New York has Not Been Kind

That headline has nothing really to do with the Astros opening loss in the series with the Mets in which the New Yorkers were held to only three scattered singles, but still beat the Astros 2-1 on Friday night. No, it pertains to my experiences in the big city.

It STARTED with the Astros loss. After the game my duties on Astros road games is to do an on field interview if the club wins, but also go inside the clubhouse with a free lance cameraman to hear from Manager Mills plus two or three key players. After losses sometimes the availability of the key players takes awhile.

Since the Astros Live Post game show runs approximately 30 minutes and "sound" from the manager won't be available at least 15 minutes into the show, things can be a bit rough.

For instance we employ "runners" to carry the tapes from the Astros clubhouse to the production truck. In Philadelphia the truck is almost closer to Pittsburgh. Fortunately at Citi Field in New York it is a much shorter run. That meant last night we could wait later than in some parks. But wait we did. Starting pitcher Nelson Figueroa was tardy in arriving at his locker to meet with the media. A New York area native, he had a good excuse. He had talk with and say good-bye to the Little League team he works with when he is in the area.

We got some of his comments and told our runner to really run and get the material to the truck before the show back in Houston was over. After that my job is done. This night, however, due to Figueroa's tardiness I missed the first of two busses the Astros had going back to the hotel. That meant I had to wait another 25 minutes. Now please remember the stadium and hotel are about 30 minutes apart even at 11pm.

Once we got back to the hotel I knew something was wrong with this trip. When I got on the elevator in the hotel I stepped in something that should not be in an elevator. I will give whoever did it the benefit of the doubt. Maybe an uncontrollable illness? You can imagine what I stepped in. It was not vomit. Once I got to my floor I decided to try and hop to the room since only one shoe was contaminated. That is not easy to do when also pulling a rolling bag. Once I got into the room I spent the next 20 minutes cleaning my shoe. That pretty much killed my thoughts of going out to grab something to eat. End of my Adventures with Excrement?

No, not at all. Eating breakfast at Lindy's at 54th and 7th I unwisely made the decision to eat outside instead of inside. It was a nice sunny morning with the temperature in the low 70s. What could be wrong with that? If I had elected to sit at a table with an umbrella nothing at all. I didn't. As you probably know there are a lot of pigeons in New York.....

Astros in New York... Three More on Trip

Some thoughts on the state of the Astros and how a long season, even if not a winning season, has its good moments.

On the Staff Bus from Philly to NY

The staff bus includes manager, coaches, media relations director, TV and radio announcers, TV production staff, Athletic Trainer, plus any players who may have wives or family with them. The connection between Philadelphia and New York or Chicago and Milwaukee are the only trips the Astros will not fly.

Video experiments from Philadelphia

I have a new camera. Let us see if the shots of the ballpark and/or the production truck are transferable.

Fun Times After a Fun Win

Five hours and 20 minutes is a long time for a baseball game. But when the game lasts 16 innings what do you expect. The Astros were the winners and they had lots of heros--mainly from the pitching staff and from some members of that staff especially.

Fernando Abad going two scoreless innings and dealing with the Phillies biggest guns while doing it. Mark Melancon throwing three shutout frames. And Jeff Fulchino shutting things down for the last two.

And if you thought seeing Roy Oswalt play left field for the Phillies was unusual what might we have seen had the foul tip that send Astro catcher Jason Castro to the ground resulted in a game removing injury?

As it turned out manager Brad Mills, with no catchers left or extra players left for that matter did not have to concern himself.

What if now starting pitcher Nelson Figueroa was not kidding when I asked the hurler who has volunteered to pitch in relief or even close between starts if he was ready to volunteer to catch, too?

Nelson said to me, "I was checking around to see about borrowing a protective cup." That was probably a joke. But knowing Figueroa, maybe not.

Besides Nelson Figueroa on the hotel lobby couch waiting for the elevators to clear before heading upstairs last night was Hunter Pence. Pence was sprawled out like a truck had run over him. Playing sixteen innings while running from the third base dugout to right field and back 32 times not including his time on the bases or chasing batted balls would tire anyone.

Thank goodness the Astros and Phillies are not playing a day game today. A nice quick and clean game tonight will be fine...a day game is on tap tomorrow.

With Roy Halliday facing J.A. Happ a quick clean pitcher's battle certainly is possible.

Don't forget we will the LIVE CHAT Winsday tonite. I will probably be up and running by 7:10 ahead of the scheduled start. Try to join in and talk baseball, not only with me, but with all the other fans posting their thoughts. Access thru foxsportshouston.com. If you have not tried our Wednesday LIVE CHATS before give it a shot. It is fun for all baseball fans.

Why Philadelphia Baseball is Better than Florida Baseball

Roy is a Big Deal in Philly

While the Astros won't face the 2nd winningest pitcher in Astro history during the series in Philadelphia it was easy to see that Roy Oswalt is a big deal in Quaker Town already. Just look at the coverage from his win on Sunday. One of the papers used his photo on the FRONT page.

Maybe It Will Be Better in The City

There is just something wrong about major league baseball in Florida. While I am specifically thinking of the Florida Marlins it also applies with the Tampa Bay Rays too. Both franchises have had some winning seasons that other more long established teams would love to have on their resumes. Yet neither franchise can sustain or even build a fan base. They have simply done a lot wrong.

First of all the ballparks the two teams are playing in are very poorly located and frankly not the best for baseball anyway. Sun Life Stadium in the Miami area is football stadium that a baseball field could be fit into. It is out in the suburbs with parking lots but nothing else around it except some houses. It rains at some point nearly everyday so having no roof or retractable top hurts a great deal.

In Tampa Bay they have a roof...Tropicana Field is domed. It is located in a city, sort of. St. Petersburg on the wrong side of the causeway where most people live has a very small downtown. The majority of fans have to cross over from Tampa where all the people are to come to a game.

Is there hope? Both locations certainly hope so for new stadiums are either under construction (in Miami) or being planned (in Tampa-St.Pete.) The new Miami facility will be opening on the grounds of the old Orange Bowl. That is not the best part of Miami, but it is closer to the most concentrated population and it will have a retractable roof with air conditioning.

Last word from Tampa was that stadium plans are in flux. A plan for a type of retractable roof facility in St Petersberg was quashed. Being on the Tampa side would make the most sense, but no solid plans are yet reportedly in place.

Baseball can be a huge success in Florida if everything is working. Both the Marlins and Rays have proven it can happen on the field. Can it happen from a revenue and fan standpoint is yet to be answered. Maybe the new ball yards are the only missing links.

There is Nobody Left!

The local Houston media descended into the Astros clubhouse before the game on Thursday to get reaction from the indictment of Roger Clemens.

Only thing was only one player is still an Astro that was around when Roger was. So, everyone glommed onto the oldest player in the room, Geoff Blum, and asked him all the questions.

Blum never played with Roger so personal notes were non existent, but the reporters, radio, TV and print, were determined to get something. Should Clemens be a Hall of Famer? Blum's answer was, "yes" and he added so should Pete Rose and Barry Bonds and about anyone else who had big careers.

Blum admitted one thing about Clemens. He was hard to hit.

Presumably the mob moved on to try and find coach Jeff Bagwell who DID play with Roger. Jeff, however, was already hard at work with his coaching duties.

I did an interview with Blum later for Astros Live Pregame which did not mention Clemens at all, but did touch on the trade of Pedro Feliz to the Cards earlier to today. Geoff pointe out how it could turn out well for Feliz to go to a contender.

Astros fans remember Blum had the same thing occur with him in 2005--one of those years he was NOT a teammate of Roger Clemens-- when he was barely with the White Sox at all, but around long enough to hit a key homer against the Astros in the Sox' World Series win.

Waiting for the Game

Arriving at Minute Maid Park usually around 2:30 for a 7:05 game means a lot of time is spent tracking down the news of the day on the internet, chatting with some Astro players, fellow broadcasters and other local media. That is in addition to the primary job of securing and taping an interview for Astros Live Pre game Show on Fox Sports Houston.

Normally, that part of the job is taken care of between 3:30 and 4pm when I need to turn my cameraman loose to work with Bart Enis or Patti Smith who handle the "news" segment of the pre game show on home games. I handle both jobs on the road so being at home gives me a nice break.

