The Crawfish Boxes: FanShots

Ball Sits on wall

TimStros — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:15:56 -0000

Ball Sits on wall

Listen, friend, I know Drayton McLane, and you don't. This man just wants to win. If you think D...

pel — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:23:48 -0000

Listen, friend, I know Drayton McLane, and you don't. This man just wants to win. If you think Drayton is going to sweat a few sawbucks if it means making fans happy and building a champion, you don't know Drayton. This man is all about winning. He's a lot like George Steinbrenner in that way.

Drayton always tells his people that if a move will make the Astros better, they should do it and tell him the costs later. He's not the kind of man to allow his life to be defined by how much money he has. Generosity ought to be his middle name.

From the I-can't-tell-if-he's-being-facetious-or-not department (Justice)

Coop has plan for 93 wins Astros manager Cecil Cooper scribbles on a scrap piece of paper and do...

clack — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:18:43 -0000

Coop has plan for 93 wins
Astros manager Cecil Cooper scribbles on a scrap piece of paper and does some elementary math. He's certain his team will have a big second half and is trying to determine what it will take to get to 93 wins.

Cooper comes to the conclusion the Astros could go roughly 45-22 after the All-Star break and hit the finish line of the regular season at 93 wins. Poof. Right where they want to be.
http://blogs.chron.com/gamedayastros/2008/06/coop_has_plan_for_93_wins.html

Jon Stewart on Willie Randolph's firing

clack — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:03:46 -0000

Jon Stewart on Willie Randolph's firing

If Oswalt has his way, Pettitte won't have such a long drive next spring. "I've actually been ...

clack — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:30:13 -0000

If Oswalt has his way, Pettitte won't have such a long drive next spring.

"I've actually been kind of campaigning to get him back one more year, but I don't know what he's going to do," Oswalt said.

At least publicly, Pettitte isn't saying if he'll be willing to pitch in 2009. In his first news conference of spring training, he admitted he would have stepped away from baseball if the Yankees had told him they didn't want him back after he admitted to using HGH twice, once while with them, then in 2004 while with the Astros.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/5834685.html

Paulino, who suffered a pinched nerve in his upper right arm in the spring, had another setback a...

clack — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:34:17 -0000

Paulino, who suffered a pinched nerve in his upper right arm in the spring, had another setback and is only playing light catch.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/5828414.html

Manny hits 500th

Stros Bro — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:53:16 -0000

Manny hits 500th

Manny Ramirez becomes the 24th player to ever hit 500 home runs...

I should get extra points since he's on my fantasy team.

Jeff Bagwell gets pulled into the steroid controversy by a second-hand anonymous source: For...

clack — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:15:05 -0000

Jeff Bagwell gets pulled into the steroid controversy by a second-hand anonymous source:

For years, Kelly Blair, the owner of 1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness, bragged to friends and clients who worked out at his Texas gym that he supplied performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes.

Blair, who was recently questioned by federal agents conducting the Roger Clemens perjury investigation, regaled visitors to his Pasadena gym with stories about providing drugs to Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Jeff Bagwell and other professional athletes, according to sources. Bagwell, Pettitte and Clemens were teammates on the Houston Astros in 2004 and 2005.

"Kelly wanted everybody to know he worked with the big guys," says one friend with close ties to Blair and the gym, who requested anonymity because that person feared retribution from Blair and his friends. "He wanted to be known as the guy behind the professional athletes."

As always, take this story with a huge grain of salt. The person relaying the story doesn't know if any of the athletes actually got the drugs, or if Blair was just making up stories to seem like a big shot.

(baseballmusings.com citing: NY Daily News)

Five Good Minutes with Lance Berkman PTI sat down and had a chat with Berkman before toda...

entropic soul — Wed, 21 May 2008 04:01:41 -0000

Five Good Minutes with Lance Berkman

PTI sat down and had a chat with Berkman before today's (Tuesday's) game. He talks about his hit streak, the pressure to maintain a high batting average and his two nicknames.

"There are very few hitters who instill fear in pitchers," Berkman reasoned before the game. "The...

Stros Bro — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:01:27 -0000

"There are very few hitters who instill fear in pitchers," Berkman reasoned before the game. "There may be only one in our league now [Albert Pujols]. The key is to be just bad enough to where they think, 'Oh, I can get this guy out.' And then, you might get a pitch to hit."

Source

NL Wild Card Leader: The Houston Astros

entropic soul — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:54:22 -0000

NL Wild Card Leader: The Houston Astros

As of Thursday, May 15.

Video of Lance Berkman Splash Down

clack — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:01:05 -0000

Video of Lance Berkman Splash Down

Blastings! Thrilledge: Ranking the GMs, #29: Ed Wade

JohnPeterson — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:27:37 -0000

Blastings! Thrilledge: Ranking the GMs, #29: Ed Wade

Ed Wade takes #29 in my callous series of GM rankings. Read why.

"I certainly put more time into my hitting than any other aspect of my game," he said. "Unfortuna...

Stros Bro — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:47:24 -0000

"I certainly put more time into my hitting than any other aspect of my game," he said. "Unfortunately for me, there's not a direct relation between hard work and batting average. Some people are just more gifted hitters naturally or they have more power naturally. Like Lance."

"We can't all be smart and good looking like Brad," Berkman offered.

Source

Pence's 2008 numbers are a little close to what people expected of him, based on his minor league...

clack — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:24:03 -0000

Pence's 2008 numbers are a little close to what people expected of him, based on his minor league and college numbers. His on-base rate is disappointing and his strikeouts have risen a bit in 2008. He'll likely put up pretty good numbers for a while, and maybe even appear in an All-Star game or two, but he's not going to be a star.

http://baseballanalysts.com/

Said Berkman: "I feel like the pitcher's exhausted by the time he gets done pitching, even when [...

clack — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:40:53 -0000

Said Berkman: "I feel like the pitcher's exhausted by the time he gets done pitching, even when [Matsui] makes an out. We haven't a guy like that in a while at the top. [Craig Biggio] was a very good hitter but usually if he saw three pitches, that was a rarity. He either hit a double or made an out by the third pitch of the at-bat. Kaz is a difrerent kind. He takes pitches, he watches, looks a guy over, fouls off a lot of pitches. Really does a great job starting things off up there."

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080512&content_id=2687460&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

Happy Mother's Day from Carlos Lee (video)

entropic soul — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:21:51 -0000

Happy Mother's Day from Carlos Lee (video)

Can't embed, it's a flash video, so you'll just have to click the link. It's funny.

MLB.com guilty of East Coast bias. Someone wishes Grady Sizemore plays for the Red Sox.

entropic soul — Sun, 11 May 2008 02:06:07 -0000

MLB.com guilty of East Coast bias.
Someone wishes Grady Sizemore plays for the Red Sox.

"Cassel's done a good job, and Runelvys Hernandez's last two starts have been solid," general man...

clack — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:40:54 -0000

"Cassel's done a good job, and Runelvys Hernandez's last two starts have been solid," general manager Ed Wade said. "We have a couple of alternantives there if we get to that point [of needing to call up a starter]. Nieve needs to get stretched out and show he can go deep into games."
---Wade discussing options, given Wandy's injury and rehab taking longer than expected.

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080508&content_id=2666190&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

"I think I'm sneaky fast," the chatty first baseman said before Tuesday's game. "I've always been...

exit53 — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:17:22 -0000

"I think I'm sneaky fast," the chatty first baseman said before Tuesday's game. "I've always been that way. Certainly, on TV, I look like I'm fat. And sometimes, I'm not the most graceful. But I feel I can run."

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080506&content_id=2651080&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou