Who has the best bench in the National League?  I was thinking that we should be high up on the list given Erstad and Loretta, two former all-stars (& gold glover, to boot).

Blum has an average I frown upon, but he does seem to periodically provide a clutch run in key situations.

Newhan's still too, *ahem* new, for me to form an opinion, and I'm not quite sure what to make of Abercrombie.  Reggie certainly fulfilled his roll with the solo homer this past series, although his outing as a starter in one of the Rays games was not that great.

Cheer up guys, it's Monday!

Although we've not made it to the all star break yet, we're officially into the second half of the season, as 82 games have been played with 80 to go.

Some things to be happy about:

• We're 3-0 in the last three series against arguably some of the best talent the American League has to offer.  I may be giving too many props to the Rangers there, but they can be devastating against teams who don't produce runs when they're needed.
• We're within four games of .500 and improved to "only" 10 back of Cubs
• The schedule going into the All Star break could go in our favor

Scheduling wise, we have two positive series to potentially look forward to taking 2 of 3 from (@Pirates and @Nats), one to break even or take 3 of 4 on (Dodgers), and one to probably lose (@Braves).  I'd say that's a decent schedule to work with for the next 13 games.  Idealistically, I'd like to see our record at 47-48 going into the All Star break.

The Cubs are demonstrating early signs of their 2nd half collapse by not being able to break their difficulty with road games.  Their last two series were against the Orioles and White Sox, which were lost 1-3 and 0-3, respectively.  The Cubs are at a crossroads and need to start taking series on the roads if they want to cement their lead of the division.

I happen to think the opposite will happen, and they will start losing games at home.  The law of averages, if nothing else, tells us that.

Regardless, they face the Giants on the road this week for four games, followed by the Cardinals at St. Louis.  Having those two teams duke it out can only help our division standing.  They finish with the Giants and Reds at Wrigley, which may be good for them, but could also call into question their Wrigley staying power if any of those home series are lost.

The Cardinals face the Mets at home, followed by the aforementioned Cubs at home, and then face the Phillies and Pirates on the road.  The Phillies series should be challenging for them, the Pirates series beneficial to them, and I have no idea how if they'll be challenged by the Mets or not.  In any case, their (Cards) performance should give us an insight on their sturdiness for the next couple months.

To summarize:  Our scheduling for the next few series should only help us.  The Cubs -may- move up slower in the wins column than we move up.  The Cards will help keep the Cubs down (to our benefit) and coupled with Phillies contest, move up slower than we move up.

Hopefully.  Maybe.  With my rose-colored glasses and Pollyanna wig on.

Kirk Bohls of the Austin American Statesman writes:

Drayton McLane was doing his usual glad-handing around the Astros
clubhouse before Sunday's series wrapup with the Yankees, going from
locker to locker and spreading good cheer.  
		
In between, he told a visitor he would be the keynote speaker at a meeting
of state sports editors in town this week.
	  	 
When the Astros owner was asked the topic of his address, McLane
smiled rather sheepishly and said he will talk about what it takes to
be a champion. 

We're assuming he's using a ghost-writer, because this franchise has
never won anything more than a NL pennant under his ownership or anyone
else's. Maybe he'll ring up someone in the Steinbrenner family tree for
some direction. 

Of course, sometimes I think he has a personal grudge against the 'stros.  I recall back in June of '05 when he was extolling the success of the Rangers and was ready to leave the Astros for dead, saying that the only way to salvage their season was to trade Roger Clemens.

Winter meetings are over and no moves were made on the starting pitching side.

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With Biggio giving his last hurrah, what should happen to Chris Burke for 2008?  Permanent placement at second base?  Trade him?  Platoon?