Today Charlie Pallillo of 790 radio is doing his show from the far end of the press box. He really doesn't need a microphone. Everyone in the vicinity--of say, Union Station--can hear him. He usually is here on Wednesdays when one of his features is a live segment with Astro manager Brad Mills.

In the meantime David Dalati of 97.5 (and columnist for FoxSportsHouston.com) files sports updates from the row behind me. Dan Mathews is usually doing the same for 610 a few seats away.

Dave Raymond or Brett Dolan (whichever is not sharing he Astros radio booth with Milo) sits about 20 feet to my left. Tonight he is doing a stint on Astros Live Pregame and Post game so he is conferring with show producer Jeff Lillicotch and the shows lead host Kevin Eschenfelder.

Lillicotch, a Houstonian by way of Texas Tech and Fox Sports Southwest will head to the production truck in a few minutes to handle the arrangement of taped items for the show. He has already taken care of the graphic and commercial matters. For home games he must share the production truck with the game crew. At times things can be a bit tight. For road telecasts Jeff, Kevin and his various rotating partners have the ease of working out of the Fox Sports Houston downtown studio.

As batting practice for the Astros continues on the field (It started at 4:45 and will continue until 5:40 when the Mets will step in) some fans have just entered. The gates opened at 5:30. Some season ticket holders and special guests are in a a roped off area behind the batting cage and occasionally have interaction with some players and staff.

Brett Wallace is in a conversation now as I look down...over on the Mets side of the field those players are tossing the ball around and have just finished their pre game stretching routines.

It is 5:35 now. In exactly one and a half hours the first pitch will be thrown. I have already been here for three hours and will be here for as many as five more. This goes on almost every day during the baseball season. I have no regrets.

Today is the Deadline, But Astros Already Good

August 16, 2010 at midnight eastern is the last chance to sign amateur players drafted in June out of the high schools and colleges around the country for immediate delivery. The big news is as always with the Scott Boras clients who never sign early, but hold out till the last possible moment and in some historic cases pass on a chance to start their professional careers.

Boras again has the top pick in Bryce Harper from Las Vegas. Harper is a precocious 17 year old who accelerated his high school years to get to junior college early so he could be drafted this year. The Washington Nationals made him the first pick. That is as far as things have gone so far. As much an any ballplayer can be projected a "can't miss" Harper is that. His offensive skills are prodigious. He is far more mature than his age. And playing major league baseball has been his single goal for years.

He may have to wait. The Nationals want to sign him, but don't necessarily want to pay the rate Boras is asking for since nothing is baseball is guaranteed--except the money paid out. Harper has all the tools, but until he gains professional experience no one can be sure. After all as good as he is he has not been facing professional pitchers let alone major league hurlers. The cat and mouse game between Boras and the Nat's will continue today.

As for the Astros no problems. They had two first round picks plus a sandwich pitch between the first and second rounds and all three were inked early. In fact, only one player drafted higher than #9 Delino Deshields, Jr. was signed heading into the first day. That was #4 pick, Christian Colon by Kansas City.

The club does have some high choices outside the first round still not signed and perhaps some or all won't be. But the team had a solid if not spectacular draft in 2010 to go with what they came up with in 2009 as the process the rebuild the entire Houston system continues.

Speaking of the minor leagues you can cross New Orleans off the list of possible homes for the Astros AAA team in 2010 after the expected defection of Round Rock to the Nolan Ryan led Texas Rangers. The Zephyrs have re-upped with the Marlins. That leaves the most likely new Astros AAA homes in Oklahoma City where the Rangers will depart and which hosted the Astros in the early days of the franchise or perhaps Nashville which also has a working agreement expiration after this season.

Oklahoma City makes the most sense due to proximity, but business decisions will enter. What sort of the farm system and team the Astros can provide the city is also not an insignificant factor. Astro farm club cities have had it rough the last five years. That has to change not only to show there are solid prospects being developed, but to help the minor league clubs attract customers.

