Garner's road rules

HOUSTON -- The three American League teams the Houston Astros are playing during their current nine-game Interleague stretch all have one thing in common: the Astros know very little about them.
The 'Stros hosted a weekend series with the Toronto Blue Jays, a team they've never played in the 44-year history of the club. On Monday, Houston will embark upon a six-game road trip that will take the club to Baltimore and Kansas City. The Astros and Orioles last met in 2003, and they haven't played the Royals since 2001.

Manager Phil Garner said sometimes being unfamiliar with an opponent can be advantageous, mainly because it's harder to overthink the situation.

"Sometimes what you don't know is better; you're not concerned, because you just don't know," he said. "You might think, 'I'm going to [pitch] this guy away', and that may be the only pitch he can hit. But because you're confident, you make the pitches and you get guys out.

"Sometimes if you know where their strengths are, you get too focused, you put too much attention on what they can do and you're not really focused on what you want to do."

The Astros won't totally be in the dark on this trip. After all, Andy Pettitte pitched for nine years in the American League, and Roger Clemens, of course, spent the first 20 years of his career in the AL. Pettitte will bring a career record of 20-4 against the Orioles to his start in Baltimore on Tuesday, and Clemens will start the series opener in Kansas City on Friday. Against the Royals, he is 23-7 lifetime.

Garner isn't too worried about scouting reports when it comes to his starting pitchers.

"Roy's going to pitch his game," Garner said of right-hander Oswalt. "Clemens is going to pitch his game. Pettitte will see what guys are doing and make adjustments.

"Clemens pitches his own game. It doesn't do any good to do a scouting report for him. He has his own scouting report. He knows what he wants to do."

DH: Garner will likely use Lance Berkman and Craig Biggio as the designated hitters this week, which means the bench players are going to see some extra playing time.

Eric Bruntlett, versatile enough to play all three outfield positions plus second, third and short, can count on receiving a couple of starts while the team's on the road. Garner will also use the time to start Jose Vizcaino and Orlando Palmeiro.

Garner hasn't decided if he'll start Chris Burke at second on days Biggio is the designated hitter, or whether he'd rather keep him in left field.

"I will consider it," Garner said. "I have to think about it. But I don't know."

Bagwell stays home: Jeff Bagwell will not accompany the Astros on the Baltimore-Kansas City road trip, and he'll probably miss the Colorado-Cincinnati trip toward the end of June.

Bagwell is rehabbing full time at the Texas Institute of Rehabilitation and Research at the Texas Medical Center, where he'll spend most of the next six weeks. He is doing range of motion and resistance exercises twice a day at the Institute and once at home, all in an effort to keep the capsule around his shoulder loose.

When Bagwell advances to baseball-related exercises, he'll rely more on the team athletic trainers and will need to be with the club during that period.

Bagwell underwent capsular release surgery in Spartanburg, S.C., last week and missed the last road trip to New York. He watched the games on TV, something he hadn't done since 1993 when he missed significant playing time with a broken hand.

Watching games on the tube is no fun for the first baseman, who continued traveling with the team even after he went on the disabled list in early May.

"It's tough to watch them play but [rehab] is what I have to do," he said.

Congrats to Kingwood: Garner has been a resident of the Houston suburb of Kingwood, Texas, ever since he was traded to the Astros in the winter of 1981. The skipper was pleased as punch that the Kingwood baseball team won the Class 5A state championship on Saturday in Round Rock.

"Congratualations to them," Garner said. "We have long had a great baseball tradition in Kingwood. I am so pleased for them. Everybody will tell you from the Little League programs, right on up, they do a wonderful job out there."

Coming up: The Astros begin a two-city, six game road trip Monday with a 6:05 p.m. CT game versus the Baltimore Orioles. Right-hander Brandon Backe (6-3, 4.31) will face Baltimore right-hander Hayden Penn (0-0, 3.52).

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

Big inning does in Astros in opener

BALTIMORE -- In the standings, the Astros' loss to the Orioles on Monday isn't going to look any different from their previous 23 defeats on the road this year. But his one was different, because the offense actually had a pretty good game.
It was the starting pitching that cost them this time, and on a hot, sticky and briefly rainy night before 23,297 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Astros fell, 8-5, ending a season-high five-game winning streak.

Brandon Backe, who hadn't allowed more than three runs in any of his previous four outings, was roughed up for seven runs on 10 hits. Most of the damage was done in the second, when 10 Orioles batted and six scored.

"He had one bad inning," manager Phil Garner said. "He couldn't get out of the inning. And we never recovered from it."

Backe yielded back-to-back homers to Jay Gibbons and Larry Bigbie, and just that alone negated the lead Jason Lane gave the Astros with his two-run homer off Baltimore starter Hayden Penn in the top of that frame.

Melvin Mora continued the rally with an RBI double that bounced off the wall in right. And after Miguel Tejada knocked a soft infield hit toward short, Sammy Sosa doubled to left, plating both baserunners.

"I thought I made some pretty good pitches that they hit and I made some bad pitches they hit," Backe said. "It goes to show why they're a good offensive team."

The fastball to Gibbons was nowhere near where Backe intended for it to go, and the right-hander wasn't surprised that he knocked it out of the park. But Backe wasn't displeased with the pitch to Bigbie, and he was somewhat surprised that the left fielder, playing for the first time since going on the disabled list on May 28, deposited it into the left-field stands.

"I thought it was a pretty good pitch, to tell the truth," Backe said. "Maybe it caught a little bit of the plate, but then again, it was the first pitch to him. He had been on the DL and he hadn't been out in the field in a while. You wouldn't think the first pitch in the outer third just above the knees would have gone out of the yard from that guy, but he can swing the bat as well."

No one would use the ballpark dimensions as an excuse, but several Astros who had never played at Camden Yards before Monday were surprised how well the ball carries.

"The balls fly here," said Garner, who managed a number of games in Baltimore as the skipper of the Brewers and Tigers. "You hit it decent, they'll go. You don't have to kill it; it'll go. It's like the Crawford Boxes [in left field at Minute Maid Park] all the way around out there."

The dimensions aren't unreasonable in any part of this park, but it's only 318 feet down the right-field line -- just three more feet than the left-field porch at Minute Maid Park.

"I knew it was the short porch, but today it carried really well," Backe said. "Melvin Mora hit a slider that was about three and four inches off the plate with one hand, but it bounced off the wall in right field, which kind of hurt me a little bit."

The Astros also benefited from the hitter-friendly dimensions, just not as much as the Orioles.

