Haven't used the 8 ball in a while, so figured I'd pull it out while news is slow.

Backe's only had 20+ starts one time in his career, and that was in 2005 when he made 25 starts with a 10-8 record to go with a 4.76 ERA. Not a great season, but not completely terrible either. Hopefully after having surgery and missing most of last year, he'll be invigorated and come out strong this year. He's not starting out good this year after hurting his foot, but I doubt anyone is too worried about that. A few notes from here about Backe.

Backe update: Brandon Backe, sidelined with a bone bruise on his right foot, took a promising step toward recovery when he walked around without crutches on Monday

Although he's been scratched from his start on Thursday and has no timetable for when he may return, the right-hander has visions of resuming his normal Spring Training routine in the very near future.

"I'll use [the crutches] again tonight for precaution," Backe said. "Hopefully, I'll be walking in here tomorrow morning throwing them on the ground in [head athletic trainer] Dave's [Labossiere] face saying, 'I don't need them anymore.'"

Want to ask your own question? You can do so here.

Astros fan, team consultant and (gulp) sometime-contributor Bill Gilbert emailed me the other day, having completed his yearly look at the Triple Milestones reached during the 2007 baseball season. "Triple Milestones" is the term that Mr. Gilbert uses for player seasons that include a .300 average, 100 RBI's and 30 home runs. Bill James refers to such campaigns as "Hall of Fame Seasons" in his Abstracts, because all eligible players with five or more such seasons are in the Hall of Fame.

In 2007, six National League players satsified the requirements for the Triple Milestones in all three categories, as follows:

Carlos Lee

.303-32-119

Matt Holliday

.340-36-137

Albert Pujols

.327-32-103

Miguel Cabrera

.320-34-119

Mark Teixieira

.306-30-105

David Wright

.325-30-107

Teixeira actually split his numbers between the AL and the NL.

Lee becomes the fifth player in Astro history to have accomplished each of the Triple Milestones in a season, although it's actually the second time he personally has performed the feat, as he did it in 2006, when he split his time between Milwaukee and Texas.

Triple Milestones In Team History

Year	Player		BA	RBI	HR
2007	Carlos Lee		.303	119	32
2006	Lance Berkman		.315	136	45
2004	Lance Berkman		.316	106	30
2001	Lance Berkman		.331	126	34
2000	Jeff Bagwell		.310	132	47
2000	Richard Hidalgo		.314	122	44
2000	Moises Alou		.355	114	30
1999	Jeff Bagwell		.304	126	42
1998	Jeff Bagwell		.304	111	34
1998	Moises Alou		.312	124	38
1996	Jeff Bagwell		.315	120	31
1994	Jeff Bagwell		.367	116	39

Berkman's uncharacteristically low batting average in 2007 kept him from making the list for the second straight year, as he recovered enough from his poor start to post his fifth 100 RBI season, and his fifth 30-homer campaign.

Mr. Gilbert also looks at minor leaguers, and those who split the year between the majors and the minors, and finds that the most notable of the three players to have accomplished a Triple Milestone while playing in the minors at some point during 2007 was Ryan Braun, who, including his time at AAA Nashville, posted a .327-44-119 line.

Gilbert's entire article, in .doc format, can be found right here.

Chad Gaudin	Jason Jennings
6 - 1, 2.43	0 - 1, 2.70

Chunky Jason Jennings and his 86-mph fastball try to turn things around today against an Oakland team that will hopefully be more concerned about making its flight.

Sound-barrier velocity or no, JJ is clearly the best National League starter without a win yet, and here's hoping we can't say that tonight.

National League Starters Without A Win
Min. 1 GS, 20 IP

PLAYER	TEAM	GS	L	IP	ERA	WHIP
Jason Jennings	HOU	5	1	30	2.70	1.10
Angel Guzman	CHC	3	1	30 1/3	3.56	1.36
Eric Milton	CIN	6	4	31 1/3	5.17	1.54
Anthony Reyes	STL	9	8	50 1/3	6.08	1.36
Mike Pelfrey	NYM	6	5	30 1/3	6.53	1.76
Kirk Saarloos	CIN	2	4	23	7.04	1.70
Jerome Williams	WAS	6	5	30	7.20	1.73
Tony Armas	PIT	7	3	32 1/3	8.07	2.06
Mark Redman	ATL	5	4	21 2/3	11.63	2.31

Dan Wheeler is having a bad year, there's no way around it, and that bad year got worse last night. Even the main site had no choice but to pick up the story of Wheeler's shove of Sampson and run with it. ESPN used Wheeler's actions as the comeon in their frontpage link, and McTaggart mentioned the incident in the lead to his game story.

And you may have noticed The Crawfish Boxes has a new mascot this morning.

No-one, especially us, seems malicious in their coverage, but it's still a shame. Wheels has been the best setup man in baseball the last two years, but he becomes most famous today for an action that anyone who has followed the Astros these past 3 years knows is extremely uncharacteristic of an excellent team player, and never mind whether he's got a temper or not.

As someone with something of a fiery disposition myself, I'm not gonna hold this against Wheels. It's already been a tough year for him. He's shown a weakness for the gopher ball which he so fastidiously avoided in '05 and '06, and the pitches that used to get missed are getting hit. After all that, last night had to be the ultimate in frustration for him. He made quality pitches as the payoff to six of seven atbats, and somehow still gave up five runs.

I'd have been pissed, too.

Anyway, I like the dog, I think it's funny, but I didn't want anyone to think I was down on Wheeler. I understand that the proof in situations like this is in the apology. Sampson may simply be presenting a united face to the media, but you know what? I don't think he is. I think that he understands what went down with Danny last night in the dugout, I think he's accepted Wheeler's apology, and I think they really will go back to being brothers.

Well the Astros are putting up a lot of runs against the Phils, but unfortunately, they are also giving up a lot of runs.  14 runs in two games is pathetic...  

I really hate games like this... not much to talk about.  Some people think the Astros got screwed over with some well time bad umping, but I don't know if I can put blame on the umpires.  I'm really just blank on things to say.  Ensberg had a good game, going 3 for 4 and raising his average to .278.  Other than that, basically everyone else was par or below.  

The 'Stros take on the Phillies again tomorrow.  Wandy Rodriguez takes the hill against Freddy Garcia at 12:35 pm.  

Kip Wells	Jason Jennings
0 - 0, 3.00	0 - 0, 1.50

Jason Jennings makes his 2nd start of the year against Kip Wells(also 2nd start).  Jennings had a nice outing last time out, showing that he can be an effective pitcher at the Juice box going 6 innings, giving up a run on 5 hits.  Hopefully he can follow that up with an equally respectable outing today.  Game starts at 1:05 pm.  Go 'Stros!

We were fortunate enough to gain more than a few new readers over the offseason, and now that the new season has started, I thought that I might make a slight introduction of some features that will be updated daily as the season progresses.

First is the Doodads table there below the diary list.  You've probably seen it before, it's things like number of shutouts, games with ten hits, high water mark, that sort of thing, again all updated daily.

There's also the the Winsplits, which are wins and losses broken down by number of runs scored and allowed, again updated after each game.  You can find a link to the Winsplits sheet under the Resources tab even farther down the page in the right sidebar.

There's also the Season cumulative winning and Pythagorean percentage charts.  A link to this is located under the standings tab on the right sidebar.  Right now, the link directs towards last year's charts, but I will be posting a new chart after four or five games.

And lastly, once we win a game, we will inaugurate 2007's Game Hero Awards, and a running toteboard will be kept as the most recent diary.

I do hope you find these useful as the season goes on.
 

Well the Astros started the season off on a low note... is it too early to be calling for Lidge's head?  Any other pitcher and I would be like "man that sucks... oh well; it's just a bad day."  But for Lidge, he's basically just left off exactly where he ended last season.  Get the first two batters out like a cake walk and whamo... blown save.  I can't really say I'm calling for his head after the first game... but damn it's tempting.  

I feel really bad for Roy... I mean come on, 7.2 innings of 5 hit, 1 run ball and you get a big nothing for it.  I will give Roy credit...  he was A+ in the interview after the game.  He answered every question as best as can possibly be expected, even though you know he wanted to just scream.  Oh well, I guess 60+ million in the bank kind of eases your pains...  

I didn't really want to do my typical here's what so and so did, blah blah like I will probably normally do after most games... I did want to just throw out some thoughts I had during the game.  Here they go!

Thank you Morgan for shaving... now I'm just waiting for them to update the image for when he's coming up to bat.  The whole rugged look just doesn't cut it for you.

Luke... why the red bat?  I thought bats were supposed to be brown or black(I actually thought it was against the rules to have another colored bat... except of course the pink bats... but that's a different story).  Oh well, nice hit with that red bat... maybe that red-hue is really red kryptonite.  You know what it does to superman!  Oh, and way to stretch that stand up single into a WTFWASTHATOUTAT2ND.  I think you were the only one that thought you were going to make it.  Jose has the easiest job in the game, just point at the base... that means stay here... oh and when you do something stupid like that... don't grin like a monkey afterwards... kthxbye.  

The post game announcer... who the hell was that red kneck guy in the post game show?  Please tell me I'm not going to have to listen to him for the rest of the season.  I'm really not into him at all.  It was nice to see JD and Brownie calling the game though... oh how I missed them.  

Carlos... 0 for 4 with 3 left on and hit into two double plays... okay the stats actually look worse on paper.  You got robbed by a hell of a play at 2nd for your 2nd double play and you were || too far under the ball and you would have been 1 for 4 with a dinger.  I'm not holding anything against you.  

69 more hits until 3000.  As expected, the Astros have a hit counter up marking how many hits Biggio has.  I thought it would have been a little cooler to have a countdown until 3k, but I guess what they have will do.  So... will Biggio break the record for HBP first or get 3000 hits first?  I'm not really sure he'll get the HBP record(all time that is, he already has the modern record).  Bidge sits at 282, only 5 behind Hughie Jennings who sits at 287.  

Am I the only person that after the home run against Lidge just shook my head and said "here we go again?"  

Next up, the undefeated Pirates, Jason Jennings VS Ian Snell at 7:05 pm tomorrow.

Andrea Adelson | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted March 7, 2007

KISSIMMEE -- Craig Biggio looks the part, doesn't he? Looks like he was born to be a baseball player, born to become the current face of the Houston Astros franchise, to one day end up in the Hall of Fame.

What other way is there to explain what he has done? He has been loyal, consistent. He knows how to get the clutch hit, make sacrifices for the team without disagreement and always plays tough.

As Biggio enters his 20th season with the Astros, it wasn't ever certain, or obvious, that he would wind up here, on the brink of 3,000 hits. He nearly ended up in a much different place altogether.

Back in high school on Long Island, Biggio thought he was born to be a football player. He set the school record for single-season rushing yards, which stood for 22 years until a kid named Joe Montemurro broke it this year.

More...

I just thought this was a pretty decent article on Craig. Not really anything new that I didn't already know . . . but still a good article nonetheless.

John Lopez (not my favorite writer all time, but there are worse) seems basically shocked that the Astros probably won't have Pence on the opening day roster. Ya he's batting .750 for the spring... all what, 5 games? I still think it's too early to be shooing Pence into the 3000 hit category... but I'm by no means saying that if he keeps up his torrid numbers, that he shouldn't be on the opening day roster.

You all may remember a couple of weeks ago, I had written an entry in which I savaged Spring Training Invitee Bran Moehler, both in concept and in the reality. I stopped short of saying disparaging things about the Moehler bloodlines, but you'd have had to have picked through the post fairly thoroughly if you were the guy's PR agent, and wanted to find something useful for the old databank.

