Dropping off and the Local Poll

On the last Wednesday of Early Voting in Person in Harris County in 2008, 70,621 showed up.  Yesterday 58,467 showed up.  With two days left, we’re at 81% of the 2008 total.  With two days left in 2008, we were at 513,888.  With two days left today, we’re at 549,816.  It doesn’t make sense to me!

This is from Channel 11’s Doug Miller’s story on a poll taken in Harris County:

The poll shows the president leading in Harris County with the support of 46 percent of surveyed voters, compared to Romney’s 42 percent.  Libertarian Gary Johnson cracked the survey with 2 percent.

In the U.S. Senate race, Democrat Paul Sadler’s 44 percent leads Republican Ted Cruz with 42 percent in Harris County.  With a 3.5 percent margin of error, that’s a statistical dead heat in the largest county in Texas.

And:

Republican crossover voters are helping push Democratic Sheriff Adrian Garcia to 51 percent in this survey, compared to Republican challenger Louis Guthrie’s 32 percent.  Another 13 percent were undecided.

On the other hand, many Democrats told pollsters they’re voting for Republican district attorney candidate Mike Anderson, who’s polling at 41 percent.  Nonetheless, Democrat Lloyd Oliver is close behind with 35 percent.  Another 19 percent are undecided.   That number is especially striking because Democratic Party leaders were so embarrassed by Oliver’s candidacy they tried to remove him from the ballot.

Here is the entire story.

In 2008 in Harris County, 76,187 requested mail ballots and 67,612 (88.7%) were returned and counted. 

As of yesterday 91,529 mail ballots have been mailed and 61,972 have been returned.

Name the last team the ‘Stros played at the Astrodome?

Ken Hoffman devotes his column today to robo calls. 

Check it out here.

I went through three bags of candy last night.  A lot of my neighbors went dark.  Once again most of the kids that came to my door weren’t from the ‘hood.  Who cares?

On October 9, 1999, the ‘Stros got beat by The ATL 7-5 in Game 4 of the NLDS of course and that was the last MLB game played at the Dome.

It looks like the ‘Stros can’t keep anything secret.  It looks like Orbit will return.

 

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Turnout Shuffle

In 2008, there were only three Early Voting locations with more than 30,000 total voters:  West Gray at 35,987, Cypress Creek (Dist. 126) at 30,922, and Cypress Top at 30,312.  As of yesterday the top three are Champions Forest (Dist. 126) at 24,843, Cypress Top at 22,987, and West Gray at 21,825.  

In today’s Chron there is story today about Ted Cruz being a Latino.  There is no arguing, he is Latino.  I just don’t see him doing anything to help move the Latino community forward though. 

Check out the story here.

Here is an easy one.  Since 2000, how many World Serious sweeps have there been?

BTW, I got a Sheila Jackson Lee mailer this past weekend – that’s it.

Lisa Falkenberg has a column today on living the red state blues.  Here is a bit:

Where presidential politics are concerned, we don’t swing. We stagnate. Texas’ role in the presidential election is so inconsequential that our wealthy Republican donors are pouring their money into contests in other states, and national Democrats are urging Texas Latinos to stump in minority neighborhoods in places like Nevada and Colorado. When a presidential candidate does cross the Red River, they come to pick our pockets, not our brains.

Here is Lisa’s entire column.

What else is news?

If you want to check out the new ‘Stros lid, go here.

It looks likeone of our old lids.

There have been four World Serious sweeps since 2000 of course:  Boston over San Luis in 2004, White Sox over ‘Stros in 2005, Boston over Rockies in 2007, and Giants over Tigers a couple of days ago.

Here is from the ‘Stros website:

The Astros slashed their payroll to bottom-barrel levels following their midseason trades of high-priced players like (Brett) Myers, Carlos Lee and Wandy Rodriguez, though they’re paying significant portions of those contracts. When the dust settled, the only player making more than $750,000 was shortstop Jed Lowrie ($1.15 million), leaving the payroll south of the $20 million range. Lowrie will get a nice raise in arbitration, and pitchers (Bud) Norris and (Wilton) Lopez are first-time eligible, but there should be enough flexibility to make additions.