Morgan Ensberg / 3B
Born: 08/26/75
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 210 lbs
Bats: R / Throws: R

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Lance Berkman walked with one out in the sixth, and Morgan Ensberg knocked his team-leading 15th homer, his fifth in his last nine games. Mike Lamb followed with a single and advanced to second on Penn's wild pitch, putting him in line to score on Adam Everett's double.

"This is definitely more runs than we were scoring earlier on, and this is more consistent with how we've been playing lately," Ensberg said. "That gives you hope. We hit with guys in scoring position; we did a good job with that. We gave ourselves a chance to win, and that's what you're looking for."

Said Lane: "They had a big inning, we were out there for a long time, the weather was tough conditions and we still dug down and fought."

Garner would like to see his team relying less on the long ball and more on situational hitting.

"We're showing that we're battling back and coming back with a big home run, and that's helpful," he said. "But we've got to have some innings where we get four or five hits in a row.

"We can mix in a couple of walks and get a bunch of hits and keep things going. We haven't been able to do that. We've been living and dying by the long ball. I'm getting greedy here -- I'd like to see us get our hits in bunches, when we've got some guys on base."

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

Pettitte feasts on Orioles

BALTIMORE -- If history means anything, the Orioles cannot be happy that Andy Pettitte is pitching for the Astros on Tuesday.
Pettitte's track record versus Baltimore during his nine-year run with the Yankees is spectacular -- he's 20-4 with a 3.64 ERA over 28 games, having allowed 68 earned runs over 168 innings.

Pitchers naturally don't want to talk about their past successes against particular teams. Heck, Roy Oswalt is 14-0 against the Reds, but he'll tell you it's nothing more than a silly coincidence.

So when asked about his dominance over the Orioles, Pettitte automatically brought up one particular game when he was slaughtered.

"I've given up nine runs against them twice," Pettitte said.

One particularly bad outing occurred on Sept. 29, 2000, when he allowed nine runs over 1 1/3 innings at Camden Yards.

"I was going for my 20th win," Pettitte recalled.

Needless to say, the left-hander ended the season with 19 wins.

Steaming hot: If anyone thought the trip to Baltimore would be a break from the heat and humidity of Houston, they were sorely disappointed. Temperatures reached 90 degrees on Monday, and the humidity was about the same as you'll find in the Bayou City this time of year.

That didn't stop pitchers Oswalt, Chad Harville and Wandy Rodriguez from taking an early afternoon jog through the stands at Camden Yards. For starting pitchers, jogging in the extreme heat helps them condition themselves for the sweltering summer months, when they're pitching on the road.

Plus, it apparently serves as a detox of sorts.

"After you pitch, you have acid in your body, in your arm," said Oswalt, who pitched a two-hitter on Sunday against the Blue Jays. "Your arm swells when you throw. You try to flush it out."

Unhappy alum: Lance Berkman was not a happy camper when he arrived to the clubhouse on Monday, moments after watching his beloved Rice Owls lose to Tulane, 9-6, in the final game of the Super Regional in New Orleans.

Watching them lose from afar was torture for Berkman.

Lance Berkman / LF
Born: 02/10/76
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 220 lbs
Bats: S / Throws: L

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"There's nothing I can do about it," Berkman said. "It kills me to watch it on TV. At least when I was playing, you can do something about it."

Berkman was so antsy watching the game that he thought about running a lap around his hotel room when Tulane's Lance Pendleton hit a double that tied the game.

Did he yell at the TV?

"I don't necessarily scream at it, but I talked to it for sure," he said.

Biggio clan: With the kids out of school for the summer, Craig Biggio decided to make the current Baltimore-Kansas City road trip a family affair.

The entire Biggio clan -- wife Patty, sons Conor and Cavan and daughter Quinn -- traveled with the club to Baltimore on Sunday. Five-year-old Quinn passed the time on the plane by helping the flight attendants hand out preflight appetizers, and later candy bars after everyone was done with dinner (yes, they serve a ton of food on charter flights).

"At the end, they got on the intercom and thanked her for her service," Biggio said.

The "flight attendant in training" received a warm round of applause from the traveling party.

Biggio notched a milestone in front of his family on Monday, collecting his 2,700th career hit, a sharp grounder to third off Baltimore starter Hayden Penn.

Odds and ends: Oriole Park at Camden Yards represents the 51st ballpark from which Astros broadcaster Milo Hamilton will call a Major League game in his career. Hamilton has been broadcasting Major League games since 1953. ... The visitor's clubhouse at Camden Yards on Monday was as quiet as a library as most of the players and staff watched the television broadcast of the Michael Jackson verdict. The TVs in the manager's office, coaches' locker room, equipment manager's office and main clubhouse area all were tuned to cable news.

Coming up: The series in Baltimore will continue on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. CT, and the second game of the set will feature two lefties: Pettitte (3-6, 3.43 ERA) and Bruce Chen (5-4, 3.61 ERA). Chen has pitched for eight teams over his career, including a short stint with the Astros in 2003. The series will conclude on Wednesday, beginning at 6:05 p.m. CT. Rodriguez (2-2, 8.41 ERA) will face Baltimore right-hander Rodrigo Lopez (5-2, 4.52).

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

Speed Kills

The Astros wake up this morning 11 games below .500 and two touchdowns behind first place St. Louis. If you are an Astro fan, not exactly what you had in mind on opening day. One reason for hope (beyond 2005) is the play of Willy Taveras. The batting champion at AA Round Rock in '04 is more than holding his own at the big league level. He is hitting .288 and his 17 stolen bases as of this writing are good for third in the NL. I'm not sure what the modern record for infield hits is, but Willy has 27 already and if he maintains that pace he would have to be in the ballpark. Infield hits obviously don't have any more value than any other single.As a matter of fact, I've never seen anyone go first to third on a base hit to short. What all those infield hits indicates is that you have a player who should be able to hit for a decent average and contribute even when he may not be swinging the bat all that well. The old adage "speed never slumps" certainly applies to Taveras. To say that he is fast is like saying Michael Jackson is a little different. He is a good bunter and getting better. Because of his speed, there is almost no such thing as a routine ground out for him. Third basemen have to shorten up on him and if he learns to pull the ball the doubles will follow. I also believe he will develop into more than a singles hitter. He is a strong kid who should be able to split some gaps and that is when the real fun will start for him.

Perhaps the final piece of the Taveras package would be the ability to switch hit. He worked on it some last year at AA, but abandoned the idea this spring (at least temporarily) as he focused on trying to make the team. With an eye toward the future, maybe now is the time for Taveras to start working on it in BP and perhaps during winter ball. Even if he never mastered the left side, he could get a number of hits by just slapping the ball to the short-stop side and relying on his speed, which would obviously be more valuable from the left-handed box.

