Wouldn't it be great if NBA officials called things the way their NHL counterparts do?

You know, even if the game is in the balance, you call a penalty when you see a penalty.

In the second overtime with the game tied at 3 in Game 5 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins, Red Wings rightwinger Jiri Hudler was hit with a four-minute penalty for high-sticking Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi. Detroit had penalty-killed two power plays earlier in the game. But those were two minutes long, and a four-minute penalty kill when the game's long and the team's tired was probably just too much.

When I thought of that penalty being called (the first two calls were questionable at best), I could see that the referee made the right call. I kept thinking back to NBA official Joey Crawford's failure to whistle Los Angeles Laker Derek Fisher for a foul on San Antonio Spur Brent Barry in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. Some referees call it as they see it while some appear to let their personal feelings get in the way.

Continue reading "Penguins outlast the Red Wings 4-3 in 2OT; 4-minute penalty costly for Detroit"

After yesterday's 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt is now 4-6 on the season. In six innings pitched he gave up nine hits, four runs (three earned) and struck out four while walking one. His season ERA is 5.38.

I'm treading very lightly here, since my experience in organized baseball consists of two seasons of Little League baseball in Alvin, Texas (no, I didn't play against Nolan Ryan*) in the early eighties. Perhaps Roy O is having an off-year. After all, his latest loss came against a lowly Pirates team that's 28-31 on the season and has been in mediocrity the past few years. Perhaps they were just fueled from anger by the Detroit Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup over the Penguins at home in the City of Three Rivers.

Either way, Houston's bats couldn't get going and despite an unassisted double play by Lance Berkman and an outfield assist by Hunter Pence, Houston lost and is now 31-29 on the season. They play the Pirates again tonight.

Continue reading "Tough year so far for Roy Oswalt"

For the fourth time in 11 years, the Stanley Cup is being hoisted in Hockeytown.

After losing a grueling Game 5 to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in three overtimes, the Detroit Red Wings rebounded for a 3-2 Game 6 in in Pittsburgh to win the 2008 Stanley Cup.

Swedish-born Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg, who took over for the venerable Steve Yzerman, won the Conn Smythe Trophy (for Most Valuable Player) and became the first European-born team captain to hoist the Cup.

They played a soundbyte on the radio of one of the players talking about winning the Cup. You could tell, from the loud boos, that the Penguin fans weren't too thrilled about it. Still, when you consider the play of Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and center Sidney Crosby, it's very probably the Penguins may be hoisting the Cup within the next five years.

Continue reading "Red Wings beat Penguins 3-2; Stanley Cup returns to Hockeytown"

Houston Astros starter Brian Moehler pitched seven innings scoreless innings, allowing two hits, two walks and five strikeouts. Both hits were singles. Jose Valverde, coming off that nasty headache, pitched a perfect ninth inning with three strikeouts. Houston beat St. Louis last night 6-1.

Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols went 0-4 with two strikeouts. However, he is still hitting .357 on the season.

Hunter Pence, batting leadoff, had a double and is now batting .293 on the season. Both he and Kaz Matsui drove in runs with two outs.

Now, if Houston can start playing all their games like this.

Continue reading "An example of a great game; Astros beat Cards 6-1 on good pitching, hitting"

When I say Ol' Roy, of course, I'm not referring to the Wal-Mart brand of dogfood named after the late Sam Walton's late hunting dog Ol' Roy. Rather, the old version of Astros ace Roy Oswalt. You know, the guy who could get guys out and make it look easy.

Against the Milwaukee Brewers, a team that can hit the ball, Oswalt was near flawless. In seven innings, he allowed five hits, one earned run and struck out 10 and yielded no walks. His sole run was a home run. Oswalt is now 5-6 on the season with an ERA of 5.06

Houston first baseman Lance Berkman, sporting a comfortable lead in the race to start at first base in the All Star game, continued his torrid hitting with a 3 for 4 performance. This included a triple, a home run and five runs batted in. Berkman now is hitting .379 with 19 homers and 56 RBIs on the season. Whether he will become the first Triple Crown winner in decades is up in the air: he's currently second in the NL in batting average behind unbelievable but modest Atlanta Brave Chipper Jones (who's at .420 and has flatly insisted that hitting .400 is all but impossible), second in homers behind the Philadelphia Phillies' Chase Utley (who has 21), and is tied for second in RBIs with Utley behind the San Diego Padres' Adrian Gonzalez (who has 57).

