Ruckdad

You can't just get rid of him in the offseason - you get nothing in return for him. Then, if you don't offer him arbitration you lose a draft pick. If he comes back after arbitration and he is still not right, you're paying probably 6-7 million dollars a year for a set up guy? They need to trade him and get as much young talent as possible so they can fix this thing without breaking the bank on high priced free agent acquisitions. No one said that making trades wasn't easy.

Scott Boras is what is wrong with baseball - There is no need for any player to be paid $30 million. For one year. Any Astros fan that thinks Uncle Drayton would open the purse strings that wide is fooling themselves.

He seems to be making adjustments on the fly and hitting the ball to all fields. That is the mark of a great hitter. When he has off nights, he works it out the next night and as he gets more major league experience, he will be able to maintain his aggressive style yet be more selective at the plate -some thing that Francoeur has been unable to do -- Francoeur will swing at anything!

I would call Atlanta first and see if you could get the Saltalamacchia kid from them. Probably not, but he would instantly take over the catcher's position and solidify that for 4-5 years. Other than that, I would start a bidding war between the Red Sox, Tigers and Indians and get as many prospects - of the highest quality - that I could. Of course, I don't trust Timmy P to do any of this!

If it return in fall of 2009, they better hurry up and make an announcement!

Actualy they have only done it two years, last year was more the Cardinals fallling completely off the map more than anything. I have to agree with Dennis here - this team is going nowhere. They are 14 games back and it's not even the allstar break yet. And there is no one aspect of this team that you can look to and say "This is what is going to keep us in the race." They don't have a potent offense, their bullpen is terrible, the starting pitching has been better than most thought it would be, but is still mediocre. Time to get as much value as you can from your tradeable commodities - Loretta, Lamb, Jennings, Qualls or Wheeler and Lidge. And if some sucker GM wants Ensberg - take whatever he offers you.

Denis - Speaking as an alum of LU - I would like to go and support MY university. I can DVR Notre Dame and Michigan and watch it later. And there aren't that many ties to Rice and UH in Beaumont anyway. Now, football at Lamar will never be like the events that occur in Austin or Baton Rouge, but if the student body gets involved, it can become a quality fun atmosphere. But the administration has to do it right, bring in the right coach and give him the resources to get the program competitive as soon as possible.

There I go mouthing off about Perryn Keys and he makes me stick my foot in my mouth. My apologies to Mr. Keys!

There's a great way to stir up fan support. How come no one in the Beaumont media ever gets behind anything that Lamar tries to do. The Enterprise never has anything positive to say about the University's athletic program. Perryn Keys is the worst, and this article was just as negative. Football would do so much to enhance the student life on campus. I didn't realize what I was missing on Saturdays in the fall until I went to grad school at Tech - and Saturdays are just awesome. If they get the program back up and running, I know there are a lot of local alumni and students that would be at games and there are plenty of good people in the Southeast Texas community with deep pockets that would love to get behind something like this. I hope Dr. Simmons has the stones to bring it back. If it was successful, it would definitely cement his lasting legacy on the University and the Golden Triangle.

I think this is a respectable schedule. Got some winnable games on there and some challenges as well. I would like to see us get rid of the St. Gregory's and Louisiana Colleges of the world and maybe play some more natural rivalry type games. Play U of H every year, schedule Louisian Lafayette and La Tech more often. You could even schedule some softies but make them more marketable, like Texas Southern or Prairie View. Maybe some of those fan bases would make the trip to Beaumont. But overall, this is a pretty good schedule. Really looking forward to games against Ole Miss, Texas Tech and the rematch against Sam HOuston. Games against McNeese are always fun and the games against Rice and BYU should be good ones as well.

Regarding Biggio, he is the face of this organization and will likely be the first Astro elected to the Hall. You have to let him get his 3000, but I agree that they have put that goal ahead of winning to this point in the season. of course, Uncle Drayton is running a business and I am sure he is making money on the Craid Biggio farewell tour. Plus, Biggio isn't putting out the lineup card every day either. For that matter, I'm not even sure that Phil Garner is putting out the lineup card everyday. Drayton probably has lineup cards printed for Garner that already have Biggio in the leadoff sport playing second and Garner just gets to fill out the rest. But however you feel about the chase for 3000, you cannot deny that Craig Biggio is/was a great player and we've been lucky to get to watch him these last 20 years.

The only reason to get rid of Garner is if he has lost the team. I know he makes some bad decisions during games, but these are the same decisions he was making in 2004 and 2005 when the Astros were on the brink of being champions. You can't blame all the problems of the Astros on Garner. He can only work with the talent he is given. I imagine he looks down the bench in the late innings wondering who he will send up as a pinch hitter and just says - D#*n, these guys are bad! Now if you want to put the onus on Tim Purpura - go ahead. He is responsible for putting the team together, and he has failed miserably.

Because the team is going nowhere this year! Loretta is on a one year deal so get something for him now. After Loretta there is no other tradeable commodity among the position players, so you have to look at what other slots might give you value. The contending teams are all going to be looking to add bullpen help, and with the history that Qualls/Wheeler/Lidge have, they could get you some quality prospects that could be major leagu ready in the near future (assuming that the bidding would be between a few teams driving the price up). Pull up a couple of guys from the farm late in the season - Patton, Ash, etc. and give them a look and see where you need to go in the off-season.

Prospects - This season is over - time to blow it up. The Braves have a young catcher and need bullpen help. Lidge for Saltalamacchia (sp?). We could also trade Jennings, Loretta and Qualls/Wheeler for prospects and start getting younger and cheaper. Just my opinion.

Slow Down man!

He needs to slow down cuz I have tickets to the July 7th game - and he needs to get it on the 7th day of the 7th month of the 7th year - since he is #7

He actually holds the modern day record for hit by pitch. There is still one guy ahead of him on the all time list but Biggio is generally considered the record holder.

you also have to consider just the sheer numbers in baseball versus basketball. While there are 12 or 13 scholarships available in basketball - there might be 30 kids or more on the baseball roster. Plus - the majority of these baseball players don't get full rides, so it makes more sense for them to stay closer to home. And Lamar has had some local kids in the past few years. Donny coryell, Kenyon spears, Brandon Chappell and now Ashton Hall.

I wasn't that impressed. He gave up 3 earned runs in 6 innings to the Pirates. Wait unitl the rest of the AL gets to face him. The Yankees need a lot more help than just Roger Clemens.

JMay - are you going to the Super Regional games? As the Owls are now the local college team, I will be pulling for them.

Remember - he has to qualify for the PGA Tour, and you don't make any money if you don't make the cut. Or he could play golf for free three days a week, eat all his meals on the State of Texas, and have a shot at becoming a hero on the campus and lead his team to the Cardinals first ever D1 National Championship. But it doesn't matter - he's already said he was turning pro.

It seems that this was just Stanford's tournament to win. A twelve stroke win is pretty impressive. Third place is pretty good though, only makes you wish they had played a little better on Thursday and Friday. C'mon Dawie - stick around for one more year!

LU is struggling again today - +3 on the day and +8 for the tournament. Stanford has been playing well again today as they lead at -8. Cards need to get it going or they won't have a shot in the last two rounds.

It was Aaron Rowand - did anyone else see the CF from the AZ girls softball team hit the wall the other day. She was at a dead run and her face smacked the wall really hard. She was down on the ground for a while! Here's the link

The Cards tee off on the back nine - the harder portion of the course - in about ten minutes. Keep in mind that the top four scores of the group count.