Houston Astros at Texas Rangers, Jun 18, 2009 7:05 PM CDT

Here’s hoping for 2005 World Series Backe to show up.

I have a friend who met Backe once. Said he was a huge asshole.

Miggy walks, Lee grounds a single through the hole.

Michael Young hits a dinky home run to right.

which claim that pitchers have no control over whether their HR/FB rate is above or below average. Can anyone who has watched Backe this year and last year believe that?

perfect

cool

thanks, Darin.

no idea what happened during the last out. I was busy getting cake and ice cream.

The good news is that Backe has donated $34000 to prostate cancer research. Hooray.

but Q gets to it in time.

Well, at least Backe is being predictable. I guess.

bourn strikes out in ugly fashion
kepp grounds out to andrus, who makes a fairly nice play to get the ball.

Padilla hit Texeira, and Texeira told the press that when he was on the Rangers, they knew that Padilla throws at people for no good reason, other than maybe he is mad at them. Texeira said Padilla got mad at him when he was a Ranger, because Texeira asked him to quit throwing at batters, because it endangers his own teammates when the other team retaliates.

So, if Padilla hits any Astros, I guess we know that he is mad at somebody on the team.

Backe was very lucky. Backe threw that pitch right down the middle.

kepp catches a kinsler line drive and doubles off Andrus at first.

partly because it’s one of those few times they seriously look at what’s going on in Houston. Some highlights:

A non-contender shouldn’t be relying on the likes of Scuffy Moehler, Hampton, and Russ Ortiz, and while Hampton’s absence is supposed to create a temporary opportunity for Backe, it’s important to recognize that Backe’s also on the wrong side of 30 and has yet to establish himself as a rotation asset if healthy, which has been almost never. Sadly, none of them are likely to have much value in barter, which illustrates the depth of the problem. They don’t have a ton of alternatives beyond this crew, perhaps a healthy Paulino, Bud Norris eventually, but then we get into an organization that has to take oft-ditched young journeyman Yorman Bazardo seriously for want of alternatives. That’s not to say it won’t be cool if Bazardo pans out—he’s only just about to turn 25, and if he’s found a way to get some extra movement on a low-90s fastball that’s been too straight, or any added savvy with his off-speed stuff, they’ll have a find worth bragging about, instead of Russ Ortiz.

Something I found particularly interesting

:

If there’s any solace to be taken, it’s in the performance of the pen, even with Valverde gone for a stretch. LaTroy Hawkins did a nice job in converting nine of 11 opportunities as a closer (and one of the two blown saves came in the eighth inning of a game against the Pads in which he was the fourth pitcher), which might at least represent some form of revenge against those who’ve argued Hawkins was one of the people who “can’t” close. Chris Sampson’s pitched well enough to merit consideration as an All-Star, were the selection process more fair to the game’s middle relievers; he’s currently 10th in the majors in WXRL.

looked a bit outside (to me, at least)

The nice thing about AL road games is that those hits don’t magically turn into doubles.

Rangers get run when Quintero throws to third and it goes into LF.

and yet only score one run. And that was on a passed ball. Awesome.

Why do that? Why, Coop, why?

Hopefully this is how he performs down the road. Maybe he got everything sorted out in Round Rock.

4-3 Good-Guys.

Oh, and the guy who caught the ball on the berm looks like a douche.

Q scores from first.

5-3 non-South Oklahomans.

I see Lance Berkman continues his most recent slump.

Brandon Backe lasted four innings. Why was he taken out of the game?

Maybe it’s my warped sense of humor but I thought it was funny that Only_A_Lad’s friend said Backe is a Huge Asshole; and a few innings later we learn Backe has donated $34,000 to prostrate cancer research.

tejada grabs a ball up the middle, steps on the bag to force out Andrus, and throws to Lance to get kinsler.
Very good, since Young hits a line drive into center field.

Cubs won 6-5
Red Lost 7-0
Pirates lost 5-1
Cardinals trail 6-3 in batting in the 8th
Brewers must be off today

and special mention of the woeful Washington Nationals who won their second straight over the NY Yankees

and Hunter catches the final out of that particular inning.

Valverde coming in to pitch.

I did not expect Tejada to get to that one.

I’m with JD on this, that was not a good decision.

that was not a pretty out

their closer is in full melt down

Barely go to the ball in the grass and somehow threw to second in time. Surprised me.

game over and the Astros avoid the sweep!

EAT SHIT DALLAS!!!