 

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Debates

Commentary did a pre-debate commentary this morning over at Fox 26 News.  My GOP pal Chris Begala also provided a commentary.   We will be on the air tomorrow morning with our post debate scorecards.

Commentary thinks Paul Sadler easily kicked Ted Cruz’s arse last night.  Full disclosure – I’m a biased unapologetic liberal Dem.

Sadler sort of called Cruz a troll last night and then sort of apologized for using the word troll.  I kind of wish Sadler hadn’t apologized.  I would have waited to see if the American Trolls for Democratic Action, the United Troll Front, or the Troll PAC put out a statement condemning Sadler.

Sadler called out Cruz on the Affordable Health Care Act on giving away certain benefits. He called him out on immigration reform and The DREAM Act – Cruz said something about e-verify.

He called him out for not supporting Sen. Cornyn.  Sadler also called Cruz a liar.

Sadler ripped his Tea Party opponent.  I can understand why Cruz doesn’t want to do six debates with Sadler.  Sadler did what Cruz’s GOP primary opponents couldn’t do. 

Burkablog and a columnist for the SA Express News didn’t like last night’s debate.  I did.

We will know this evening if Miguel Cabrera wins the Triple Crown.  In 1967 when Carl Yastrzemski won the Triple Crown he also won the AL MVP Award.  Who was the AL MVP Award runner-up in 1967?

The Texas Lyceum has a poll showing Romney leading The President 58-39 in the Lone Star State.  I don’t know about that.

Kuffer has a good take on the poll here.

Last night Commentary attended the Westside Blue State Special sponsored by the Cy-Fair Area Democrats.  There were about 250 or so Dems in attendance at the Cypress Saloon on Telge.  That part of Harris County is where we need to be growing the Dem vote.  I think I’ve said that before.

Traci Jensen was there and a few people came up to her and wrote her checks right on the spot – cool.

As of yesterday in Harris County, 60,553 have requested mail ballots with 24,266 generated by the GOP and 19,236 by Dems. 

The Chron E-Board endorsed in constable races here.

The Chron E-Board endorsed in a JP race here.

Hall of Fame great Harmon Killebrew of the Twins of course was the AL MVP Award runner-up in 1967.

We’re still sitting at 106 and our last game is this afternoon at Wrigley as the playoff teams have been set but we just don’t know who will be playing where – got it!

 

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Convince Me!

Somebody need to ‘splain to me why H-Town has to be like other burgs and have closed sessions of certain City Council meetings.  Yesterday the H-Town City Attorney trotted out a ballot proposal that would let voters decide on closed sessions.  Here is what he said:

"Contrary to what some might say, and that is that this is a move away from transparency, I believe that just the opposite is true.   We are oftentimes – this administration, any administration of this city – accused of bringing matters to council as a fait accompli. The primary reason that that’s the case is that we can’t have an executive session like everybody else in the state of Texas to discuss these things before they’re placed on the agenda for action."

Here is how CM James Rodriguez reacted:

"I think our system works fine, and I’ve seen it work fine. I believe that we’ll lose a lot of good will in the community if we move to try to put this on the ballot.  I believe in transparency. I believe that we need to hash out our issues in the public and work with the public and to have their confidence and trust that we’re going to be open and upfront with issues."

CM Rodriguez doesn’t mince any words as usual.  He makes good points.

My pal CM Stephen Costello supports the idea but doesn’t want it on the ballot now.  Check this:

"You incite an emotion that you really don’t want the voters to have as they walk into the ballot box.  What we want is voters going in and approving our bond issue, and I’d rather just have the bond issue there up for a vote, or, if we’re going to make some charter amendments, make them noncontroversial."

I agree with CM Rodriguez.  Give me some good reasons for closed sessions.  Like could closed sessions have gotten us the 2012 Summer Olympics?  Could we have gotten the Toyota plant or avoided hundreds of layoffs last year?  Could closed sessions have gotten us World Serious rings against the White Sox in 2005? 

More importantly, the public won’t be able to hear CM Helena Brown’s takes during closed sessions.

We’re doing OK without closed sessions and I agree with CM Costello that putting this on the ballot in November might p__s off some folks and cost the City some bonds.

Check out the Chron article here.

It is August 3 and the ‘Stros are 29 ½ games out of first place.  What are most games out of first place we have ever finished a season?

