Astros drop 10th in a row

Congrats fellas, you've sunk to levels of futility for this franchise not seen in more than a decade and they are one loss away from tying the franchise record for losses in a row. This team is just plain bad, I dont know how else to explain it. Sure there are a couple of underachievers in the lineup right now, Berkman being the primary culprit of course with his .250 average and seven extra base hits.

The last time the Astros lost this many games in a row was late in 1995. Oh and go figure, two of the games during that streak happened to be the first Astros games I had seen in-person in nine years at the time when I was moving back to Phoenix from Mobile. The Astros were actually still in contention for the wildcard at that time when Bagwell suffered one of his infamous hand injuries and the offense went in the tank.

The Astros actually did work their way back into the NL Wildcard race and ultimately lost out by a game to the Colorado Rockies.

Given how the Astros have performed against Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo, or any mediocre NL pitcher of late, I fully expect the streak to hit 11 on Thursday.

Congrats ASU baseball, Pac-10 champs

With Wanda Rodriguez and the Astros getting shelled by the D-backs tonight (it's 8-1 as I write this), I'm shifting most of my baseball good feelings toward the ASU baseball team. The Sun Devils clinched the Pac-10 regular season title last night with an 8-5 win over the University of Tucson, which made it even more sweeter. They still have two more games against the kitties tonight and tomorrow, go rub salt in the wound boys. The Devils should plan on staying in Tempe for the pre-Omaha post-season.

On the Astros' front, the H-town hacks are already starting to speculate on whether Garner or Pupura or both will last the season.

Oh well, at least we have Bidge's 3000th hit to look forward to. Only 28 more to go.

24 season finale

What has arguably been the worst of the six seasons came to an end last night. Question now becomes what's next for Bauer. Does he try and start a normal life with his dead brother's wife and his nephew (who I thought for sure would end up being his kid) absent of the whole CTU scene? Is his dad still alive and will he be the new Nina Myers for Jack where it actually takes a couple of seasons before he is officially killed off? Also, what becomes of Trenchcoat Cheng? Seemed like the one given for the finale was that Jack would exact his revenge on Cheng for the many months of torture he endured in China.

However, as disappointing as this season was, next season cant come soon enough.

Astros regress: Sun Devils play Tucson for Pac-10 title

Caught the Astros game at AT&T Park last night. Even though I was in one of the most scenic ballparks in America, it didn't ease the pain of watching the Astros fail to capitalize over and over again in potential scoring situations. Wake up Berkman, you're killing us right now. Admit to yourself that you're in a slump and then do something about it, quit trying to pretend that nothing is wrong.

On a more positive baseball note, the Sun Devils swept defending national champions Oregon State last weekend and take on the University of Tucson for three games at Packard starting Wednesday. ASU just needs to win one of those games to secure the Pac-10 title for the first time since 2000.

4 in a row and above .500

The Hunter Pence love-fest is officially underway in Houston. The kid went 4-4 tonight with what would ultimately be the GW HR in the 4th. A towering shot that nearly went out of the park. This coming on the heels of his game-tying shot in the 8th last night off Armando Benitez. Anyone who thought his spring training was a fluke can now confess their misguided thoughts and 'repence.' Sorry.

Astros won 2-1 and are now a game over .500 and are now 4.5 games behind the Brew crew in the NL Central. Funny how good things happen when a manager plays his best offensive players.

Devils sweep Bruins in Tempe

The Sun Devil baseball squad took a two game lead in the Pac-10 with a sweep of UCLA at Packard Stadium this weekend.

The Devils look like the real deal this year. In every game they rallied from a deficit to win. Today they were down 9-3 and rallied to win 11-10. Friday they were down 14-7 and won 16-14 and Saturday they scored two in the bottom of the ninth to win 5-4.

