Houston Astros Regular Season Thread

[KABrother88]

The Astros have not been shy about announcing that they will be spending a little money this off season so I wouldn't be surprised to see a FA or two in the rotation. Someone like a Dice K or something along those lines. And I actually wouldn't be surprised if they were in the hunt for some this years crop of Japanese players.

 

Please God no Dice-K lol...but I see them going for more relief help than starting...but like I stated is still along ways out...also I forgot about Alex White...had Tommy John in April so he may be in the mix come the start of next season...another 25 year old arm

[Big T]

A little update on Jason Castro. He left the game yesterday with what was said to be a sprained knee, the same knee that's had all of the injuries. He went in for a MRI today which showed he has a cyst on the knee and he has been listed as day to day. He needs to get back soon as I really want to see him reach that 20 HR mark. To replace Castro while he is out, the Astros have acquired Matt Pagnozzi from the Braves. This seems to be a solid move on the part of the Astros. He has a little MLB time with a couple of teams and was with the Cardinals when Luhnow was still there so he knows him a bit. Until we can get back Castro, Corpran, and Stassi he will due as a replacement.

[Guest eagle eye]

As Big T alluded to Jason Castro has no structural damage to his knee and he had the cyst on the back of his knee drained. Castro said it was impairing his hamstring so draining the cyst should help out a lot. He probably didn't want to be done for the year by getting the cyst cut out, which is what I would have done, but at this point he doesn't want to miss the rest of the season and he can get it removed in October if he chooses to. Right now it's day to day.

 

The Astros lost Robbie Grossman late in yesterday's game when he strained an oblique muscle during an at-bat. Grossman will be day to day along with Castro.

 

Despite some late heroics by Brandon Barnes, a 2-out 2 run single in the seventh inning to close the gap of a Twins lead down to 4-3 and a three run home run also with 2 out and 2 strikes in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game at 6. It didn't matter though as the dreaded bullpen gave up 3 runs in the top of the 12th to lose 9-6. Kevin Chapman was the victim in this one giving up all three runs. The winning run came in on a wild pitch and the last two were more conventional RBI singles but when the game goes up on "L" side of the ledger it doesn't really matter. Two firsts, last night was the first time Jared Cosart failed to go at least 5 innings as he gave up 4 earned runs in his four innings of work. The failure to hold the Twins in the 12th resulted in the first loss in Kevin Chapman's MLB career. Jonathan Villar was pulled early in the game when he tried to stretch a single to shallow center field which was not really a good hustle play but a really bad decision on Villar's part. Marwin Gonzalez finished the game at shortstop.

 

Chai-Jen Lo and Josh Fields were given the closer role after the Jose Veras deal but neither has been effective in the role. Bo Porter said yesterday the Astros will go back to a closer-by-committee approach for a while.

 

The Astros now have all six or their domestic minor league clubs in their respective playoffs. Short season Tri-City secured a playoff berth by winning the Stedler Division of the New York-Penn League on Tuesday. The Astros are the first team in the bigs to put all 6 domestic levels of their minor league system into the playoffs since the 2003 Pirates. It's worth noting that this year the Pirates guaranteed themselves their first non-losing season in 20 years. Houston won't go 20 years before they win again but it does give fans hope better days are on the horizon.

[Guest eagle eye]

The Astros continued into September by losing 3 of 4 to the A's but then they've gone into Seattle and won the first two games of the series. Last night's game was a good old beat down of the Mariners by the tune of 13-2. This included Jonathan Villar's first MLB home run. Kevin Chapman got his first win after Chai-Jen Lo blew the 2-1 lead forged by Jared Cosart who went 5 innings of one run ball and a scoreless sixth by Josh Zeid by giving up 2 earned runs in the seventh. Chapman pitched a scoreless 8th inning followed by a 4 run 9th inning by the Houston offense that nailed down the win for Chapman. Josh Fields got his 4th save but he did allow one run in the ninth.

Last night Jordan Lyles was the beneficiary of the offensive explosion. Villar hitting leadoff crushed the first pitch of the game out of the park to begin a 17 hit attack with a team record 8 doubles. The Astros scored in the first three innings and the last three to put the game away. Houston has a done a nice job lately scoring runs late in games and last night was no exception as they scored 7 of the their 13 runs in the last three innings. Lyles got the win going 6 innings allowing just two runs, one earned and Jorge De Leon and Rhiner Cruz mopped up the last 3 innings.