I think I might have said that Moehler might end up being useful at Round Rock, although in other parts I expressed skepticism at that, too.

Well, shows how much I know.

Turns out, the guy's a certified Winner^©, at least when he's wearing an Astros uniform.

Who'd a thunk it?

I first became aware of Moehler's hidden dominance through our old friend David Pinto, who runs the Baseball Musings website. Pinto has invented another one of his semi-famous web apps. This one can tell you what the record of any team was when any particular player made an appearance in a game.

What has the Mets' record been when Pedro Martinez has pitched? Or how about the Cubs with Kerry Wood?

Pinto's tool is specifically designed for questions such as these.

Here's the link to the tool, when it has been instructed to hunt for all Astros since the club's Opening Game at Colt Stadium in 1962.

A word of warning: it takes a bit of time, and if you 're still using dial-up, you paleolithic netsurfer you, well, you probably wanna skip it.

The highlights are right here, anyway, and yes indeedy, that is Brian Moehler you see at the top, a bright shiny 1.000 winning percentage for the Astros in all games during which he made an appearance.

Say it, savor the way it rolls off your tongue: The Astros never lose when Moehler makes an appearance!

Sign him up, Timmy P! And you better pencil in Gimenez as backup catcher this summer, while you're at it.

Top Ten Players in Astros History, by Win Percentage

Player	W	L	WPCT
Brian Moehler	3	0	1.000
Hector Gimenez	2	0	1.000
John Paciorek	1	0	1.000
Jeremy Griffiths	1	0	1.000
Philip Barzilla	1	0	1.000
Dwight Gooden	1	0	1.000
Sid Fernandez	1	0	1.000
Randy Johnson	10	1	.909
Jason Alfaro	6	1	.857
Dan Driessen	14	3	.824

OK; I know I'm being silly. If the table above has any meaning beyond "Randy Johnson kicked some ass for a short while," and a curt re-telling of the legend of John Paciorek, then it escapes me.

But what if we filtered out the small sample noise? Would that extract any useful dope?

Top Twelve, Over 100 Games Played

Player	W	L	WPCT	Games
Billy Wagner	342	121	.739	463
Brad Lidge	220	92	.705	312
Doug Jones	102	49	.675	151
Glen Barker	153	82	.651	235
Octavio Dotel	193	109	.639	302
Eric Bruntlett	151	89	.629	240
Roy Oswalt	119	71	.626	190
Dan Wheeler	97	63	.606	160
Mike Hampton	118	79	.599	197
Carl Everett	151	105	.590	256
Dave Smith	331	232	.588	553
Wade Miller	77	54	.588	126

Hmmm. Three closers at the top of the list is not surprising. These guys only come into the game when the Astros are winning, so it's a bit easier for them to get the W. Setup men Dotel and Wheeler, like their ninth inning brethren, also generally entered the game when Houston was leading. Although the patterns weren't quite as entrenched in the 80's, you can say the same thing about Dave Smith. And Roy Oswalt, Mike Hampton, and Wade Miller are more or less dominant pitchers in the Astros history books.

At first I was surprised to see Barker and Bruntlett, but they, too, mostly entered the game with the Astros ahead, as defensive replacements.

As fun as Pinto's toy might be, I still don't see where we've gained any major insight.

Although the trivia factor is sky-high.

Here are some other players, picked for current relevance, or sheer perversity:

Some Others

Player	W	L	WPCT	Games
Carlo$ Beltran	54	36	.600	160
Jason Lane	243	182	.572	425
Mike Scott	148	116	.561	264
Roger Clemens	47	37	.560	84
Nolan Ryan	151	131	.535	282
Mitch Meluskey	60	87	.408	147
Jim York	28	86	.246	114
Gary Kroll	0	10	.000	10
Oscar Zamora	0	10	.000	10

Righthand reliever Jim York pitched for the team between 1972 and 1975, finishing in Houston for the worst team in franchise history. In terms of the wins and losses we are looking at here, he is the losingest player in team history who appeared in 100 games or more.

