The Runner Sports
Home / Cities / Houston / Astros Odds’n’Ends: Biggio And Bagwell, Pennant Race, Cubs

Astros Odds’n’Ends: Biggio And Bagwell, Pennant Race, Cubs

  • By
    • Tweet
    • Pin It
  • Updated: September 12, 2014
tom-lawless-mlb-houston-astros-seattle-mariners-850x560

It’s the 9th inning and the bags are loaded…..now to the action on the field:

Mad props to Houston Astros interim manager Tom Lawless for holding back September call-ups, opting instead to compete more fairly against pennant contenders down the stretch, using his starters, rather than recently called up AAA-farmhand OKC Redhawks. Oh, Nick Tropeano and Max Stassi will get their reps, as will a handful of others, but wanting to field the best 9 he can is a classy move by Lawless, and has to be applauded by those teams chasing the division leaders (and the leaders themselves, if they’re honest).

Recently, the Astros swept a 2-game series against the 1st place Angels, won 2 of 3 from both the 2nd place Oakland A’s and the 3rd place Seattle Mariners. The Astros face the Angels in Anaheim the weekend of the 12th, tackle the 3rd place Indians for a four-game series in Houston, and a 3-game series at home against the M’s again.

Added to the list of potential interviewees for the Astros’ manager’s job is former 2-decade-long Astros second base legend Craig Biggio. What a great mentor he’d be for the current batch of baby Astros on the current roster, and those coming up in the near future. Always a hard-nosed player, the seven-time All-Star would no doubt instill a solid work ethic, and healthy respect for the game. Plus, he won two consecutive state titles (2010, 2011) as head varsity baseball coach at Houston’s St. Thomas High School, where sons Cavan and Conor starred! ‘Nuff said!

Speaking of which, Bidge……if you’re hired on as Manager, why not choose best bud Jeff Bagwell (fellow Astro legend at 1B for 15 years, a 4-time All-Star) as either your bench coach or hitting coach? I know he held that latter job the last half of 2010, and didn’t particularly care for it, but he also wasn’t working with his right-side-of-the-infield friend. Just a thought.

I hope you Chicago Cubs fans have enjoyed broadcast color man, former Astros pitcher Jim Deshaies this season. I know I’m one of many who miss his baseball expertise, and his easy-going way of communicating his knowledge sans sledgehammer during radio and TV broadcasts. But, ’tis his humor and vast pop cultural awareness that I miss; it helped to make the broadcasts infinitely more enjoyable and relatable (especially if the listener had even a passing knowledge of rock and pop music, TV, and movies).

And, finally….wandering off-base a bit, trying to avoid the pick-off: I’m no grammarian, but it seems to me that LSU head football coach Les Miles really ought to, more appropriately, be called Fewer Miles.

Author: Brad Kyle

Brad was born the same year as rock’n’roll and Disneyland. Aging only slightly better than one of them, he’s a Houston native, and has seen countless Astro games, in all three Houston pro ball stadiums: Colt Stadium, The Astrodome, and Minute Maid Park.

His favorite non-Astro was Pirate legend Roberto Clemente, with 3rd baseman Bob Aspromonte his favorite Houston player as a kid, and Jeff Bagwell more recently.

Brad has spent professional time as a teacher, youth minister, radio personality, record store manager, entertainment booking agent, singer, comedy writer, and…..oh, yeah, sports writer!