 

Note: After his outing on Monday the Astros have shut down Jared Cosart for the season. He finished the most innings he's pitched in a season and the Astros, to protect one of their bright lights of the future, decided he's had enough. I like the move. No use chancing getting him injured for no reason other than to finish the season.

 

With Jared Cosart done for the year it's debateable whether or not Houston will maintain a six man starting rotation. It really depends on how Paul Clemens comes back from the blister on the his throwing hand that caused him to miss his last start. This issue is the reason the Astros have not set their rotation for this weekend's series when they return home to the Juice Box to face the Anaheim Angels.

 

AAA OKC are down 0-2 to the Omaha Storm Chasers in the PCL American Conference finals. OKC played the first two games of the best of 5 series at home so now they have to go into Omaha to stay alive when they face off Friday night.

 

AA Corpus Christi fell in 5 games to the San Antonio Missions club who advances to the Texas League finals against Arkansas.

 

A Lancaster (California) JetHawks came back and won the 4th game of the South Division Finals forcing a deciding game 5 tonight at the JetHawks home field called "The Hanger".

 

High A Quad Cities have advanced to the Midwest League Championship series by winning the Western Division final against the Beloit (Wisconsin) Snappers. They will face the South Bend (Indiana) Silver Hawks who defeated the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Tin Caps to win the Western Division. The first two games of the best of five series will be played today in South Bend. Note: Carlos Correa hit one of the 3 home runs that propelled the RiverCats to the finals.

 

Short Season A Tri-City Valleycats of the New York-Penn League have advanced to their second straight Championship Series by defeating the Aberdeen Ironbirds 3-0. They will play the winner of the Jamestown Jammers-State College Spikes series.

 

Rookie League Greenville Astros were defeated in Appalachean League Championship Series by the Pulaski Mariners by a score of 6-5 in the deciding game of the best of three championship series which Pulaski won 2 games to none.

 

To all Astros affiliates congrats on a great season and good luck to OKC, Lancaster, Quad Cities and Tri-Cities as they continue their quest for their league championships!

[KABrother88]

OKC was eliminated last week...Omaha swept the series 3-0. Nederland native and former Lamar Cardinal Brian Sanches started game 1 of that series after the scheduled starter was scratched and went out and threw 5.2 innings of scoreless ball to get the win

[Guest eagle eye]

OKC was eliminated last week...Omaha swept the series 3-0. Nederland native and former Lamar Cardinal Brian Sanches started game 1 of that series after the scheduled starter was scratched and went out and threw 5.2 innings of scoreless ball to get the win

 

LOL! I guess the Redhawks don't do so well keeping up with their web site. That's were I got the info I posted earlier today.

[Guest eagle eye]

Holy crap on a cracker! The Astros swept the Mariners! The 6-1 win last night was Houston's first series sweep since 2001. Well, that's not true but it sure seems like it. Brad Peacock went 6 innings giving up only one run and Kevin Johnson and Josh Zeid finished off the Mariners on the night. Jonathan Villar (1), Brett Wallace (1), Chris Carter (2), Marc Krauss (1) and Carlos Corporan (1) who just came off the DL/concussion list this week drove in the runs for Houston. Jimmy Paredes had a good night at the plate going 2-4 but he got caught trying to steal 2nd base and he was picked off 1st base in his two trips to the base paths. The Astros are off today as they head back to Houston to face the Angels beginning Friday night.

 

BTW the slump that Jose Altuve was fighting through over the last month seems to be over. His batting average dipped to .268 at one point but over the last couple of weeks he has seen it climb back to .279 and that's after an 0-5 night in Seattle last night.

Jonathan Villar has righted his ship at the plate as well. After a hot start to his MLB career he suffered through a rather dismal August but he too has come around to bring up his batting average to a respectable .281 including a nice 2-5 night last night.

[Guest eagle eye]

Astros vs Angels series begins tonight with two lefties going against one another. Houston sends Dallas Kuechel to the hill while Anaheim sends Jason Vargas. The Astros are looking to build on the series sweep of the Mariners in Seattle earlier this week against a team they started the season owning but as the summer has worn on Anaheim has reclaimed their property by smashing Houston in the last few series. Should be a good series. Right now Houston sits at 50-96 which is interesting because the overriding opinion was Houston would not reach 50 wins before the notched 100 losses. Now, at least Houston can play for not reaching that 100 loss plateau. Realistically, that's not happening but they can certainly aspire to void setting a new record for losses in a season. With only 16 games left Houston needs to win only 6 games to avoid tying last season's franchise record 107 game loss mark. That would be nice but it would be even nicer to see Houston hang on to secure the #1 pick in the 2014 draft. Currently, the nearest threat is the Miami Marlins. Their record of 54-91 gives Houston a 4-1/2 game margin to work with. At this point, without setting a new record, let hope their futility continues.

