Random, but maybe someone can help - I went to Astros spring training games for a few years as a kid between 1987-1990. While going through some old things, I found this baseball with this lone autograph on it. I can't for the life of me figure out who it is. It isn't necessarily an Astro - it could be anyone they played during Spring Training in those years. Thanks so much!

via api.ning.com

I've created a standard 5x5 rotisserie league with ESPN and we need 4 more teams (total of 10). Live draft March 31st at 7pm central.

Let me know if you are interested - but only if you're serious about it/will manage your team throughout the season. I'll send out invites to the first 4 that respond.

Check out ESPN fantasy baseball here:

http://games.espn.go.com/frontpage/baseball

Thanks, and hope some of you are interested!!

I guess I had no idea he was free. I don't know a whole lot about him, but always watched his stats. I'm surprised we weren't more aggressive with him.

---

The Royals signed catcher J.R. House to a Minor League contract Saturday, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

House hit .306 with 25 doubles, 18 homers and 60 RBIs in 2008 for Round Rock, the Astros' Triple-A affiliate.

"They were the most aggressive about approaching me and wanting me, and I thought it was the best opportunity to play," the 29-year-old House told the paper. "It also seems they are going to give me the best chance to catch and find more ways to get in the lineup."

House was originally drafted by the Pirates in the fifth round of the 1999 First-Year Player Draft. He has appeared in 32 big league games over parts of five seasons for the Pirates, Astros and Orioles.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081129&content_id=3695876&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou&partnerId=rss_hou

hadn't heard too much lately about Towles, so I thought I'd check in on his Round Rock stats and post them up here. not too bad - not too great - but the average is quite better than the non-average earlier this season with the Astros, and a good SLG and OBP.

AVG: .275

OBP: .393

SLG: .510

AB: 51

H: 14

R: 12

2B: 3

HR: 3

RBI: 9

SB: 3

E: 1

Unfortunately for me I've been sick all week, yet I have tickets to the series this weekend. I've been able to get rid of all but Saturday's tickets. Mind you they aren't great seats, but they are seats nonetheless to a sold out game - and I'm not selling them above face value.

So if anyone is interested, let me know. The big kicker is that I live in Austin, so I would imagine you as well would have to live in Austin if you wanted them. They are 2 tickets in view deck I tix; section 413. Drop me a line if you are interested. Sorry for making this a fanpost, just thought someone here might be interested.

And that's all I know... I think that's all that's been said, actually...

I assume it has to do with his attitude and reaction to demotion to the bullpen... Come on Shawn, seriously. Something else must have happened/been said that we don't know about. Thoughts?

I can't find any other information on the net about this; I'm going by what Brownie just said in the game. Anyone know anything else/have any story links?

From Chron.com, here

According Chacon, he was in the lunch room after batting practice when Cooper asked him to join him in his office.

“And I said, 'what do you want to speak to me about?'” Chacon said. “He said, ‘we just want to talk to you.’ I said, ‘anything you can say you can say to me right here. I don’t want to go to the office. He looked at me and I said there’s nothing for me to say to you guys.’ And I don’t think whatever they had to say to me they were going to make me happy. I didn’t want to get in a closed-room conversation. I just wanted to be left alone.

“I sat down to eat and Ed Wade came to me and very sternly said, ‘you need to come with me to the office.’ I said ‘for what?’ I said 'I don’t want to go to the office with you and Cooper.’ And I said ‘You can tell me whatever you got to tell me right here.’ He’s like, ‘oh, you want me to tell you right here?' And I said, ‘yeah.’ I’m not yelling. I’m calm.”

It deteriorated quickly afterward, according to Chacon.

“He started yelling and cussing," Chacon said of Wade. "I’m sitting there and I said to him very calmly, ‘Ed, you need to stop yelling me. Then I stood up and said 'you better stop yelling at me.' I stood up. He continued and was basically yelling and stuff and was like, ‘You need to (expletive) look in the mirror.’ So at that point I lost my cool and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him because at that point I wanted to beat his (butt). Words were exchanged.”

 

Anyone know where we can watch the game today? I know FSN isn't carrying it - didn't know if anyone knew where we could pick up a Rays feed or something online.

Thank ya..

Apparently my post has to be 75 words long for it to be posted. Hmm. I'm kinda out of things to say. I hope we win today. Yep. Yes I do. Because if we don't win, that means we lose, which from what I hear, is the opposite of what you want to do in baseball games. Is this 75 words yet? Let's check.

