sfaJack

Craig Biggio proves he is truly worth being in fifth place amongst NL outfielders in AS voting with that wonderful play in the 7th. Cubs win 7-5 and have now taken 5 straight from Houston.

Juwan Howard is a slightly more polished version of Maurice Taylor. The Rockets will be no better off with him than they were with Cato and, in the West, that's trouble. I still maintain the Rockets' problem is not Steve Francis. While he's not a classic point, he's still a pretty effective offensive player and gives them a good threat, particularly when he drives the lane. He assist-to-turnover ratio needs work and he still fires up way too many dumbass shots, but I think those things can be fixed, at least a little bit, if he's willing. I guess I'm having trouble seeing the wisdom in trading two of your top scorers (and probably your best gunner in Mobley) for one guy, even though that one guy is a superstar. Just seems like you're weakening yourself in one huge key spot (point) when you really don't need to. But I suppose it isn't fair to say that until we see who the Rockets get to play the point.

Tom, the word is that Jimy doesn't want to move Everett down in the order because of the giant vortex of suck it would create with Everett/Ausmus/Pitcher as the bottom third of your lineup. Not saying I agree with that logic (I happen to think Beltran should hit second as well), but that's what the Astros are supposedly thinking on that decision. Further complicating that is the fact that they only have 9 more games against the Cubs and 6 left with the Cardinals, thus minimizing their chances to gain ground by winning head-to-head matchups. The Astros' problem might end up not being the number of games they are back, but rather the number of teams they have to leapfrog.

No, I didn't get home from work until the top of the 5th. But that is pretty, uh, bad. Is that the word for it? I never get to hear Santo, but there's no way he could possibly be worse than those guys.

Well, whoever the hell they are, they should be fired. When your idea of play-by-play is "Ball's hit.....split 'em, split 'em, split 'em....yes!....a double" you should never be allowed to broadcast a game again.

Who in the FUCK are these announcers on the WGN broadcast of the Cubs/White Sox game? I'm assuming they're the regular White Sox crew, but dear sweet Moses they are horrible.

Highly unlikely, I'd say. Kent said yesterday that he'd rather pitch than play third base. The more likely scenario would be Biggio going to left, Berkman to right, and Jason Lane back to the bench.

Hell yes. I've already been to Minute Maid twice this year, including the epic Prior v. Clemens game a couple of weeks ago. That was a sweet game to be at; Minute Maid has never been so quiet with a SRO crowd there...ha ha. I'll probably hit a couple more games there before season's end. And I will be in Arlington for Rangers/A's the last weekend of July, probably that Saturday night. I haven't been to the Ballpark in Arlington, er, Ameriquest Field (?) in several years and it's time I go back.

Just two minor things: 1. It's spelled "Halliburton" with two L's, not one. 2. Halliburton is NOT an oil company. So do you approve of John Kerry's apparent method of reading a poll of how Americans feel about an issue, seeing which side is the majority, and then standing up screaming "Vote for me! I support this!" because that's "where he stands" on an issue? You're not dumb enough to think that this doesn't go for most politicians, regardless of party affiliation are you? You'd be real hard pressed to very many candidates that DON'T do this.

The Jimy Williams string of weird lineups continues as Mike Lamb started at second base for the Astros tonight.

"Mommy! Mommy! That bald man's in the bathroom and he's got something hard in his pants!"

And it should get even better. Sosa's back tomorrow...Woody in a couple of weeks...Grudz and Gonzo shouldn't be too far behind. Perhaps the Cubs are starting to play up to their full potential. One question: what happens to Glendon Rusch? There's no place for him in the rotation obviously, but will/would he make a good long relief guy? Or do you dangle him as possible trade bait? Overall, I'm probably as pleased with the Cubs as I have been since the win in Game 5 over the Braves last year.

I don't know if you'd be aware of it or not Bruiser, but the Astros have actually been trying to trade Hidaldo for almost 3 years now, ever since he was sub-par in 2001. So I'm not shocked that this deal was done this quickly. The surprising thing to me is that the Astros only have to eat $4 mil; their share of the money was rumored to be much larger.

Count me amongst that bunch. Actually, my hours are more like 6:30-5, but I'm pretty happy. I'm overpaid, so it's cool. My biggest complaint is getting my ass out of bed so early each day.

That is correct. Cheney resigned from Halliburton in August 2000 (earlier than he would was required to), and sold off his interests in the company then. His compensation is a fixed amount and is guaranteed even if the company were to go bankrupt. It is not tied in any way to the finanacial success of the company.

Not that I'm crying too loudly about it, but the Astros appear to be into a full nosedive. 4-1, Cubs win again and can sweep 4 games in Minute Maid tomorrow night. The injured Roy O. tries to stop the bleeding tomorrow night. Cubs are now 20-19 all-time at Minute Maid, a stat that surprised the hell out of me.

The opening of Super Troopers is pretty fucking funny.

