CWSGuy406

Leadoff walk for Orlando Palmiero. Willy Taveres will pinch run, a speedster called up from AA. Biggio is batting, Beltran on deck, Bagwell in the hole. Bottom of the seventh, no one out. Suppan pitching.

Going into the bottom of the seventh, 4-4 tie. Come on Astros, plate one. Plate one.

Renteria is caught stealing, and on the next pitch, Matheny singles. Suppan will hit.

One out, one on in the seventh. Runner on first is Renteria.

Clemens is out after six. Chad Quills is in. Top 7, 4-4.

He tried to get it in on the hands, but missed his spot. One out in the sixth, Vizcaino hitting.

Inning over, but damage done. 4-4, going into the bottom of the sixth.

Scott Rolen homers, two out, two run shot... f***ing s***... Tie game.

Two-out single for Cedeno. Rolen comes to the plate.

Clemens strikes out his eighth, and the fans love Clemens. Beautiful pitch, inside upper corner, nice fastball. Two outs in the top of the sixth, 4-2 Astros.

Sorry for posting so much in this thread, but going into the sixth, 4-2 'Stros!

Duck snort down the left field line is FAIR! RBI double from Bagwell! And the Astros take a 4-2 lead!

Sac fly by Beltran. Nice piece of hitting there, too. Bagwell at the plate with Biggio on third. Huge duck on third base here, get him in, Bagwell...

Wild pitch moves Biggio to second with nobody out. Beltran still hitting, 2-2 count.

Leadoff single for the KillerB. Now, Beltran is at bat, down 1-2 in the count.

Clemens is through five with seven K's. Going into the bottom of the fifth, 3-2 Astros. Keep it up, Rocket-Man!

3-2 Astros. Off of So Taguchi's (sp?) glove. Ensberg 2-run shot.

No damage done. Into the fourth, 1-0 Stros.

Beltran reaches second with his 42nd stolen base of the year. Bagwell has a 3-1 count.

Boy, you gotta love MLB Extra Innings. San Francisco, in a playoff race, wasn't on yesterday, and again, won't be on tonight. I'm pretty pissed, but I'll watch the Cards and Astros game, so I guess I'm not that mad. But anyways - the game. Clemens has seen nine men through three innings, striking out five. The only run came on a Jeff Kent homer that just cleared the LF fence. It's the bottom of the third right now, with one out, and Beltran is on first. Bagwell at the plate. I'll occasionally update, for those who care...

Is Paul Lo Duca a free agent? If he is, I'd love to grab him... I'm not sure about his stats, but I know that he really, really handles pitchers well. And he's an awesome leader. IMO, he's one of those guys that stats can't quite tell you the whole story about him. Then again, if what he's asking for is too much, then I'll back away from my comments above.

Yeah, injuries usually take away some velocity. Especially ones that occur in the arm...

So, let me get this straight. For years we've had problems from one spot, the fifth starter spot. This year, we actually have a commitment from ownership to pick up at least a #3 starter - and we want to go into next season with, yet again, another question mark at the number five spot? Hmm, let's see what Garland will do for us at THREE million. No, not five million, not six million, hell, not even four million. Most likely, three million: -Give us 200 IP of work - BTW - knock on wood, but he seems to be a very durable starter. Very injury free. -Give us - AT WORST - a 5.00 ERA. -Still time for improvement, because whether you Garland-haters like it or not, he's still a kid at 24. Guess what? Grilli is older than him. And Grilli blows, so don't even get me started on you people endorsing him as the fifth starter. So - the chance for improvement is there, as - with MOST pitchers, like Yas and Cheat have pointed out - it usually takes a couple of years for a pitcher to mentally develop. So, can all of you armchair GM's, give me a guy who will eat up innings like Jon will, provide - at worst - a five ERA, and still has the chance for improvement - that is available - at three million? But hey, Jason Grilli has kept us in all of his games that he's started - even though he doesn't have ONE quality start with us - but he can do all of that, right? Right?

Can we get a clear conise read on about how much Garland will make next season? A bunch of you - babybearhater, to name one - are having Garland making four-six million next year. IIRC, his salary this year is, at most, 2.5 million. His salary isn't going to double from arbitration, coming off of a worse year than his past two... I don't know why some of you guys have him at five million next year. 3.25, at MOST, IMHO...

I usually make a couple season-long baseball bets, and this year was no different. This year I took part in two, each consisting of 20 dollars going to the winner. I've already lost in one, but the other one I still have a slight chance in winning. I'll give you the bad bet first. Since Florida and Philly felt like pissing out on me, I'll lose my 'NL East Champ Bet'. I told my buddy that if Atlanta won the NL East, I'd give him 20 bucks, but if any other team won, he'd give me the 20. Well, I'm out on that one... BUT! Hope still remains ! As, I also made another bet, in which I took Garland and Buehrle, counting wins and losses, against Maddux and Wood. Since Garland and Wood are both five-hundred winning %, they cancel out - and, odd enough, Buehrle and Maddux hold the same mark of 15-10. So, not only am I cheering for the Cubs to really tank - I'm hoping that Maddux and Wood, really, REALLY tank it, so I can at least break even at the end of this season. So, Cubs - if you win tonight, at least let the bullpen win it for you, not Maddux. Thanks. LET'S GO REDS AND BRAVES! AND BUEHRLE, AND GARLAND! Oh, yeah - how are your guys' working out, or did ya not make any?