Ruckdad

Again with the Willy T talk - Willy T is a mediocre MLB player - at best. There are currently 84 players in the National League that have the requisite number of plate appearances to qualify for league leader status. Of those 84, Willy T is 81st in OPS - the most accepted statistic for overall offensive quality. (Bourn is 84th). Willy T is batting .244 with a .296 OBP and is slugging .301. Not a good player. At least with Bourn there is some upside since he is only a rookie. Bourn may not be the answer, but Willy T wasn't either. Lidge was done here. He needed the change of scenery. Woody was a reach, but you can't blame Ed Wade for that. In fact the only player you mentioned inolved in a Wade transaction was Lidge - who had no future here. You can put as much blame as you want on Tim Purpura. for that matter you can put as much blame as you want for the team's current situation on Drayton McLane and Tal Smith. For what it's worth, Ed Wade came in and did what he could. He strengthened the bullpen and overhauled the offense. Everyone knew that the SP was the weakness of this team - as it has shown. My problem though is with the front office (Drayton) not accepting the fact that we can't contend and selling the fans a bill of goods that this team can win a championship. It's time to start rebuilding - and that's not a bad word Uncle Drayton!

Where do I get tickets?

Terror - Obviously, I can't speak to any results in Softball or Football, since we haven't had either of those sports in the time frame you listed, but since 2004, Lamar has won the Southland Conference in Baseball, Women's Volleyball, Men's cross country, split a conference championship in Men's Basketball and won four straight golf championships and finished third in the country in 2007. I think we are holding our own.

Booger - The front office can't do that either. If they let Coop go now, they basically declare their own ineptitude by hiring the guy in the first place. They have to give him some leash to see what he can do. Now at the end of the year, he and Willie Randolph will likely be fishing on the weekends together and in the unemployment line together on Monday morning.

There are a couple of problems that the Astros have with the trading deadline coming up. First, all their tradable commodities (that have value) are veterans with no-trade clauses. That means if Ed Wade wants to trade Oswalt, Lee or (God forbid) Berkman, he has to okay it with them before it can be finalized. Second, what are you really going to get for these guys. The Indians traded awar C.C. Sabathia (Cy Young winner last year) for one solid Major League prospect. We need more younger talent that that for trading Oswalt to make any sense since he is signed for the next several years. Finally, trading away big names is not what Uncle Drayton likes to do. He would still have us believe that this team is capable of contending for a World Series this year. I think Ed Wade can do the job, but I don't think Drayton will allow him to.

I agree....Willy T wasn't the greatest, however, the Astros have been trying to replace him ever since he left. Hit .288 first two seasons. IMO the Astros gave up on him way too quickly. Bourne has been a huge disappointment, at least in the leadoff spot. To Bourne's credit, he hit much better when moved to the 7-hole ( raised his average about 25 points ). So what does Cooper do, yep move him back to the leadoff spot. ??? ??? ??? oh and lets think back to who we gave up willy t for, JASON JENNINGS! where is he this year? no one knows! willy t is just like kenny lofton, astros had them early on.. gave up on both of them too early. So now you are wanting to give up on Bourn? He has more upside that Taveras ever had, plus he's a local kid and has WORLD CLASS speed. There's fast, there's really fast and then there's Michael Bourn fast.

Why are some people so enamored with Willy T? He was no better a lead off hitter than Bourne is and had absolutely no pop in his bat.

C'mon UNLV, that last post was just bad. You call McNeese small time, what will that make us when they routinely smash us for the first few years?

Coop - I agree but I'd keep Pence ( he's young, talented and under Astros control for a few more years). The problem with Roy, Puma and Lee is they all have no trade clauses. Plus Lee has a ton of money still coming to him. Tejada is now obviously on the down side of his career. Berkman and Roy -O are your two most likely trade commodities, but if youdo that the fans will be upset. It's going to take a couple more years of good drafts to get this team competitive again, and by that time, Lee, Berkamn and Roy will all be towards the end, though hopefully still productive.