Your guess is as good as mine on what METRO will put on the ballot this November regarding the future of the GMPs. 

Check out today’s Chron on the GMPs.

The Lone Star State Tea Bagger AG is delusional.  He tweeted yesterday something like “if the Latino shift to the Tea Bagger Party continues….blah, blah, blah.”  He hasn’t been reading the polls lately I guess.  The anti-Latino Latino won with Tea Bagger votes not with Latino votes.

Meanwhile, HISD will vote on a bond plan next week. 

Check this from the Chron.

Here is what HISD Trustee Juliet Stipeche said about the plan:

"My lifelong dream was to be able to improve my community and bring in funds to help with development, but this is something that’s extraordinarily expensive. It’s going to raise taxes. Right now I’m very fearful that the figures are based on pseudo-science."

The Leader now has a grown up look and they also look at the HISD bonds here with a headline “Bondage”- yikes!

Check it here.

In 1975 the ‘Stros finished 43 ½ out of first place at 64-97 of course as the Big Red Machine finished first in the NL West with a 108-54 record.

The team is in The ATL in case you are wondering or care.

 

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The Disappearing Votes

Talk about a f__k-up!  At 10:12 pm last night, Constable Precinct 2 Dem candidate Zerick Guinn led Chris Diaz 2,695 t0 1,908 with 83 of 89 precincts reporting.  This morning at 12:43 am, votes were taken off of the table and Diaz led 2,064 to 2,061 with all the precincts in.  They took close to 500 votes away.  What happened?  In other Dem races in Harris County votes were also deducted.   Commentary is anxious to hear the County Clerk’s explanation but this is definitely disconcerting.   I’ve never seen this happen before.

This comes on the heels of late reporting of results by the Clerk last night and here is what the Chron said:

Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart said the delay appears to be due to technical problems in relaying the data via phone lines from Reliant Park, the drop-off location for all Election Day data, and the clerk’s election hub in downtown Houston.

“It’s a connectivity issue between here and Reliant,” Stanart said. “We’re trying different phone lines. Apparently Reliant gave us some garbage phone lines out there. That’s what it looks like right now.”

Stanart said, at this point, he’s not sure of the specific problem or who in particular is to blame. If trying additional phone lines doesn’t yield a solution soon, Stanart said at about 9:10 p.m., he’ll ask the poll workers to drive from Reliant to the downtown offices and manually deliver the memory cards with the voting data on them.

This is very troubling when the fella that is in charge of counting our votes doesn’t have his s__t together.   If he can’t handle this, maybe he ought to step aside.

Hunter Pence is now a Giant so you can check him out when the Giants visit The Yard for three at the end of this month.  How many times have the Giants and Yankees squared off in a World Serious?

CRUSHING is the only way to describe what happened to the Lite Guv last night – to put it mildly.

I’m waiting to hear what the folks running the Lone Star State Dem Party have to say – if anything.

This is from the Statesman’s Ken Herman today:

Time will tell if the (Ted) Cruz win is a major moment in a major movement in Texas GOP politics or an anomaly. Former state Sen. Mike Richards told the Dewhurst crowd its man fell victim to a political "tsunami. … I just think we have a lot of anti-Washington (sentiment), and David got caught up in it."

This Richards fella is talking out if his arse for sure.  He must have nodded off during the Lite Guv’s inaugural address last year when the Lite Guv did a lot of Washington bashing.  The fact is the Tea Baggers just don’t trust the Lite Guv and Guv Dude.

It is going to be interesting to see Dude trying to lead a Party that has rejected him.

The Giants and the Yankees have met in seven World Seriouses of course:  1921, 1922, 1923, 1936, 1937, 1951, and 1962.

The Chron said we would go 10-17 in July and we went 3-24.  The said we would be 43-62 today but we’re 35-70.  Is it too early to say “wait until next year?”

 

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Lone Star Decisions

Quien es mas macho?  Nolan Ryan o Sarah Palin?  If you listen to Sports Talk like Commentary then you have probably heard the drawl of Nolan Ryan endorsing the Lite Guv for U.S. Senate.  Sarah Palin comes to The Woodlands tomorrow to give her stamp of approval to Ted Cruz.

We will find out Tuesday night if we have a Republican Party of Texas or a Tea Party of Texas. 

Here is from a Star Telegram story today on the Tea Party taking over:

"I’m not at all surprised that Mr. Cruz has support from different people around the country. I’ve never gone to any of these people and asked them for their support," Dewhurst told The Associated Press. "I’ve been focused on Texans. My focus is Texas, not Washington and all of these people from other states that Mr. Cruz seems to want or need to come in and embrace him."

Here it the rest of the story.

Here is from an AP update last night:

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst says he never felt the need to woo key tea party leaders nationwide. In his words, "I’ve been focused on Texans."

What a bushel of BS!  The Lite Guv has been courting the Tea Party for the last couple of years or so and even trying to advance the Tea Party agenda this past legislative session.  He just wasn’t as frothy at the mouth like Cruz.  Now the Tea Baggers could take a chunk out of his arse this coming Tuesday. 

It doesn’t surprise Commentary that the Lite Guv is running negative and nasty ads on Cruz.  The Lite Guv is hurting.

Guv Dude, the Lite Guv, and others have been feeding Tea Baggers piles of red meat and now it looks like they could be taken hostage by the Tea Party of Texas.   I wonder how Hunker Down and Nolan Ryan feel about being a member of the Tea Party?

Courtesy of Dougie:  Who is now the longest tenured ‘Stro?

Speaking of, my pal Nick Anderson has a killer cartoon on CM Helena Brown in today’s Chron that you can only see in the hard copy – ouch!

Here is an interesting stat from the 2008 general election in Harris County.  Among straight party Early Voters in Person, Dems received 56.94% and the GOP received 42.7%.  Among mail ballot straight party voters, the GOP received 65.81% to the Dems 33.8%. 

I got an Erica Lee mailer yesterday.

I got a Paul Sadler bilingual robo call yesterday.

The Chron Sports Section did a bunch of pre-Olympics coverage but the only reporter sending post cards from London in the Chron is Channel 2’s Dominique Sachse.  What’s up with that?

Reliever Wesley Wright of course is the longest tenured ‘Stro these days when he made his debut in March of 2008 – of course he has also been sent down a time or two since then.

Here is what I said yesterday about Tuesday’s game:

Our new closer came in to close out the game with a one run lead and he didn’t close.  What else is news? 

Here is what I’m saying about last night’s game:

Our new closer came in to close out the game with a one run lead and he didn’t close.  What else is news? 

I don’t know what to say.

 

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Did You Know?

A few months ago Hector mentioned to me that there were around 360,000 Latinos registered to vote in Harris County and that 57% of the 360,000 lived at around the beltway and beyond.  He also told me that only 16% of the 360,000 resided inside of the loop.  A lot of the Latino growth is in northwest Harris County and that’s why Cy-Fair ISD, the third largest school district in the state, has an over 40% Latino student population.  Lesson for local Dems:  If you want to turn Harris County blue, get out of your comfort zone and head northwest and engage Latino voters.    FYI:  SBOE District 6 candidate Traci Jensen (Commentary’s client) is running in a king size district that includes most of CY-Fair ISD and other areas with a lot of Latino voters.

On a related note, here is from today’s Politico:

Latino Decisions, the polling outfit that showed a jump in Latino enthusiasm for President Obama following last month’s policy shift on deportation, finds today that the president is winning 70 percent of the Latino vote in 2012.

The poll is sponsored by a pair of progressive groups and finds Obama leading Romney by an even wider margin than he beat John McCain in 2008:

“Latino Decisions released new national poll of Latino registered voters showing Barack Obama winning 70% of the Latino vote compared to 22% for Mitt Romney.  The poll, commissioned by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and America’s Voice,  illustrates an increase in support for President Obama, and comes after a month of outreach to Latino voters, starting with the June 15 Dream announcement, appearances by the President and Vice President at NALEO and NCLR conferences, and comments opposing Arizona’s SB1070 immigration law.  This poll marks the first time Obama has received 70% of the vote in Latino Decisions polling on the presidential election over the past 20 months.”

The final margin among Latinos in 2008 was a 36-point gap in Obama’s favor. Right now, he’s up by 48 points. Which gives you a sense of why Republican elites think it’s so urgent for Romney to make up ground with this bloc.

