The Greatest Competition in Sports

The pitcher and the batter: simple enough; 2 people who play on a team of other players, but at that moment have no one else upon whom to depend for help. It's all about those two. No other player can get involved. The pitcher throws his best stuff, and the hitter does his best to hit the ball. And that very act (hitting a ball), seemingly simple, is one of the most difficult things to do in sports. The batter must hit a small round ball that's being hurled at speeds in excess of 80 mph (most of the time), and he must make contact using a bat, another moving object that is only a few inches in diameter. The timing must be perfect. This is a sport where the best players fail almost 70% of the time. Amazing...

Fox commercials

I know this blog is supposed to be about baseball, but I'd like to side-step for a minute and talk about Fox's baseball commercials. Some of these are hilarious! I think recently my favorites are the ones where people are either running over innocent bystanders (to mimic a player coming home and bowling over the catcher) or running into walls (to mimic a player running into a wall to catch a fly). One of my older favorites is the one where the home run is hit by the opposing team, and the fans drop what they're doing to throw the ball on, and eventually it ends up being thrown back onto the field. Another fav is the one where the guys sitting in their apartment are watching the catcher give the signs, and then they send the sign on, and eventually Berkman hits the ball, and the announcer says, "He hit that curve ball like he knew it was coming." The slogan for all of these commercials: "We're all Astros"...awesome!

Seriously?

Someone please tell me WHY we would put our closer in when we are tied in the 9th inning! Why not put in Wheeler or Qualls (or even Borkowski) while we're tied, and then wait until we take the lead before putting in Lidge? If I'm not mistaken, that is the purpose of a closer: to CLOSE. And then another poor decision (after we have tied the game again in the bottom of the 9th): put in Miller?? What is that about? Poor managing.

I must admit, I didn't think Wilson had it in him, but he did pull through in the clutch...it's just too bad that our pitching staff couldn't pull through.

How about Chris Burke? Not only is he easy on the eyes (VERY easy on the eyes), but he rocks! He had 3 doubles the other day...nice. He's hitting .383 this month, and against lefties, he's .536. And he may be shaping up to take Bigg's place as the hitter to be hit. Speaking of, he reminds me a lot of Biggio: the way he plays like a kid, the way he hustles, the way he's willing to take one for the team. There's just one thing: I have never seen anyone chew gum like this guy. He is serious about his gum!

They're winning!

Well, originally (on Friday) I had planned to write about how great it was that the Astros seemed to have found their bats...and then I went to the game yesterday.

I went with a friend who is not as familiar with baseball as I am, and in the first inning, she asked who Eric Munson was. I told her that he was our back-up catcher, and as I was in mid-sentence, I looked at the board where the line-up is posted. It was then that I noticed a problem: only 3 of our starters (Ausmus, Everett, and Wilson) were playing. The line-up was as follows (although Ausmus and Wilson may be switched).

Palmeiro RF
Lamb 3B
Burke 2B
Munson 1B
Ausmus C
Lane CF
Wilson LF
Everett SS
Buckholz P

While Burke and Lamb have started many times before (and I have confidence in them, as well as in Palmeiro), what's up with our back-up catcher playing first base and batting in the clean-up spot?? And Lane in center (he's really not fast enough to cover the necessary ground)? And why in the world would Garner decide to give Biggio the same day off that he gives Berkman (whose wife had their baby yesterday) and Ensberg (who has a shoulder injury and is day-to-day)? Then, to make matters worse, Garner doesn't pinch hit in the ninth inning when we're within 2 runs! Um hello, we're a struggling .500 team who's on a 4-game winning streak; I don't think it's a good time to just give one away! But who am I?

The good news is that we're beating the Braves 9-4 in the 5th inning right now. Go 'stros!

Tessie

After trying several times to write about the Astros tonight, it just became too depressing, so I decided to write about something else in baseball...a little history if you will.

Last night I watched the movie Fever Pitch. In the movie there's a song that I like, but I didn't understand it. The song is called "Tessie", and it's by a band from Boston called Dropkick Murphys. The song mentions someone named Tessie, but it also references other people along with the Red Sox team. I couldn't figure out the connection or who Tessie was, so I did a little research:

"Tessie" was originally a Broadway hit. With respect to baseball, the song was first sung by the Royal Rooters (die-hard South Boston Irish fans, one of which was JFK's grandfather) in 1903 at a game between Boston and Pittsburgh. Apparently the song, which was sung over and over, was so annoying to the Pittsburgh players that it helped Boston win the first ever World Series.

"Tessie" continued to be played/sang by the Rooters in Boston and at opposing fields until 1916; then she was never heard again. The Sox did win again in 1918, but afterwards the Babe was sold to the Yankees, and as everyone knows, the Sox didn't win again until 2004.

Coincidentally, in summer 2003 (I think), Dropkick Murphys recorded a modern-day version of "Tessie" (with new lyrics), with a few Boston players (Johnny Damon, Bronson Arroyo, and Lenny Dinardo) singing back-up.

One has to wonder, was it really the Curse of the Bambino, or was it Tessie all along...

Stop the bleeding!

Actually, stop the gushing blood is more like it. What is happening with my Astros?? I don't think anyone will argue that this team has the talent to go all the way; they did it last year with the same team (minus one pitcher who wasn't winning anyway thanks to no run support, and we'll have him back soon enough), so I know it can be done. The question is what are they doing wrong? Clearly the offense sucks right now: the only people whose batting averages are over .300 are bench players, Lamb (who's my second favorite player) and Bruntlett.

But our pitching leaves a lot to be desired as well. Roy-O is the only pitcher with a good ERA (3.11); of our other 4 starters, only one has an ERA under 5.5 (Wandy, 4.81). Pettitte has the highest ERA with 6.03. Do we need a new pitching coach? A new manager?

I went to the game on Friday night against the Reds (the 3-14 atrocity). While it was ridiculously painful to watch (8 runs scored on Wandy in the first 2 innings), the incredible seats right behind home plate (sect 119 row 13), good company, a few beers, pistachio nuts, Astros playing cards, and some cute kids in front of us made it worth the trip (and yes, even though we were losing miserably, I stayed until the end...I never leave a game early, not even Game 4 of the World Series that lasted until some crazy morning hour after 1).

But seriously, HELP! I don't know what else to say...

I absolutely love my boys, but something's got to change. And while I was adamantly opposed to the Clemens deal (especially after seeing the press conference where he said, "I don't even know if I want to do this, but I'm committed now," I'm not hoping for too much), I do hope he will at least light a fire under the players' arses.