 

Interesting Milestone: Jake Elmore, on Tuesday in Seattle, became the first Astro in franchise history to play all nine positions in a single season. He played his ninth position when he played center field in Tuesday night's blowout of the Mariners. Elmore also became the 14th player in MLB history to pitch and catch in the same game on Aug 19th against the Texas Rangers.

[Guest eagle eye]

The 'Stros extended their current winning streak to 4 in a row with a 9-7 victory over Anaheim last night. Besides the win the highlight of the game was in the 5th inning when C Cody Clark got his first MLB hit. Clark was called up by the Astros a few weeks ago when injuries to Jason Castro and Carlos Corporan made a move necessary. It was a feel good story for the 11-year career minor leaguer Clark but in his previous 10 appearances he was batting 0-25. When he got his hit to lead off the fifth inning the crowd and the Astros dugout went nuts. Clark said later that he was so grateful for his teammate's support and he appreciated their constant encouragement of him. That hit sparked a 6 run inning highlighted by a grand slam by Matt Dominguez, his second of the year. Dallas Kuechel got the win despite giving up 6 earned runs in his 5.2 innings of work. Jorge De Leon, Kevin Chapman, Josh Zeid and Josh Fields combined to close out the game with Fields getting his 5th save of the year.

 

2014 #1 draft pick standings:

 

Team Record Games Back Games To Play

Houston 51-96 - 15

Miami 54-92 3-1/2 16

Chisox 58-89 7 15

The Astros deal with Detroit in the Jose Veras trade was finalized as the player to be named later was named. The Astros get pitching prospect David Paulino. The 19 year old from the Dominican Republic is the younger brother of Tigers pitching prospect Brenny Paulino who is highly touted in the Tigers organization. Like his brother David has a big arm and he was doing pretty well in Rookie level ball until he had to have Tommy John surgery this summer.

[Big T]

Sorry I haven't been on the board in a while as school has just gotten really real this semester. Despite me liking the fact the Stros have won four in a row they need to STOP! We need the first pick and Miami is getting a little to close. Stop winning Stros lol

[Guest eagle eye]

All you need to do is ask, Big T, and it appears you will receive. The Astros lost to the Angels tonight 6-2 with Brett Oberholtzer taking the loss as he gave up 4 runs in six innings of work including 2 walks, 4 K's and a solo HR to C Chris Iannetta in the third. Jose Altuve went 3-4 on the night. Brett Wallace accounted for both of Houston's runs with a home run in the bottom of the 4th with one on which narrowed the Angels lead to 4-2. So Big T, could wish the Marlins a winning streak?

 

 

2014 #1 Draft Pick Standings

 

TEAM W/L GAMES BACK GAMES REMAINING

 

Houston 51-97 - 14

Miami 55-93 4 14 (The Marlins split a double header today w/the Mets)

Chisox 58-90 7 14

[Guest eagle eye]

Despite pitching his ass off Paul Clemens took the loss in today's series finale with the Angels. Clemens pitched seven strong innings but he did give up the only two runs the Halo's scored in Anaheim's 2-1 victory over the Astros today. The Astros only run came in the second on a Mark Krauss homer that tied the game at one. The Astros had a seven hit total but were not able to string anything together. Clemens gave up the go-ahead run in the 5th when Erick Aybar singled followed by a single by Hank Conger. Then, Andrew Romaine hit a fly ball to left which was caught by Mark Krauss who relayed to Jonathan Villar who relayed to Chris Carter at first to double off Conger. Aybar, who took 3rd on Conger's single scored what turned out to be the game winning run.

 

 

2014 #1 draft pick race

 

Team W/L Games Back Remaining Games

Houston 51-98 - 13

Miami 55-94 4 13

Chisox 58-91 7 13

 

All three teams in the race lost today so the Astros can't catch a break record-wise.

[Guest eagle eye]

Eric Bedard was given his first start since being moved to the bullpen late in August in the series opener against the Cincinnati reds but it wasn't a great start to say the least. Bedard lasted only 4 innings giving up 4 earned runs on 4 hits including a 2 run homer by SS Zack Cozart who had 4 RBI's on the night for the Reds. Lucas Harrell came in in the 5th and finished the game giving up 2 earned runs for a decent outing on his part. Jose Altuve continued his hot hitting in September going 2-4 on the night at the plate but he had the bases loaded with two out in the 5th and he missed an opportunity to get Houston back in the game by striking out. Johnny Cueto who made his first start coming off the DL last night got the win for the Reds. He went 5 scoreless innings scattering 5 Astros hits and escaping the bases loaded jam in the 5th.

