The Astros have benched Hunter Pence in favor of Jose Cruz, Jr. I know Hunter is slumping again, but Cruz is only batting .087, which ranks him at number 489 in MLB. The only player with a worse average than Cruz, who has more at bats than Cruz, is Brad Ausmus.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
Last night, the Rockets grabbed an early lead and never looked back, thanks in large part to a balanced offensive effort, crisp ball movement, inspired play by a cast of no-names off the bench, and superior defense. Sprinkle in a sublimely efficient effort from Tracy McGrady (29 points on 13-26 shooting to go along with 5 boards and 5 assists) and it’s no surprise Houston cruised to a ho-hum 26 point victory over its latest victim.
Sound familiar? Of course it does. This was the act that played to rave reviews inside Toyota Center and other select venues across the country throughout all of February and most of March. Yes, for one more glorious night, Houston’s favorite off-Broadway performers returned as the Rockets recaptured the mojo of 22 in a row. And just like old times, it brought the house down.
So the morning after the Rockets’ 95-69 Game Five victory over Utah, Houstonians everywhere want to know: Will there be an encore, or was this simply a one time only reprise?
But that’s not why I’m writing. I just wanted to rehash bits of the season and give a few of my thoughts.
The good news is that the Aeros improved by 32-points this season from last. This was the second largest single season improvement in team history. Goalies Nolan Schaefer, Barry Brust and Anton Khudobin teamed up for 11 shutouts, a team record, and they gave up the fewest points of any team in the AHL.
The playoff lost was destined, however, because this team just wasn’t very good on the offensive end. What helped them to overcome the lack of offense was the system employed by Kevin Constantine that relied on defense and goaltending.
While stating that his daughter admitted to the affair with Rocket because she is trying to re-launch her career, Mindy McCready's dad did confirm that the two had a sexual relationship, but only after she was an adult.
Now, this news comes from that shining beacon of journalism known as the New York Post, which kind of makes the National Enquirer look like a reputable news service. That said, the Post also states that it has received evidence of two other Rocket affairs.
Haren was perfect through four innings, allowing the Astros no base runners. The Astros got to him for two runs in the fifth inning, but by then it was too late as the D-backs had already scored four runs off of Astros starter Chris Sampson.
This is just another case of good pitching shutting down good hitting as the D-backs lead the majors in staff ERA. This was also a case of good hitting beating up on sucky pitching. The D-backs, who own a MLB-best record of 19-7, now lead the majors with 99 extra base hits, including three doubles last night. The D-backs have also, after last night, scored 153 runs in 26 games for an average of 5.9 runs a game.
“There’s no question in my mind that this is a really filthy smear campaign orchestrated by McNamee’s lawyers clearly intended to do anything they can to ruin Roger’s reputation,” Hardin told the Chron.“I’ll let Roger speak for himself on the matter, but it is clear that the Daily News throughout this entire episode has been the house mouthpiece for McNamee’s lawyers, and this is just one more example.”
My first response is something along the lines of those who live in glass houses shouldn’t be tossing stones, because ever since the Mitchell report came out, Rocket and Rusty have done nothing but attack McNamee. And seeing as how Rusty accused McNamee of rape, I really think Rusty needs to shut up. Especially since Rocket appears to maybe have been involved with a little something called statutory rape.
Rocket mouthpiece Rusty Hardin is now on record as saying that the two have been friends for a number of years, but that nothing sexual ever occurred, and that Mrs. Rocket knows all about it.
Yet the vaunted offense was shut down the entire weekend.
The Astros won 4-3 on Friday night when Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen did his best Jose Valverde impression and melted down, allowing four runs, after Looper had shut the team down. The Astros got three runs off of Wainwright on Saturday afternoon, only those three runs came on three solo homers, and Houston only had five hits all day as they lost 4-3. And Sunday saw the vaunted offensive machine be held to four hits with the only run coming when Lance Berkman scored on a Mark Loretta single.
Fred Trask
Here’s the thing about a team that needs to play perfect hockey to compete against the best. When things fall apart, they fall apart quick. And for the Houston Aeros on Friday night, things fell apart just 1:55 into the game.
The Houston Aeros charged out of the gate, winning the face-off, and raced toward the Rockford IceHogs goal. There was no goal because at the six second mark, a hooking penalty was called on Rockford defenseman Jim Fahey. Neither team had been able to score on the power play in this series, but there was a feeling in the air that this night would be different.
