24 episode 6.20

One of those bridge episodes tonight where the plot doesn't move forward a whole lot but it starts to set things up for the last few hours.

It appears that Jack and Ricky Schroder are buds now as silver spoon helped Jack escape so he extract info from Audrey in a non-torturing way. A departure from the info at all costs Jack we have come to know and love so well.

You have the writers trying to make the viewers change their opinion on the once slimy Veep Daniels. Ok, he's still slimy, but at least he's a slimy poor sap now after it was revealed that his babe was getting all cuddly with the Russian spy.

Then there's poor Cheng. He has the part he so coveted but alas, it's broken. The question is now, can Morris O'Brien fix this part the way he did the nuke detonator. Is he is easy prey now that he is disgruntled CTU employee and estranged from Chloe. The writers gotta keep the soap opera aspect alive and kicking somehow amongst all the chaos in the world.

Oh and btw, Audrey's daddy tells Jack to stay away from her because he's cursed, circa Day 5 when Jack's daughter kicked him to the curb. This one however seems a bit suspicious to me. Somehow I think he's a bit of a baddie in all of this. In cahoots some way with Papa Bauer? Geez, no thank you at all for saving his daughter's life despite the fact that we're at risk for WWIII.

Either way, looks like there's a showdown between Cheng's boys and CTU about to happen with Jack apparently once again being set free to lead the charge. Cheng will probably need to launch some type of attack on his own to get the component to work. Looks like the fun is about to begin.

Astros week in review

Not much to say other than they stink, they stink really bad right now. Over the last six games they have had six straight quality starts by their pitchers - six innings or more with three runs or less - and they have a 1-5 record to show for it.

They have a much needed day off tomorrow and are probably all too happy to say adios to April.

Like everyone else, I take solace in the fact that they are getting good starting pitching on a consistent basis and if Berkman and Lee can start hitting anywhere close to what they're capable of, then the season is by no means over. Both have shown flashes that tease us that they may be waking up, but they still haven't been able to string together any decent performances. Berkman apparently is only concerned with making sure that Chris Burke doesn't get his feelings hurt, not winning ball games.

Also, when is this team going to get rid of Morgan Ensberg? Loretta and Lamb have delivered when they've played whereas Ensberg just continues to come up short in crucial situations.

It's time for Purpura to turn the page on Ensberg and Lidge. I know he has a special place in his heart for both of these guys, but they are flat out not helping the team right now and have not for a while. If you can get a bucket of balls, a few fungos and some team to absorb the salary for these guys, take that deal and don't look back.

Chandler's New Friend

Big news around the Hughes' household this weekend was Chandler Bess getting her glasses. She apparently got the vision (or lack thereof) gene from her mom and dad, but she doesn't care, she was extremely excited about her new look and is showing off to anyone and everyone.

Clancy and his pals sing (or at least fake it)

Today was the 2007 Spring Sing at St. Thomas More. Clancy and his pals had the audience eating out of their hands.

Last week was just an anomaly

The five straight wins the Astros reeled off last week were clearly a fluke. Or perhaps this is the inconsistency we should expect from the erstwhile Rainbow Warriors this season.

Having Pat Mahomes (yes, everyone altogether now, say "who?") hurl a complete game shutout and limit the team to 3 hits is just plain unacceptable. I'm pretty sure there are a few American Legion teams that would have been able to put up a 3-spot against this guy tonight.

Berkman -- could you possibly look any more lost at the plate?
Lee -- I notice your average has dropped about 100 points since you were chugging along well over .300 last week and knocking in runs every night.

Woody Williams finally had a quality start (1 out of every 5 is basically what you get these days for $6mln a year) but unfortunately for the Astros' SPs the offense is entering one of those stretches where someone forgot to give Jobu his rum because they are not hitting the straightball or curveball very well to borrow a phrase from Major League's Pedro Cerrano.

Oh and btw, it's official, the Pirates OWN us right now. Four in a row the Astros have dropped against the young Buccos.

Astros close out solid week with loss to Brew crew

Wanda Rodriguez and the rest of the boys came back down to earth tonight in Milwaukee. After running off 5 wins in a row with impressive shows of offense and improbable comebacks, the Astros fell short 6-4. When I say they fell short, I mean it literally too as Berkman missed a grand slam that would have tied the game by a couple of feet thanks to the RF foul pole.

Wanda finally pitched like I knew he was capable of - six runs in six innings. Let the Nieve watch begin.

However, it's been nice to see the offense finally showing signs of life over the past week. Of course I have to throw in the proverbial, "wait until Berkman starts hitting above the Mendoza Line" quip to highlight how good the Astros will really be.

Berkman will ultimately hit I'm sure but I will continue to remain cautiously optimistic on this team's chances.