AJ - how can you say that - based on the last couple of playoff teams the Astros have had and even the 200 and 2007 teams. From 2005 to 2007 the Astros had a laughable offense. The 2005 WS team was nothing but pitching and defense. The last time the Astros had a respectable offensive team was in 2004, and that was really only after the addition of Carlos Beltran. And we can't really pin much of the problems on the current front office. The majority of the problems the Stros face currently are because of mismanagement under Timmy P. Of course Drayton has a say in all that as well, but Drayton has shown he will open the purse strings when necessary to add a piece to a contending team (Randy Johnson, Carlos Beltran, Moises Alou and some others). So to say that the front office typically eschews pitching for offense is just wrong. Maybe you are thinking of the Rangers front office.

I am sure that with as much as we have heard about the walk on program, Coach Woodard will make it easily accessible to the student body. The internet site is one way of doing that. Who knows what he has planned to do on campus to get the word out as well. Ads in the University Press, flyers on walls and message boards, all kind of stuff he can do. Plus, I think the guys that are even condiering trying to walk on that are already on campus have probably heard about the program.

I agree, because we are relying on guys that would be marginal 4th - 5th starters on most rosters to be 2nd and 3rd starters here. Don't look for it to get any better in the next year or possibly two, either.

AJ - It's more than his last two starts. In the month of June he is 0-3 with a 9+ ERA. HIs last 10starts April 30 - 5.0 IP, 7hits, 5 earned runs May 6 - 7 IP, 8 hits, 4 earned runs May 11 - 6IP, 7 hits, 2 earned runs (quality start) May 16 - 3.1 IP 6 hits, 5 earned runs (BAD) May 21 - 7 IP, 5 hits, 3 earned runs (quality start) May 27 - 7IP, 7 hits, 2 Earned runs (quality start) And now it gets bad June 1 - 1ip - 4 earned runs June 7 - 5 Ip, 10 hits, 7 earned runs June 13 - 6.1 IP 1 earned run (quality start) June 19 - 5IP, 8 hits and 6 earned runs (BAD) 4 quality starts in his last 10 - was signed by the club after the start of spring training because no one else had signed him to start either. And if we can even debate the idea that Shawn Chacon is/was the Astros best pitcher of the year, then the Astros are in sad, sad shape.

What do you call typical? Making the playoffs - not this year! A winning season - not this year! If typical consists of what they did last year - then yes.

Well three of the top ten picks in this year's draft were catchers, so - there are other schools of thought out there.

But look at the guys that are catching now and getting it done with the bat. Joe Mauer Brian Mccann Russell MArtin Jason Varitek Gerald Laird Ryan Dooumit All came from the draft and developed in the minors as catchers. I think the Astros reached a little bit with this pick but I have been watching him play these last couple weeks and I have been impressed.

I couldn't imagine they would be expensive at all. When I was at Tech we bought season tickets for $99 (and they weren't bad seats) in 2004.

Man - I'm hemorrhaging karma - 14 straight "smites" - I feel like the Astros!

No we need to WIN, WIN, WIN!

The Golf Channel is reporting that Tiger has a stress fracture in his knee and also needs an ACL repair. Tiger will take the rest of 2008 off and come back at full strength for 2009.

A couple of things. I don't like what Graham did to Rice. Plus he pulled out of a game against Tech this year at a time when it was difficult to find another opponent. Hence, Tech is stuck with Eastern Washington on their schedule.

I hate the DH - always have. I just don't think it is the way the game is suppossed to be played.

My dream foursome - with all in their prime - would be to see Tiger at Augusta against JAck Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan. I still think Jack would win on most occassions.

I hope Tulsa goes 0-12 this year.

Actually I think the low point was losing 13-0 and then having your manager melt down in the presser afterwards. The train is off the track fellas and it is going to be ugly the rest of the summer. There is no joy at Minute Maid Park - except for the displaced Cubs fans. I stand by my 72-90 preseason prediction.