Every spring. Weird hearing the new voices. Hope they win the fans over and put together a good long run.
Don't know much about Dolan yet, but Raymer's very good from the net clips I've heard & the little I've heard today. He's spoken of very highly in all the places he's worked previously.
Oh, and I'm an idiot. New guy's name is Dave Raymond, not Raymer. Other guy is Brett Dolan. from astros.com: Raymond is a Stanford University graduate and a 11-year broadcasting veteran who spent the 2005 season with the Brockton Rox of the Independent Can-Am League in Brockton, Mass. His Major League Baseball broadcasting experience includes selected games for the Baltimore Orioles in 2005 and the San Francisco Giants in 2003. Raymond also broadcast games for the Triple A Iowa Cubs for five seasons from 2000-04, and his other baseball broadcasting experience includes one season with the Class A Charleston River Dogs and four seasons with the Sonoma County Crushers (1995-98) of the Western League. A former senior class president at Stanford, Raymond also broadcast Cardinal women's basketball for four seasons from 1998-2001. He has also provided play-by-play on selected Drake University football and both men's and women's basketball game broadcasts during the last four season. Raymond is also a former business reporter for Forbes Magazine, where he was a 2001 Loeb Award nominee for outstanding business reporting. ... A 16-year broadcasting veteran, Brett Dolan joins the Astros from the Triple A Tucson Sidewinders, where he served as the club's Director of Broadcasting and "Voice of the Sidewinders" for the last six seasons from 2000-05. A two-time Arizona Sportscaster of the Year (2002 and 2003), Dolan previously spent two seasons with the Triple A Iowa Cubs (1998-99) and four seasons with the Class A Beloit Snappers of the Midwest League (1994-97). A graduate of the University of Iowa, Dolan has also covered University of Arizona football and basketball in recent off-seasons and was selected to broadcast the 2005 Triple A All-Star Game. His other career experience includes broadcasting selected games for the Montreal Expos in 2003 and 2004 along with the 2004 Arizona Fall League games for MLB.COM radio. Dolan earned a 2004 Crystal Award of Excellence in the Radio from the Communicator Awards, which is an international awards competition that recognizes outstanding work in the communication field.
Listening to the first spring training game today, made me realize how much I cant wait for the season to start.
See!? We didn't need to fix the offense after all. I predict that sometime this season Bruntlett gets officially added to our list of killer Bs.
I know it is VERY early in spring training, but Lane has looked (or sounded for those that don't live in Kissimee) so far. I hope he can have a season much like the second half of 2005. That would make this lineup border on deadly, rather than feeble.
I've thought for awhile now that Bruntlett should start over Everett. I think Garner mentioned to the 610 guys yesterday that he saw Bruntlett on par with Everett in terms of defense. I don't know why there isn't more competition for the SS position. I can't understand why Everett has a mortal lock on it. One could argue that Bruntlett is needed on the bench, but I think that him and Burke do a lot of the same things.
Jason Lane will suprise a lot of you... he was awesome in the second half of last year, was one of our best hitters in the playoffs... and it was just his first full year of baseball. At this point, he could definitely produce the same (and more) as a healthy Bagwell could... there's no reason why Jason shouldn't be an everyday player.
I always get excited during Spring Training, and after listening to the first few games I am just ready for the season to start. Early April is one of my favorite times of year. Lets go Stros!
Yeah! People keep saying that if Bagwell can (sort of) throw and he can drive in 20HRs and 80RBIs, then he belongs on this team. But who sits so he can play? Lane? Willy? Honestly, this team made it all the way to the World Series with virtually no help from Bagwell, and even when they got there, he didn't contribute anything. Does this team need Bagwell? Is there a place for him on the roster? I understand that he provides an emotional lift in the clubhouse, but he could do that as a coach too.
Because Garner loves having Bruntlett on the bench, he's said this repeatedly. Likes the flexibility - PR/PH/double switch/defensive replacement/etc.... Bruntlett's a better CF/LF than Burke, by miles & miles. He's a better 2B/SS than Burke, also by miles & miles. Burke's probably a better hitter. Biggio, Bagwell (hopefully) & Wilson will all need plenty of days off, we'll see how Garner alots the playing time. AE's the opening day SS. Doesn't mean that won't change in July or whenever if he's struggling, but it's fruitless to talk about it now. p.s. There's a new book coming out that analyzes defense - The Fielding Bible by John Dewan. Apparently he took film of every ball but into play for every fielder in MLB over the past 3 years, quantified it - type of hit, the direction, speed, etc... - fed it into a computer & came out with some sort of ranking system. Bill James wrote the introduction...and made a very innurestin' observation (at least to some on this board) - Adam Everett is the best defensive SS in baseball, and by Dewan's methodology isn't even close. Gammons talked about it on his espn blog, a friend gave me his login to read it but I don't have it anymore; if anybody wants to post it here I'm sure other people would like to check it out.
He hit .125, with his one hit being a single. Meanwhile, Carl Everett, the Sox's DH, hit .444. It's hard to win when your designated HITTER bats .125. Our other starters: Ausmus - .250 Berkman - .385 Biggio - .222 Ensberg - .111 Everett - .067 Lamb - .200 Lane - .222 Taveras - .333 Bagwell only hit better than Ensberg, who was injured, and Everett, whose ineptitude at the plate is simply a given. Yeah, the Soxs pitched great, but you still expect better from your DH. Not that Bagwell has ever really brought it in the playoffs, even when he had two shoulders...
When did he hit that single again? It's very, VERY hard to win when the strength of your team, the part of your team that carried you to the WS, performs exponentially far below expectations in the WS. I'd be referring to mssrs. Clemens, Oswalt, Qualls, Wheeler & Lidge. Not gonna rehash this any more though. Cheers.