Source: http://jd.mlblogs.com/

Astros unable to figure out Chen, O's

BALTIMORE -- Bring up the names Andy Pettitte and Bruce Chen, and the left-handers are bound to elicit very different reactions. Pettitte garners plenty of admiration. Chen? Well, quite frankly, the reaction to him is usually one of indifference.
But on Tuesday night at Camden Yards, the Astros made Chen look a lot more dominating than the soft-tossing journeyman actually is, managing just three hits off the southpaw as the Orioles won, 6-1.

Pettitte, who has been nearly unbeatable when facing the Orioles through his career, allowed six runs on 10 hits over 7 2/3 innings to drop to 3-7 on the year. He, typically, took the heat for this loss, but it's hard to believe he truly felt he cost his team the win.

"They've got a good lineup," Pettitte said. "They're tough to go through. I felt good; I just didn't get it done. I had to shut them down."

No, he didn't. He could have won this game having allowed just the three runs he yielded in the sixth inning, when Melvin Mora singled home Larry Bigbie and Miguel Tejada lined a two-run homer into the left-field stands. But the most basic rules of sports preach that you can't win a game when your team doesn't score more than the opponent. And Pettitte's team scored once, which means it loses. This has happened all too much this year with the left-hander on the mound.

So asking Pettitte about how encouraging it was that he was pitching so deep into the game, or that he was still hitting 91 mph in his final inning, and he understandably doesn't have a lot to say about it.

"It's another 'L,'" he said. "I don't feel good about anything, really.

"Anytime you lose, it's frustrating. Bottom line is, you need to win games. I've got figure out a way to win a game. If I have to throw a shutout, I'll throw a shutout until we score, or whatever. I'm not getting it done when I'm out there right now."

Neither are his teammates. The Astros were nearly shut out, if not for a lucky break they caught in the eighth with Chen out of the game. They loaded the bases with no outs, but plated only one run when Adam Everett reached first base safely on Brian Roberts' off-kilter throw after erasing Morgan Ensberg at second.

"It was really frustrating, because I felt that situation was one of our defining moments during the game," said Jason Lane, who struck out to record the first out in that inning. "I fouled off a pitch that I felt I should have hit. And I felt like if I could just put the ball in play and drive at least one run in and get a guy over and get something going ... but I struck out, and it's just really frustrating."

"The story of the game was left on base," said manager Phil Garner, referring to the 11 batters stranded. "We couldn't get the hits when we needed them, and they did."

The Astros had plenty of chances early. They loaded the bases in the fourth, but Eric Bruntlett struck out to end the inning. They had runners on first and second in the second frame, but Everett struck out and Brad Ausmus flew out to left.

Chen allowed a season-low three hits, earning his first win since May 18.

"Anybody that's got a big league uniform on can beat you, whether they're throwing 100 [mph] or whether they're throwing 80," Garner said. "The frustrating thing is, we had opportunities early to get something going and give Andy some cushion, and we couldn't push a run across the plate."

Lance Berkman was part of an odd occurrence in the sixth after Roberts sent a grounder his way. Berkman dove, smothered the ball and tossed to Pettitte just in time to record the out. Then the first baseman, still lying on the ground, slammed his hands down on the dirt, got up and trotted off the field.

Lance Berkman / LF
Born: 02/10/76
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 220 lbs
Bats: S / Throws: L

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He was met by Garner and head trainer Dave Labossiere, and the first thought that popped to mind was that Berkman reinjured his surgically repaired right ACL.

Not the case. Sure, the dive he took was awkward enough to feel uncomfortable, but Berkman's beeline to the dugout had nothing to do with needing to go to the hospital.

"That was me thinking there was three outs," Berkman said.

So he had to come up with something to cover his embarrassment for jogging off the field.

"The old trick-knee routine," Berkman said. "Works every time. It definitely wasn't a comfortable play for the knee, but it did not [hurt]. I was like, 'OK, there's three outs.' There were only two -- and I felt like an idiot. At that point, you've just got to go with it."

Berkman stopped by the mound on his way back to first to chat with Pettitte and Ausmus, which prompted Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli to point out to the umpires that that brief meeting counts as an official visit to the mound.

"I had everybody on the field confused as to what was going on," Berkman said. "Brad actually called me over to the mound and was like, 'Are you all right?' And I was like, 'Yeah.' That was our mound visit for the inning."

That's when things went south for Pettitte, who was pitching a shutout until then. It took only two pitches for Mora to start the rally.

Pettitte insisted Berkman's gaff did not break his concentration.

"I felt I threw a good pitch to Mora, down and away," Pettitte said. "[It was] a changeup, and he stayed on it and hit it good. On Tejada, I got the ball down a little more than I wanted to, and [I] was trying to go in on him -- and he hit that one."

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

Taveras scaling walls

BALTIMORE -- Considering he made the jump from the Double-A to the Majors this year, Willy Taveras hasn't had a lot of chances to show if he's going to be able to master the over-the-wall catches to rob opponents of home runs.
But the center fielder showed some promise on Monday when he executed a perfectly-timed leap to grab a Rafael Palmeiro fly ball that looked to be headed over the wall.

Taveras is working with first base coach Jose Cruz on making such leaping catches, but only time will tell if the 23-year-old outfielder will advance to the caliber of a Jim Edmonds or Torii Hunter.

"You can practice it every day, but you don't know when you're actually going to have to do it, like yesterday," Cruz said. "You just practice getting to the fence and jumping. If you can do that, you're going to do the same thing during the game."

Taveras didn't have a lot of practice in the Minor Leagues, where walls are often comprised of high billboards that are not conducive for home-run robbing. For now, Taveras is going to keep practicing, and he'll approach it with a fearlessness that not every outfielder possesses, considering the potential danger involved.

"Sometimes people get scared of the wall, because you can get hurt," Taveras said. "I don't think like that. I just try to catch the ball. Anything that happens when you play, happens."

"If you think about all the stuff you have to do, it's pretty neat that they can make those kinds of plays," manager Phil Garner said. "If you just keep running until you hit the wall, there's no way you can catch it. You've got to know where the ball is, you've got to know where the wall is. There's probably some guys that just have a naturally ability."

Pence on DL: Close followers of the Astros know all about Hunter Pence, the club's first draft pick in the 2004 draft who is slugging his way through the South Atlantic League.

But Pence suffered a setback on Monday, straining a quadriceps muscle in the first inning of the Lexington Legends' 10-9 loss to Hagerstown. Pence was placed on the disabled list, which in the Minor Leagues lasts seven days.

Remembering that Pence was leading all Minor Leaguers with 23 home runs, Garner wondered: "How do you do that trotting around the bases?"