Kroll was also a righthanded reliever for a half-season in 1966 before being sold to the Indians. Zamora spent a good deal of time in the Astros' organization in the late '60's and early 70's. He actually threw a seven-inning perfect game for AAA Oklahoma City in 1972, before leaving the organization, then finished his career with Houston in 1978, throwing 15 innings, going 0 - 0 with a 7.20.

Kroll and Zamora are the franchise's all-time Bad-Luck Schleprocks: no players in team history appeared more often without ending up at least once on the victorious side.

David Pinto at Baseball Musings

I must be missing something about Hirsh. While his minor league numbers are good, they don't scream superstar. Maybe the Rockies really like his low home run rate. But his K and BB rates are good, not great.

If the Astros can sign Jennings long term, I think it's a fair trade for both teams.

Ken Rosenthal at CBS Sportsline

In a trade that sparked immediate criticism from rival executives, the Astros parted with three players Tuesday -- including top pitching prospect Jason Hirsh -- to acquire right-hander Jason Jennings from the Rockies.

The Astros exchanged Hirsh, right-hander Taylor Buchholz and center fielder Willy Taveras for Jennings and right-hander Miguel Asencio -- a steep price, considering that Jennings is a free agent after this season.
"I wouldn't have traded Hirsh for Jennings straight up," one executive said.

Scott Miller at Fox

They need to make their plans before Pettitte, Clemens, Beltran or anybody else does it for them. In acquiring Jennings, a serviceable right-hander who was 9-13 with a 3.78 ERA for Colorado last season, they take a step in that direction. The big concern, though, is Jennings is free-agent eligible following the 2007 season, and Hirsh, Buchholz and Taveras will be a steep price to pay if the Astros don't keep Jennings.

Mark Donohue at Bad Altitude, a Rockies Blog

Jennings had a VORP of 50.8 last year, the highest on the Rockies' pitching staff and indeed one of the highest in the majors. A lot of his value comes from the high number of innings he will log, but don't believe all these dismissive reports about his being "only" a third or fourth starter.

Which rotations are these that have three better starters than Jason Jennings? The Rockies are going to have a very difficult time replacing Jennings. Jason Hirsh is a big-deal prospect, but he's not going to be a 50 VORP player in his first full year in the bigs. Besides, there is absolutely no telling whether Hirsh will be one of the multitude of pitchers who simply can't make the adjustment to Coors Field. Buchholz, whose best pitch is his curve, is an even likelier candidate for Mike Hampton syndrome.

Most conversation that I can see this morning is focused on an extension for Jennings, who can walk after 2007 as it stands right now. In their story yesterday, Purple Row had said that they were "expecting that the Astros must have a contract extension already mostly finished."

Now the official site tells us that, well, "'the Astros hadn't discussed an extension with Jennings yet, and Jennings said he hadn't thought about his contract since hearing the news that he'd been traded."

Excuse me, but isn't that, I dunno, negligent? Isn't that kind of bush?

We paid way too much for Jennings, but never mind that. If this deal has any hope of ever appearing on the positive side of the ledger for the Astros, Jason Jennings has got to be good, and good for many years. Jennings needs to be an Astro in 2007, and well beyond. Right now, we have no insurance. Right now, Jennings could have a nice year in '07--and then Astros fans could watch a gleeful JJ play the sure-to-be-absurd '08 free agent pitching market and a) fleece us or b) walk.

Because he's from Baylor means he wouldn't leave Houston?

C'mon.

Everyone is assuming an extension's been done, but T-Purp tells us it hasn't even been discussed. Either I'm way off base here, or something is very, very wrong.

I'm not one of those who feels that Purpura is just a puppet. Sure, McLane makes all the big calls, Clemens/Bagwell type stuff, but I've gotta believe that Tim orchestrates everything else. And to call a major league GM "stupid" is laughable; you know these guys are sharp.

But I think we as Astrofans need some explanation.