They keep playing like this and they are certain to host a regional (a given if they win the conference) and ultimately a super-regional should they get to that point. I continue to be extremely impressed with Ike Davis, son of former Cy Young winner Mark Davis. Ike is all-world for the Devils whether its hitting, defense or pitching, he is flat-out a difference maker for them right now. The kid went 2-4, scored 2 runs and pitched a scoreless 2/3rd of an inning late in the game.

Astros win series from D-backs; Wanda gets first win since last July

Two days in a row Garner has Loretta or Lamb and the line-up and glory be, the Astros win two in a row. Hopefully Garner will get over his Ensberg infatuation now and start playing the 'L' boys on a regular basis.

Wanda labored through five innings to get his first win in nearly a year. Pence had some big hits and made things happen on the basepaths ... again.

Also, farewell to Chris Burke who was sent down to Round Rock on Friday. Wherever your future in baseball takes you, be it with the Astros or another team, you will always have a special place in Astros' folklore (along with Jeff Kent and Billy Hatcher) for your game-winning HR in the 18 inning marathon that was game 4 of the 2005 NLDS against Atlanta.

Good luck to you Chris, I'm confident you'll be a gamer wherever you go, hopefully it will be with the Astros.

Clemens' departure underscores Astros' woes

At least according to Austin American Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls who gave his take on the Astros current state of affairs and what the departure of Roger Clemens means for them.

See below for my note to him on his column and his response.

i agree with u. there's not a ton of offense down on the farm, and clemens i'm sure saw that as well. but i think drayton's too loyal to the ensbergs and lanes of the world. i agree with u wholeheartedly on loretta. he's a great hitter. i wrote that roger left, in part, because of the yanks' big time hitting lineup. i just know that the gms (hunsicker, purpura) tire of drayton's control. take care. good talking to u.

kirk

On May 8, 2007, at 4:55 PM, Hughes, Phil wrote:

Hi Kirk,

Caught your column today, agree with you on several points including the fact that it seems Drayton has far too much input into player personnel decisions.

However, I think you're missing the two bigger issues with the team - offensive inconsistency and lack of offensive prospects in the farm system. Starting pitching is not an issue for this team right now. If you look at their last 13 games, 12 of those starts have been quality starts (six innings, three runs or less) by Astros' starting pitchers. Yet the team is 5-8 over those games. Clemens, even with all the intangibles he brings to the table, probably wouldn’t have made much difference. Why would the Astros want to match what the Yankees are going to pay him when they don’t have a team right now that can get Ws for him when he pitches his heart out. To your point, he could've had another Cy Young worthy season with nothing to show for it. All that being said, as a fan, would I love to have him? Absolutely. Who wouldn’t? Are we going to be better than .500 if you put him on the team that exists today? Probably not.

If Berkman and Lee start producing like their capable of and Garner wakes up and realizes that Mark Loretta can flat out hit and get on base, this team will contend before the season is over. With the depth we have at SP right now, not signing Clemens gives them the flexibility to trade for a bat if the team starts to play better. But clearly, these are all big 'ifs'.

If I'm Purpura, I'm real concerned that there are not offensive prospects to speak of at AA or above since they just called up Pence. Johnathan Ash might be good, but he's at least a year or two away. Lots of good pitchers to speak of such as Patton or Guttierrez, but offensively, the future doesn’t look to be getting any better for the Astros.

Thanks,

-phil

Scott hits clutch 3-run HR ; Astros hold on for win

Dan Wheeler tried to do his best Lidge impersonation tonight when he gave up a 2-run blast in the bottom of the 9th with no outs and the Astros leading 5-2 at the time. However, he quickly shook off the rust and got the next three Reds batters to end the game.

Another strong performance by Roy O and Scott and Berkman both went yard. Berkman's blast nearly left the part.

With the pitching performances this team has been getting in the past two weeks, it's scary to think how good they could be if Berkman and Lee get hot at the same time.

Also, what the heck did Mark Loretta ever do to Phil Garner?