Today I would say that the polling numbers are about right even here in Harris County.  Of course the polling numbers don’t mean squat if we’re not engaging the Latino voters.

A rarity in MLB these days is stealing home.  Name the player with record for career steals of home?

From yesterday’s Chron.com, a Joe Holley Moment:

U.S. Senate candidate David Dewhurst probably didn’t need a press release to communicate his nose-thumbing disdain for President Obama’s visit to Austin and San Antonio this week, but a press release we got nonetheless.

“President Obama is using Texas as an ATM, the same way he’s using taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars to spend our country into oblivion,” the lieutenant governor proclaims, before delivering himself of a jeremiad worthy of talk-show ranter Michael Savage. His upstart rival, former Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz, routinely describes the president as “the most radical president in American history,” but Dewhurst ramps up the screed. “President Obama,” he asserts, “is the most serious threat to America since World War II.” (Worse, apparently, than Cold War nuclear threats, Al Quaeda attacks, the hearbreak of psoriasis)

Our national fate, Dewhurst warns, is a dismal Obama-led Continental tour: “Through his disastrous and reckless policies like Obamacare, it seems Obama is trying to mirror America in the image of Europe. If we do not change the path we’re on, Obama will kill our economy, spend America into bankruptcy and relegate us to a failed future.”

The relatively low-key lieutenant governor, who has fallen behind the energetic and hyper-articulate Cruz in recent polls, calls for “a complete transformation of how our government works” and “leaders who will get government out of the way and allow the private sector to flourish.”

He’s waited 66 years for his Mr. Dewhurst-goes- to-Washington-moment, and now, even if he gets by the pesky Cruz, he may find the Capitol crumbled, thanks to “the most serious threat. . . ” Like Charlton Heston’s Statue of Liberty moment in “The Planet of the Apes,” all he’ll be able to do is shake his head at the folly of his fellow Americans, take one last look at the fallen dome and then trudge on back to Texas. It’s that bad, folks.

Or so says an over-heated candidate in the home stretch of a long, bitter race.

Also from Chron.com is Guv Dude’s Welcome to the Lone Star State letter to The President:

“Perhaps while the President is visiting Texas, he can take a break from big-dollar fundraisers to disavow his Attorney General’s offensive and incendiary comments regarding our common-sense voter identification law.

“In labeling the Texas voter ID law as a “poll tax,” Eric Holder purposefully used language designed to inflame passions and incite racial tension. It was not only inappropriate, but simply incorrect on its face.

“The president should apologize for Holder’s imprudent remarks and for his insulting lawsuit against the people of Texas.”

Every time The President visits the Lone Star State, GOP leaders go bonkers.  I love it!

Burkablog is sorta making a prediction in the GOP U.S. Senate race:

I believe this is going to be a very close race. The bigger the turnout, the better it is for Dewhurst. I think the breaking point is around 825,000. If the turnout is less, Cruz wins. If it’s more, Dewhurst wins.

Commentary isn’t going to say anything lincredibly silly about H-Town’s newest resident Jeremy Lin other than to ask if he is considering moving to Lindale – home to former Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, Sheriff Adrian Garcia, CM Ed Gonzalez, and HCC Trustee Yolanda Navarro Flores.

Hall of Fame great Ty Cobb of course stole home 54 times in his career.

I also said I wasn’t going to say anything about Jeremy Lin other than to ask if he can play shortstop because Jed Lowrie is out for 4-6 weeks and we now have 36 roadie losses – HELP!

 

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E-Board Plays

Commentary has said before that the Chron E-Board is a player.  They screen candidates, they endorse, and they put out daily takes on the issues of the day. 

Here is how they start out their take on Ted Cruz today:

Talk radio host and Texas state Sen. Dan Patrick is many things, but subtle is not one of them. So when he says that a fellow Republican is too confrontational, we’ll take him at his word. (Imagine Gov. Rick Perry chastising someone for acting too Texan.) Last Thursday on Patrick’s radio show, what was supposed to be a friendly interview with U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz descended into the sort of tussle expected between political opposites, not allies.

Did I just read that the Chron E-Board will take Sen. Patrick “at his word”?  Why?  Now that’s a head scratcher for sure!

Here is how today’s E-Board take ends:

As Patrick told Cruz, "You’re always in attack mode."

