vivalaultra

The two AA prospects the 'Stros shopped (Zobrist-ss, Talbot-rp) were two of the more well-known prospects among Astros fans. There was alot of talk in Spring Training about Ben Zobrist and what a great hitter he is and how he modeled his entire hitting approach after Ted Williams. This season at AA Corpus Christi, he's hitting .327/.434/.473 with 55 BBs and 46 Ks, so needlessly to say, he's a good hitter. I've also heard great things about his defense. I don't think Adam Everett was in any danger of losing his job to him this year or next year, but come 2008, Zobrist would've been our starting SS. Mitch Talbot, eh....I haven't heard a whole lot about him, but this season, he's 6-4 with a 3.38 ERA and 96 Ks in 90 innings, so...he seems like a pretty decent RHP. I still think the 'Stros made out like bandits in this one. The D-Rays also sent cash to cover Huff's contract. The only person I feel bad for is Jason Lane, but honestly, if you're hitting .205, there's not much that'll keep ya on the big club.

Holy shit. That's a good move. The two minor league guys, Ben Zobrist and Mitch Talbot, were pretty big prospects, but still...Huff's a legitimate hitter. The big shocker is that Jason Lane's been optioned to AAA. Man...that's rough, but well-deserved.

And it figures that it was a White Sox guy that did it. Maybe Zambrano wanted to use Joey Cora's laptop to email his family back in Venezuala and Cora had to protect himself.

A fungo bat? Good Lord...where did he hit him and what are fungo bats made out of to do that much damage?

Well, I think we all know why the NL lost yet again... Play Uggla to win, Phil!

Phil loves Roy. He just wants to get him as much exposure as he can. Good inning from the Wizard. REDNECK PRIDE~!!!!!!!

Hmmm...I can see early Modest Mouse, but I hadn't considered Mercury Rev. I can also see influences of the Talking Heads, Roxy Music and others, but I wouldn't say they're exactly ripping off any of those influences any more than the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs are ripping off their numerous influences. At least when I listen to the Arcade Fire, my "poseur" alarm doesn't go off, but maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I still enjoy them and also see no point in discussing their merits. Musical discussion in this place is like walking across a minefield.

Hmmm....maybe Berkman shoulda hit righty. I'd like to see a HR derby with pitchers. Get Zambrano and Willis et al out there and let them hit some 420 ft. bombs. That would be great.

Liriano and Eckstein replace Contreras and Reyes, respectively for the ASG. I'm glad to see that Liriano made it. For the HR Derby, I'm picking Berkman to go all the way. Totally.

Yeah...that was a joke. Sorry if it didn't come out sounding as such.

...and I get "post-lashed" for saying that I don't find the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs to be that interesting. Which band(s) is/are the Arcade Fire ripping off, exactly? Just curious.

Well, yeah, but if you didn't have Wright, you'd still have Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, etc., etc., etc. I think that Berkman has contributed more to the Astros success this season than David Wright has to the Mets. Berkman has either driven in or scored over a quarter of Houston's runs this season. For an example of how important he is to the lineup, refer to the first month of the 2005 season when Berkman was out with an injury. That...was not pretty.

AL MVP: Mauer. AL ROY: Liriano AL Cy Young: Liriano AL MOY: Jim Leyland Wow. I didn't know I was such a big Twins' fan. NL MVP: Berkman (I'm not being a homer. Isn't MVP the player that helps his team the most? I honestly shudder to think what the Astros lineup would be without Berkman. The Cards and the Mets and the Phils could get by without Pujols, Wright, and Howard...respectively.) NL ROY: Zimmerman NL Cy Young: Webb NL MOY: Joe Girardi

I got a 27 outta 50. I did better than J. Rol and Ausmus. I'm surprised that Ausmus missed the 7 no-hitters question, considering the answer's relationship with the Astros.

Yeah...I hated "It's On". It was too damn easy to make dumb "It's Off" jokes after their shitty start. Well, at least Willy T.'s hitting over .300 with RISP...so says Joe Morgan. I was about to make a joking post about how Roy Oswalt comes in as a pinch hitter and gets a double, but apparently, he forgot to touch first base. Fuck. Edit: ...and here comes Lidge. Edit#2:...and he hits Eckstein. Oy. Edit#3:...and Sooooooooooo~! Taguchi with a single. Here comes Pujols 2 on no outs. Oy vey. Edit#4:...and Pujols pops up about 900 ft. I'm done with this quick editing. Lidge just makes me nervous. Edit#5:...Aaron Miles?!?!?!? Edit#6:...I think the All-Star Break will do the Astros some good. We're less games back this season than we were last season at the break, at least.

