Recently in Baseball Category
So the Astros pick up Preston Wilson. At best a sideways move. Yes, he had some key hits for the Nationals and his numbers look good, but he played in Colorado for quite a while and that town tends to inflate stats quite a bit. Average player.
What's infuriating, though, is listening to our local sports talk jackasses, Rich Lord and Mark Vandermeer discussing the move. They actually brought up that race (Preston is black) might have played a part in the signing as the Astros at that point had no 'black' players on the roster. They lamented that Major League Baseball as a whole only had 10% black athletes. Black population in the US is around 14% .
Vandermeer, in brilliant analysis, brought up the fact that a Major League roster is 30 players. Therefore the Astros should have at least 3 black players. What!? There are quotas in baseball? BULLSHIT! Baseball, as all sports are merit based. You are compensated based on talent. Period.
Then they intimated that this was a marketing move to get the black fan to the park. Again, What?!
The entire conversation implied old boy racism. In fact, it showed an inherent racism in the sportscaster, looking for problems where they do not exist.
Professional sports are based on skill, period. A player's value is based on his ability. His paycheck is based on his ability (and a good agent).
Given the demographic argument presented by Lord and Vandermeer, let me play devil's advocate and ask a few questions:
Why are there so few whites on the Texans, given there demographic distribution in the country? Is it racism?
Why are there so few Hispanics on the Texans, given there demographic distribution in the country? Is it racism?
Why are there so few Asians in any major sport? Is it racism?
Answer to all of the above? NO.
Let's continue.
Why are there no Black sports commentators on the 610 lineup? Is it racism? Are Kevin Bass contributing during the Astros season and Andre Ware calling during the Texan's season marketing ploys to bring in the Black audience? Why does the regular staff not reflect the demographics of the USA?
Stupid commentary by inherently ignorant people, creating controversy where there is none to generate callers. Again, Bullshit.
Game 4 was as nail biter. And we lost. Here's a fan's perspective.
About 6:15 CST. Parking really wasn't that bad. Driving downtown during rush hour was. The number of people begging for tickets on our long march to the stadium was amazing. Every corner. People with signs, people with kids, they were everywhere.
Lots of Sox fans as we get closer to the stadium. A different sort of humanity than us Texans. Not better, not worse, just different. Even without the White Sox garb, they were blatantly obvious. Language, mannerisms, everything.
Here's a shot just entering the stadium:
We walked around for a while to partake in the crowd. Just to be a part of it. And we were looking for a hat and a t-shirt or two. There were 30 minute lines to pay for merch. This town has definitely bought in to the fever. I want a hat and a t-shirt but those lines are friggin' ridiculous.
Looking for merch, we eventualy ended up in the mezzanine in right field. Here's a shot of our position:
Nice graphic. I want a screen like that in my house. One day. One day.
Now to pregame. The endless, endless pregame. Gametime was supposed to be 7:00 CST. With all the marketing/advertising going on, that was impossible. Here's a shot from our seats of the Latino Team of Valiance, or whatever the hell this Chevy ad campaign was:
It was cool to see Juan Marichal's ridiculously high leg kick and the classic Luis Tiant motion to the plate on the big screen. Why is there a Cuban flag being flown proudly in Houston, Texas? On international television? I don't llike that one bit.
This is an argument for a later day. Needless to say, I don't agree. Love the players, despise the government.
Here's first pitch. Or just before first pitch. Flashes were going off all over the place for the first three or four pitches. Please, people. Unless you are a professional, turn those damn things off.
Oh. And that giant green void in center. That's the press. Really. That entire section and a huge room behind them is filled with press. That's an easy 2k fans displaced by your friendly neighborhood sports hack.
Progress! Bases Loaded!
Yeah, we know what happened there, don't we. Squat.
Here's a Mad Oilman's view of the White Sox celebrating their rightfuly won championship:
I cheered for them when they won. They were clearly the better team. And as much as I like Gary Gaetti, dude, you're gone. When stranded men enter the hundreds, it's time to say adios.
Congratulations Sox fans. A well earned Championship, indeed.
Update!
Well, this post is almost 24 hours after game time. Things come back.
I left the suite for a potty break in the 6th. And I ran into Dusty Hill of ZZ Top fame with his entourage. Cool.
When the game was over, Mrs. Oilman and I headed out. Mrs. Oilman needed a station break so I patiently waited in the hall. I saw a bright light approaching rapidly from the right,. Dammit, cameras. Mad Oilman is a private person and he has no need for this.
