Question

Do the Astros' failures translate into me not enjoying baseball?

I turned on some Dodgers game the other day, and as I'm watching it all I can think about is how the Astros are so terrible. After a while I just turned the TV off again. Probably didn't even watch a whole inning.

I used to like baseball, no matter who was playing.

Sad faces?

quickly

Don't want to go a month without a post.

Totally need to just delete this thing but whatever.

*Jake Peavey couldn't help us if he won 18 games and hit 10 homeruns in the next 4 months*

That's all I got. Stop calling into sports radio saying we should try to get Jake Peavey because he's good friends with Roy.

This is futile.

I haven't watched an Astros game in a while, work schedule was thrown off these last 2 weeks... It sucks. It's not like I'm missing anything though.

Anyways. This is a lame attempt to try and defend some music opinions I have, because I'm tired of people telling me how crappy my music is.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Give me a better argument than "Down South Hillbilly Wanna Be Country Shit Music." Yes, you don't like listening to them, give me specific examples and I will awesomely say "Hey I respect that opinion." If you are trying to convince me that I'm a retard for listening to them, and you say "Because they are crappy southern rock hillbillys" please leave my sight, for you have failed horribly at debating your cause.

Metal/Core - Anything that is mostly detuned guitars, blazing riffs, and some dude screaming his ass off. This one is hard to try to defend. I understand how people can't handle the screaming. It's ok, I'm not trying to convince you to like it. But occasionally I'll run into a guy who wants to argue that it's "Not Metal." Who knows what the fuck is "metal" now? I'm glad I've met the end-all-be-all of metal labeling. Give me your number so I may call you everytime I have to ask what metal is.

Guns N Roses - November Rain - You will never convince me that this song sucks. Stop trying. I don't care how much of a douche Axl is. If I'm at your house or something, change the song. If you're at my place and it's on, shut the fuck up or walk away.

Also honorable mentions are Mid Nineties Metallica, Old Korn, and Tool. Metallica changed their pace, it's not worth breaking shit over. Change happens. Get over it. The older Korn stuff I can still play. I don't like the last 10 years or so, but to each his own. And tool... I love tool. You can always tell the guy talking about how Tool sucks has never really listened to them. One of his buddies told him that tool sucks and hes just replaying the same message in his head to sound cool.

NOW! Flame me for my disgusting musical opinions. I'm sorry I like popular stuff!!! Elitists, tear me down!!!

Winning streak!

Take some notes Astros.

Possible reasons for the Astros to be off in the middle of a series.

-They needed a day to rest their legs from running all those bases.

-They booked Hunter Pence in a hotel with a glass sliding door.

-Kaz's needed a day to walk around and say "You have no marbles!"

-They're watching Major League 1 & 2. See above reason.

-Lance and Roy needed they day to figure out if they are going to drop their no trade clause by July.

-The starting rotation needed to go bury their money somewhere (ya know, becuase they won't ever pitch again soon... thats a stretch I know)

They really need the whole day today to reflect on their performance of the past week? Seriously, thats not good. They need to be hitting balls right now to break out of this stuff.

To put -SOMETHING-ANYTHING- positive in a post, I'll say this: Hunter is looking a little more mature at the plate it seems. That or it only seems that way because he's the only one hitting anything. I've actually seem him take a pitch or 2 in the little time I've watched.

Zero's.

Hey, even in binary you need 1's.

Playing with ridiculously early numbers.

Batting
Runs - 16 - 29th in MLB
Hits - 50 - T-22 in MLB
Doubles - 5 - 30th in MLB
Team Average - .250 - 18th in MLB

Pitching
8 HRs given - Right in the middle of the pack
41 Strikeouts - Right in the middle of the pack
24 Walks - 16/low 33/high
Opponent On Base - .382 (!) - 28th
ERA - 6.23 - T-27th

We knew the pitching was going to be bad. There was only a little glimmer of hope inside of me that wanted the pitching to be better than we expected. Whats with the batting? Kyle Lohse retiring 24 straight? Watching these guys... there's not enough beer it seems.