Ensberg delivers game winner

After the Marlins botched Ensberg's foul pop-up, he made them pay with a seeing-eye grounder between third and short with the bases loaded in the bottom of the night. Astros win 4-3. Qualls threw two strong innings in relief to pick up the win.

The game was not broadcast in Austin tonight so I'm going off of highlights and stats. Looks like Wanda Rodriguez had a decent pitching line. He left with a lead but unfortunately Rick White (welcome to the Texaco bullpen) blew the lead.

In other Astros' news, the team called up Matt Albers to replace Jason Jennings in the rotation. I have no issue with them calling up Albers, but frankly I would've loved to have seen them plug Lidge into the rotation.

24 6.18

This is season is starting to feel more and more like Groundhog Day. You have Jack going against the orders of a President (again) and trying to elude CTU who has been ordered to apprehend him (again). Near as I can tell, I think that every season with maybe the exception of season 2, Jack has been ordered to be brought into custody by CTU.

So it's Jack against the world (again) and you know what, I really don't care. I still find the show incredibly entertaining despite the plot rehash. It will be interesting to see if Jack really does blow himself up and not give the nefarious Chinese guy the part he's after. I still think somehow Jack's dad is tied to this and Jack has been being played all along. I keep hearing whispers that you'll see his dad again in the season finale.

LCP T-ball 4-14-07

We enjoyed some unseasonably cool weather today out at the old LCP ballpark today. I don't think the high got above 60 today and the wind was blowing pretty consistently all day.

Check out Clancy at the plate, he took the long way to third base.

Ghost Wars

I finally finished reading Ghost Wars by Steve Coll. I say finally because I've been reading it on and off for the past six months or so. Not an extremely long book, I'm just a notoriously slow reader as Tricia will attest to. The slow read has nothing to do with the quality of the book. Overall I'd say it is one of the better non-fiction books I've read in some time.

The book basically covers the CIA's history in Afghanistan from the time of the Soviet invasion to until 9/11. The first half of the book really does do a good job focusing on the CIA's presence there. However the second half of the book is less about CIA activities and more about both the Clinton and G.W. Bush administration's slow movement with respect to going after al-qaeda and the numerous opportunities they had to do so prior to 9/11. The book also positions Pakistan very unfavorably in their role in helping establish the Taliban as the Afghan leadership and looking the other way on al-qaeda.

Lots of detail in the book, some might say too much but Coll uses it very effectively to tell an extremely objective story with lots of blame to go around. It's clear that the last four administrations - Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II - all played a role in neglecting Afghanistan and letting it become a safe haven for al-qaeda as well as taking far too soft a stance with Pakistan. If you read this book, be warned that you will find yourself getting very angry at times as you learn of all the missed opportunities that could have prevented 9/11 and many, many other tragedies.

Jack saves L.A. (again) and the Astros win

Phil Garner went to his new closer, Dan Wheeler, to finish off the Cubs today thanks to Adam Everett's 34th career HR. For one day at least, Everett shed that slick fielding, light hitting SS label with the clutch dinger.

As for Lidge, he has been demoted to mid-relief, aka mop-up duty, to get himself figured out. Unfortunately he cannot go down to Round Rock to work on things as he would have to clear waivers and the Astros powers that be seem to think he would surely get claimed. So for now, Wheeler is the closer and Qualls are journeyman Rick White are the set-up guys.

Also today, Jack Bauer saved L.A. from potential nuclear disaster (again, see season 2.) That's the good news but the 24 writers will never let the poor guy catch his breath. Jack saves the day and suddenly gets a phone call -- it's Audrey, and she's alive (yeah!) but unfortunately, nefarious Chinese guy is back (boo!) and he has Audrey as a hostage, presumably somewhere in L.A. Based on next week's previews, he wants something Jack has in return for Audrey.

I really hope this ties up the whole conflict between Jack and the Chinese and he can go back to being just a normal CTU agent. The whole season ending cliff-hanger thing just never ties well together in my opinion.

My heart goes out to you Lidge

I was in and out of the Astros game today and given how poorly they played, they gave me little reason to stay engaged. However, I did take interest in the 8th inning. I believe it was 4-0 when Lidge came in the game. He had 1 out and a couple runners on and Pujols at the plate. I'm thinking to myself, even though the game is probably over, wouldn't it be great if Lidge could at least strikeout Bert and exorcise some of those demons from the 2005 NLCS?

Lidge got two strikes on him and them Bert smacked a hard grounder to Loretta at SS. Ok fine, DP ball then, nope bobble and errant throw and there's bases loaded. Lidge's wheels came off after that and the Cards scored several more runs, hence the 10-1 final score.

At this point it just seems like Lidge is saying "uncle, let me go down to Round Rock and get it figured out."

