Brewers 4 - Astros 1
W: Ben Sheets | L: Brian Moehler | S: Solomon Torres
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The Astros have been scuffling on offense lately and on this night they would have to face Ben Sheets to try and break out of the offensive funk. That’s a lot to ask of the Houston nine since Sheets is a premiere pitcher when he’s on. He was on and the Astros were made to look very meek by the power pitcher from the Bayou. (more…)

Cecil Cooper and third-base coach Ed Romero paid a morning visit to commissioner Bud Selig’s office Friday in downtown Milwaukee. They talked about “the state of baseball” .

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Astros 1, Brewers 5
W: Manny Parra, L: Brandon Backe

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Box Score

“When you left, I lost a part of me, It’s still so hard to believe, Come back baby please, We belong together, Who else am I gonna lean on, When times get rough, Who’s gonna talk to me on the phone, Till the sun comes up, Who’s gonna take your place, Baby nobody else, We belong together.” (We Belong Together by Mariah Carey)

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3-1 in the 7th, 2 outs, runner on 2nd, why did Cooper let Oswalt hit? “He’s pitching well, and he’s my ace,” Cooper said.

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Miller Park

Friday, May 30, 7:05 p.m. CDT – FSN

Saturday, May 31, 6:05 p.m. CDT – FSN-HD

Sunday, June 1, 1:05 p.m. CDT – my20watts

Well the Astros just pissed away a series in New Jake City but sit just 3.5 games back of the division leading Scrubs.  The Brewers meanwhile are mired in mediocrity, two games below .500, but just took 2 of 3 from the Braves.  I’m neck deep in the upcoming draft mania and actually like the Brewers so no grandness (right) and vitriol this time out.  However, after looking over a few pictures I am moved to haiku.

Miller Park in spring

Berkman and Lee are hungry

Pie shaped stadium

I invite you to write your own.

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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Astros 2
Jakes 3

W: Lohse (5-2) | L: Oswalt (4-5) | S: Franklin (4)

HR:Kabong, El Vendo

Lee Hurwitz reporting
AP via Yahoo

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Round Rock

The Express swept a pair of 7 inning games from New Orleans last night. In the first game, Reggie Abercrombie hit his 8th homer of the year to lead the Express to a 3-2 win. Reggie has hit .336 in the month of May with 18 RBI.

In game 2, Chance Douglass doubled and scored a run at the plate. He also picked up the win by only allowing 3 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings of shutout baseball. Chad Pronto was given the save despite giving up a triple and two hit batters in his one inning of work. (more…)

Is Roy injured? Cooper reiterated on Wednesday that the right-hander is healthy.

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Astros 1
Turdinals 6

W: Wainwright (5-2) | L: Rodriguez (1-1)

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AP via Yahoo!
Game Zone

Eny Cabreja made his triumphant return to the rotation Wednesday night, seeing action for the first time since April 19th. Unfortunately for everyone on the side of Good, this was a Road Start, and it was therefore Road Wandy who took the hill.

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The games take second fiddle to the player news today, let’s start our trip around the farm in Salem.

Salem

The Avs took an 8-4 loss last night. Pankovits had this to say about starter Joel Santo

“In his last two or three outings he’s pitched pretty well,” Pankovits said. “He fell behind but he’s been able to make some pitches to put people away. Tonight he wasn’t able to do that.

“Even though he has a good arm and he’s able to throw in the low 90s, you’ve still got to be able to command your pitches.”

Erick Abreu will start Thursday’s game for Polin Trinidad who was called up to Corpus Christi. Sergio Severino will join the Avs from Lexington.
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We are nearing the end of May and it is time to peek in on the Hooks and see how they are doing down in the 8 team Texas League. Through 50 games, they are .500 (25-25) and in 3rd place in the Texas League South, 8 games out of 1st. All stats and rankings were as of the 5/27/08. (more…)

Cooper told Sampson “just not to think of it as a demotion. He’s got a chance to help us. Instead of one time a week, (now) it could be three times a week or four times. He might be an early guy. He might be anywhere, really.”

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Astros 8, Cardinals 2

W: Chacón (2-0) | L: Looper (6-4)

AP recap | Boxscore

Footer’s wrap

The Astros jumped on the Co-ards early, putting up a four spot in the first inning and continued to knock the ball around New Jake City as the Good Guys supported starter Shawn Chacón for his second consecutive victory, 8-2. (more…)

Lexington Legends

Lexington was shut out on Tuesday night. They have only scored 2 runs in 4 games, and one of those runs was scored with out a hit. Their pitchers held their own until the 8th when two runs were scored off small ball and an error. (more…)

Devon Torrence, rated the best athlete in the system by Baseball America, is getting to Extended Spring Training sometime this week. He will finish classes at Ohio State and will then work with the Astros staff for a month prior to being assigned to one of the short season teams (most likely Greeneville). The Columbus Dispatch talked with Torrence, his agent, Joe Speed and Astros’ midwest scout, Nick Venuto. (more…)

Round Rock

The Express ended their 9 game losing streak to Omaha on Sunday and then started a new one on Monday. The Express gave up 3 unearned runs to sink a solid effort by Josh Muecke who fell to 0-2 verses Omaha this season. (more…)

The Astros went 4-3 on a mediocre homestand, though it included some exciting wins against the Phillies and a series win against the dumbshit Cubs. Now it’s back onto the road, believe it or not, for another long-ass trip to three cities. It’s all NL Central for the next two weeks, with visits to St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Pittsburgh, and then back home for another series with the Jakes and then the Brewers again. Whew.

(Wait! Pittsburgh? Holy shit, I thought you guys had moved to Canada or something! Is it true, I heard the Wilson Sisters may be getting back together! Tell Dirty Sanchez we said hi!)

Anyway, the shitbag Co-Ards. They’re a half-game behind the BOOK IT! Cubs, and one game ahead of the Astros. They’re just getting back to New Jake City after a West Coast trip where they won two out of three against both the Dojers and Fathers. They were late getting home because they let Albert Pujols fly the plane; he insisted on hotdogging through the Gateway Arch and crashed into one of the legs.
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May is winding down and it’s time to take a glimps at the Carolina League stats and see where the Avs stack up. The Avs are currently 21-27 and in last place in the Carolina League Southern division. All rankings are out of 8 teams in the league and are current as of 5/26/08.

The Good:

The Hitters

As a team, Salem leads the league with 120 doubles. The 20 foot tall outfield fences at Salem Memorial might have something to do with that. Salem is 3rd in total hits and in walks taken.
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Seeking to expand on the great plays of the previous two games, El Kabong did his part, knocking a three run homer in the first, but not before knocking out the home plate umpire on the follow through of a swing in his first at bat.

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Round Rock

Saturday night, the Express lost to Omaha for the 9th straight time. According to David Clark, the problems began with Josh Miller leaving the ball up.

“(Miller) started leaving the ball up a little bit and they came out swinging,” Clark said. “When you got a free-swinging club like those guys got over there, when you make mistakes they are going to put a charge on it.”

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