How long do they stay with Towles through these struggles? I know about the argument (and I agreed with it for a while) that as long as the Astros are winning Towles (and Bourn for that matter) should stay where they are and keep trying to work through the struggles. But we haven't been winning like we were a while ago, and it's getting really painful to watch Towles' average keep slipping with every at bat. Why not send him down to Round Rock for a little seasoning and give Q a chance??

This just gets worse...

---

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24350727/

Roger Clemens had a relationship with golfing star John Daly's ex-wife, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.

Several unidentified sources told the Daily News that Clemens arranged trips to Anaheim Stadium for Paulette Dean Daly so that she could watch him pitch for the New York Yankees against the Angels.

"Yeah, I've known Roger quite a while and we are friends," Daly told the Daily News on Wednesday. "I know Roger. I consider him a good friend. That's all I'm comfortable saying."

She did not deny claims from several sources that she was romantically involved with Clemens and that he was supporting her financially, the Daily News said.

"You know what, I'm really uncomfortable talking about this. I'm just going to have to say, 'No comment.'

The Daily News said that Clemens and Daly met at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, a PGA tournament in Palm Springs, Calif. The relationship began after her marriage to the former PGA champion ended, sources told the Daily News.

Earlier this week, the Daily News reported that Clemens had a decade-long relationship with country star Mindy McCready that began when she was a 15-year-old aspiring singer and the pitcher was a Boston Red Sox ace.

"I cannot refute anything in the story," McCready told the newspaper in a story posted on its Web site Monday night.

"I have known Roger Clemens for a long time," she said, without detailing the nature of their relationship.

Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, confirmed the pitcher and singer had known each other for a long time but told the newspaper there was no sex.

"Mindy McCready is a longtime family friend of Roger Clemens and the Clemens family," Hardin said in a statement Monday. "At no time did Roger engage in any kind of inappropriate or improper relationship with her. It is unfortunate that the Daily News has chosen to report anonymous allegations that are completely unfounded, have no basis in fact, and have nothing to do with Roger's baseball career or the issue of steroid use in baseball."

The News' original story, which appeared on the newspaper's Web site Sunday night and in editions Monday, quoted several people who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Clemens was 28 and a married father of two when he first met McCready, the newspaper reported.

In its story Monday night, sources told the News that McCready went with Clemens to his hotel room in Fort Myers, Fla., after their first meeting but that they did not have sex. The relationship turned intimate after she later moved to Nashville and became a country star, the paper said.

The story could undermine Clemens' reputation, which is central to the defamation suit the former pitcher has filed against former personal trainer Brian McNamee. McNamee contends Clemens used performance-enhancing substances during his major league career.

"If true, it's just another example of Roger's pervasive prevarications which will be at the core of any defamation case," said McNamee's attorney, Richard Emery, in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

"If the case heads to trial and is not dismissed, as we feel it should be, we will be calling (McCready) as a witness," Emery told the News.

The newspaper said Clemens sent cash to McCready to help her with legal issues and reached out to her when she was in jail last year in Tennessee. Clemens sometimes sent her amounts of $25,000, the paper said.

The 32-year-old McCready was sentenced last September for violating probation from a 2004 drug arrest and was released from jail last Dec. 30. The violation occurred in July when McCready was accused of scuffling with her mother and resisting arrest at her mother's home in Fort Myers, Fla. She still must serve two years' probation.

McCready had a No. 1 single in 1996 with "Guys Do It All the Time."

If you read my last post, you are familiar with my current disdain for ESPN. I am watching Baseball Tonight and have learned the following:

Peter Gammons states that he has talked to a couple of Oswalt's teammates and that his first priority is to win and he is more than happy than to waive his no-trade clause to go to a contender. Gammons also stated that he's sure that "Hank Steinbrenner would be happy to here that."

Infuriated; Clack, Stros Bro, Entropic - calm me down please.

I am sure someone else saw this. This just reeks of TMZ but the sports version - it was really a terrible display of journalism, I don't care what you feel about Miggy's truth or lies when it comes to Congress.

Call me a blind Astros fan... but at this point - I seriously doubt he is doing anything illegal CURRENTLY and look at his production. I am happy we have him, period. And I am also one of the baseball fans that is all about "let's get the F away from all this crap and look forward." Whether or not he did it, great - I am not thinking about it. I just think this E:60 crap was a terrible piece of journalism. Anyone else's thoughts?

HOUSTON -- Catcher Humberto Quintero cleared waivers and has accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A Round Rock, the Astros announced on Wednesday.

Quintero was designated for assignment on Opening Day and had to spend 10 days waiting for the Astros to either trade, release or reassign him to the Minor Leagues.

"We were happy to get him through waivers," general manager Ed Wade said. "He was disappointed from the standpoint of not getting a big league job, but I had a chance to talk to him this afternoon and impressed upon him that we're one mishap away from him being back in the big leagues.