The Great One: Batting practice got a lot more interesting at around 5:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday when NHL legend Wayne Gretzky was escorted onto the field with his wife, actress Janet Jones, and their children.

Gretzky was in town to participate in a prostate cancer awareness pregame ceremony, along with former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, 16-year Major League veteran Robin Ventura and Michael Milken, founder of the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Word spread quickly in the Astros' clubhouse that The Great One was outside on the field, and it took no time at all before several players approached Gretzky for his autograph. The main culprits: Brad Lidge, Chad Harville and Chad Qualls.

Lidge tried to act cool as he walked away with a signed ball in his hand, but it was clear he was pretty excited to meet the hockey legend. Almost as excited as he was the day before, when he talked shop with Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, who is a broadcaster for Orioles television.

"It's amazing the people that are here right now," Lidge said. "Yesterday, I got to talk to Jim Palmer for like 15 minutes about pitching -- that was awesome. It seems like whenever you come back east to Baltimore or Boston or New York, you're going to run into some unbelievable guys you didn't think you'd have a chance to meet."

Morgan Ensberg / 3B
Born: 08/26/75
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 210 lbs
Bats: R / Throws: R

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Morgan Ensberg also walked off the field with a huge grin after meeting Gretzky.

"I played golf with Larry Bird, and now I've met Wayne Gretzky, so I've met two icons," Ensberg said.

But he hopes he's not done.

I want to meet Magic Johnson, I want to meet Michael Jordan," he said. "I have worked out in the exact same gym alongside Tiger Woods, but I didn't meet him. I didn't want to bother him."

Camden Yards: The trip to Oriole Park at Camden Yards is a first for the Astros organization, but several members of the Astros traveling party have been here before. Garner paid many visits to Baltimore when he was the skipper of the formerly American League Brewers, as well as the Tigers.

Garner was complimentary toward the Orioles' ballpark, which opened in 1992. It was, and still is, considered the model by which all other new ballparks were molded.

"This was the beginning of the new era of ballparks," Garner said. "The architects, builders, wanted to do what they've been doing through the '70s -- have the [seating] bowl go out so you can get more fans in. The baseball people said, 'No, we want to bring them closer to the field.'

"They lost some seats, and everybody that comes here loves this place, and that's the reason. They're closer to the field. They did a marvelous job with the aesthetics around the field."

Coming up: The Astros and Orioles will conclude their series on Wednesday, beginning at 6:05 p.m. CT. Left-hander Wandy Rodriguez (2-2, 8.41 ERA) will face Baltimore righty Rodrigo Lopez (5-2, 4.52 ERA).

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com

Baylor remains a hit

WASHINGTON -- A record Mariners hitting coach Don Baylor took most of his career to secure hangs by a thread.
The reigning Major League hit-by-pitch king has a five-plunk lead over Astros veteran Craig Biggio, who is bearing down on Baylor's record of 267.

Baylor began his march to the record in the only game he played for the Orioles in 1970. He had three at-bats in that game and was hit by a pitch once. He kept getting hit with pitches, right through the 1988 season, his last as a player, when he was nailed 12 times.

His single-season high was 35 in 1986, when he played with the Red Sox. That mark is still the American League record.

Baylor broke Ron Hunt's record. Hunt, a journeyman infielder who played for six teams, was hit by pitches 243 times in his career, including a Major League-record 50 times in 1971.

"He wore a rubber diver's suit underneath his uniform," Baylor scoffed. "I wore long johns, and that was about it."

Baylor said he never felt comfortable wearing any kind of padding, and wasn't about to back off the plate, regardless how many times pitches hit him.

"I always believed that If I wasn't playing football, I didn't need pads," he said.

Of course, that mind-set was certainly painful at times.

Baylor said the most memorable HBP came in a game against the Mariners at the Kingdome in the mid-1980s.

"Matt Young threw a hard slider that got me on my [right] shin," he said. "It felt like a fastball, and to this day, I still have a lump there."

Another pitch that hit him hard was thrown by Hall of Fame right-hander Nolan Ryan, one of the hardest throwers in history.

"Got me on my [left] wrist," Baylor said.

That one hurt so bad Baylor summoned legendary Orioles trainer Ralph Salvon to the plate for assistance. Some spray that "froze" the area that absorbed the brunt of the pitch deadened the pain and Baylor went to first base.

"That was the one and only time the trainer came out of the dugout," Baylor said. "I never missed a game or an at-bat because I was hit with a pitch."

And when he moved on to other organizations, Baylor always had a little chat with the team's trainer.

"I told the trainer that if he ever came out after I got hit by a pitch, 'I'll kill ya.' I was not going to show anyone that it bothered me," Baylor said.

Baylor isn't sure which pitcher hit him the most times, but he does recall getting hit by right-hander Bruce Kison in back-to-back at-bats, and said he charged the mound three times -- against John Denny, Dennis Leonard and Dick Pole.

"Kison thought he could get me out of the game by hitting me on the forearm, but I told him he didn't throw hard enough to hurt me and get me out of the game," Baylor said, smiling.

As for Biggio closing in on his record, Baylor said, "I have always admired him as a player. He could take a HBP and turn it into a double by stealing a base."

All in the family: Andy Hargrove, the Mariners' 47th round draft choice out of Kent State and son of manager Mike Hargrove, signed a contract Friday and will report to Peoria, Ariz., on Sunday. The 6-foot-1, 243-pound first baseman, will work out until being assigned to a Minor League club.

"I told him to work hard and listen," the senior Hargrove said. "It will be a good experience for him. There are a lot of good instructors down there."

As such a low draft choice, the young Hargrove didn't get much of a contract.

Asked how many zeros were in the deal, the Mariners manager said, "All zeros."

Ichiro Suzuki / RF
Born: 10/22/73
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 170 lbs
Bats: L / Throws: R

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Not ready for a breather: Ichiro Suzuki, battling a rare hitting slump, could have gotten a well-deserved night off Friday. But he wanted to play.

"I talked to Ichiro today about [resting], but he said he felt fine and wanted to play," Hargrove said. "Anytime a player of his stature says he's ready to play, he plays. Sometimes, a guy just needs a mental day off more than anything, but he said he wanted to play."

Ichiro went into Friday night's series opener against the Nationals with a .304 batting average -- the lowest it has been in more than a year.

"He's been struggling for most of May and all of June," said Hargrove, alluding to Ichiro's .288 (32-for-111) average in May and 5-for-28 start in June.

Update from the infirmary: Right-handed reliever Rafael Soriano probably will throw two more bullpen sessions before being sent to the Minor Leagues on a rehab assignment. There is no set timetable for when he would return to the Mariners.

