Parity Violation

So, ESPN – either Sportscenter or Baseball Tonight, had some feature yesterday (I think) on the Astros Greatest Homeruns. Now, I saw this today – without audio – while eating lunch and I wasn’t really paying attention. I’d be very curious as to what they said the greatest Astro home run was. I humbly offer up my list, heavily biased towards events that occurred in my own lifetime, and even more biased towards games in which I was in attendance. It’s more of my favorite home runs than a list of “the greatest.”

This list is not in any particular order, except my own personal favorite home run which will appear at the end.

• Billy Hatcher vs. Mets – 1986 NCLS, Game 6 Yes, the Astros lost the game, but Hatcher’s game-tying 14th inning home run added more drama to what many believe is the greatest baseball game ever played.

• Chris Burke vs. Braves – 2005 NLDS, Game 4 The longest playoff game in baseball history (and I was there for all 18 innings of it) ended suddenly and unexpectedly with Burke’s walkoff homer. I, for one, never thought Burke would be the guy to hit one out. This game was exhausting – not just do to the length, but the emotional toll of each inning. What a great ending.

• Craig Biggio vs. Braves – 2004 NLDS, Game 4 We lost this game. However, Biggio’s home run gave us an early lead and was, as my friend Dave said at the time, “the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” At that moment, it was as if Astros fans truly believed it might really happen – we might actually win a playoff series!

• Jeff Bagwell vs. Braves – 2004 NLDS, Game 5 This was it. Bagwell had blown it wide open. We were going to the NLCS again – for sure. I was jumping up and down “yes! yes! yes!” I knew the Astros had finally done it.

• Lance Berkman vs. Braves – 2005 NLDS, Game 5 Yeah, it only brought us within 1 run, and yes Ausmus’s homerun later really tied the game up, and it’s not even on the list, but Berkman’s grand slam was pretty amazing anyway.

• Jeff Kent vs. Cardinals – 2004 NLCS This home run, for some reason, was less exciting when I saw it then it should have been. And we did end up losing the NLCS that year. But, it made for a pretty exciting end to a well-pitched game by Backe.

• Lance Berkman vs. Cardinals – 2001 regular season Hmm, ok this really isn’t “great” it’s just one I remember because Tony LaRussa brought in some lame lefthander to face Lance and he launched a home run leading to an Astros win and the NL Central crown.

And now for my personal favorite

• Lance Berkman vs. Cardinals- 2005 NCLS, Game 5 The Astros lost this game, and had to wait until Game 6 to claim the NL pennant, but when Lance hit this shot it was simply pandemonium at Minute Maid Park. We had a lead, we were going to the World Series – it was all going to happen, it finally seemed real. I was jumping around like a lunatic, I think I clutched the arm of some stranger next to me when the ball first was aloft. No one sat down in Minute Maid for the next 1 1/2 innings. Damn, I wish they’d won that game. :-/

Anyway, I’m omitting several decades of Astros history so if any Astros fans are reading this, post your own favorite home run.

Astros put up a crooked number in the 8th and look well on their way to winning their first game out in Cincy. Berkman finally got an RBI and Lane added a big home run. No hits for Biggio though. He needs to work some walks, 0 walks for the season – that’s crazy. He used to walk a lot.

My cable company, however, is really incompetent. I bought the “Extra Innings” package (financed by some eBay sales) so I could watch the Astros here. Now, inDemand who handles these sports packages has fourteen GAME channels that they show hockey and baseball games on. Earlier this year, they added four more channels, so previously they were just ten GAME channels.

But, my cable company and others struggled to get the four additional GAME channels added, which meant I was missing several baseball games every night (including the Astros) – a problem that is somewhat widespread. Now ,even though the channels at least exist, there was no picture on the Astros Reds game, so I missed the Astros rally and win.

The tech support crew are all nice enough, but they only know how to do two things – reset the box, or schedule a technician to come out. They seem unaware of any system wide problems and unable to see if the problems are bigger than just my lonely tv.

Anyway, someone on the email end of the cable company seems competent, so I emailed again and we’ll see if gets fixed. I’ll be out of town for a bit, so hopefully it’ll work properly once I get back. Knock on wood.

The Astros acquired pitcher Jason Jennings today from the Rockies for Willy Taveras, Jason Hirsch and Taylor Bulchholz. I don’t know how I feel about this. Hirsch could be really good some day. Taveras is pretty much all the team’s speed and is good defensively.

Man it sucks Drayton wouldn’t pay the piper for Pettitte… this helps the rotation somewhat, I guess. We’ll see how it goes.

How many times have you seen some dumb fan reach for a fair ball down the first base line – turning it into a ground-rule double and perhaps rob his or her own team of a run? I’ve seen it happen, and I almost saw it happen last year at a critical moment for the Astros.

The Cardinals, at least in the playoffs, seem to have bright people down the first base line because in the fourth inning of game 3 of the World Series tonight, two balls were rocketed down the first base line bouncing in to the stands once, and hitting right up against the stands the second time. Both times, the St. Louis fans nearby made a distinct effort to stay away from the bal – raising their hands even to make it clear they weren’t trying to pull anything.

Maybe in any World Series game and in any city, the fans would be paying enough attention to keep away from a fair ball near the stands. Or maybe the fans in St. Louis really are more knowledgeable than in other cities.

Either way, a tip of the cap to the two fans who were sitting down there – I may be setting the bar low, but I was impressed.