24 6.21

I guess all the Milo might be dirty theories can be put to rest now as he fell to the same fate as Edgar Stiles and Teri Bauer -- death at CTU.

Another interesting plot twist tonight, everyone knew Jack's dad would be back in the mix. The Bauer family soap opera will continue it appears. All setting up nicely for a finale that probably features Jack taking care of Cheng and his dad. Given how chummy Cheng and Pa Bauer are, it's obvious he had something to do with Jack's capture by the Chinese last season.

Garner refuses to take my advice ... again; Thanks for the memories Rocket

Roger Clemens will pitch for the Yankees again, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone after Pettite opted to sign with the Bronx Bombers in the offseason. Lots of Astros' fans already crowding the message boards railing on the Rocket. I for one, wish him all the best in NY and will always appreciate the three years he gave us. I still felt he should have been an Astro back in 1999 when Toronto was ready to trade him to us for Scott Elarton and Derek Bell, but Drayton and Hunsicker would not commit to a long-term deal. Had that happened, Rocket wouldn't have had his taste of the Bronx and he might have finished his career and gone into the HOF as an Astro. Oh well, good luck Rocket.

Astros lost 3-1 today as Garner defied conventional wisdom yet again and had Ensberg back in the two-hole and Loretta out of the lineup. I'm beginning to rethink my post from earlier this week about how firing Garner would be the wrong thing to do.

Will Garner keep Ensberg in the lead-off spot?

It was a brilliant move by Phil Garner to put Morgan Ensberg in the lead-off spot yesterday. If you step back and think about it, it makes complete sense, the guy does get on base. He has good ABs, fouls off lots of pitches and draws lots of walks. He's not the aggressive HR hitter he was a couple of years ago, let's all accept that and figure out how he can best help this team.

Logic would dictate that you put Ensberg in that same spot again today but I have a feeling Biggio will be leading off again today. Also, I'm pretty certain that Loretta and his .300+ average will be out of the lineup again today. After all, that would be the logical move and Phil Garner has shown that he is anything but logical when it comes to his lineups.

All I know is they scored 13 runs with Loretta in the line-up and last Saturday they scored 10 with him in the line-up.

New York in a day ... never again

Don't know quite what I was thinking when I booked my travel for this week and determined I could do a fly-in and fly-out from Austin to NYC and back in the same day.

The JetBlue directs from Austin to JFK made it a tempting proposition, however I didn't really consider the fact that I would end up spending about 10+ hours on planes and airports.

I was up at 4:30 am in Austin, off to the airport by 5:20 am for a 7 am flight. Got into NYC at 11:30 am, had meetings from 1-6 and then back off to JFK to catch my 8:45 flight back to Austin. However, that plane didn't end up leaving until about 10 EST. After some wicked turbulence toward the end of the flight, we landed in Austin around 1 am, I was in bed around 2ish.

While the JetBlue experience is good and all -- Direct TV and XM radio on the flights -- it doesn't make the time go by any faster. Although it was nice to catch the last few innings of the Astros' win over the Reds on XM radio. I was ticked however that their limited Direct TV menu (wah) didn't have TNT so I was unable to watch the Suns win their series against the Lakers.

The Phil Garner watch officially begins

Does he deserved to be fired? Absolutely not. He has made some questionable moves during games at times and I'm never usually ecstatic about his lineup but I'm not going to pretend I know more about baseball than he does.

As I write this, the Astros are putting the finishing touches on yet another loss, this one an 11-2 smackdown at the hands of the Reds, or at least that was the score as of the top of the 9th. May is pretty much starting off like April finished for the Astros.

It's clear this team is in a funk, it has been since the season started. Something has to change and unfortunately there's very little that can be done from a personnel standpoint. Owners and GMs who feel the need to shake things up recognize it's a lot easier to change the coaching staff than it is the players.

Unless this team runs off 3 or 4 wins in a row, I gotta think that Drayton is going to start getting real antsy.