“We didn’t hand it to them. They had to win. This team kept fighting.” Darin Erstad
Link
Lance Berkman on his season, “The numbers look pretty good, but remember that scene in Vacation where Chevy Chase has his pants on his head and he’s staggering towards the filling station out in the desert?” he said. “That’s what I feel like right now. I’m staggering towards the finish line.” Link
A generic last game of the season ended in typical Astro fashion, 3b Jose Castillo chasing a foul ball to the Braves dugout, flipping over the rail and hanging on.
Braves 4, Astros 5
W: Jose Valverde, L: Julian Tavarez
Astros Recap
Yahoo Recap
Box Score
The end is here for the Astros playoff run. Love means never having to say you’re sorry, and the Astros players have nothing to say sorry about. They gave us fans a great season. Read the rest of this entry »
So yeah. Here we are again. It’s the last series of the season barring some serious melt-downery by several teams, and things are looking pretty bleak. But you know what they say… When the going gets tough, swear a bunch and declare your hatred for your least favorite team. Everyone repeat after me. FUCK… THE… CUBS…
Good. Now on to your regularly scheduled preview:
Custer’s Last Stand Minute Maid Park
Friday September 26th, 7:05 FSN (HD)
Saturday September 27th, 6:05 FSN (HD)
Sunday September 28th, 1:05 myPOS (HD – hahahaha!)
NOTE: Some of the various threads of this story began floating around in my head over a year ago, around the time I posted an article about George Bjorkman and myself here. Over the intervening months, I thought several times about sitting down and trying to pull everything together; but I never did, because A.) I knew it would be a lot of work and, B.) I feared some of it might be painful. I basically resigned myself to the idea this story would never be told in its entirety. No great loss, there.
Then Ike happened. Sitting around alone in the hot, almost dark every night for over a week (the family had evacuated to Rayne, LA), listening to the thrum of a generator creating just enough juice to run a refrigerator, a few lamps, and a few box fans; with enough left over to power up this old Dell Inspiron laptop/boat anchor I had sitting around, well, some force compelled me to sit down each night and go about lashing this thing all together.
So I did. It is a little dark in a few places, convoluted in a few others. If you decide to read it, keep the context and setting of when and where it was written in mind, and maybe it will make a little more sense. Or not.
Anyway, everything in it is factual – all this stuff happened. I might have altered an ancillary detail or two in the interest of flow, but that is it. I did change a few names, not so much to protect the innocent – I don’t know any of those, and certainly no one in this story is anything close to it. No, I changed them on the off chance one of the principals might come across this on the interwebs, and feel compelled to come after me, with the intention of kicking my ass.
So, in a way, I guess I am protecting the innocent. That being myself.
Wecome to the off season at The Bus Stop where the season never really ends. I will be trying to keep you up to date with comings and goings, winter league, and instructional league updates.
MILB.com give us a glimpse into what the Astros are working on with young Jordan Lyles. Assistant GM Ricky Bennett is quoted as saying:
(Lyles) had a very good changeup for a 17-year-old,” Bennett added. “He has the potential to have three average to plus pitches.
