-- Astros had just pulled w/ 7-6 on Carlos Lee's 9th inning 2-out, 2-run bomb. Phil Garner sends Orlando Palmeiro to PH. How many ways is this embarrassing? Let's count.
1. Garner double switched the #5 hitter out of the game...in the 6th inning!!! The guy who protects the cleanup hitter, now occupied by the P, for the last 4 innings of the game...or more.
2. In this instance, Garner was pinch-hitting for Brian Moehler. That's right Moehler is still here on this team as he has been from opening day. His 1 inning, 1 walk, no-hit performance got his batting average against to under .300 for the 1st time this year. What a great future this 36-year old soft-tosser has.
3. Palmeiro. It's almost beyond words with him. In '06 he led the majors with 80 PH at-bats, nobody else in the majors had more than 60. But he didn't lead the majors in PH hits, of course. (That would be former Astro Daryle Ward). In '07, he again leads the majors with 59 PH at-bats. He's hitting .203. In fact in the past 2 years combined he's 32-139 (.230) as a PH. To put it simply, that is not good. Not to mention the fact that he exactly zero extra-base hits as a PH. That's right, ZERO. Nobody else among the 20 most oft-used PH in baseball have ZERO XBH. Translation: You could make a pretty sound argument that Palmeiro is among the worst pinch hitters in baseball, and yet Garner has turned to him more than anyone else in the majors.
Oh yeah and he's a below-average defensive player also. Did I mention that Eric Bruntlett, who is an above average fielder at 7 positions and hit .412 as a pinch-hitter last year, was sent to the minors to start the year so Palmeiro could keep stealing money?
.412 w/ 1.038 OPS
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-- Troy Patton gets the ball on Saturday for the Astros. It'll be his major league debut after posting a 10-8 record with a 3.51 ERA b/w Corpus Christi(AA) and Round Rock(AAA).One strange number popped out at me...
He posted a 4.59 ERA in 8 starts at AAA, his batting average against was .247
He posted a 2.99 ERA in 16 starts at AA, his batting average against was .247
Patton turned 22 earlier this month and is unquestionably ready for this, no matter his results on Saturday or the rest of the season, he should win a spot in next year's rotation. He'll be the 3rd member of the Astros '04 draft class to make it to the show. Pence was second, Any idea who was the first to make it? (answer below) And of the HS players drafted in the 1st round, only RHP Homer Bailey, INF Billy Butler and RHP Philip Hughes beat him to the bigs and they also made their debuts this season.He posted a 2.99 ERA in 16 starts at AA, his batting average against was .247
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-- We've been getting inundated with calls about the mythical Texans-Cowboys rivalry. Some believe there is one, some not so much. Certainly up in Little D, the feelings are pretty indifferent. The Cowboys are playing for a Super Bowl and have been one of the league's winningest franchises for decades. Different story for the Texans. They play regular season football once every 4 years. The Texans beat a terrible Cowboys team 19-10 in the inaugural game for the franchise, which of course carried much more magnitude b/c it was a win in game #1, rather than it was a win over a Quincy Carter-led Cowboys outfit. The Cowboys crushed the Texans 34-6 last year. Not much there.But even though it's a preseason game, a great number of fans here in Houston are treating like it's means everything; More than just the Governor's Cup, but actual bragging rights. That's great for them and great for an atmosphere that should be duplicated on Sept. 9th for the opener against the Chiefs and the other 7 regular season games. Plus this does happen to be the 3rd and only truly important preseason game when it comes to wins or losses - and we all know what the 3rd preseason game is all about. So bring it on fans, show me some creativity in Bud Plaza during the SportsRadio 610 Capital One Countdown to Kickoff show live from Reliant Stadium starting at 4 pm Saturday.
------ ANSWER (from above) - SS Ben Zobrist made his MLB debut last year w/ Tampa Bay just after the All-Star break.
------ more coming ------ Don't forget the we're at the B.U.S. tonight. Adam & Danny at the B.U.S. 6-10 pm Friday.
--- WEX
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