And I Got More Hits than Sadaharu Oh

Not Bad, Not Good, Just Average

Oh well, no big surprise the Astros split, considering how horrible they’ve been on the road this season. There are going to be a lot more games like the one on Sunday when one pitch can ruin a weekend than games on Saturday when they beat up on one of the best rookie pitchers around. The bullpen continues to be a major problem with Phil Garner having to go to the box of chocolates in key situations. Anybody else need to see more of Wandy up here this season? I don’t. At least Fernando Nieve’s ERA has gone down since he’s been relegated to the pen. If Timmy P. wants to give this one more try then he’s got to find some help for the ‘pen. But by no means am I willing to give up a Jason Hirsch to get it. I think the Reds were foolish to give up Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and Ryan Wagner for relief help. No need for the Astros to get crazy, maybe just get creative. I’d figure it out for them, but first I’ve got to figure out how to get my fantasy team out of fourth place.

--Wandy’s month-by-month ERA…April- 2.53, May- 5.29, June- 6.42, July- 9.28. I’m not Darryl Morey, but I see a trend here.

--In basically the same amount of innings Andy Pettitte has 17 more strikeouts than Roy Oswalt. In 82.1 more innings Roy has given up the same number of walks (24), as has Brad Lidge.

--Lidge is one of two Astros who have more strikeouts (62) than innings pitched (44). The other? Why Trever Miller, of course, with 33 K’s in 26.1 innings.

--Nothing like seeing those great crowd shots in Florida. Really is reminiscent of World Cup crowds. John Smoltz sums up the air of excitement, "You're not supposed to hear the lights! When you hear the lights buzzing, it's not good. I don't know how baseball is going to survive here."

--I like Morgan Ensberg, but he’s got to admit the pain earlier. We’ve all seen it; we all knew he should be on the DL. Why Garner or Purpura didn’t sit him down for the good of the team is beyond me. And Morgan this is twice you’ve played hurt for long stretches of time and it doesn’t help the team or you. Get smart.

--Note to Jesus Ortiz and John Lopez who were on Sports Sunday last weekend. First, Mr. Ortiz the Marlins are far, far from being the worst team in the National League. Hello? The Pirates and Nationals are both worse record-wise and the Marlins have the kind of young players nobody likes seeing on their schedule right now. And c’mon Mr. Lopez describing Aubrey Huff as “Jason Lane at his best” is just silly. I guess Jason Lane was his best last season when he hit 26 HRs, drove in 78 runs with a .267 batting average. Over the last four seasons Huff has averaged 27 HRs and two of those years drove in over 100 and his career average is .287. Huff also has never struck out 100 times in a season like Lane and he’s much more versatile in the field.

--By now you probably know the story of Philly starter Brett Myers who is accused of hitting his wife in front of a lot of people one late night outside of Fenway. He pitched two days later and then took a leave of absence. Now he’s back and we turn to Ryan Howard, "You hope fans will rally behing him. Forgive. Forget about it. Hopefully the fans will put it behind them. And behind us."
You seem like a good guy Ryan, but keep your mouth shut when it comes to wife beaters.

--The Brewers’ rotation will get a Ben Sheets boost next week. That’s not good.

--How crazy was it that on Saturday there was not one single save in Major League Baseball?

Quick Hitters and Random Thoughts

--Props to Juan Diaz for another strong showing. The day will come when he meets Diego Corrales or Acelino Freitas and then it will really, really be on. Tuesday night a new season of The Contender starts on ESPN the Channel. Can’t hardly wait.

--Better video: Shakira’s “La Tortura” or Beyonce’s “Déjà vu”?

--I’m not, but if you’re a Cingular guy or gal then you receive a special miniseries of Entourage episodes. They’re four minutes long and were specifically created for your cell. The stories revolve around one character with Johnny Drama getting the bulk of the screen time, which is a very, very good thing. VICTORY!!

--Your youtube.com fun comes courtesy of Dave Chappelle and Howard Dean. BYAHHH!!!

--Avril Lavigne and the lead guy from Sum 41 got married on the same day this past weekend as Allyson and Matt Jackson did. The difference being that in five years from now you’ll still know who Matt Jackson is.

--Seriously, the NHL wants broadcasters to start referring to overtime goals as “skate-off goals”?

--Back to Matt and Allyson’s wedding…It was at a nice church and I don’t normally make the weekly or monthly or even yearly visit, but I still know the Lord’s Prayer or so I thought. I was rolling along through the “daily bread” part and then boom! the words changed on me. I always thought the “trespasses” line was next. But then the much more knowledgeable people around me started saying something about debts or something and I had to put myself on mute and just mouth the rest as I normally do in those types of situations. Either way it was a beautiful and beautifully quick ceremony and congratulations once again to those two crazy kids.

--In four games with the Argonauts Ricky Williams has 214 rushing yards with a 4.0 average per carry. His total is good for fifth in the league. Leading the league is former Cougar Joffrey Reynolds. The man who single-handedly put an end to beach flag football former ‘Fin Robert Edwards is fourth.

--Because nothing else was on I caught bits and pieces of The ESPYs. Not real sure why Danica Patrick says she doesn’t want to be the Anna Kournikova of auto racing one day and then the next turns her backside to the audience and shakes her rump (badly I might add). Will Ferrell’s Ricky Bobby SportsCentury

and then reuniting of Lance and Neil Armstrong were probably the highlights. I’m happy Ben Roethlisberger is okay, but bringing him out at the end by himself like he’s some sort of special hero was just silly. He’s just a guy who made a dumb, dumb mistake. He should have gone up there with his team. The award was for Best Team and then he comes out from the side by himself? Also please don’t ever let the real hero of the free world, Jack Bauer, present an award with Venus Williams again. Seeing our nation’s greatest asset being towered over by a female tennis player was just a little alarming.

Oh the memories...

--Eleven universities have five or more players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Which Texas-based school can make that claim? UT? A&M? Nope, SMU.

--When is it acceptable to start doing mock fantasy football drafts? Another week? As soon as possible?

--‘Tis the season for summer vacations. For most of us that means Galveston or New Braunfels, for Michael Douglas it means the beaches of Spain. Unfortunately it wasn’t the best trip for Mike D. who explains, "I took my kids down to the ocean the other day and we had a little problem - we have jellyfish. I got stung actually pretty bad, across my back just last week. There's sort of a remedy that we've all heard...urine. It's the remedy if you have a bad sting. So I asked my five-year-old son if he would pee-pee on my back. He looked at me like he'd gone to heaven. He was like 'This is what I call a good summer holiday! Pee-pee on daddy's back!' I don't know if it helped at all, but my son was happy. We'll work it out in 20 years (when he's in therapy)!"

Questions, comments, or BYAHH!!!!!