The former Rainbow Warriors hit the road to meet the new and improved payroll of the Cubs this week. I really hope Wrigley helps cure some of the ails of Lee and Berkman at the plate. This season stinks of 2000 all over again. High hopes that came crashing down very early in the season.

It's Easter and the Astros have a win!

Yes, I will admit it, I thought the Astros had a legitimate chance at starting 0 and a lot. I didn't think they'd touch the O's record from several years ago, but I could have envisioned something that would have cost Garner his job.

They pulled out a win because Roy O pitched well enough to keep the Texaco pen out of the game and they made the Cards starter run up his pitch count in the early innings.

Today it's the ex-Baylor Bear match-up of Jennings and Kip Wells that the TV folks keep trying to hype. Wells has historically pitched effective against the Astros, like so many pitchers who were raised in Texas tend to do. I'm pretty sure that's why Williams and Jennings are Astros right now, just so we wouldn't have to face them a couple of times a season.

That's ok, we didn't like sharing last place anyhow

I'm not surprised the Astros lost tonight. I'm surprised that Wanda Rodriguez threw a decent game tonight AND the Astros lost. Three runs in seven innings is a stellar outing for Wanda or any 4th starter as far as I'm concerned. Shame to waste it.

Bottom line for this team, Berkman needs to get the bat going. When he hits, it's typically infectious for the rest of the lineup.

Also tonight was Jeff Bagwell appreciation night. Thanks for the lofty stats and unorthodox batting stance. Time to start earning that personal services pay and help your boys figure out how to hit.

Apparently the season starts Friday for the Astros

Clearly the Astros need a mulligan after the first three games of the season.

Of course it's still early. I am well aware of this. But, when was the last time the Bucs swept anyone on the road outside of someone's video game console? Perhaps when Kent Tekulve was still pitching for them?

The Cards come into town and I stand by my original statement about being 0-4 come Saturday after Wanda Rodriguez gets shelled on Friday night.

I really want a reason to be optimistic, but other than Oswalt and Jennings, what other reason have they given me up to this point. The only thing I can point to is that Berkman won't suck this bad for an extended period of time and the guy has historically been a slow starter offensively. When Berkman gets it going, that's when the Astros offense usually gets it going, it's that simple.

Bright spots - Chris Sampson threw 3 strong innings of scoreless relief. 70 year old Woody Williams did not pitch too bad in his Astros debut, but the defense let him down in the 5th thanks to errors by Burke and Everett.

Texaco bullpen blows up again

Gas prices are pushing all time highs but that doesn't stop the Astros' pen from throwing more of that premium Havoline on the raging fire that is the Pittsburgh Pirates for the second night in a row.

The Astros' supposed top three relievers - Lidge, Qualls and Wheeler have all had a hand in enabling the 0-2 start. You can point fingers at the offense as well but it's the freaking Pirates! The pen needs to do its job against this hybrid AAA-MLB squad, particularly when their best hitter, Freddy Sanchez, is on the DL.

Should be even more fun when the defending World Series champs come into town this weekend. Hopefully we can salvage a game against the Bucs, otherwise, this team could very well start the season 0-4 with the only hope being Roy O. pitching this weekend.

24 - hour 16

I definitely could have done without the first 30 minutes of tonight's episode. Complete waste of time, felt like I was watching a director's cut with some content that had originally been cut and was added back in to sell more DVDs.

The last 15 minutes were definitely interesting. Props to the dude from Ghostbusters II for his mini-sting on the veep, didn't know he moonlighted as an audio surveillance expert. Interesting twist with Gradenko cutting off his arm (tribute to Chase from season 3) to elude CTU tracking devices and then ultimately selling Fayed out and then his subsequent capture. All seemed to be playing out as you would expect.

Then the show writers throw their inevitable curveball with a highly illogical character twist. Fresh off his official reinstatement, Palmer figures he's got the missile launchers on alert anyhow, what the heck, let's fire away at hostile mid-east country. How much of that adrenaline did they give him anyhow??

Scenes from next week allude to Palmer having a stand off with the above hostile mid-east country and and Fayed being busted out by his posse (see season 5 and Vladdy Bierko).

How many opps will Garner give Lidge?

2-1 lead in bottom of the ninth and sure enough after promptly getting the first two guys out, Lidge gives up the game-tying HR to Xavier Nady. That opened the door for Qualls to hand the Pirates a win in the 10th.

As far as I'm concerned, the Brad Lidge demotion watch is officially on. How many opps will Garner give Lidge before booting him to middle-relief or they send him to the minors outright.

Also, all the pundits seem to be saying that the bullpen is one of our strengths. I'm just not buying it, they are still the Texaco bullpen (constantly throwing gas on the fire) until they prove otherwise to me. I will be keeping track throughout the season here on how many games the bullpen blows for the Astros. Consider this one and counting....