What a Weekend (+ video)

Just as I was losing faith in my faith that the Astros' management would not do nothing about the fact that the team is playing like garbage and has a serious lack of talent, at least they finally made some moves. Rick White to the DL, Jason Lane gets optioned to Round Rock. Wait optioned to AAA?? I thought he was out of options. He was. He had to clear waivers first before he could be sent down -- and he cleared!! No other team wanted him, period. This sobering thought from Lane from Alyson Footer on astros.com.

Lane would like to be traded, but "apparently, there was no other interest in me around the league. That's a pretty good wakeup call right there. It means you have to go down and hopefully do something and get some people interested again."

Eric Munson was called up and will get several starts a week at catcher and maybe other spots since he can play either corner infield spot and the Astros still have Quintero around. Chris Burke was recalled and now assumes Lane's role of rarely playing except when Luke Scott gets beaned by one of his own guys throwing warmup tosses.
These moves aren't likely to do much, but something had to be done and they should not be done yet. I don't know what else to say about Palmeiro and Moehler. Both have been with the club the entire season, yet here are their numbers.
Palmeiro...7-40, .175 Bavg, 2 RBI. (Woody & Wandy combined have 7 hits, but they have 3 RBI)
Moehler...10 games, 7.27 ERA (runs allowed in 6 of 10 relief appearances)

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Also should mention the Astros will see Jason Hirsh on Tuesday, Taylor Buchholz Thursday and likely Willy Tavares in all 3 games. Willy started the year 10-52, .192. Since then he's hitting .394, 41-104. That's nearly six weeks at nearly .400. He enters the series on a 9-game hitting streak, during which he's hitting .419, 18-43. He's 5th in the league in steals, plus he missed part of the season with injury. Richard Justice has a great piece on the Jennings trade in his blog.

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- You probably missed this but Johnnie Morton did not have a good MMA debut.

After being placed on a stretcher and taken from the ring to the hospital, he checked out ok, but now could face suspension because he refused to pee.

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- Texans fans should be fine with the fact that the team did not add 350 pounds to the defensive line. Sam Adams signs with Denver.

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- No Rocket launch in NY just yet because of a fatigued groin. No guarantee he's even ready for a start later this week. Just a thought - the best cure for a bad groin is long period of rest, right?? The answer is yes, at least according to this article and this excerpt - Rest: It is important to rest following the injury to allowed the injured muscle to properly heal. Allow pain to guide your level of activity; this means that activities that cause symptoms should be avoided. - you mean like pitching in the major leagues???!!! Also, the Yankees can get out of the deal with Clemens if they want.

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- Billy Donovan wants to be the new head coach for the Orlando Magic. Whoops that was last week. Take 2. Billy Donovan does not want $27.5 million dollars to babysit an average Eastern Conference team nearly a lock to make the playoffs the next 5 years with Dwight Howard. Ron Jeremy Stan Van Gundy could be next inline.

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more on the way --- WEX