They sold out their playoff games last year. Of course, there were probably 20,000 Cubs' fans in the stadium for each of those games...

Didn't Smoltz win a title with the Braves in 1995? Smoltz to the Cubs would be awesome, but only if that elbow is totally healthy. The last thing they would need is one more injury.

Jeff Bagwell got a cortisone shot in his shoulder today and is out of the lineup for the Astros tonight.

As a new homeowner as of last August 1, I gotta say, what the hell did you expect when you bought the house? Surely you were aware of things like yard work and basic home maintenance/repair. If not, well, uh, do some homework next time I guess. Personally, I don't know why I waited so long to buy a house; it's been one of the greatest things I've ever done, despite having to deal with "problems" myself. It's nice having your own place to trash as you see fit. The problem I've noticed with many people who buy houses is that they can't really afford them. They see the monthly payment and think "oh we can make that" without taking into account things like taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs. My neighborhood has existed for only about 2 years, and there's already been 12 houses put up for sale in that time. I'd be willing to bet at least half of those are people who can't keep up with the money. It doesn't exactly work just like that. Most builders' warranties (mine, anyway) have limited liabilities built into them that states they're only responsible for certain things or builders' defects. Lots of times, things like defective materials are not covered - only the work done to use the materials to build the house. There are also minimum standards they use to define what is an "acceptable" condition and what is not. For instance, on my house, the air conditioner, per their standards, only has to be able to cool the house to 78 degrees. If it can't get to 72, well, tough shit...if it will get to 78, they don't have to fix it. So "suing their asses" isn't always an option. Oh, and as Rant said "extended warranties" (be it for a house, car, or whatever) are a ripoff 95% of the time. Why do you think they push them so much? Because it's a great deal for the company selling it. It is wrong to pay others to mow your lawn unless you're a cripple or something. Get off your lazy ass and do it yourself. Takes one whole hour a week.

He wants to give more at bats to Mike Lamb? He's hitting way over his head. I'm not going to disagree with you on the absurdity of Justice wondering why Kent isn't benched for Chris Burke or his assertion that Wagner's trade is killing the Astros because they both are stupid. The Astros are missing Wagner to be sure, but they're not dying because of it. I think Justice is correct on the Ensberg/Lamb thing, though. Ensberg has had 160 AB's this year and has been pretty underwhelming. Compare the two in four basic categories. It's really not even close. AB OBP SLG AVG Ensberg 159 0.333 0.346 0.277 Lamb 84 0.378 0.607 0.345 Wouldn't you agree though that, while he might be playing way over his head, Mike Lamb is playing really well right now? And, particularly at a time when the team is struggling to score each game, wouldn't you agree that it makes sense to ride that horse until he drops dead? Bench Lamb when he comes back down to Earth, but until he does, I think you need to run him out there a little more often. Certainly couldn't hurt anything. Oh, and welcome back AS. EDIT: my damn table is all screwed up. My apologies. Hope it's legible.

In his defense, Jimy's kind of been caught in a catch-22 in regards to his pitchers with the fans. They whine and wail whenever Jimy yanks a starter at the first sign of trouble, yet complain just as loudly when he leaves Oswalt in to pitch to Bonds in the 8th inning of a game they lead 4-1, with two Giants on base. Jimy can't win in that regard, because either way he plays it, it's viewed as wrong. His handling of the bullpen is a little screwy, but if you check out the Astros' relievers number of appearances, it's all pretty evenly spread around. The concern, obviously, is the ridiculous number of appearances for Miceli and Lidge, and Dotel to some extent. One reason the Astros collapsed last year was that Lidge and Dotel were worn out by year's end. They're headed down the same road again. As far as his not getting the team ready to play, I think that's a reach. Maybe the bigger picture of reality is that the Astros are simply a flawed team. Houston Chronicle writer Richard Justice rips into the Astros pretty good today, but makes sure to include plenty of the Bagwell fellating typical of the media here. Article here. Anyway, a great, great win for the Cubs last night, though it was a bit anticlimatic because all the drama was sucked out of it by the time Prior left the game. Minute Maid was eerily quiet too, despite the SRO crowd. Certainly the quietest I've ever heard it for a Cubs/Astros game.

Well, I'm off to Minute Maid for the Prior/Clemens duel. I really hope it's a classic since I paid nearly $60 for my seat, but I'll settle for any sort of Cubs win.

Stupid. Why is it stupid? Taylor's an inconsistent scorer, a poor rebounder (especially for his postion), and is soft defensively. The combination of him and Cato at the 4 this year killed the Rockets more than anything else, and even moreso because they play in the West. Taylor is a max contract guy too, which makes him ridiculously overpaid for what he gives you. Add that into the fact that the Rockets are basically in salary cap hell and it's a no-brainer to leave him exposed. And speaking of Cato, I'm pretty surprised he isn't on this list as well. I think that would be insane. Moochie just isn't a very good player, and he's really overpaid at 3.8 mil.