Cruz boasts an impressive educational background and legal resume, but his political judgment seems questionable when he so readily blisters Texas’ de facto tea party head honcho. It is an attitude that’s politically penny-wise but pound-foolish.

Texas is a big state, and our next senator has to represent all of it.

Here is the entire take.

In today’s hard copy the headline reads “Cruz uncontrolled.”

It looks like maybe the Chron E-Board read Commentary’s “What If” take yesterday and might be worried about Ted Cruz pulling off a stunner so they are using a Tea Bagger to knock off another Tea Bagger.  Today’s take is aimed at the so called “establishment conservatives” to get off of their arses and support the Lite Guv in the runoff.  Of course, the Tea Baggers can’t stand and don’t trust the Chron and the Chron E-Board so this will just motivate them to get out and support Cruz.  So today’s E-Board take is just a wash if you ask me.  Nice try E-Board!

KPRC-TV is running a piece on the 10 pm news tonight on The Rocket now playing slow pitch softball.  During his MLB career The Rocket wasn’t known for his bat.  He only had 179 at-bats with 31 base hits and a .173 career batting average.  How many of those 31 base hits were extra base hits? 

One of the media links Lone Star Project sent out yesterday was from the National Review and a story about the Lite Guv – Ted Cruz race.

Here is the article.

Here is from the piece:

Among Lone Star politicos, the consensus is that it will be hard for Cruz, the underdog in popular support and funds, to beat Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. In the primary election, Cruz succeeded in forcing Dewhurst into a runoff — but he also trailed Dewhurst by eleven points.

Remember, most of these same Lone Star politicos said that the Lite Guv would win without a runoff and look what happened.

Of The Rocket’s 31 career base hits, only six were extra base hits of course – all doubles – no triples or dinger in the bunch.

Futility is at The Yard this weekend as the ‘Stros come home riding an eight game losing streak.  They’ll be handing out 10,000 Mike Scott bobbleheads tomorrow afternoon.  BTW:  Numero 45 went 2 for 4 yesterday as his Fish beat the Brewers.  We’re 14 ½ games out and a very miserable 9-32 on the road.  That’s totally unacceptable!  What the heck, I’ll be there this weekend? 

I wonder if the surviving Caballito will show up.

 

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What If and Mission Accomplished, I Guess

I guess on the Fifth of July Commentary doesn’t have much to say other than does the Lone Star State Dem Party have a contingency plan if Ted Cruz slips by the Lite Guv and becomes the GOP nominee for U.S. Senator? Are Dems just going to roll over and watch us go from a red state to a Tea Bagger state?

Yeah I know, at least in these parts, the Lite Guv is the only candidate that has been running TV ads for the last couple of weeks so the conventional thinking is that the Lite Guv should be able to snag the GOP nomination.  What happens if Cruz pulls an upset?  Doesn’t that change the dynamics in the general election?  I think it does.

Of course, they’re not going to ask Commentary for my opinion so I guess the only thing I can do is to make sure all my friends and family votes for former State Rep. Paul Sadler and play it safe in the event of a Cruz upset.  

Numero 45’s offensive production is down this season with only five dingers to show.  How many those dingers have been smacked at The Yard?

Well I guess the front office got its wish and shipped off Numero 45 to the Fish for a couple of minnows, err prospects.  They also sent over a trunk full of cash to cover his salary for the rest of the season.  I’m surprised the front office didn’t throw in the choo choo train and Tal’s Hill as sweeteners to the deal.  What about the lone surviving Caballito, you know, the fella with the foot long ‘stache, did they ship him off to the Fish because he is of no use at The Yard this weekend?  Of course, I haven’t taken Senor Ed to a game in quite a while so he will be content to sit in the corner until I figure out what to do with him – maybe a trade to The Fish?

Commentary has forever been trying to figure out baseball economics but the only thing I can ever figure is the change I’ll get for a St. Arnold when I fork over a ten.  Here is from the Chron piece on the Numero 45 trade:

“Carlos (Lee) has more value to a team like the Marlins than he does to us right now, which gives us an opportunity to collect some players for the future,” general manager Jeff Luhnow said. “I had been talking to the Marlins for a little while because I knew they had some interest in getting a player like Carlos.”