Well the camera man was running with Jerry Reinsdorf and his peeps. They were going downstairs to champagne land. Well deseved champagne land.
Well, Mad Oilman has just had it with this losing thing. Time to go down to MinuteMaid and take action.
Base friggin' hit. That's it. That's all we need. Or get on base, Walk. Anything but an out. You just can't do it, can you? You are personaly killing me this series.
12 men stranded? Mr. Ensberg? Mr. Ensberg?
Mad Oilman
1 out. Men on 1st and 2nd. Ensberg at the plate. I predict double play.
Yes, My Astros are trying to kill me. All this tension. All these ridiculously close games. Three weeks of mind numbing intensity. And the mind numbing idiocy of Tim McCarver.
It's the 11th. Why can't we score a friggin' run!
I'll be there tomorrow. To make sure we take care of busniess.
Astros. I've been loathe to post about my team as I know I will curse them. Everyone curses them.
But I have a theory. As to our success this season after so hideous a start. I think the key is John Franco.
Phil Garner hired a witch doctor before the season. The witch doctor told him "You need to extract the suck out of your team. This is a painful, painful ordeal. You need to hire John Franco and put him in your bullpen".
Taken aback, Garner initially protested. "No. Franco? I just don't get it Witchy. He's going to cost us game after game after game. Even if he doesn't pitch he's out there with the youngin's every night".
The witch doctor remained adamant; "You are correct yet shortsighted, Garner-San. Yes he will cost you games. Yes, he will affect your bullpen. That is the magic. He is a suck magnet. He will drain all of the suck out of your team. It is up to YOU to determine how long he remains. Not long enough and you will fail in the end. Too long and he will infect your team and they will never get rid of the suck. Ever. You must use this power wisely".
Garner relented and convinced Tim Purpura to bring Franco on board. Once the season was officially in the toilet, Garner convinced Purpura to release Franco, to take away all the suck.
He called it pretty close.
At least that's the way I see it.
I've been reading Austin Bay for a while now. Owning every edition of Jim Dunnigan's How to Make War (yes, I was in middle school when I bought the first edition) I have always kept an eye on Mr. Dunnigan's writings. He cowrote the wonderful A Quick and Dirty Guide to War with Austin Bay. As this was written in 1991, I've been aware of Mr. Bay for a while.
His reporting from Iraq and subsequent analysis has been magnificent. Since his return to the States, his analysis and commentary on matters miliitary, geopolitics and global strategy have been a wonderful daily resource.
Much to my confusion yesterday, I saw a brief cryptic post on Instapundit: AUSTIN BAY IS BEHIND BIGGIO: I heard him getting grief for that on Hugh Hewitt.
Intrigued as I only know one Biggio (Mad Oilman lives in the energy capital of the world) and baffled as to why Hugh Hewitt would question this position, I clicked through to this:
Have to disagree with Hugh (and I'll give him his due. Not hearing the show but knowing what a Clevland homer he is in all sports, he must have been protesting in favor of Alomar. That's reasonable).
Have to agree with Mr. Bay. Biggio deserves to be in. (Amd yes, I'm an Astros homer.) The comments on his post are excellent concerning Biggio's chances. The way he's hitting this year (albeit, it's early) he is going to have a monster season.
I can't see a more fitting representative for the Astro's first Hall of Famer. Well, Jimmy Winn, the Toy Cannon, he would be appropriate too.
Well, the streak had to break eventually. Teams just don't dominate other teams the way the 'Stros manhandled the Reds recently. And given Mr. Duckworth's start tomorrow, the streak may now trend in favor of Cincinatti.
Well, the season opened up just a bit too well, didn't it? Close wins decided late, a sweep of the Reds, and it's all just wonderful. "Kent, Beltran? Whatever." And it looked like that sentiment was valid. Until our trip to New York.
Swept by the Mets? First time since '93? Clemens throws a gem. Berke throws a gem tonight (and gets a triple to eventually score!). And we still lose. Errors in the field. Errors on the basepath. Not to sound negative, but we seem to be a Triple A defensive and hitting team with exceptional starting pitching, exceptional closing pitching, and Triple A middle relief. This is not a recipe for a winning season. I hope the Astros prove me wrong. This is a marathon, but we've tripped, have a gut hanging over our overpriced shorts, and we're struggling for breath out of the gates.
