sfaJack

That's 29.1%, and its a big drop from his previous totals. The worst catchers in the league only catch about 20% of basestealers. That means Ausmus has added a grand total of 5 outs thanks to his runner-killing abilities. No way that makes up for a .292 OBP. Yeah, I know. My statement was (supposed to be) a sarcastic regurgitation of the Astros' company line when it comes to Ausmus. Must not have come across that way.

But Ausmus calls a great game and knows all the NL hitters. That and he throws out 30% of baserunners. Robertson completely sucks and Saarloos probably won't ever amount to much. He's really not much better than Pete Munro so of what use would either of these two be? The biggest problem for the Astros has been their lack of offense. They've been the worst offensive team in the National League since late May/early June. Berkman is hitting about .220 since then...Kent's at about the same clip...even Beltran is only hitting .263 since the trade, just to name a few. Craig Biggio has been the only guy doing anything consistently for them lately. Now I know that batting average is now an evil stat that is to be mostly rejected and all, but it's pretty telling of their collapse. The Astros led the league in runs scored in mid-May and are now 8th. Just look at how many games they've scored less than 5 runs in over that span and it's pretty easy to see why they've totally sucked lately.

Jimy Williams out as Astros manager, Phil Garner in on an interim basis. 1:00 CST press conference to make it official.

They were running from $50-200 face value this year.

And what would you call Nolan Ryan? Ali had his moment at the Olympics in Atlanta in '96. Given his current condition and the fact that he has absolutely nothing to do with baseball, the decision is easy. You don't go with Ali, as great as he was.

Nolan Ryan should be tossing out the first pitch and that is the beginning and the end of the discussion. WTF does Muhammad Ali have to do with anything baseball or Houston? It's insane.

I found it funny they booed Jimy Williams, too. EDIT: Yeah, I've been to lots of Cubs/Astros games at Minute Maid, including Clemens/Prior this year. It's more "Alou" than booing, though there are many that boo.

Actually, they're probably saying Alooooooooou.

Yeah, I know why they aren't using it: NL park = NL rules and all that jazz, just like interleague. But this is the All-Star game. Just seems to me that since it's an exhibition that is pretty meaningless in the long run, you'd open up one more spot for a "real" hitter to take some swings. Who the hell wants to see the pitchers hit in the All-Star game? Anyone?

Someone explain to me again why the pitchers bat in the friggin' All-Star game. I hate the DH as much as anyone, but the ASG demands it be used. The only redeeming quality it has in the ASG is that it's a nice little way to use most of the bench guys.

TimeWarner is beginning testing of DVRs in my market this month so perhaps I'll have to check it out. A question, because I am technology-ignorant about this: if I were to record something onto the DVR and later wanted to put it on a DVD, what would be involved with that? Would I need a regular stand-alone DVD-R or are the DVRs capable of doing this themselves?

Obviously there's no perfect system and certainly no way to absolutely guarantee the top teams make the playoffs, short of doing away with the divisions and taking the top two teams in each league for a best of seven LCS. I'm not sure how practical that would be with 30 teams these days though. I say just dump the wild card and go back to two divisions in each league. You'd occassionally have something similar to '73, but at least there'd be no chance a second place team would win the World Series.

If it isn't worthy of its own post, then why did you make one for it? And besides: http://forums.thesmartmarks.com/index.php?showtopic=57776

Two months ago, on May 11, the Astros were 21-11 and looking like world beaters. They've gone 22-32 since then, a .407 winning percentage (6-10 since acquiring Beltran).

Has Kent actually agreed to waive his no-trade clause? Word flying around here last week was that it was "doubtful" he would.

Why is Dusty Baker infatuated with Tom Goodwin? I think he's had exactly one pinch hit that I can remember. EDIT: And now he subs out Walker for Grudz??? WTF? I hate these fucking managers constantly playing lefty/righty or righty/lefty with the pitcher/hitter matchups. LET THEM BAT. A good hitter will hit, no matter who's out there tossing and Walker, while not a great hitter, is better than Grudz, especially this year. SECOND EDIT: Fuck this. I think I'm gonna do like Bruiser and take a hiatus from the Cubs for a few days or so. This lack of offense is getting obscene and is doing nothing but pissing me off.

Eh, Bonds is Bonds. What can you do? I don't blame him for wanting a day off, but to ask for extra compensation is a bit much. Just sit it out if it's that big of a problem Barry...I promise not to miss you. I have found it sort of puzzling that, in a stadium with a very short left field, 7 of the 8 HR Derby participants hit left-handed. It's also equally mystifying why MLB has chosen to have the roof CLOSED for at least the first hour of the Derby, thus possibly robbing us of seeing someone blast one over the train and out of the stadium.

Eh, the only article I've bothered to read on the Clemens deal was a link to a NY Daily Post and wasn't even about Clemens, really. It had to do with Randy Johnson and cited a source "familiar with Johnson's thinking" (whatever the hell that means) who also said "same thing with Clemens in Houston" in regards to Johnson being frustrated with Arizona's struggles and possibly wanting a trade. Link It gave me a pretty good laugh because there is no fucking way Roger Clemens is going to be traded from the Astros this year. None.

Anyone else hear these insane Clemens back to Boston or New York trade rumors? How the hell does stupid shit like that get started?

Riordan once greeting hunger strikers while eating a hamburger makes him my hero for the rest of today.

On the bright side of things, at least the Cubs' offense wasn't humiliated again today.

What can Bush PERSONALLY do to make this process go faster? I mean, it has to be for political gain, right? It can't be that because of the army of lawyers guys like Lay and Skilling surround themselves with AND the sheer magnitude of the fraud and corruption present at Enron, the government is making damn certain they've got all their ducks in a row before bringing charges against guys like Lay? Think about it. What if they had rushed this case just to appease the public with a quick trial and consequently left one little loophole open somewhere that those lawyers then exploited to get Lay & Co. off scot free? The public outcry would have been massive. At least now we're pretty sure justice will prevail in some form or fashion, though maybe not to the degree we'd all like to see.

Anyone think that has anything to do with the delayed decision on the Expos' future? Is there any chance people are/would be reluctant to buy such a moribund franchise?

No. Don't forget, the Cubs are yet to have the team they expected to have on Opening Day take the field. I'd say it's a long way from being over.

Damn...Cubs are in for a long month if they keep playing like THIS against the Brewers.