Continue reading "Ol' Roy O shows up, Astros beat Brewers 6-1"

Going into the Brewers series, the Astros had been 2-9 in their last 11 games. Not liking the roller coaster effect of losing a bunch of games, winning a bunch and losing a bunch again, Houston general manager Ed Wade decided to hold a team meeting.

Want to know what he told the players?

Two things.

To the hitters, Wade held a baseball in one hand and a bat in another and said, "Gentlemen, this is a baseball. This is a bat. Your job is to hit the ball with a bat and do so in a way where you can at least make it to first base before a fielder can throw you out.

To the pitchers, Wade said: Gentlemen, I want each and every one of you to work on a new pitch. It's called a strike.*

Actually, the team meeting was reportedly to reaffirm things taught at spring training and to help the team (which had a 17-11 May but has been shaky in June) get back to basics.

Continue reading "Astros GM Ed Wade holds team meeting: want to know what he told the team?"

Good news: the Houston Astros hit three home runs last night against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Bad news: the Brew Crew hit five.

All three 'Stros longballs were solo shots (Miguel Tejada, Ty Winnington and Carlos Lee), whereas Milwaukee's four runs accounted for eight total runs (two solo shots and two 2-run homers). Astros pitcher Brandon Backe, who shows flashes of brilliance, gave up seven hits and five earned runs in four innings. He's 4-8 on the season with this loss with an ERA of an even 5.00. Both starters got hit hard, and both bullpens had their shaky moments--Houston's more so than Milwaukee's.

Astros pitching, disturbingly, leads the MLB in home runs yielded. I guess it doesn't help when your home games are at Homeron Field.

In the 7th inning, catcher Brad Ausmus was ejected for disputing a checked swing call while manager Cecil Cooper was ejected for (allegedly) colorful language used to dispute a safe call on a pickoff attempt. This is the second time (to my knowledge) this year that Cooper has been ejected. Maybe that's a good thing. Houston needs some fire. I wish Cooper would also toss over a few post-game dinner tables as a way of letting Houston know that losing is unacceptable.

Continue reading "Brewers 10, Astros 6"

They continued their struggle in interleague play, getting swept by the New York Yankees. (Houston is now 1-6 on the season playing against the Junior Circuit, having dropped a three-game series to the Texas Rangers 1-3 earlier this season).

Sundays' loss to the Bronx Bombers was a 13-0 shutout. For the three-game series, New York outscored Houston a horrific 23-5. This averages out to a score of 7.6 to 1.6.

Right now, if you were to ask what ails the Astros, the simplest answer would be yes.

Pitching that, when it's on, it's on. And when it's off it's really, really off. Sometimes Astros pitchers don't seem to distinguish between batting practice and the actual game itself.

A grocery store mogul owner in Drayton McLane who, for a baseball owner, is turing out to be a good grocery store mogul. Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle describes McLane as an owner who makes one bad decision after another. Houston's minor league is generally considered one of the most depleted in the MLB, and I cringe to think of what sack of dime-store goods Houston would get stuck with if they ever decided to have a fire sale and trade away guys like Lance Berkman.

Continue reading "Ugly weekend for the Astros"

Bad news: the Houston Astros are now 33-39 and half a game out of last place in the NL Central.

Good news: they're making fans of other MLB teams very happy.

I'm getting to where I can't remember the last time Houston won a game.

Astros starter Brian Moehler pitches 6.1 innings, giving up only one earned run. Ordinarily, this type of pitching would be grounds for a possible win. Unfortunately, Houston's bats were ice cold and Moehler got a no-decision.

Houston now has a seven-game losing streak.

Continue reading "Good news and bad news for the Astros"

Sometimes it's hard to remember they're now the Tampa Bay Rays and not the Devil Rays now. Always wondered why they weren't simply just called the Sting Rays to begin with. Oh well, I digress...