Shortstop Pokey Reese (shoulder surgery) was limited to taking grounders during pregame drills. He took batting practice Thursday in Miami and felt a little stiff on Friday. "He is coming along fine, but we decided to back him off a little," Hargrove said.

And catcher Wiki Gonzalez (hamstring) could be sent out on a rehab assignment when the Mariners return from the road trip.

Not a Texas kind of heat: The hot, muggy weather Friday had Hargrove repeatedly toweling himself off during his pregame meeting with the media.

"In Texas, you get hot under your eyes," Hargrove said. "Here, you get hot all over."

Did you know? The shutout win over the Marlins on Thursday night was the 17th by the Mariners since Interleague Play started in 1997. It is the most blankings in the Majors. The Braves have 15 and Mets have 14. The Marlins (12) and Astros (11) are the only other teams with at least 10 shutouts.

Up next: The three-game series continues Saturday night with left-hander Jamie Moyer making his second start since winning his 131st game with the Mariners -- the most in franchise history. He also is three wins shy of his 200 for his career.

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

Astros struggle on the road again

BALTIMORE -- Camden Yards in Baltimore compares favorably to Minute Maid Park in a number of ways. It has a short porch, a loyal fan base, a terrific atmosphere and a great view beyond the outfield. And this week, the heat and humidity reached Houstonian proportions.
So maybe the Astros should have closed their eyes on Wednesday and pretended they were at Minute Maid Park, where their record is 19-12. After their 5-1 loss to the Orioles on Wednesday, they're 7-26 on the road, which is why they are fighting with the Cincinnati Reds for last place in the National League Central division.

The bats were several steps behind Rodrigo Lopez (6-2), who allowed four hits over his eight innings of work. Jason Lane posted the only run with a towering shot to left-center in the fifth, but the Astros produced five baserunners the rest of the way, making it quite easy for the Orioles to complete the three-game sweep in the first-ever series between the two clubs at Camden Yards.

Over the three-game series in Baltimore, the Astros had 17 hits, nine of which came in the first game. They had four in each of the final two.

"Looks like we're going to go through some of these periods where we flat don't hit the ball," manager Phil Garner said. "[Orlando] Palmeiro had a nice night, good at-bats. Lane gets a home run. Again, we're not able to get anything going where we get a couple hits in a row, sandwich a walk in there and get a couple more hits. We're just not able to do it."

"That's just the way things have been going for us offensively," Craig Biggio said. "It's been difficult and frustrating and we just want to do so much better and pick up the pitching staff."

Left-hander Wandy Rodriguez yielded four runs over six innings, but early, it looked like it was going to be another long night for the rookie. Within his first 10 pitches, he gave up a hit to Brian Roberts and a home run to Melvin Mora.

The Orioles plated two more in the second behind a two-run single by Roberts, but Rodriguez settled in nicely to induce three of the four double plays the Astros turned on the night, while limiting the Orioles to three hits and two walks through the remainder of his six innings.

"I thought there were two good things tonight," Garner said. "Wandy made some adjustments. He had to have four double plays, but he got them. He got out of jams, settled down after the first two innings. If you're going to give up runs, give them up early and give us a chance to stay in the ballgame."

Garner also applauded catcher Humberto Quintero for keeping Rodriguez on track.

"I thought Quintero did a nice job asking him to make adjustments behind the plate," Garner said. "He did a beautiful job tonight receiving the ball."

In Rodriguez's previous start against the Blue Jays, Garner asked him to pay special attention to his location and not worry about blowing his fastball past the hitters, as he did when he was hit hard by the Cardinals. Rodriguez remembered that edict from his skipper when he got past the second inning on Wednesday.

"I had better control," Rodriguez said. "I was using more changeups and fastballs with good location. In the first inning, I made a couple mistakes. Mora is a pretty good hitter. When you make a mistake with that guy, you're going to pay."

The sweep by the Orioles was a major disappointment, considering the Astros were coming off a five-game winning streak and had won eight of 11.

They had even won consecutive road series before the current trip, giving them hope maybe their road fortunes were going to change for the better.

But then, they landed in Baltimore, and everything went back to, well, normal.

"Coming here and losing those three games is definitely not what you're looking to do," Morgan Ensberg said. "We had a lot of momentum and we came here and got beat."

"If we score early, maybe it comes out a different way," Garner said. "We just didn't do anything. We just didn't hit the ball."

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

A few more bruises for Biggio

When the Astros go on the road, a steady stream of reporters have been lining up at Craig Biggio's locker. All are eager to ask the second baseman about a record he could break this year with a little ... well, luck probably wouldn't be the right word.
Biggio has been hit by pitches 263 times in his career, and with five more, and he'll pass Don Baylor, baseball's all-time leader in plunkings.

While approaching a hit-by-pitch record isn't in the same vein as, say, Pete Rose's hits record, it is, if nothing else, interesting. Reporters are writing about it. Fans are talking about it. There's even a website that chronicles every game in which Biggio gets hit.

All of this is in fun, and Biggio's been good-natured about the attention this is getting. But he also points out the serious side of getting hit by a pitch -- it hurts.

"Anybody that's been hit that many times, it's everybody's record," he said. "It's the purple heart of baseball. You get hit that many times, that's paying your price right there."

But it also gets him on base, and having spent most of his career as a leadoff man, that's part of his job. He's paid to get on base and score runs, and 263 times pitchers have helped him in that respect.

"They're all justifyable as long as you score," he said. "If you don't score, they hurt more. You feel a heck of a lot better when you touch home, compared to the times that you don't."

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, 92 of those beanings transferred into runs. That's a 35-percent success rate.

To guard against serious injury, Biggio wears protective gear, but even that has evolved over the years. Sometime around 1993, Danny Darwin hit him squarely on the elbow, and it swelled up like a balloon. That's when Biggio first considered using some sort of protective device.

"Then I said, 'Aw, to heck with it,'" Biggio recalled. "What are the odds of me getting hit again?"

Shortly thereafter, he was hit in the exact same spot. That was the last time his elbow was exposed during an at-bat.

The pad he started with was large, covering not only his elbow, but several inches up and down his arm. He was criticized heavily over the years by opposing players and managers, who argued that he had no reason to get out of the way if he wasn't going to be hurt when the ball hit him.

All-time hit-by-pitch leaders
Since 1900, through 06/15/2005
1. Don Baylor 267
2. Craig Biggio* 263
3. Ron Hunt 243
4. Frank Robinson 198
5. Minnie Minoso 192
6. Jason Kendall* 182
7. Andres Galarraga 178
8. Fernando Vina* 157
9. Brady Anderson 154
10. Chet Lemon 151
*active

Nowadays, arm pads are regulated by Major League Baseball, and the guard he wears now only protects the elbow area.