Things are Heating Up Without Weather's Aid

All the sports are about to be up and running....It is something for everyone now in Houston

Wesley wasn't Wright...back to RR

There is no Astro player that those around the club root for more than Wesley Wright. Not only is his boyish face intriguing when his very mature voice and words come out of it, but he is just a really good guy. That is why it is too bad his start in Milwaukee on Sunday resulting in his return to Round Rock to try to work things out. So many around the club were pulling for him to take down the Brewers again as he did a week before. It was not to be when he command and control abandoned him. Actually, both were missing from the first at bat in the last of the first. Rickie Weeks singled. Then both Corey Hart and Prince Fielder walked. That was the beginning of the end.

Before Wesley's short 2 1/3 inning stint was over he had walked four with all of them scoring, given up five hits and seven earned runs. It was ugly, but Wesley Wright was at his locker following the game owning up to everything.

That is a the sign of a true professional and yet another reason why we want him to succeed so much. Hopefully, returning to Round Rock will spur him to correct whatever flaws in his delivery that were costing him on Sunday.

In the meantime Astro fans and staff will see what Mark Melancon can do. He was one of two acquired from the Yankees in the Lance Berkman trade. In his relief work at Round Rock he was perfect. Hopefully he can be at least near that with the Astros.

In the meantime, Nelson Figueroa, who had been claimed on waivers from the Phillies a couple weeks ago, will go into the rotation for Wright. In eight relief appearances for Houston Figueroa has a 1-0 3.18 line.

We will still be watching how Wesley Wright does for he Express and keeping our fingers crossed. He'd like to be a starter in the major leagues. He has had a taste of it. Now it is up to him to make it back.

It Is Just Not That Easy

Almost every time the Astros lose I get a number of emails or tweets criticizing a player or the manager for allowing it to happen. Folks, it is just not that easy. Most criticisms deal with how a player was used or not used in a particular game. While those thoughts work fine perhaps for football or just about any amateur kid's version of sport they just don't often apply to the professional level.

Both major league baseball and professional basketball are based on a very long season. Manager's, coaches and players are aware going in what their roles are expected to be. Some hoopsters will be starters and others will come off the bench. All know about how many minutes and when they will be used. It is all based on the professional idea that roles are won and selected based on track record and reasonable expectation.

The same goes for baseball with a little twist when it comes to pitchers. Pitchers arms are fragile and must be protected. That is not only for the pitchers but for the game outcomes themselves. The sport is a game of percentages. Over the long season the percentages almost always come into play.

Matt Lindstrom blew a save Friday night. He has rarely done it this year, but this time he didn't have it. There is no way of knowing in advance he might be off his form. But the 9th inning of a game in which the Astros are leading his his inning. Percentages of success are very heavy in his favor. No percentage is 100%.

Carlos Lee has a lifetime batting average of .291. He has been a very consistent hitter throughout his career. He has never hit less than .300 or driven in less than 100 runs or hit fewer than 26 home runs as an Astro. So, he continues to play every day even though his numbes this season have been well below his norm.

Sure, someday he will be in decline. Maybe it has started this season just as it was evident for Lance Berkman. But the Astros have a lot of money invested in Lee and they have to be sure. So he has to keep playing. And, by the way, if you have been keeping track he has been hitting much better the last month or so.

The point of all this is that unlike amatuer sports where coaches pull players for missing two shots in a row or bring back their best pitchers to work in relief the major league professional game is not or cannot be played that way.

Carlos Lee will have some 0-5 games and make errors. Matt Lindstrom will even occasionally blow a save. That is simply part of the game and we all must move forward to the next game.

That is exactly what I am doing. Astros vs Brewers 6:05 Sat night on FS Houston.

Routine Day Off in Milwaukee--minus the body!

I must admit having travelled with professional sports teams for so long...starting in the NBA nearly thirty years ago and then with the Texas Rangers and now Houston Astros I would much rather have a day off at home than on the road. Having a day off on the road is usually just a way to spend more money on unnecessary things and try to kill the time with extra walking, reading or watching television.

Some people like golf. I don't since it not only takes all day to play, but is on my list of things in the unnecessary spending category.

I must admit Thursday's off day included a first for me. It was far out of the ordinary.