It's getting very old bashing on these guys, yet there is nothing I can say good about this team. Albert Pujols continues his reign of King Everything Against Houston. 6 games is like 3% of the season, but it's sure easy to get discouraged about a 1-5 start. Roy gets hammered, our batting is crappy on epic levels, our farm system was unanimously ranked 30 of 30 in the MLB. Were we insane to listen to Cecil and everyone agree with him about the 90 game thing?

I hope they run like the next 10 straight to get our hopes up again.

Which one?

OR




We'll find out tonight.

Yea!

I have to admit, Jeff Keppinger is not a name I've ever heard before. I didn't get a chance to see the game last night either, so I'm a pretty bad fan. Keppinger obviously knows what to do to be on the Astros squad: Hit in the clutch. He must have heard about Chris Burke, or maybe even Orlando Palmeiro. Those guys didn't even need to hit .250, or develop into any kind of fielder.

In all seriousness, these are the kind of games we need to pull out. There were more than enough of these type of games last season to put us into the playoffs had we won them. Alas, we cannot bring players in scoring position home, and last season is history.

Here here for optimism!

Silver Boot

Me want Astros win!

This is supposed to be a hate-on-Dallas-type-thing, so I'll say fuck Dallas.

Actually the Rangers are winning the boot series 5-3, yet the Astros are winning the series 25-23. Split the series and it goes to runs scored, and the Rangers score runs. As I type this they are leading the Indians 7 to 1 on opening day.

Did you see the New York Times predictions for the American League?
Prediciting the Royals to win the central, well theres your "out of the blue" pick. Picking the Cubs and Yankees in the world series? Hey now don't get too crazy with those picks.

I think Mike Hampton sprained his eye lash driving to the stadium.

I heard the Astros invited Shane Reynolds (and others) to the opening day festivities. I think he could make the rotation.

Tonight:
Roy v Carlos!
Hunter Pence no blinking stare acid trippy thing!
Michael Bo...errr Lance Berkman! yeah there we go.
And probably alot of blue in the fucking stands, because Cub fans blow donkey balls.

Thanks Pittsburgh.

-This is where I talk about how times are tough and the Astros are suppose to take our mind off of real life and they are looking bleak, blah blah blah-

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAH.
FUCK ALL THAT THOUGH, THE PIRATES LOST TO A JUCO SCHOOL.

Whew.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Pittsburgh. Look, the computers have you guys finishing ahead of us in the division. I know that one game where you play your scrubs and you lose to a JuCo school is no indication of a teams' play... but atleast you get our minds off our horrible starting pitching, and we can make fun of a division rival.

As a guy on the radio said: "Look, you lost to a team named after an aquatic cow."

Pittsburgh will probably take the season series... again.

Tearing down the mailbox, one pessimistic comment after another.

Mailbag time!

>"Only four spots are available on the Astros: one starting pitcher, two catchers and a backup infielder who can play shortstop and second base. Abercrombie, an outfielder, and Johnson, a third baseman, probably won't make the cut..."

Well that sucks.

There's nothing to say about this. Just take a look at the roster and say "theres only one starting pitcher spot available." Don't worry, that puke taste in your mouth won't last too long. I feel like we're in the movie Major League, and Rachel Phelps is trying to move the team to Miami.

Imagine reading and then having to answer this question:
>"According to early reports, Russ Ortiz looks good. If Ortiz can get close to his 2004 form and makes the rotation, how much better do you think the staff is and who do you think will be the odd man out?"

I wouldn't want to. I would respond: Have you ever played 5 card draw poker? This is your hand: Jack of Hearts, 9 of spades, 7 of clubs, 5 of diamonds, and 3 of spades. Draw four... No. Fold. It's time to think longterm, and I would use the "bandaid" metaphor thing... but we aren't using bandaids anymore. The bandaid was falling off and now we are just duct taping the bandaid back on over and over.

>"...but I can see him pitching beyond the three years remaining on his contract. Oswalt doesn't care about stats or the Hall of Fame; he just wants to win a World Series. If the Houston's farm system indeed is back on track and churning out the Major League talent by then, and the Astros again are perennial playoff contenders, I think Oswalt might stretch his career out longer than he thinks he will..."