Well, it just wasn’t meant to be. The Brewers were doing their part, beating the Cardinals 5-0, but the Astros couldn’t get any timely hits today. They left a lot of runners in scoring position and scored only one run even though they had nine hits. Their defense wasn’t crisp, either.

Still, they played ferociously this last week or two, and never phoned it in or gave up, but came up a few games short. We’ll just have to wait until next year.

Whew. The Astros still have a chance. They have to win, and need to the Cardinals to lose twice. But, it’s not over until it’s over.

The Astros won again today making it nine in a row. The Cardinals are down 8-0 in the 3rd inning. Repeat, 8-0. It looks like they’re going to lose their 8th game of the last nine. If the Padres hadn’t been dumb enough to pitch to Pujols last night in the 8th inning, the Cardinals would be looking at nine straight losses and second place. As it stands, unless they have a monumental comeback, they’ll be down to a 1/2 game lead with four games left.

Simply unbelievable. I’m not sure I even believe it. So skeptical was I, that this might be the first year ever that the Astros play in the NLDS and I don’t go, because apparently the darn thing has already sold out.

Do you believe yet?

• Update 9-1! The Padres have the bases loaded with one out.

Well, MLB.com pulled their podcasts from the iTunes directory and Seeking Alpha went to suggest that somehow this might mean iTunes is losing their best content.

Where to begin. It’s full of weird statements. Take this:

Since iTunes debuted its podcast directory more than a year ago, the company has offered no information about the popularity of podcasts other than it’s odd ranking charts based on subscriptions over the past 24 hours. Apple gives podcasters no idea how popular their shows are. And podcasters looking for visibility in the directory, like MLB, have little idea how to influence display.

Well, the podcast directory doesn’t host any content. It just provides links to the RSS feeds that others host. So, MLB.com knows exactly how many people are downloading their podcasts, and my guess is their server logs can tell them the referrer or the agent and they know how many people download it with iTunes too.

Bowman says says MLB.com, itself delivering something like 30,000 podcasts a day, wants to be THE source for its programming. All the better to keep a larger share of revenues, from fees or advertising.

Um, again – there’s no revenue sharing with being listed on the podcast directory. It’s just a way to find podcasts that people host on their own sites and servers. Podcasts are free. An mlb.com podcast subscribed to via iTunes is downloaded from mlb.com just the way it is if you got to mlb.com “itself.”

Now, as far as other iTunes content goes, yes obviously Apple gets some of the money when they sell a TV show or what have you – but selling content on iTunes doesn’t stop a network from selling it anywhere else, and frankly all the non-iTunes means don’t play on iPods nor do they work with Macs. Why invest in a complex content delivery system that works poorly (can you say Amazon Unbox) rather than just go with someone who knows what they’re doing.

But, the author seems to have no idea how podcasts work nor how the iTunes podcast directory works. Nor, for that matter, does MLB.com really know what they’re doing either. I can still subscribe to free MLB.com podcasts in iTunes, it just takes one extra step now. I don’t know what they think they’re accomplishing by making their podcasts harder to find.

A historic collapse in the making! That’s what the buzz is on the St. Louis Cardinals as their gigantic NL Central lead has been whittled to 1 1/2 games. The Astros have won 7 straight, and the Cardinals have lost 7 straight. Early today, when that 7 was a 6, a St. Louis newspaper man was already comparing the Cardinals to the 1964 Phillies. That is not a comparison a Cardinals fan would want.

Meanwhile, the Astros fear no reprisal. Despite being virtually dead, 8 1/2 games out or worse, they went and swept the Cardinals, and have started their road trip 2-0. They’re playing their best baseball of the season.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, have major bullpen issues. Case in point – Chris Carpenter stayed in tonight’s game in the 7th even as he was laboring and well over 100 pitches. But, there’s no safer bet in the Cards’ bullpen, so he stayed out there, giving up a go-ahead double which would hold up as the Padres won.

This could be a historic collapse, as the Baseball Tonight guys kept saying. A big difference between this year and 1964 is that there were no 24 hour sports news networks back then, nor general media frenzy. My guess is this spectre of collapse is weighing a bit heavy around the Cardinals.

Of course, it could just as easily turn out like 2001. The red-hot Cards just wouldn’t lose, while the Astros were stinking it up, losing horribly to the Giants and Barry Bonds 73-home-run season. But, the Astros righted the ship, took 2 out 3 in St. Louis the last series, and won the Central.

The Cards could flounder for 2 more days, and the recoup and still win the division. But, it’s great to see the Astros making it interesting and fighting the good fight.

However, for next year, could the Astros please win 100+ games and clinch the division on like September 15 or so? These down-to-the-wire finishes might be fun, but I like the idea of a stress free September where the Astros cruise to the playoffs. I haven’t had won since 1998.

Well well. I had written the Astros off about 3-4 times during the current road trip, but each time I had left them for dead … they managed to win a game. They finished the road trip 6-5. Shocking.

As Lance Berkman said, they really have to win 10 games straight to have a shot at making the playoffs. Maybe they can do it. They did a similar feat in 2004. They really don’t know how to make it easy. In my years as an Astros fan the only stress free year I had was 1998 when they coasted to the division crown and won 102 games. Every year since it’s been a manic run to make the playoffs.

And how about Willy T? 30 game hit streak. Very impressive. Still barely halfway to the magic number of 56. I hope he continues the streak on the homestand, that should make for some additional excitement.

Two years ago today, the Astros started a thirteen game winning streak. Of course, they were already at .500 at the time. Still, the NL is much weaker this year than then. They could yet well pull it off. This homestand starting this week would be a good place to start a big winning streak.