...You know it's been a woeful season for the Houston Astros when, with Sunday's 3-2 win over the Rays (and taking the three-game series 2-1) Houston is now 35-41 on the season while the Rays dropped to 44-31. Imagine that. The Rays, a team in the past that has served as a glorified Triple-A minor league team, is now 13 games above .500.

Even with these two wins in the last three games, we have to wonder if Houston's only bright spot this year will be Lance Berkman and Miguel Tejada both possibly going to the All-Star game as starters. (The last time an Astro has been a starter at the All-Star game was at the 2004 game at Minute Maid Park, when Roger Clemens was the starting pitcher and Jeff Kent started at second base).

Continue reading "Astros edge Rays 3-2 and win rubber game of series"

To some, my sports allegiances might seem like contradictions.

I love the Dallas Cowboys but absolutely hate the Texas Rangers (my favorite American League team is the Kansas City Royals).

I love the Houston Astros but absolutely hate the Houston Texans (my favorite AFC team is the Denver Broncos).

So, I'm hoping the Astros can overcome a 1-2 series loss to the Rangers earlier this season, and last night, they beat Texas 4-3.

For Houston, Brian Moehler went to 4-3 as he pitched 6.1 innings, giving up five hits and one earned run and five K's in the win. However, Astros closer Jose Valverde got touched up in 1.1 innings, giving up a hit (a two-run home run), two earned runs while striking out three. Valverde notched his 19th save but carries a season ERA of 4.34.

Continue reading "LAstros beat StRangers, 4-3"

Maybe the Astros should make it a habit of having a hotheaded pitcher get into a skirmish with General Manager Ed Wade.

Every day.

Call it the Keith Hernandez Principle.

Back in 1988, the New York Mets first baseman had gotten word from his attorney that his bitter divorced had become final. The next night, Hernandez (never a real power hitter) hit two home runs and drove in seven runs. He mused: "Maybe I should get divorced every day. I'd be broke, but I'd also be in the Hall of Fame."

In their first game after disgruntled pitcher Shawn Cacon was put on waivers (more on this in the next blog posting), the Astros mixed great offense with great pitching to blast the Texas Rangers 7-2.

On the pitching side, lefty Wandy Rodriguez pitched brilliantly against the surprising Rangers, scattering five hits over eight innings, allowing one earned run, striking out nine and lowering his season ERA to 2.58. Rodriguez not only got a base hit, but even scored a run as well.

Continue reading "Houston Astros are 1-0 in post-Shawn Chacon Era"

If you've just spent $200 on a purchase of Shawn Chacon's Houston Astros jerseys, you should consider doing one of two things:

1) Place them in a yard sale and hope you get something for them.

2) Write them off in your income tax return next year as a business loss.

That's because Chacon, a talented pitcher who never seemed to be able to get anything going for Houston, is now an ex-Astro. Chacon, who set a major league record by starting the season with nine consecutive no-decisions, got into a shouting match Thursday afternoon with--of all people--Astros general manager Ed Wade.

According to MLB.com, Chacon had been angry about being demoted from the starting rotation to the bullpen and had earned manager Cecil Cooper's wrath by 1) Refusing to throw a bullpen session, 2) Refusing to meet with Cooper to explain why he hadn't done his bullpen work.

Continue reading "Astros part ways with talented-but-troubled Shawn Chacon"

Is it possible the Astros may end up thanking Shawn Chacon for losing his cool and his professionalism?

Or are the 'Stros really just an average team hampered by incompetent management and an owner who seems to make one disastrous decision after another?

Today's the day Houston is expected to grant Chacon his unconditional release (assuming no MLB team claimed him off waivers), and the fight will begin. Houston will try to void the rest of his 1-year, $2 million contract, and Chacon will file a Players' Union grievance to keep his money. We'll see. Frankly, I think the talented-but-troubled Chacon has more problems to deal with: trying revive his MLB career. He has said he wants to start in the big leagues, but assuming he's signed by another team (and that's a huge assumption), I suspect the best offer he'll get to be a starting pitcher is at the AA or AAA level.

Continue reading "Astros 2-1 in post-Chacon era, takes 2 of 3 from Red Sox"