It's an abbreviated Round Up this morning, as DQ has one last day of cramming before he takes a big exam on Saturday, and I mosey on up to Ft. Worth for a job interview. Fear not though. Clack is around to guide you with wisdom and expert commenting. You're in good hands. And hey- the Astros (last I checked) haven't lost in like...36 hours. Life is good.

Fellow blogger and possible reader of the The Boxes, Ted Walker has an cool projecting going on at his blog, Pitchers and Poets, called the Rogue's Baseball Index. Essentially, he and his co-blogger have asked other baseball-oriented people to write up funny/cutesy definitions of words that are synonymous with the game. Take a look around their site for examples of what I'm talking about, it's definitely worth your time. I was honored to have been one of those bloggers chosen by the two of them to submit my own word/definition into their mix. My page can be found here, and this was my official entry:

Term/Phrase: For his career

Definition: This is a term utilized by play by play broadcasters to take note of a batter-pitcher interaction that is currently in progress, juxtaposing any past confrontations the two players may have had with the one going on presently. The point of the For His Career notation is to give the listener an indication of what will happen, just before it actually does. As a general rule, the actual number of past interactions, whether it be 8 at bats or 9, does not impact a broadcaster's utilization of the For His Career. See also, Small Sample Size.

Example:

Play by play announcer: "For his career, Teddy Ballsmacker is 1/1 against Horatio Inningseater."

Color Commentator: "Ooooohhh...with a history likes that, Inningseater is going to have a tough time getting out of this pickle."

Thanks to Ted for allowing me to participate. I don't quite think I'm a "celebrity" but I (and my ego) will take the words of praise.

Things aren't going all that well in Astro-land, but we're not alone. Even those teams that had high expectations, and good farm systems suffer disappointment. Take the Cleveland Indians, for example. True, their best player has missed large chunks of the season due to injury, but even beyond that, their club is as irrelevant as the Astros these days. Their fans, understandably, are not taking it well. The funniest part of this writer's rant has to be:

FIRE PRONKVILLE

Precisely how sad does the career of Travis Hafner have to become before we stop mocking him with this now totally inappropriately named mezzanine section? Ever heard of "Huffland"? "AlexeiRamirezCove"? "OverbayBay"? No, because they don't exist. A 15 HR hitter doesn't get a deck named after him.

What exactly goes on in Pronkville now? Just a lot of crying?

Couldn't have been snarkier had I written that myself. Well done, Let's go Tribe! What if the Astros did something like this? Wait...that would be impossible as our offensive players are either legitimately good to great (maybe Miggy, Lee, Bourn, Pence, Berkman) or on a good team's bench (Blum, Kepp, Kaz) or out of the league completely (everyone else).

Drayton McLane could've built Quintero's Qorner, a place for all fans of our catcher can go hang out and watch the game. Unfortunately, since Q is home run challenged, the section couldn't be in the outfield, it would probably have to be in foul territory in front of the Astros' dugout.

It has been awful dreary around a lot of Texas recently, so if you're stuck inside this weekend and have access to the MLB Network, why not get comfy on the couch and watch the championship game from Baseball's World Cup on Sunday. With the way Team USA has been playing, it looks like a good shot that the stars and stripes could play in the final.