"The first one I had was big, I'm not going to lie," Biggio said. "You could hit me anywhere and it wasn't going to hurt. The one now, you get hit, and it hurts."

That does not mean Biggio changed his approach. He still stands close to the plate, and he understands pitchers are going to throw inside. He'll take his lumps, and his bumps and bruises, but he'll also take his base, which is all he cares about.

Not all players can psychologically handle being hit, and they may become gun shy after a particularly close call. Biggio doesn't fall into that category. He credits his past lives -- first as a high school football player and then as a Major League catcher -- for giving him the mental toughness to handle being plunked.

"There are some guys, if you throw up and in on them, knock them down, they're yours the rest of the game," he said. "But I've never been intimidated by getting hit or gun shy about getting in the box the next time up.

"Pain is part of the deal, part of the game, part of the sport. You deal with it and move on."

Of the 263 plunkings, Biggio estimates only about four hit him above the neck. The scariest one was the Jeremi Gonzalez pitch that hit, in Biggio's estimation, three-quarters of his face and one-quarter on the ear flap of his helmet.

But that beaning happened during the game that clinched the division title for the Astros in 1997, so leaving the game was out of the question.

"It would be like me walking up to your cheekbone and taking a hammer and just smacking you in the face," Biggio said. "You're laying on the ground, you make an assessment of yourself real quick and you just take your time. Make sure everything's working, make sure you can see. You know you're gong to have a big knot on your face."

Biggio separates the plunkings into two categories: there are those that hurt, and those that barely graze his jersey. He told his kids that there's an easy way to tell which one is which.

"If you see me walk to first base, it hurts like heck," he said. "If I just jog to first, it's not a big deal. If I'm walking, I need a little time before I get there to gather myself."

When and if Biggio breaks Baylor's record, the Hall of Fame has a request for his arm pad. Biggio, who has several items already on display in Cooperstown, will be happy to oblige.

"Anything the Hall of Fame wants, they can have," he said. "It's an honor to give it to them."

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

Clemens to face fellow Longhorn

BALTIMORE -- The University of Texas baseball program has a rich tradition of producing Major League talent, so it's not terribly unusual when two former Longhorns face each other.
But Friday's matchup between Roger Clemens and Kansas City left-hander J.P. Howell has a unique twist, because just one year ago, Howell was one of the finalists for the first Roger Clemens Award, which goes to the top pitcher in collegiate baseball.

Howell broke Clemens' record for strikeouts at Texas for pitchers who played there only two years, and Friday's game marks the one-year "anniversary" of the night Howell opened the College World Series for the Longhorns in 2004.

Howell, who won his Major League debut on June 11 with an 8-5 win at Arizona, was selected by the Royals in the supplemental round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft. He made the second-fastest rise to the Majors in Royals history, surpassed only by Bo Jackson's ascent to the big leagues in 1986.

Here's something that should make Clemens feel even older than his 42 years. Howell was born on April 25, 1983, 13 months before Clemens' big league debut on May 15, 1984.

Pettitte heading home: Andy Pettitte, who turned 33 on Wednesday, will forego the trip to Kansas City to deal with more pressing issues at home this weekend. Pettitte's wife, Laura, is ready to give birth to the couple's fourth child, and they plan to induce labor this weekend.

The baby, a boy they plan to name Luke, is due July 3, but he's grown to nearly 8 1/2 pounds and the doctors told the Pettittes it's best to deliver now.

"She's never delivered a baby bigger than 7'10"," Pettitte said. "She's had really easy deliveries. They don't want her to deliver a 9 1/2-pound baby."

Laura Pettitte is also tending to her mother, who recently underwent breast cancer surgery. Pettitte, who is not scheduled to pitch in Kansas City, is anxious to lend some support at the homestead.

"I've got the first game back home," Pettitte said of his scheduled start Monday against the Rockies. "Skip [manager Phil Garner] told me to spend some time with my wife."

Nice play -- don't do it again: Garner repeatedly complimented Lance Berkman for the hustle he showed when he sprawled out on the dirt to retrieve a Brian Roberts ground ball during Tuesday's loss to the Orioles. But the skipper was also clear with his opinion that Berkman had no business making the play, and that second baseman Eric Bruntlett was in a better position to field the ball and throw to first.

"He committed to go get the ball and once he committed, he was going to have to dive," Garner said. "He tried to turn and throw back to first base and it's a tough play. He made a nice play. But Bruntlett can make the play, too."

Garner said he keeps track of good defensive plays, but he might consider adding a new element.

"We're going to have to have a plus-minus system," Garner said. "Plus for a good one, minus for something stupid."

Laker talk: Forget the Michael Jackson verdit. In Morgan Ensberg's world, there was no bigger news this week than the annoucement that Phil Jackson was returning as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

It hasn't been easy being a Lakers fan in the last year, but Ensberg senses things are about to change.

"It's been very difficult," he said. "Especially since my wife is from Sacramento. All of her friends and family are diehard Kings fans, and I have to listen to it on e-mails and text messages and phone messages, all the time, about how the Kings beat the Lakers. We will have that no more."

Odds and ends: Roy Oswalt left the team Wednesday to fly home to Mississippi for his grandmother's funeral. He will rejoin the team this weekend in Kansas City and will start on Saturday. ... General manager Tim Purpura was encouraged by the report he received on Hunter Pence, who went on the disabled list Tuesday with a strained quadriceps muscle. "The day after the injury, he was able to lift his leg, which was really positive," Purpura said. "It's more a hip flexor than a quad. It's not like there's a tear off the bone."... Garner started Orlando Palmeiro in left field on Wednesday and gave Chris Burke the day off. Since his recall from Triple-A, Burke is hitting .140 (7-for-50) in 12 games in June. "I don't see a bad swing, something you would have to correct," Garner said. "He's just not getting hits. We'd like for him to get some hits."

Coming up: The Astros will enjoy a scheduled off-day on Thursday before opening a three-game weekend set in Kansas City on Friday. Clemens and Howell will start the opener. On Saturday, Oswalt will face Royals righty D.J. Carrasco.

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

Exhibition brings back memories

ROUND ROCK, Texas -- Friday's surroundings at Dell Diamond in the Astros' 8-2 exhibition win over Triple-A affiliate, the Round Rock Express, were familiar to many of the current Astros.
Luke Scott and Willy Taveras spent last season in Round Rock while others, such as Morgan Ensberg, Roy Oswalt, Brad Lidge, Chad Qualls, Mike Gallo, Chris Burke, Jason Lane and Eric Bruntlett served earlier stints. And that's not counting Andy Pettitte and reliever Chad Harville's 2004 rehab appearances.