 

In the race for the bottom of the barrel the Marlins got bombed by the Phillies 12-2 as they keep pace with Houston while the Chisox twisted off on the Minnesota Twins winning 12-1.

 

2014 #1 Draft Pick Race

 

Team W/L G/B Games Left

Houston 51-99 - 12

Miami 55-95 4 12

Chisox 59-91 8 12

 

Minor League Update:

 

Quad Cities (Davenport, Iowa) River Bandits won the Class A Midwest League championship over the South Bend (Indiana) Silver Hawks in a three game sweep of the best of 5 series. The MVP of the series has to be Astros pitching prospect Josh Hader who went 7 innings in games 1 and 3, both were the longest outings of his career. In the final game Hader went the 7 innings giving up no runs on 8 K's and only one walk. No base runner made it past first base on the night as he left with a 4-0 lead and River Bandits held on to win 4-2 to claim the franchise's 1st championship as an Astros affiliate and 6th title in franchise history.

 

Tri-City (Troy, New York) ValleyCats won the Short Season A NY-Penn League championship over the State College (Pennsylvania) Spikes in a thrilling 3 game series that saw the ValleyCats hold on to win the final game of the series 4-3.

 

The Greenville Astros (Rookie League) lost in their bid for a Appalachian League title to the Pulaski (Virginia) Mariners 6-5 in the title game.

 

Congratulations to the Astros who sent 6 teams in their minor league system with 3 teams reaching their league finals and two winning league championships. Nice job indeed!

[KABrother88]

The success of our minor leagues this year is extremely encouraging. I'm even more excited that Quad Cities won the Midwest Championship...names like Correa, Ruiz, Hernandez, Vasquez, Appel, McCullers, and Hader should be roaming MMP in a few years and hopefully for a long time after...and instilling a championship mentality into those young players will be great for Houston down the road.

[Guest eagle eye]

The Astros crossed the 100-loss threshold last night behind a beat down coming from the Cincinnati Reds. Jordan Lyles had his worst outing of the season as the Reds pummelled the righty tagging him with 9 runs in 3-1/3 innings on the way to a 10-0 Reds victory. The loss makes Houston only the 9th franchise in MLB history with 3-100 loss seasons in a row. Dubious honor indeed but to make matters worse in the first inning Jonathan Villar tried to stretch a single into a double and was tagged out by 2B Brandon Phillips on a play now tagged "The Butt Tag Play".

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsbwdUNxhsc

 

Villar, as the video shows, slid right into Barnes backside and into the tag by Barnes who was holding the ball in his glove between his legs. How much infamy can one team stand in one game. Apparently more that was suffered by Houston last night.

 

NOTE: The Astros have placed C Jason Castros on the DL for the remainer of the season. It's a precautionary move to protect Castro from a set back or worse as the Astros coast to another dismal finish to their season. Castros had a fine year highlighted by his selection to the American League All Star team and he was named AL Player of the Week twice this year. Once in May and the other was in August.

 

2014 #1 Draft Pick Race

 

Team W/L GB Games Left

Houston 51-100 - 11

Miami 55-96 4 11

Chisox 60-91 9 11

 

The Marlins lost to the Phillies again and the Chisox held on to beat the Twins last night. The Astros close out their series with Cincinnati tonight then they go on the road. The will play a 4 game series in Cleveland and then travel to Arlington for three against the Rangers. The Astros then return home to close out the season with a three game series vs the Yankees in their only appearance in Houston in 2013.

The Marlins finish their series in Philly tonight and then they travel to Washington for a 4 game set against the Nationals. They return to Miami for the final homestand of their season. They begin next week with 3 games against the Phillies and close the season with 3 against Detroit.

All the Astros have to do is lose 2 games or lose one and Chicago win one and the Sox are eliminated from the #1 pick race.

The Astros face the Indians and the Rangers who are in a wild card playoff hunt so we'll get their best efforts. The Yankees aren't out of the wild card but they really kind of are. However, the Yankees are only 3-1/2 games back of the D-Rays and Rangers for a wild card slot so you never know. If New York has something to play for they will also be on a mission to beat the Astros.

