I'm baaaacccckkkk and more frustrated than ever

To all,



I apologize for my absence from the blog for the past couple of months. I've been doing some serious traveling. Not the type of traveling I normally do, where I am spending three months or more, Monday - Friday at a client site, then coming home on weekends. No, I've had the joy of doing multiple one and two day trips going everywhere from Chicago to SF to LA to Dallas (multiple times) to Tucson. As much as I travel, it's refreshing to know I'll be traveling to Dallas as the flight is between 37-45 minutes; however, my last two flights back from DAL have been weather delayed. One of those we took off from Love field heading north, went around Wichita Falls, past San Angelo, took a slight left at San Antonio, then a sharp left around Galveston. that 37-45 minute flight too nearly 2 1/2 hours. Even my 2 hour flight from Tucson took over 6 hours due to weather including a delay to the tarmac at DFW (why does Dallas continue to haunt me? Is it because I hate the Cowboys?) I'm scared as it looks like I'll be managing a project in Dallas, possibly until September of 2009, but I digress.


While I'm in town I've been catching as many Astros games as I can. My first two were against the Cubs, the first game was a 7-2 Astros loss and the second was a 4-2 Astros win, thank you Hunter Pence for the grand slam. This was the first time I noticed how many jerks dressed in Cubs jerseys were in the stands. Let me be very careful on what I'm saying here. I'm NOT saying all Cubs fans are jerks, as many friends of mine, including ones on this blog, are straight up good fans. That to me means rooting for your team with all energy until the end of time. Represent when you go to games, and cheer your team. I have never heckled (at least not seriously) someone at an Astros game who is just cheering for their team. The fans I experienced wearing Cubs gear were talking more smack than any fans I've seen, reminding me of local Dallas Cowboy fans as they were similar. For example...one young man in front of me was quick to give double rods to Berkman anytime he came to the plate, and if Berkman got out, he would turn and give the fans double rods, and point to people wearing Berkman jerseys. Fortunately for him, there was a mother with kids close to him that reported him to security and had him removed. I'd preferred to have us deal with our own security, if you know what I mean. Yeah, wishful thinking. While I've been in sections (including today, more later) that are screaming for the 'Stros until the last out, as a group we are pretty passive. Yet this guy during the first game, with the Cubs other similar fans just got my goat, (oops, I shouldn't mention anything about a goat...lol). The second game the Astros fans did represent as when the "Lets go Cubbies!" cheers would start, the would be quickly taken over by "Let's go Astros!". I even saw a group of Astros fans walking through the concourse after the game yelling, "Cubs suck! Cubs suck!". I thought that would lead to a throw down and even pushed my wife behind me while I...um those other guys were yelling that to Cubs fans. :)

I also went to two game of the Yankees series and what a let down. The Saturday game was at least somewhat competitive 8-4, but I was at the 13-0 Father's Day massacre. I've never seen less energy from a team ever. From rec league softball to Chachi to MLB, this was one of the worst representations I've ever seen. Roy Oswalt, who has been non-Roy like this year, gave up seven runs....but only three were earned. Here was the tipping point. I believe it was the sixth inning, the bases were loaded and two outs. Jeter batting...full count...ground ball just to the right of 1st base. As Coop decided to rest three of his infield starters for the game Erstad was playing first and let the ball go through. Maybe I've gotten ruined by Berkman's (furthermore referred to as Big Puma) effort, but it seemed like Erstad didn't make an attempt. He watched the ball go into right field and was even late positioning himself for the relay. The only thing I can assume was he was day dreaming about his great days being a punter for University of Nebraska. Next batter was Abreau, who I belived reached, so the Stros' made a pitching change. Wesley Wright, who I really like as a young guy with a good arm. Um...didn't work out well for him. First batter he faced was some A-Rod guy. He hit it off the glass. Next batter was "Porn Stache" Giambi, who got on base, then Jorge, don't call me George, Posada took one out. Sigh...not the best father's day result.

Today I took my three boys to the game. Rough start...as we moved from eating the good food in the club level, to our seats in behind 3rd base, we went from two outs and no one on, to down 3-0. Talk about your head spinning! Big Puma didn't do well tonight at the plate, which is consistent with Astros games I attend. It's similar to Bagwell. Every game I went to, they sucked. Didn't always effect the team as I was 12-0 in Minute Maid Park in attendance for the first three years, but the stars never did anything. Anyway, our section kept pulling for the Stros' loudly until the end. I appreciate the Astros making things interesting, but the frustration is getting a bit much. First of all, why does Coop keep changing pitchers while down by at least three? Why cant the Astros learn to work a count? You should have seen how many early count outs we had today. It seemed like a competition to see who could hit of the handle the most times. Is Dewey Robinson, the pitching coach, soon to go? I would hate it on a personal level as he autographed two baseballs for my boys today, but it seems that whenever a pitcher is having a problem, they either call AAA pitching coach Burt Hooten, who used to be the Astros pitching coach, or Tampa Bay coach Jim Hickey...hmm...another pitching coach who used to be with the Astros. I haven't heard anyone say they've worked with Dewey. That would be too bad as he's a nice guy. At this level, how much does a batting coach help? If it's important, than Sean Berry should be gone. Today was a perfect example, as through eight innings, the Dodgers pitcher was still around 80 pitches, because we don't know how to work a count. Don't even get me started about our "leadoff hitter" that rarely get's on base. The best part of today's game was getting interviewed by Anna-Megan Raley from Chron.com (the Houston Chronicle's web site) after the game. Anna-Megan is a real up and comer in the local media and picked me out to interview as she saw my authentic, bad a** Berkman jersey. I'll post the link as soon as it's on the Chron.com site.

I'm frustrated with our team as we took two out of three from the Rangers, Rays and Red Sox, but then drop three of four to the Dodgers. Just like our road trip that we won like eight in a row, then tanked against the Pirates. I know the Cub's fans have to be as frustrated as they sweep the White Sox at Wrigley, then get swept at Comisky...um New Comisky...um US Cellular Field...um if you're in the upper deck, beware of bullets from the projects next door and are 3-7 in their last 10. Hard to believe the best team in baseball right now are the Rays. Actually it's not hard to believe if you realize the connection to the Astros. Gerry Hunsicker, is their Sr. VP of Baseball Operations. He was the Astros GM during ALL their recent playoff runs. Allegedly our owner, Drayton McLane didn't like that Gerry would stand up to him. Sense then, there have been many many many bone headed moves, (See Jason Jennings, Miguel Tejada, etc). Does anyone realize we gave away FIVE pitchers in the two moves I mention above? I really really like Tejada, but long term, I believer I'd rather have Patton and Alberts. They also have our former pitching coach that I mentioned above, Jim Hickey, players that used to with the Astros, (Trever Miller (3.74 ERA), Dan Wheeler (1.82 ERA) and numerous players from the Houston area such as Scott Kazmir (Cy-Falls) and Carl Crawford (Davis High School). There are lots of fingers to blame, but why is our minor league system so empty of top notch talent?

BTW - I will still continue in my belief that I would take Lance Berkman, (aka...The Big Puma), over Derek Lee (aka...The Big Wu**Y)

I still belive we have the best PA announcer in baseball. Long live Bob Ford!