Rangers need pitching. Always have, always will.
Foggy Fun FACTSThe Office is the funniest show on television. They wrapped up a fine Season 3 last night with a killer one hour special. If you haven’t seen the show, drop by Blockbuster and pick up Season 1 or 2 on DVD. The glorious genius of Dwight K Schrute must be seen. In these early seasons Creed Bratton and Kelly Kapoor are a very minor characters, so it was great to see them blossom in Season 3.
On the flip side of TV Land, 24 is limping along to its worst season ever. Unless Jack ends up killing half the population of China, and torturing the other half, this season will be a major let down. Starts off great (nuke going off, Jack’s vampire-esque kill in the first episode, Jack killing Curtis, Morris getting power-drilled in the shoulder), then slows down (Jack at the Russian embassy, bomb going off at the Presidential news conference) to a premature close (Jack killing the bad guys with 6 hours left). These last 6 hours is just melodramatic bullshit (at least 3 love triangles being played out) without any cool shit going on. Bring back the Jack Bauer of old!!!!
I’ve been posting this in the TZ for awhile, but let me post this here for posterity. The Brewers ain’t shit. Any idea of them running away with the division is just delusional. When their bully slows down, as it has the past week or so, and when the dog days of August roll around, they will start their fade. I’d be shocked if they won more than 90. I think they’ll end up around 85-87. That’s the best the division has to offer. We are going to win this thing if we play the kind of ball (and stay healthy) than we are capable of. Yeah, I’m using “we”. Biggio is closing in on 3000 hits and I’m closing in on 3000 “fuck the jakes”. Not sure which is more impressive.
June 28th versus Colorado. Buy your tickets now. Biggio gets #3000.
If there's a trade to be made, look for it to be relatively minor. Basically it'll be a move to get a better LH hitter off the bench (Palmeiro is D-O-N-E).