It was also a return for Astros bullpen coach Mark Bailey, who was the hitting coach for the inaugural 2000 Texas League championship squad.

"I've got some great memories of Round Rock," Bailey said. "It's always fun to come back and be part of the excitement at Dell Diamond. I'm sure the players who were here feel the same way."

Express manager Jackie Moore said he particularly enjoys the games against the big leaguers.

"One of my favorite things in baseball is seeing players I've worked with go on to bigger and better things," he explained. "I love to see them wearing big league uniforms."

Third time's a charm: The exhibition contest was Pettitte's third start at Dell Diamond, but his first in an Astros uniform. Last year, he started two games in Round Rock while working his way back from a forearm strain that put him on the disabled list. His June 18 outing against Texas Rangers affiliate, the Frisco RoughRiders, had mixed results, as he allowed two earned runs, three hits and a walk in three innings. He struck out four.

Pettitte's start five days later against Oakland A's affiliate, the Midland Rockhounds, was a much more impressive outing, as he threw five shutout innings, giving up only one hit and one walk while striking out five.

But Pettitte wasn't looking for an exhibition victory on this trip to Round Rock.

"It was great to be here at 100 percent," he said. "I enjoyed myself when I was here before, but this was different because it's part of getting ready for the season instead of just getting back to full health."

Act busy, the boss is here: Astros owner and central Texas resident Drayton McLane was among the sellout crowd of 12,201. McLane, who threw out the first pitch, saw no conflict in cheering for the Express as well as the Astros.

"The Express is my local team," he said. "Besides, I never pull against anything Nolan Ryan is involved with."

Ryan is one of the principal owners of the Express.

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

Royals shut out Astros

HOUSTON -- Roger Clemens pitched six strong innings, but the Houston Astros fell to the Kansas City Royals, 3-0, before an exhibition crowd of 34,950 Saturday night at Minute Maid Park.
Clemens allowed two runs on five hits over six frames, walking none and striking out five. But nine Royals pitchers, all of whom threw one inning apiece, held Houston to four hits.

The Royals scored one run in the second frame on a Terrence Long sacrifice fly. Calvin Pickering homered off Clemens in the fourth, and the Royals capped the night with a third run in the ninth on Matt Diaz's RBI single off Ezequiel Astacio.

The Astros and Royals will play another exhibition game Sunday afternoon at Minute Maid Park at 1:05 p.m. CT. The Royals open the season Monday in Detroit, while the Astros will open at home on Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

Astros finalize 25-man roster

HOUSTON -- Toward the end of spring, young players pray they don't get that tap on the shoulder from a coach bearing the message "Skip wants to see you," because inevitably, it means the player is moments away from being shipped out to Triple-A.
The 28 remaining players on the Houston Astros' Spring Training roster gathered at Minute Maid Park on Saturday in anticipation of the first of two exhibition games with the Kansas City Royals. Saturday happened to also be the day Major League clubs had to set their 25-man rosters, so everyone knew three players were going to go before the night was over.

The only news Luke Scott received was from general manager Tim Purpura, who stopped the young outfielder as he was coming off the field during batting practice.

"Congratulations," Purpura said.

"For what?" Scott responded.

"No one's told you yet? You made the team," Purpura said.

Seconds later, a slew of cameras descended upon Scott, who did his best to explain how he was feeling, while at the same time trying to to let the news soak in.

Judging from the one or two times his eyes appeared to well up, he was clearly overwhelmed. But he admirably put his feelings into words before admitting he was at a loss.

"When you have opportunities in life, however big you think the window is, you have to give it your absolute all and know you put your heart and soul into it," he said. "My window was small. I worked my tail off to get to this point. I went through some tough times to get here. My relationship with God pulled me though."

Then he stopped.

"I'm getting all shaky," he said, still beaming. "I don't really have words for this right now."

Scott, who came out of nowhere to hit .383 during Spring Training and essentially play his way onto the club, was one of many "bubble" position players to make it. The final three cut were left-hander Mike Gallo, right-hander Ezequiel Astacio and catcher Humberto Quintero. All three were optioned to Triple-A Round Rock.

Astacio, who is still a candidate for the fifth starter job, will move into the Express' starting rotation. The Astros do not need their fifth stsarter until April 17, so if necessary, Astacio will return prior to that contest with the Reds.

In addition to Scott, Chris Burke, Eric Bruntlett and Willy Taveras all made the team. Pitching-wise, non-roster invitee Russ Springer also made the cut and was added to the 40-man roster.

Burke had a more low-key reaction than Scott when he found out he made the team. After assistant general manager Ricky Bennett delivered the good news, Burke sat quietly at his locker, wondering what's next.

Craig Biggio started nearly every game at second base this spring, and it would be foolish to assume anyone else would be penciled at that position on Opening Day. What Burke's role is this year remains to be seen, but it looks like he will be used as a bench player who subs in at second and plays a little outfield.

"The questions continue, but obviously, it's a huge thrill to make the Opening Day roster," Burke said. "I was just pleased with the way I played. I had to make the most of the opportunities I had. Hopefully, the team saw what it needed to see."


News and features:
• Astros notes: Pettitte gets in work on mound
• Royals hold off Astros in spring finale
• Astros finalize 25-man roster

Multimedia:
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• Astros GM Tim Purpura:
• Astros 2B prospect Chris Burke:

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Burke batted .340 (.17-for-50) with two homers and 11 RBIs during the Grapefruit League season, as either a starter on road games Biggio did not attend or as a late-game substitute. He was second on the club with four stolen bases and made one error.

"I feel my production was better than I expected, being that I came in late to so many games," Burke said. "It was nice to get some hits when you're only getting one or two at-bats in a game. All in all, I felt good about my spring."

As did Gallo, who said his demotion wasn't as much of a shock as it was last year, when he was one of the final cuts made before Opening Day. This year, the Astros have veteran left-hander John Franco, and after the decision was made to carry 11 pitchers, Gallo, who has options remaining on his contract, knew he'd probably be the odd man out.

"(Manager Phil) Garner said he wanted me to be in a role where I can come in middle relief and face two-thirds of the lineup or maybe go through a whole lineup one time and be fine," Gallo said. "I took it as a positive. I just said, 'Look, I want you to have confidence in me because I felt last year that you didn't have confidence in me.'

"The only way I can do that is perform consistently. Maybe not perfect every time, but maybe if I have a slipup then break out with three or four outings in a row where I'm good. It's unfortunate, but last year I went down and I was back up within 10 days."

