One thing I've learned for certain is: Never introduce your blog to the waiting world the same week the videocard to your antique computer goes belly up. I hope that any visitors stopping by last night will excuse the absence of a game log, and that any tonight should they find such a state of affairs again, will be charitable as well. Repairing the dread computational beast has been quite the project, and has kept me from what I'd most love to be doing, and that is keeping a proper blog.
Monday night I stripped the computer down. Tuesday I screwed the parts back onto the new motherboard in the new case, and tonight I plug it in and fix whatever it is I might've screwed up.
Believe me, I'd rather be watching baseball, even closely-matched contests that go oh-so-quickly awry like Tuesday's game.
I'm so often wrong in my prognostications that I can't help but notice that I had the general idea of last night's game pretty well sussed: Astacio performing fairly well, and no-decisioned despite giving up a homer or two; and the game being decided late. The only thing I couldn't have guessed was that in a span of about ten pitches in the eighth, the game would get away from both Chad Qualls and the Astros with neck-snapping quickness. I never would have guessed a four-pitch walk to Heavy D with two on and none out in the eighth, never ever.
Although, by the eighth, I did have a pretty good idea that Craig Wilson was gonna drive somebody in, when he came up with the three RISP. Here I'm thinking for the first month that Wilson's chopping the long locks has bleached him of power Samson-style, and then he goes and has his breakout crewcut game vs. the 'Stros. . . .
Ah well; the Warrant look--and the Astros' three game win streak--are history.
But again, I'm actually feeling a little emboldened here, and since odds are the game thread is not gonna happen, I will instead go for another afternoon prediction. My guess is that by midnight Roger Clemens will be the winningest major league pitcher alive. Frustrated four straight times by the Astros impotent offense, I'm gonna go ahead and predict Rocket gives up 3 over seven but wins tonight when leadoff hitter Taveras, leftfielder Lamb and the other constituents of the most interesting lineup presented so far this season score 7 times vs. Mark Redman.
Wish me luck on my computer; if I get it, maybe I'll check in around the fifth . . .
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