I love me some Roy. He's a great pitcher and he's doesn't care about much other than winning. He could have gotten more money somewhere else with his last contract. He could be out there whining and bitching about how our team resembles a pick up softball league team (zing!). He's not that guy. He's simply a bad ass.

I also share Footer's opinion on the matter of Roy hanging it up at the end of the contract. Somehow we build a team that is capable of winning more than half our games, he'll stick around.

What do you do?

Sorry guys, I don't care about spring training. I like seeing highlights though, but if Shitty Astro Pitcher X gives up 9 walks and schfourteen-teen thousand runs per inning, it doesn't matter.

So instead of posting more crap about what pisses me off or what songs I like right now or some other mindless babble.....

WHAT THE HELL IS THERE TO KEEP UP WITH IN FEBRUARY-APRIL "DEAD FUCKING ZONE OF SPORTS"


Basketball... I can't watch it. The pros try to make it interesting, yet everytime I hear "Well he's SoAndSo player, he is going to get that call" it makes me want to puke. Why? College ball is a little better I suppose, but I can complain alot about that too. Maybe I just don't like basketball.

Does anyone watch hockey? Can you watch hockey? I've only seen it at bars or highlights on espn. I could get into that, but it would take a full season for me to "get" the game.

I guess the tournament can be fun to talk about / have an office bracket. Hurry up with that though, Ive heard more sports talk radio about what hairspray the guys use or what color their car is... terrible.

unfuckingtitled

I've never really "got" the movies Office Space and Fight Club, until I worked in an office setting long enough to realize what these movies were really about.

Not all of these things I'm going to list will apply to everyone, but every office has their quirks and shit.

-Repetitive bullshit. Like the Edward Norton's character said. Everything is just a copy. A scanned in, photocopy of another thing. Sit in this chair behind this desk for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. Hey did you know that 40 hour weeks @ 50 weeks a year = 2000 hours? Did you know that you sleep an average of 2500 hours a year. Did you know that there's only 8760. In case you suck at math, Sleeping & Working (40h weeks) = ~50% of your life in a year.

-Co-workers retarded daily habits/noises/mannerisms. The guy I share my office with, sneezes no less than 75 times a day. He is a very loud sneezer. I don't want to say anything because its just me being annoyed all the time at work. But shouldn't you go see a doctor about that? This isn't a seasonal/allergy/cold thing. This is perpetual... all year long.

-"I've got 8 different bosses Bob. 8 Bosses." Yeah I've got like 5. It's fucking stupid, and just like Office Space, if something goes wrong, most of them let me know via yellin at me. I've got some old school bosses too, so if they need to lay into me they aren't holding back. None of this P.C. shit. "Listen, you need to fucking get the ball rolling, I'm tired of this shit where you don't do any fucking work"

"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won't. We're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. "

Materialism sucks. I'm caught up in it to an extent too I guess. I'm at work right now to pay for shit like a car, guitar shit, shiny fancy utterly worthless shit I suppose.

"Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day"

Yep. Can't agree with this more. Fuck this idea. The sound of people's voices in my office are enough to set me off into a fucking angry yelling match inside my head. That is not good, this means I'm not the type to sit in an office all day.

You see, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care. It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation?

Yeah, when you get paid trashcans, whats the fucking point? I don't work my ass off on purpose, because if I do more work and not get credit for it, my mind thinks its been cheated and goes into pissed off mode (which im in 90% of the time anyway, I don't need any help with this)

I should have called this blog Negative Nancy's hideout or something. Tune in next week for "completley mindless babble and ranting about how car squeaks and wind piss Lane off"

Stuff?

No idea how to title this post. The title should be something like "Questions I have for Jonathan and stuff I've recognized about myself that I need to change or find ways to moderate in respects to diet/working out and would like Jonathan's opinion of"

Ok.....