Said Garner: "He was a big part of the run last year. This is just Opening Day. You never finish with what you start with. You need people that are pitching at Triple-A and doing a good job, to help us up here."

The Opening Day roster:

Pitchers (11): Brandon Backe, Roger Clemens, Brandon Duckworth, John Franco, Chad Harville, Brad Lidge, Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte, Chad Qualls, Russ Springer, Dan Wheeler

Catchers (2): Brad Ausmus, Raul Chavez.

Infielders (7): Jeff Bagwell, Eric Bruntlett, Chris Burke, Morgan Ensberg, Adam Everett, Mike Lamb, Jose Vizcaino.

Outfielders (5): Craig Biggio, Jason Lane, Orlando Palmeiro, Luke Scott, Willy Taveras.

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

Royals hold off Astros in spring finale

HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros fell short of their bid for a come-from-behind win, dropping a 9-6 decision to the Kansas City Royals Sunday afternoon before 31,470 at Minute Maid Park. The game marked the exhibition season finale for both teams.
The Royals mounted a 9-0 lead after six frames, beginning with a four-run second. Angel Berroa knocked a two-run double off right-hander Brandon Duckworth, who logged two quick strikeouts before allowing a two-run homer to Alberto Castillo.

Kansas City added three in the fourth behind a solo homer by Berroa and an RBI double by Mark Teahen. Tony Graffanino added a run-scoring single.

The Astros ended a 15-inning scoring drought with a five-run seventh off Billy Buckner, started by Chris Burke's RBI groundout to score Willy Taveras. Orlando Palmeiro contributed a pinch-hit RBI double, followed by Mike Lamb's run-scoring single down the right field line.

Luke Scott knocked a two-run homer to cap the inning. The Astros added one last run in the eighth on a Palmeiro sacrifice fly.

The Astros open the regular season at home with the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. CT. The Royals open in Detroit on Monday at 1:05 p.m. ET.

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/

Pettitte gets in work on mound

HOUSTON -- Andy Pettitte threw his normal side session on Sunday, but he threw off the mound on the field rather than doing his work in the bullpen.
"I just wanted to get out there," Pettitte said. "I did the same thing when I was in New York. I love to get on the mound, just to be on it after having a full offseason not being on that mound."

Pettitte threw five innings in his final Spring Training tune-up on Friday in Round Rock, and will make his first regular season start on Wednesday versus the Cardinals.

Pettitte, who is attempting a comeback after undergoing season-ending elbow surgery last August, will start the 2005 season slowly as he continues to build arm strength that he lost after having such a long layoff from pitching.

"I threw 82 pitches the other day [in Round Rock], and that was it," he said. "I didn't have much more in me. My first start, I'm hoping my arm doesn't peter out quicker than that. I hope I can give them 90 pitches, 95 pitches this time.

"Hopefully, I can give them a good six innings or so."

"We'll keep an eye on him for three or four starts," manager Phil Garner said. "We know he'll have some limitations."

New drill: The Astros practiced several fundamental drills throughout the spring, and recently they added a new one to try out, for Jeff Bagwell's sake.

The Astros rehearsed different scenarios when runners are on first and third, and, in one situation, they practiced what they would do during a rundown between first and second while keeping an eye on the runner at third, who may try to steal home.

Normally, after the runner starts moving, the "pickle" starts, the first baseman receives the ball and makes the tag on the runner. He then throws home to prevent the run from scoring.

But because Bagwell's ailing shoulder prevents him from making strong throws, runners may try to take advantage as soon as the ball is in Bagwell's hands. To stop this from happening, Bagwell can theoretically receive the ball in a rundown, tag the runner and flip it to one of the middle infielders, who is standing close by. The middle infielder then can throw the ball home to try to nab the runner.

That's what the Astros practiced for about 30 minutes on the backfields of Osceola County Stadium before one of their final Florida home games.

"Late in the game, if Baggy can't throw, what they're going to try to do is try to get in that pickle, try to get the ball in Baggy's hands and then Baggy can't throw, and they'll try to go," Garner said. "What we're trying to do is run it back as close as we can to first, and if we can, Baggy shovels it right back to the middle infielder and we've got the runner at the plate."


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If the Astros use this technique, it would likely be later in the game if Bagwell's arm becomes tired.

"I think there's going to be a lot of times that he'll throw and he'll be fine, but sometimes if he's had several throws late in the ballgame and he gets a little knotted up, and it's hard for him to throw," Garner said. "In that event, we have these situations and we're going to have something in place."

Bagwell said it's hard to plan ahead for such situations, and he expects things to happen on more on instinct instead. He recalled a few years ago when he caught a ball in shallow right field and tossed it to Richard Hidalgo, who gunned down a runner trying to advance to third. That was not planned ahead of time.

"These things just kind of have to happen, like when I flipped the ball to Richard," Bagwell said. "But now, it's in everyone's mind, so if it does happen, they know what to do."

Royal connection: The Kansas City Royals traveling party included a number of personnel with close ties to the Astros. Jose Lima, the Royals Opening Day starter, pitched for Houston from 1997-2001. Manager Tony Pena skippered the Astros' Triple-A club from 1999-2001.

Catcher John Buck was a key component in the trade that brought Carlos Beltran to Houston last year. The three-way trade sent Octavio Dotel to Oakland, Buck and an A's prospect to Kansas City and Beltran to the Astros.

Buck, once considered the Astros' catcher of the future, harbors no ill will toward the Astros for trading him, especially since he went to a team that made him a full-time starter right away.

"Considering the situation, to get the player like Beltran, the way he affected the playoffs, if I was a businessman, I probably would have done it, too," he said. "I was able to move on and be able to start every day. If I was here, I'd probably be backing up behind Brad [Ausmus]."

But Buck never forgot his roots. During the playoffs last year, he was one of many self-proclaimed Astros fans glued to the television.

"I had my Astros hat on," Buck said. "Some of my best friends are out here. I was rooting. I was screaming. I was pumped up. All my boys were out there playing, the ones I came up with [through the minor leagues] and played with."

Duckworth struggles: Brandon Duckworth turned in impressive numbers during the spring season, good enough to likely merit winning the fifth starter spot.

But during his final exhibition start on Sunday, Duckworth struggled, allowing eight runs on 10 hits over four innings against the Royals.

The right-hander, who sprinkled six earned runs over six starts during the Florida portion of Spring Training, said he'd rather struggle now than after Tuesday, when the games start to count in the standings.

"Everybody's going to go through it," he said. "I don't like the results of it, but at the same time I have to build and be focused and get some guys out next time. Today, it one of those days you put in the back of your mind and say, all right, let's move on."

Source: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/