As for Miami, Philly is out of playoff contention so they are playing for pride and some for their jobs next year. Washington is in the same boat as Philly as they are out of the playoffs. Barring a complete meltdown Detroit is the division champ in AL Central. They could have home field advantage to play for but they trail the Red Sox by 4 games and Oakland by only one so they could host a first round series. Let's hope they're concerned with more than setting up their pitching rotation for the playoffs. As long as Houston is playing teams with something to play for they should be alright and claim that No 1 pick at the end of the season but you know the saying about counting chickens so, we should all keep our fingers cross for the next week or so.

The White Sox? Don't care, they're out of it. It's a two horse race between Houston and Miami now.

 

[Guest eagle eye]

Dallas Kuechel pitched like a demon last night in Cleveland, as the Astros began their series with the Indians, and he deserved better for his effort. Kuechel went seven innings giving up only one run on seven K's and a walk. Kevin Chapman and Josh Zeid combined for 3 scoreless innings and in the bottom of the 11th with two out and the bases loaded Rhiner Cruz gave up a walk off single to end the game. The Astros have found a new way to lose games recently. How? Bad base running. It's gotten to the point that even Bo Porter has lost his patience with his team. On Wednesday Jose Altuve went from 1st to 3rd on a single which on the surface you'd call great hustle until you learn that Brandon Barnes was standing on third base and Altuve was tagged out and you could be left wondering why, if Altuve can go two bases, was Barnes standing on third in an extra inning game. Hmmm.

Porter's patience was exhausted last night when lead off hitter in the inning C Cody Clark doubled. Jake Elmore was inserted as a pinch runner and with Jonathan Villar prepared to sacrifice him to third when Elmore took too big a lead off the base and was picked off by pitcher Yan Gomes. Sheesh.

The Astros have now tied their record for consecutive losses in the season, 6, for the seventh time this season. Again, sheesh. What was galling to Porter was that the Astros went extra innings with two playoff caliber teams and should have won both games and they missed their chances by bonehead plays.

As mentioned Houston lost in 13 innings against the Reds in the series finale in which the Reds came into Houston and pulled out their broom to sweep the Astros in the Juice Box. Wednesday night's loss coupled with a Marlins win opened up lot of breathing room for Houston in their quest for the #1 pick next year by extending their lead for the honor over Miami to 5 games. The White Sox are not mathmatically out but they won't collapse this bad.

 

2014 #1 Draft Pick Race

 

Team W/L G/B Games Left

Houston 51-102 - 9

Miami 56-97 5 9

Chisox 60-92 9-1/2 10

[KABrother88]

Houston lost to Cleveland 2-1 in a rain shortened 7 innings last night...makes 103 loses on the year in what seems 103 different ways

[Guest eagle eye]

Cue Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Takin Care of Business" as you read this post. The Astros lost again making this the seventh loss in a row and the is now the longest losing streak for the team in 2013. Last night Houston lost to Cleveland 2-1 behind a stellar outing by Brett Oberholzer. Obie gave up 0 earned runs last night in his six innings of work. The 2 Cleveland runs scored were unearned due to three fielding errors, two on one play, that allowed the Tribe to edge the Astros in a rain shortened game. The game was called in the seventh after an hour and nine minute rain delay with no let up in sight of the same weather front we've dealt with in our area. Obie has lost his last three starts despite allowing only 5 earned runs in his 18 innings of work. Obie's ERA actually was lowered after last night's game to 2.71.

The Astros have had a real hard time scoring runs of late but you can't score when you are only 5 for 43 with runners in scoring position but that's what the Astros are in their last six games. The Astros best chance to score more runs was in the 5th inning when they loaded the bases with one out but Jonathan Villar hit into an inning ending double play and that killed the Astros chances of tying the game or taking the outright lead.

2014 #1 Draft Pick Race

 

Team W/L G/B Games Left

 

Houston 51-103 - 8

Miami 56-98 5 8

Chisox 60-93 9-1/2 9

 

Now the White Sox are eliminated. 9-1/2 games back with 9 to go makes this a two team race for #1.

[Big T]

Grrr. C'mon Astros! Lets get Rodon!

[Guest eagle eye]

Well, without belaboring a point, since I've done that ad nauseum this season, the Astros failures at the plate continued in games 3 and 4 of the Cleveland series. On Saturday they were beaten 4-1 behind a blah effort by starter Paul Clemens. Chris Carter hit a 2-out solo home run to keep the Astros from being shut out on the night. On Sunday afternoon the Astros were spanked 9-2 by the Indians who completed it's four game streak and ran the Astros current losing streak to a season high 9 in a row. The 105 losses almost certainly guarantee Houston will have the 1st pick in next year's draft leaving the only thing left to wonder is whether or not Houston will reset the record for losses in a season with more than 107 losses. Lord I hope not.