Come on, man...ya gotta Believe the Buzz~!

I'll start with the Astros...since they're alphabetically the first team in the NL. The 'Stros are either going to be 6 games back or 4 games back in the NL Central depending on the outcome of this 5-4 game with the Cardinals, 8th inning. It's not an overly bad position to be in considering that the Astros have been a great 2nd half team the last few years. However, in order to go on a run Morgan Ensberg and Jason Lane are going to have to get their acts together. The Astros offense isn't power-packed as it is, and it doesn't help when two guys that you're counting on to drive in runs. Ensberg's 3rd in the NL in walks and Lane has taken his share of walks, too, but they're both hitting below .240-Lane below .210! There have been some bright spots in the offense, however. Preston Wilson is looking like a decent pickup. He only has 8 homeruns, but he's driving in 46 and he's not striking out at an ungodly rate. Berkman's having a helluva year. Mike Lamb and Chris Burke have found their way into the starting lineup and are probably our two best offensive weapons behind Berkman. Our pitching goes in and out. On paper we have the best top of the rotation in the NL (Clemens, Oswalt, Pettitte). However, Pettitte's struggled, but will presumably get better. Oswalt and Clemens are pitching great, but their low win totals are related to the lack of offense. Wandy Rodriguez leads the staff in wins with 10, but has a high ERA and a terrible K/BB rate. Taylor Buchholz has had some positively awful outings and some spectacular outings. His last few outings have been more spectacular than awful. It looks like Taylor's coming around. We need bullpen help. Lidge just...isn't working. Maybe over the ASB, he can fix his mechanics...or get a job at Denny's, whichever comes first. The rest of our bullpen has been good and bad, lately more good than bad. Brandon Backe should be back after the ASB and, despite some of his less than stellar numbers, I think that will help the team overall. As far as offense, the Astros could use a bat. The only problem is where to play him. We have the infield and outfield pretty much set. If we get an outfield bat, we'd either have to sit Berkman, Burke, Lamb, or Wilson-our four best hitters. If we get an infield bat, we'd have to sit either Berkman, Burke, or Lamb, which would be counterproductive. So, maybe a nice left-handed bench bat would be good, but as far as a starter, I doubt the 'Stros are in the market. There's been wacky trade rumors circulating...the most interesting of which concerns a trade of top pitching prospect Jason Hirsh and a couple of other prospects for Dontrelle Willis. Some other trades involve players like Jason Lane, Willy Taveras, Morgan Ensberg, Wandy Rodriguez, and Fernando Nieve for Houston native Carl Crawford, Phillies benchwarmer David Delluci, and constant trade subject Bobby Abreu. Once again, a trade for one of those guys would be great in theory, but the problem of where to play him arises. All in all, I'm not overly impressed or unimpressed with the Astros first half. It's proceeding about as expected, and I expect them to make a run at both the division and the WC in the second half. The WC is more likely, as I imagine it won't take the 89 wins it took last year, probably somewhere around 85-87. I didn't realize this was such a long post...

The Cardinals make me sad.

In non-Glendon Rusch news, Chris Capuano is taking Tom Glavine's spot in the All-Star Game. In Glendon Rusch news....BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Edit: Oh, wait...the Cubs are winning and Glendon Rusch is pitching a halfway decent game. I rescind 2/3 of that "BWAHAHAHAHA"...

I don't claim to be a hardcore UFC follower, but I have a good idea of what's going on, and that Arlovski/Sylvia fight was the most godawful boring 25 minutes of non-action I've seen in my entire UFC watching. Yeesh...

Currently Listening To: Show Your Bones-Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs Current Mood: Unimpressed

I guess cuz he hasn't said anything in about 3 pages. He's probably off somewhere talking about his dad's penis or having sex with a workout bench anyway. The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs might not be anything special, but, apparently they have a VERY passionate fanbase.

Yes. My inferior musical tastes have clearly been exposed by the extremely witty and well-thought out comments of my superiors. Whatever. I still like The Arcade Fire. I still don't see anything wonderful about the Yeah, Yearh, Yeahs. I still find Berries and Cream Dr. Pepper to be delightful, and I still get bored of people that try to prove some imagined superiority based on musical tastes and the ability to reel off more insults than whomever they are trying to prove forementioned superiority over. I shamelessly like what I like and don't care for what I don't care for and no amount of "post-lashing" will do anything about that. Oh well, have fun with whatever it is that you folks are trying to accomplish in here. Later, alligators.

I...just don't get comments like that. Could you go into more extrapolation? If not, that's fine, too. Everyone's entitled to an opinion.

That was shitty.