I looked into that Paleo stuff a little, but I'm confused. I get the whole natural food things, but damn I've read some crazy restrictions. Why are peanuts so bad... *must avoid* Green beans? I would have figured crazy old cavemen would have encounter those and eaten them at some point.

Maybe you wrote or linked this, but I remember reading about how your familys history could have something to do with how your body reacts to some foods. Example: *Rule: avoid rice* Though, if you are Chinese/Japanese, they've eaten rice so damn long that their genetics have possibly adapted? Maybe its all the fish they eat, I don't know.

The binge drinking and following hungover compulsive eating has got to stop at some point. When I drink, I DRINK. The last month I have been chronicling everything I've put into my body. Some Friday/Saturday's i've put up to 200 oz of bud light a night. Ridiculous. Still managed to LOSE a minimal amount of weight, even though I was trying to just maintain it. Which leads me to believe I've been losing more muscle than fat.

Do you plan stuff out before doing it, or are you one of those people who can just keep a routine without actively thinking about it? I've noticed in myself that I when I plan to do something, I can do it and get in a routine... then maybe a wrench gets thrown in there and I totally screw EVERYTHING up for as long as a week or 2. On a long enough timeline, everything just evens out... 2-3 weeks of doing everything right and a week of ignoring everything is just like a step forward and a step backwards.

Ehhhh, I can't wait for baseball season to start so we can type meaninglessly about how bad our 3rd basemen are, or how our second basemen is on pace for 3 homeruns in July.

There is like, nothing to post about.

Seriously.

I don't care about basketball. Football is dead. Baseball is still a ways away.

Random news:

• Texans apparently violated some rules about contact in minicamp or something. Who cares.
  
• Phelps ganja smoking? Why is this such a big deal?
  
• Crossfit stuff is still hurting me everytime I do it. I haven't got the nerve to try 3 in a week yet.
  
• Finally got a tube amp. It's great, but I still don't agree with those elitist guys who say solid state amps are terrible no matter what. Amp doesn't make the player.
  
• Uhhhh?

Meh.

Enshrined Guitarist - January

Forgot about this, Only got one day left.

No words to describe him are necessary.

Thanks for being my favorite guitarist ever.

Woot!

http://www.halfstreetblues.com/2009/01/whos-worst-franchise-in-baseball-not-us.html

"Keith Law from ESPN announced his 2009 organizational farm system rankings (ESPN Insider password required) this week, and the minor league system of your Washington Nationals ranked 29th out of 30 MLB franchises, ahead of the Houston Astros."

This has GOT to be posted on some kind of bulletin board @ the Astros front office.

fuck.

It's all scoreboard.

I swear this is the last one about college football for a while.

Can Texas get the 1 loss love for the next decade or so? Oklahoma proved once again that they don't deserve it right now. Stoops, aren't you like 1-7 in your bowl games now? Atleast Mack wins the fucking bowl games he gets.

Can we turn a new page next year regarding the favoritism showed to some teams?
Ohio State? ITS NOT 2002! Stop putting them at the fucking top, they play a weaaaaak fucking conference.
USC? They are pretty good every year but Jesus can they get an easier road to the championship game? WAKE THE FUCK UP PAC-10
Oklahoma, see last night. Go away.
Florida/LSU - I can't bitch too much, the SEC has been pretty good as of late and been taking care of business in the bowl games.

Not going to bitch about Texas, im a homer and they did get partially (PARTIALLY: see Utah) screwed.

Um. Friday. Yea.

One last college thing

I'm guilty of this, but I wish it would stop:

"Team x beat team y, but team z beat team x so automatically z > y."

Even the common opponent argument is crappy to me. No argument will ever be as great as arguing for a team that beat another team on the field of battle, and that is that.

I'm trying to not sound too much like sour grapes, but it will happen none-the-less. Since Texas had a tough time dispatching Ohio State, Florida and Oklahoma both could beat Texas easily - that's an easy and popular statement to make today, but this is far from being justifiable. There has been more than enough evidence show this year to think that Texas could beat any team in the country.

Now, someone make the case for Utah, because you know... that Alabama win.... well... let's just say that 13-0 looks nice.