"He needs to go down there and continue to work as hard as he did in Spring Training and during the offseason. We think he's a big league catcher. If the opportunity presents itself he'll be here."

Quintero, 28, lost 30 pounds during the offseason and was one of the Astros' most productive hitters during Spring Training this year. He hit .341 over 22 games, recording 11 RBIs.

Because he had been outrighted to the Minor Leagues once before, Quintero had the right to decline the reassignment and become a free agent. Had he done so, however, he would have forfeited his salary.

Abercrombie and Paronto were both outrighted to Round Rock today. Abercrombie cleared waivers, of which I'm glad - I think after some seasoning he could turn into a pretty good player. Paronto has 72 hours to accept the assignment or declare free agency.

Oh well.

Story's here.

this is pretty funny.. from hunter's blog:
--
Hi,

It feels good to finally be drawing near the season. Everyone in camp is starting to get to know each other, and the team even though it's not set is having a lot of fun together. To me, it's important to have a team that gets along in the clubhouse because your around each other so long and I honestly believe it effects the play on the field. Things change when the season starts, and we still dont know who all exactly is going to be on the team, so there's a lot of questions as far as that's concerned.

The talent on this team is tremendous and my expectations are high when the bell rings for the season to start.

As far as myself, I'll be honest to say that my swing is just now starting to feel proper again. I haven't felt like my normal self in the batters box and in batting practice early this spring. But I am getting a good feel now. Despite not feeling great, I have still managed to get hits. So that's a good sign.
Now that I feel good I'm going to be able to have more of an approach at the plate and get myself properly prepared to go by the time the season starts.

Off the field, I regret to tell everyone that I lost a bet with Reggie Abercrombie. Because Duke lost to North Carolina in college basketball, Reggie will be suiting me up in some Hip-Hop gear on one of the upcoming road trips.

Had Duke won, you better believe Reggie was going to be wearing some Wrangler's with a HUGE belt buckle, a cowboy hat and some nice cowboy boots. I figure it was worth a shot to see him in that gear!

We'll see if I can post a picture, I'm not sure what he has in mind for me, but hopefully it's appropriate. =)

-Hunter

Of course I wish him the best, but yet another off-season trade might be having surgery, and this time it would be season-ending. Story here.

just wondering... does anyone think that it might not be such a great thing that Tejada plays winter ball every single year? i would imagine he's exhausted, and a break may increase production for the regular season. thoughts?

Bruntlett went 3-4 w/2 RBI today increasing his spring average to .429. Another guy that I think definitely deserves a chance to play every day, but is incredibly valuable on the bench as well. Wish it could have worked out with us. Story here.

I know mlb.tv shows a fair amount of spring training games, but they are only showing 2 Astros games, one of which is the Yankees game which is already being broadcast on tv.

The Rockets have a great website called clutchfans.com and there is a forum there where people post direct links to watch the games that aren't shown on TV.

Does anyone know if there is a forum like this for the Astros? I'm not a member at clutchfans, so I can't ask them myself.

I've just started a new Yahoo Group for Austin-area Astros fans, in the hopes of instigating meet-ups game-watching etc. To join:

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/austinastros/

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP)--Phillies closer Brad Lidge caught a spike in the mound on his first pitch of batting practice Saturday and hurt the same knee he had surgery on in October.

Lidge, the Phillies' biggest offseason acquisition, limped off the field after talking with team trainers. The team said it hoped to know more about the extent of the injury Sunday.

"It was my push off leg," Lidge said. "I caught my spike in the mound. I threw the pitch but it felt like I pulled something in the knee. ... It swelled up a little, but I'm optimistic that I just pulled some scar tissue loose."

Doctors removed torn cartilage from the knee in the fall.

The Phillies acquired Lidge and infielder Eric Bruntlett in a November trade that sent speedy outfielder Michael Bourn, infield prospect Mike Costanzo and reliever Geoff Geary to the Astros.

The 31-year-old Lidge, who has 123 career saves, finished 2007 with 19 saves in 27 chances and a 3.36 ERA for Houston. When the Phillies acquired him, it allowed them to strengthen their rotation by making Brett Myers a starter again.

"We'll find out more tomorrow," manager Charlie Manuel said of Lidge's injury. "We'll go from there and we're waiting to see how it feels (Sunday). He was in the stretch and threw one pitch and did it. He threw another and it still hurt him."

The Phillies struggled with injury problems in the bullpen for much of last season. Setup man Tom Gordon and Myers both missed significant time due to injuries.

Continue reading this post »