So he’s going to retire…

There are going to be a myriad of articles over the remainder of the season trying to capture the impact that Craig Biggio has had on baseball in Houston over the past 20 years.  Some will focus on his leadership, some on his on-field prowess, some on his relationship with the fans, or his family, or the evolution of the filth on his batting helmet.  Anything imaginable will be fair game, and considering the hacks that cover this team the most, I would expect at least a few less than admirable attempts to sum up his brilliant career in 750 words or less. Read the rest of this entry »

It is standard in my personal baseball watching experience to not really care about anything that happens with the Astros before Memorial Day. A time honored tradition, this dates back to the earliest days of organized baseball when grown men named “Babe”, “Rube”, “Dummy” and “Sparkletits” roamed the base paths and would routinely take at least the first several weeks to sweat out the drunk they had been working on since the long hard New England Winter set in. Read the rest of this entry »

I actually agreed to write this article back in December but had to keep it under wraps for a couple of reasons…a) Physically we all know I can’t hold up writing columns for an entire season.  By the end of a season, at my age, there’s always father time and uncle groin-pull there to keep me from churning out column after column and, b) my ego is a constantly shrinking combination of hair-dye, University of Texas paraphernalia and self-loathing. Read the rest of this entry »

I have avoided reading the Houston Chronicle for the better part of the last week or so.  There are far better ways to spend my time. Especially after a loss.  Especially after the game 5 loss.  Especially after the way the Astros lost game 5.  

But today, in anticipation of the game, I took the Playoff section of that same Chronicle into the rest room, because a) I was hoping beyond hope that there was anything remotely interesting in there I hadn’t already squeezed out of  pravata’s Google…(there wasn’t), b) a stall in a public restroom seems a pretty appropriate place to read Justice, Ortiz and Lopez and c) say what you want, but the Chronicle loosens stool, time after time.  In fact, that may be its most redeeming quality. Read the rest of this entry »

“Hey Greg Lucas, recognize who in the hell you’re interviewing?”

At least that’s what I was thinking while I was still sitting on my couch, watching the Astros jump around in full on clinch mode and avoiding the various chores that a man with a pregnant wife has (going to the grocery store, replacing the siding that Hurricane Rita relocated from the side of my house, personal grooming, etc, etc). Read the rest of this entry »

For 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… Read the rest of this entry »