The Minor League Reports staff want to give you some update information on what’s happening in the Astros farm system.
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Archive for January, 2005
Did You Know? 1/27
Thursday, January 27th, 2005Welcome Back My Friends To the Show That Never Ends
Tuesday, January 25th, 2005For the record, I’ve lost count (I think it’s like 5 or 6) of the number of incarnations various TalkZones have inhabited over the past 8 years. I like this one, but it’s one of those things that’ll take some getting used to. Similarly, the 2005 Astros are something that’s going to take a while to get used to this year.
Last year, about this same time, most of us were estatic about our starting pitching, wary of the hot/cold hitting and the lack of depth in the bullpen but still optimistic about what the coming season would hold. The more things change… (more…)
Hardball: Instructional Baseball and A Winning Philosophy
Saturday, January 22nd, 2005Author’s note:
I coached HS baseball for a total of nine years at Brenham High School and at Austin’s McCallum High School. Before that, I pitched at the University of Texas under the legendary Bibb Falk, and I coached for one year at UT under the equally-legendary Cliff Gustafson. The outline posted here expresses my baseball philosophy and the system I used coaching high school teams. I used a scaled down version of this system while coaching my son and his contemporaries in youth baseball leagues. I do not pretend that this system is innovative or the only system. My coaching philosophy evolved from what I learned from those two outstanding coaches and from my Dad, who was the best pitching coach I ever had. I encourage readers to review the outline and to use whatever seems suited to your individual coaching situations. Good luck to you and to your teams. (more…)
End Of the World?
Friday, January 21st, 2005As the clock ticked toward 11 Saturday night, even the most jaded fan probably still held onto a glimmer of hope that Sunday morning would arrive with a belated $105-million present under the Astros’ collective Christmas tree. Not 15 minutes after that deadline passed, any such optimism lay shattered among the dead needles that have steadily dropped off that tree this off-season.
Empty-Handed
Friday, January 14th, 2005My last LT was written in the state of euphoria that followed the home-sweep of the 3rds by an on-fire Astros team. That was three months ago. Since then, every day has seen a sliver of that euphoria shaved off by paper, until all that remains is bare, exposed, cut-ridden flesh. That, plus the halitosis and indigestion resulting from the massive shit sandwich served up by Messrs Beltran and Boras, has made it a very crappy to start the New Year for Astrodom.
The Astros, on a triumphant march back to St. Louis, stumbled, righted themselves and then had a kneecap smashed in by Edmonds. Game #6 is where the NLCS was lost, seemingly no sooner than it had been won in Houston. The controversial decision to start Munro was negated when the Astros rallied to tie the game in the 9th. The 3rds were shell-shocked and they must’ve been having visions of themselves having visions of deja vu …all over again… as the Astros put the go ahead runner in scoring position. A base hit…a ground-ball…a ground-ball with eyes… But it was not to be. The Astros fail to deliver the killer blow and the game rolled on for a few more innings until fate and a depleted pen conspired to set up the horrendous mismatch of a now very fallible Miceli vs. a dyed-in-the-wool Astro-Killah in Edmonds. Paybacks are hell, and the fuck-you-back walk-off homer was as hurtful as it was inevitable.
Game #7 put the ball in the Rocket’s HoF hands, but I truly believe the 3rds were resurrected by Edmonds blast. They’d left Houston beaten, crushed, mashed, shredded and humiliated. They stirred against Munro in Game #6, but really should have demolished him. They left the door open for an Astro revival, and when it occurred, they were dead. The Astros just had to call it, but an ill-timed strikeout let them off the hook and they never looked back. Fuck, fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck. Game #7 started brightly, but ended up a water torture as the Astros slowly sank below the waves. (more…)