And it was.
Canseco was vilified when Juiced was released. Then came the BALCO investigation that nailed Bonds and Giambi. And a visit to Congress where Mark McGwire refused to speak of the past, where Sammy Sosa forgot how to speak English, where Rafael Palmeiro shook his finger and angrily denounced Canseco and stated that he had never taken steroids. And then months later came Palmeiro’s failed drug test, which proved he had, indeed, taken steroids. Then last winter there was the Mitchell Report.
This is the world of Jose Canseco’s latest book, Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball. This should be the book of a man soaking up the acclaim of the world, a man taking a victory lap saying he told us so.
But Vindicated is the work of someone looking to settle scores. It’s the work of a man full of rage. It’s angry. It’s sloppy. And often, it doesn’t make sense.
The Astros defeated the Cincinnati Reds yesterday, winning the game 5-3. Jack Cassel, freshly arrived from AAA Round Rock, went five innings yesterday to get the win, surrendering only three runs while giving up seven hits. Cassel even got in on some of the vaunted offensive machine production when he had got a RBI single in the second inning.
Lance Berkman, once again playing like Great American Ballpark was designed just for him, had three hits in three at bats, with a home run, a double, three RBI and a stolen base. And Hunter Pence continues to put his slow start behind him as he had another multi-hit game yesterday, including a double, and hiked his batting average up to .268.
Fred Trask
“When someone wins four, it’s over,” Houston Aeros coach Kevin Constantine said last night following Houston’s 2-1 loss to the Rockford IceHogs. “It’s not over because no one’s won four. So we’ll go battle tomorrow night and see what happens.”
The Rockford IceHogs have not won four games. Not yet. But they’re up three games to one and the Houston Aeros are down to one last chance. It’s win tonight, or the season is done. But unlike Tuesday night, where Constantine felt the Aeros didn’t play with intensity, last night they came out skating hard, hitting hard, and shooting the puck. But then again, so did Rockford.
And for 52 minutes and 49 seconds, Rockford goalie Corey Crawford and Houston goalie Nolan Schaefer were perfect. Every shot they faced, they blocked. Slap shots. Wrist shots. Wraparounds, rebounds. It didn’t matter. They would stop the shot.
For years, before she went legit and moved to ABC News (actually, is Good Morning, America really news?) Robin Roberts did the play-by-play for the thing – how do you do play-by-play for the spelling bee, anyway? Then ESPN had Mike and Mike host the thing – and I don’t know about you, but I’m getting damn tired of Mike and Mike.
Here are the basics from last night’s Astros-Reds tilt:
The Astros won 9-3. The Astros had 14 hits. They have now scored 30 runs in the past three games. Hunter Pence continues to be on fire as he had another multi-hit night to move his average up to .256. And Chris Sampson lasted more than two-thirds of an inning this time out, throwing seven innings while surrendering only eight hits and two runs and getting his first victory of the season.
But come on, when the Edwin Encarnacion led off the Reds portion of the ninth inning with a home run off Geoff Geary, then Joey Votto reached on an error and there were no outs, didn’t you just feel the whole thing was about to blow up?
I know I did. But they managed to hold on and win the game.
Jack Cassel gets the starts for the Astros today at 11:30 a.m., and he’s facing one of the young guns of the National League, Johnny Cueto.
So, in descending order, away we go.
5. January 1, 1979, Notre Dame vs. UH: The weather in Dallas is beyond awful. The temperature is below zero. It’s sleeting. But the Cotton Bowl must go on because CBS is paying lots of big bucks and the teams have been promised lots of money. The Houston Cougars are leading the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame 34-12 with only 7:37 remaining in the game. The Notre Dame starting QB has been sitting in the locker room, suffering from the flu. The QB is fed some chicken noodle soup. Notre Dame blocks a Cougar punt for a TD. The QB emerges from the locker room to pass for the two-point conversion to make the score 34-20. Notre Dame moves the ball 61 yards on their next possession, with the QB gaining the final three yards for the TD, then throws for the two points. And with 4:15 on the clock the score is suddenly 34-28. The Irish manage to get the ball back and, with :00 on the clock, the QB connects for an eight-yard TD to tie the game. The Irish make the PAT, and just like that, the Irish have won 35-34.
Oh, and the name of that Notre Dame QB: Joe Montana, and it was on this day that the legend of Joe Montana was born.