Duh!  Of course he has more value to the Fish when they have our dough to cover his salary for the rest of the season!  Oh, well! 

Numero 45 handled the departure with class.  Here is from a MLB piece:

"I’m OK with everything. I have no regrets," (Carlos) Lee said. "Houston is a great city and there’s a lot of good people there. I had a great time there, and from now on I wish them the best. Hopefully they get started again and rebuild for the future and have an opportunity to win again."

And:

"I always did my best and have a lot of respect for the game," Lee said. "I respect the game. This game has been very good to me and when you respect the game you have to do it right. I did nothing but my best there. I had great years there and since the first day I got there I went down a little bit, but one of my worst years was last year and I still drove in 94 runs. I have no complaints."

Here is the entire piece.

Here is from Tag’s Line:

(Carlos) Lee, who played in 815 games with the Astros and hit .286 with 133 home runs and 533 RBIs in 5 1/2 seasons, said he wasn’t surprised he was traded.

Good luck Numero 45.  I enjoyed having you around even though I am in the minority. 

Here is the lead paragraph from the Chron E-Board today:

Clearly, it’s time to send out a "Mayday" distress call for the Battleship USS Texas. Time and the elements are threatening to do what no foreign enemy in two world wars could ever do: sink the venerable 29,500-ton dreadnought.

Here is the entire editorial.

Why don’t we just chop it up into movable pieces and haul it off and stick it under the Astrodome in dry dock?  You have a better idea?

All of Numero 45’s five dingers this season have been smacked at The Yard of course.

Numero 45 will be playing in Milwaukee this afternoon and his new skipper is Ozzie Guillen – yikes!

I’m going to try to look at the bright side and say that if we pull off a win this evening in Pittsburgh we will at least have beaten a first place team.

 

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No Se Habla Republicano!

The Lite Guv wants to debate Ted Cruz en espanol.   This is from the English-only bunch.  What a silly ploy!  Here is from Chron.com:

However, Cruz’s Spanish speaking is suspect. He is a second generation Cuban-American that grew up speaking “Spanglish” and is not fluent like his father, Rafael Cruz, Sr., who travels and often speaks at his son’s campaign events.

Therefore, allowing candidates to speak only in Spanish would likely play to Dewhurst’s advantage, who learned Spanish while on assignment with the Central Intelligence Agency in Bolivia in the 1970′s.

“When I came back from Bolivia, my Spanish was in some ways as good as my English,” Dewhurst said. “I  am rusty today. But I am comfortable talking in Spanish. I am not flawless or fluent, but I am comfortable. It takes me a day or two speaking a lot of Spanish to get back into a rhythm.”

And:

Cal Jillson, an SMU political science professor, said Dewhurst realized the dynamic of the race has turned to one-versus-one and is attempting to put Cruz in an uncomfortable position of explaining his Spanish-speaking ability.

No se puede if you ask me!

Last night the ‘Stros had the first pick of the 2012 MLB Amateur Player.  It was the third time the ‘Stros have picked first.  Since the draft started in 1965, eight teams have never had the first pick – name them?

Lone Star State Dems will gather in H-Town in the next couple of days or so.  I am actually looking forward to the Convention.  I wonder if we will have a decent size crowd.  We will see.

Former MLB pitcher John Rocker of The ATL who during his career made more news when stuff fell out of his piehole than how he performed on the mound said he would rather vote for the devil than President Obama.   Who gives a rat’s arse what this fella thinks anyway?

Commentary and MariGirl dropped by the draft party at The Yard last night.  Food and drinks were on the ‘Stros.   I think a number of folks were surprised we didn’t go with the Stanford pitcher.  I like that we picked 17-year old Carlos Correa out of Puerto Rico.

Commentary explained to MariGirl about Stanford pitcher Mark Appel and that maybe his agent Scott Boras might have been the reason he slid down the draft.   When Appel was finally picked at numero ocho they showed his family clapping and MariGirl wisely observed that they didn’t look too happy.  The slide down only cost him a few million.

The Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants, Reds, Red Sox, Rockies, San Luis, and Tribe of course have never picked first in the MLB Amateur Player Draft.

Speaking of Scott Boras, Carlos Beltran and San Luis are at The Yard for three as we try to win a few.

 

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