Just because I have'nt seen them in a while.. and I find it fitting.  These commercials remind me how much cooler it would have been for Army to have helped hoist the cup...  And Whitney... but I'll live. 

Talbot was great in the playoffs and had one of the best beards.  I'm sure he's happy to get to shave that thing now though. 

Pittsburgh Penguins Commercial (via AfterXFilms)

Funny Pittsburgh Penguin Car Commercial Part II (via alex15211)

Been a while since I've been around here, just thought I'd drop in and say hey!  

I can't say I've studied up nearly as ferociously on the 'Stros this spring season, as I did when I was blogging... but I have paid a little bit of attention.  

I like the Pudge signing(mainly because it was CHEAP) and it definitely brings the best offensive performing catcher to the 'Stros in years.  Even if Pudge has a down season(which he's more than likely going to do), he can't help but be a better offensive performer than Ausmus/Quintero/Towles have been over the past few.  The Astros offense with Pudge in it makes losing Wigginton a little easier to take for me... although, I'd rather have Wigginton at 3rd and Q catching than Blum/Kippinger at 3rd and Pudge catching.  Now if Pudge makes the All-Star team this year, I'll eat those words.  

Anyways... I think the Vegas over/under for the Astros this season is about 74.5 wins... I would be more surprised if they were under that, than over that so I'd take the over... I'm guessing they'll be right around the .500 mark...  I don't think the pitching will be strong enough to put this team into the playoffs unless the Cubs just fall to pieces... none of the teams in the NL Central really do much for me this year and I'd be very surprised if the Wild Card team came from this division.

The Astros pitching just has WAY too many question marks...  We have Roy Oswalt and then 4 glaring question marks... maybe Wandy stays healthy...  hell, maybe Wandy, Moehler, Hampton, Ortiz stay healthy...  but there's no reason to be real hopeful that the Astros are going to get 30+ starts with any of those pitchers not named Roy Oswalt... I mean, you can hope... but I wouldn't put my money on it.  

Well... I really just wanted to drop in and say hi...  Go 'Stros

PS, I highly doubt I'll do any Astros blogging this year... I have a baby daughter on the way(May 29th due date) and really like my free time...  I might stop by here from time to time though.

PS2, DQ,HLP, the ads that were there when I was around expired in Dec, I think I put a note on them... anyways, might want to think about deleting those... later

Just thought these quotes were pretty cool and worth sharing..

From here

“It’s a huge addition for our power play and for our (defensive) corps[referring to having Goligoski back in WB/S],” goaltender John Curry said. “He’s a great player. He did well up there, probably deserves to be up there. 

 

“We could talk for hours if you want to talk about that,” said Taffe. “His vision, his puck movement – He doesn’t belong here. There’s only so much I can say before they get mad at me from up top. So I think I’ll leave it at that.”

 

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Philippe Boucher had successful surgery on his left foot Friday and will be out indefinitely.

Boucher was injured in late December and played in nine January games. He was scratched the past six games.

Read More

 

What!!?!?  I guess I haven't been paying enough attention... I didn't even know he was hurt... Well, there goes any chance of us trading him away...  not that there was much value you him anyways.  

I don't expect to see Boucher in a Pens jersey again.

Link to the article

Atlanta's Colby Armstrong has attracted interest this season, including from Pittsburgh who would like to see him reunited with Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

I'd take Army back in an instant... I'd be willing to give Satan away for him and not think twice about it.  Colby doesn't really fill the need for a scoring winger to play with Sid, but he does bring a lot of what the Pens need.. and I miss those huge checks!

Pittsburgh defenseman Ryan Whitney's name is making the rounds. Pens GM Ray Shero may use Whitney to lure a top line forward for a late-season charge.

I'd hate to see Whitney go... I'd rather the Pens put a deal together sending Boucher and maybe a Gill or Eaton away than to see Whitney dealt... I don't want to see the Pens deal Whitney, Scuderi, Letang, Goli, Orpik or Gonchar.  I like them and think they all bring a need to the team.

LAME!  Well.. I can't remember the hit and can't find a video if it.. I know I watched the game and if I can't remember the hit... it has to be lame.

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke has been suspended two games without pay for a blow to the head of an opposing player.

Cooke was assessed a minor penalty for interference against Carolina forward Scott Walker in the first period of the Hurricanes' 2-1 win Jan. 20. Walker left the game and did not return.

Cooke will miss games against the New York Rangers on Wednesday and New Jersey on Friday, the NHL announced Tuesday.

He will be eligible to return Saturday at Toronto. Cooke will forfeit $12,903.23.

 

Link

 

The NHL released a statement which said that Penguins center Sidney Crosby will not play in the All-Star game Sunday in Montreal.

The Penguins had no immediate comment. Crosby is believed to be considering his options.

Link

Damnit!  This doesn't really bother me that he's missing the game... what bothers me is if he doesn't do the skills competition.  Last season the skills competition where they did the penalty shots(and were supposed to do something fancy) could have been awesome if Crosby would have been there.. because he would have actually tried some crazy stuff... unfortunately, the goalies were over-zealous and most of the players(besides St. Louis and AO) didn't really try anything cool.  Crosby would have.  

Hopefully he will still do the skills competition  since obviously he can still skate and all of that.. we'll see.

Hey everyone, I just wanted to take a minute or two and let everyone know about my future here at the Crawfishboxes.  Well, the 1st change will be that I am no longer going to be a major contributor here.  I started writing here about 2 years ago(actually, almost exactly 2 years ago) at the request of every one's favorite writer, Rastronomical.  He needed someone to take over some of the duties of the blog and I was happy to come along... but before I was writing here, I had my solo gig at the MLBLogs platform where I paid $5 a month to blog(yea, I paid to blog...  sad really). The readership wasn't anything like it is here and I was happy to be able to spread my "wisdom"(that's in quotations to express the sarcasm) to a bigger crowd. 

Well... that time is over.  I really do enjoy the back and forth with the readers here and have made some really good friends  in the Astros community because of it.  But, when it comes down to it... this is and has always been a hobby for me... and hobbies are supposed to be fun.  and I'm just not enjoying myself here any longer(it's not the readers fault).  I haven't been for a couple of months and do not see that changing any time soon... so I basically gave my 2 weeks notice to the owners of SBNation and let them in on my intentions a week or so ago.  I'm going back to where I started blogging.  If you feel the need to drop in and say hi... you can do so at my "old" blog here ->  http://strosbro.mlblogs.com

I'll still be around here for a little while(anywhere between 24 hours and a month or 2) to help out if needed... but I doubt I'll really be needed... so you'll probably see less and less of me.  If you have any questions about my departure or just want to drop me a line, you can e-mail me(you can get the e-mail address from my profile, just click on my name). 

Au revoir

I just noticed one of the advertisements was showing BOSS Baseball cards... just wondering if anyone actually collects cards any more?  

I used to collect cards when I was younger, but I was more into football cards.  I was(and still am) a Cowboys fan and I really collected Emmitt Smith cards.  I was also a pretty big Nolan Ryan fan(what Texas kid who pitched wasn't), so I collected those as well.  I still have them, but they really don't have much value to them.  They are stored in a box up in the top of my closet.  My newest cards are probably mid nineties cards...  I'm not real attached to them, and if someone offered me $100-200 for them, I'd probably just hand them the box and be done with it.  

Phillies VS Rays with the Phillies up 3-1 in the series.