While taking my second long walk of the day I was going east on St. Paul toward the historic Third Ward area. Before I got to the bridge that crosses the Milwaukee River I heard sirens. Suddenly EMS vans, fire rescue, police and other emergency vehicles were gathering on the bridge. Something obviously was going on in the river.

I couldn't cross so I walked over to a nearby gas station parking lot, looked into the river and saw what the commotion was about.

What looked like it might be a human head was sticking out of the water. It was not moving and there was no apparent body attached. The view was from the back so being sure it was a human head was not certain. It was a very dark gray color. It also appeared to have blood coming from what may have been a hole in the back of the skull.

Was I looking at a murder victim, a hoax or something other than a human head?

Once the divers went into the water and got to the object it was evident. It was a human head and attached to a body. When the diver pulled the body, the arms, both very emaciated, stuck up through the wake. The body could only be visible from the river side from the chest and up. But it did have a sports type solid color shirt and appeared to have male pattern baldness.

Police officials started moving spectators away as they pulled the full body out of the water and put it in a body bag. So that was the end of my macabre afternoon interlude.

Was the dead man a victim of organized crime? Had he been weighted down but finally surfaced? Were the weights why he was in the water in a perpendicular position and not floating horizontally?

That will all be gist for one of those CSI shows. Time for me to get back to sports.

If Hitting is Contagious What Cures it?

The Astros were hitting everything thrown to the plate on Tuesday night in Chicago. They rapped out 22 hits and scored 18 runs on the hapless Cardinals. The night before they scored nine runs in winning the first game of the series.

So, what causes something like that? Bad pitching maybe, but the Cards sent Jake Westbrook and Jaime Garcia to the mound in both games. Not only do their records indicate they should be tough, but both were being seen by the Astros for the first time. Usually that gives the pitcher the advantage, but it sure didn't on Monday or Tuesday.

There is another factor to consider. The Cardinals themselves had been bashing the ball and talking about hitting being contagious coming into the series. They had scored 20 runs in the first two games of their sweep of the Pirates over the previous weekend. But the Astros pitcher cured their contagion while it was caught by the Astros offense.

Maybe that's what happened. The disease ran it's course with the Cards but they infected the Astros. Nothing wrong with that. Contagious hitting is a good disease to have. Hopefully the Astros immunity is not so strong they will ward it off soon. They don't even have to score 18 runs every day. All they have to do is keep averaging the 8+ runs per game and allowing the two they have over the current seven game winning streak and we will all be happy.

If they keep doing that this seven game winning streak will last a whole lot longer, too.

Next Two Months to be Instructive

When one looked at the Astros starting lineup Saturday night it demonstrated again how little making the team in spring training often can mean. Only two starters from opening day were in the lineup Saturday night, Michael Bourn and Hunter Pence. Furthermore, there were four rookies playing defense behind now seasoned veteran pitcher Wandy Rodriguez.

Things can change quickly in baseball terms when you aren't having much fun.

It too nearly 100 games but the Astros are now a team building for the future instead of one trying to hold on to the past.

The change seemed sudden but probably only because Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt were sent elsewhere and they were the key players remaining from the glory years. In fact, only one player remains from the NL Champion and World Series Astros of 2005. That is Wandy Rodriguez.

Now, as the Astros had to do with unknowns like Craig Biggio, Ken Caminiti, Luis Gonzalez, Darryl Kile, Shane Reynolds and a guy named Bagwell among others in the late 80s and early 90s, a new look is emerging.

All of the above had fine big league careers with Biggio and Bagwell likely future Hall of Famers. But when they arrived they were only "hopes".

Now Astro fans "hope" Brett Wallace, Jason Castro, Tommy Manzella, Angel Sanchez, Chris Johnson, Bud Norris, Felipe Paulino and Wesley Wright can lead the charge back to contention and championships in the National League.

That group is augmented by slightly older but still in the prime players like J.A. Happ, Brett Myers, Pence and Bourn.

Some of them will help. Others will drop by the wayside. Because the Astros made the moves they did during this season all fans will have a chance to judge for themselves using major league competition as a guide to help determine what else has to happen to get the Astros back to where they want to be.