Remember, no PBP in these threads and keep the chatter on topic (if it is about something other than this series, talk about it in another thread). 6-12 Mike Hampton, LHP (4-4, 4.65) vs. Dan Haren, RHP (4-4, 2.33) 8:40 on FSN 6-13 Roy Oswalt, RHP (2-3, 4.66) vs. Jon Garland, RHP (4-6, 5.61) 7:10 on FSN 6-14 Brian Moehler, RHP (2-4, 6.95) vs. Billy Buckner, RHP (2-2, 6.75) 3:10 on FSN
I'm bold and a risktaker... that, or I just suck at making predictions (as we all know ). Anyhow, Haren can feast on lineups. Tonight's game will be a good test for Hampton and our offense.
Low scoring affair. Haren shuts the Stros down, Hamptom shuts the DBacks down. Comes down to the bullpens, advantage Astros.
If it turns out that way, I'll make another bold prediction for this series: WWW or WWL or WLL or WLW!
Here are some select NL team rankings for the Astros... AVG - 3rd OBP - 6th SLG - 8th HR - 11th TB - 9th BB - 14th SO - 15th (2nd fewest) R - 14th ERA - 10th OPP AVG - 14th OPP OBP - 15th MB9 - 15th IPS - 16th CS - 1st E - 11th (5th fewest) Misc - 13 for 26 in SVO Of all the stats listed above, the Astros are only clearly better than average in AVG, OBP (just barely due to the high AVG), not striking out and not committing errors. We're average or below average in every other listed category.
LWW Hampton's been on a roll, but it's Dan freaking Haren. The guy's stupid good and often overlooked.
Just a funny note from the ongoing Cubs-Twins game (Twins up 6-4 heading to the 9th): Milton Bradley caught a fly in RF with 2 outs, paused, then threw the ball into the stands thinking there were 3 outs. Mauer scored and Harris went from 1st to 3rd due to the error. Cubs fans rained down boos for Bradley. Is that unfair for a simple mistake? Well, consider this: In a previous inning, he lost the ball in the sun and it dropped a few feet in front of him. A couple of plays after that, he dove and missed a ball that should have been caught. He also made a blunder on the basepaths in another inning. For once, I must side with Cubs fans: Bradley is a lazy, cancerous player that gets injured if you breathe on him.
Hey, I'm away from TV tonight, but have laptop. If I buy MLB TV does it black out Astros games locally???
http://mlb.mlb.com/mediacenter/ There is a section at the bottom explaining the blackout policy. If you click on the link after "To find out which Club's live games are blacked out in your current location, click here:," it tells you that Astros and Rangers are subject to blackouts (I assume based on my IP). There is also this reminder in the pop-up window: "Reminder: When you are traveling and accessing your MLB.TV subscription, you will be subject to that area's local blackout restrictions and not your home territory blackout restrictions." So, if you are going out of state at any point, you are subject to your destination's local blackout restrictions. You can find out the restrictions of other areas in that same link by entering a zip code. I've never used MLB.TV though. I just did a quick search.
MadMax, There is also this note: "If a game is blacked out in an area, it is not available for live game viewing. Each game will be available approximately 90 minutes after the conclusion of the game as an archived game (archived games are blackout free)." So, if you could avoid watching the news, you could watch the game later through the archive even though we are in a blackout zone.
thanks i read that stuff too....i guess my question is...if the game isn't being blocked out in houston...and this game tonight is not being blocked out in houston on FSN....is it blocked out over the internet on MLB's website? even reading their website, i'm not clear on that. i would assume if it wasn't on TV here any any given night, then you couldn't watch it online either....but i would THINK that if you could watch the game on TV in Houston, you could watch it over the internet in Houston.
The way that I understand it is that online blackouts are a separate concept from TV blackouts. If I understand correctly, I wouldn't be able to watch any Astros or Rangers games live from my current IP address using MLB.TV. I could only watch them through the archive. On the other hand, if I was in another state and wanted to watch the Astros game live online, I would be subject to that area's online blackout restrictions. Most likely, I would be able to watch the Astros game. I think there are similar restrictions with NBA Broadband. The Rockets game could be on FSN here in Houston but if I connected online, it would be blacked out. On the other hand, if I was in let's say New York, it would not be blacked out.
Pence surely wishes he could have that one back. He should be able to make that catch much more often than not. I know it wasn't an easy play but it certainly was well within his reach.