 

2014 #1 Draft Pick Race

 

Team W/L G/B Games Left

Houston 51-105 - 6

Miami 57-99 6 6

 

The Chisox were eliminated on Friday and the Marlins split a double header they played yesterday with the Nationals. They played two because of a rainout the day before. The Marlins won the opener 4-2 and lost the night cap 5-4. One more loss by Houston and they are guaranteed the No 1 pick. I really hope they can avoid breaking their 107 loss mark but it doesn't seem likely.

[Guest eagle eye]

So it's all over. As of Monday's loss to the Rangers the Astros clinched the #1 pick in next year's draft. It sucks to be the worst team in baseball three years in a row. We can only hope that Carlos Correa, Mark Appel and whoever Houston chooses next summer turn out to be what the No 1 pick should be. We can take heart in the fact that the Pittsburgh Pirates who have clinched their first playoff berth since 1992. Their latest rebuilding started about 4 or 5 years ago and now it's bearing its fruit. By that criteria Houston will be pushing for the playoffs in 2015 but it's not beyond the realm of expectation that this is the last season we will have to endure a 100 loss season. If it isn't I'm going to be extremely pissed. Since 1980 the Astros have been in the discussion for contenders for the division and the playoffs on a regular basis but after our World Series season in 2005 we have steadily become--well---the Pirates which is to say we are the joke of the neighborhood. Nothing more than the revelation that last Sunday's game against Cleveland received a 0.0 rating on ComCast Sports Network in Houston. People we will, as of our 108th loss of the season, most assuredly hit rock bottom. There is no way but up. BTW loss 108 will likely be today as we finish the last road trip of the season in Arlington against the Rangers. Maybe we can avoid being swept in our third series in a row but we'll hit 108 vs the Yankees as the season mercifully ends. Maybe somebody will watch just to see the Yankees. Maybe.

 

 

2014 #1 Draft Pick Race

 

Team W/L G/B Games Left

Houston 51-107 - 4

Miami 58-100 7 4

 

Miami joins Houston in the 100 loss club and the only other team who could join them is the White Sox with 95 losses with 5 to play. Otherwise there isn't a team even close to 100 losses. Good times

[Big T]

Ok lets win out Astros. We don't need to lose anymore lol.

[Guest eagle eye]

A little off subject but who shed a tear when Petit and Jeter came and got Mariano Rivera in the game last night? (I unabashedly raise my hand.) If you haven't seen it check youtube or espn for the video and if you don't get choked up there's something wrong. Better yet, here's link to the end of Mariano's last appearance in Yankee Stadium.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_voxdzu2bvY

[KABrother88]

I'm not ashamed to say I did...hell I did watching the All Star Game too...now it wasn't as bad as when Biggio for me but that's the Astro fan coming out of me. I honestly don't think baseball will ever see a man absolutely dominate a position/role for as long as Mo did and do it will so much class, grace and respect for the game. 50 more regular season saves than second place...his 2.21 career ERA is the lowest among pitchers with a min of 1,000 IP...but the most impressive is his postseason numbers...141 innings in 96 appearances...beaten just once (of course that was game 7 of the 2001 World Series) but 42 saves and a 0.70 ERA...simply amazing

[Guest eagle eye]

There's hope for a renewal of the fox sport southwest partnership. ComCast Sports have filed bankruptcy in an attempt to prevent the Astros from pulling out of their deal. Comcast is only available in 40% of the Houston market and certainly not available in the Golden Triangle. The deal involved the Astros, the Rockets and NBC Universal but that partnership has not been what it was hoped it would be. Here is the statement from the Astros that was released yesterday;

 

"Comcast has improperly filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition in an attempt to prevent the Astros from terminating the Media Rights Agreement between the Astros and Houston Regional Sports Network. HRSN failed to pay the Astros media rights fees in July, August and September, and we have invested additional money in order to keep the network viable through our season," the statement said.

 

"Despite not receiving our media rights fees, our objective has not changed. We will continue to work toward obtaining full carriage so that all of our fans are able to watch the Astros games while making sure that the Astros are able to compete for championships."

 

I hope this is resolved soon and the Astros return to FSSW because while the last couple of years have been bad the future is on the uptick and I'd like to be able to see the Astros return to prominence.