{"id":5681,"date":"2011-12-15T01:43:31","date_gmt":"2011-12-15T07:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=5681"},"modified":"2011-12-15T01:43:31","modified_gmt":"2011-12-15T07:43:31","slug":"a-trade-a-fan-and-a-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/5681","title":{"rendered":"A Trade, A Fan, and A Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Welcome to the big leagues Jeff Luhnow<\/a>.\u00a0 A mere six days into his inaugural tenure as a general manager of a Major League franchise Mr. Luhnow has already completed his first trade<\/a>.\u00a0 As a fan I\u2019m stoked.\u00a0 Sure, it might have cost us a cheap and controlled closer, but who cares when you\u2019re only going to win 55-60 games. \u00a0We were able to bring back a shortstop that has a higher ceiling than any of the other options left via free agency, and we brought back a young arm that has the potential to be as good as a number 3 starter.\u00a0 Sweet.<\/p>\n

There was still one part of this trade that left me with my mouth just a bit open and my mind grasping at straws\u2026we didn\u2019t shed any of the large salaries we have<\/span> trade Carlos<\/a>, Wandy<\/a>, or Brett<\/a>.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, the exact opposite occurred.\u00a0 Whatever.\u00a0 After being strong armed in to joining the American League<\/a>, showing up to prom stag (RE: the Winter Meetings<\/a>), and having David Stern defecate all over the Houston Rockets, it is nice to be able to say that something positive is happening in Houston sports.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 I can handle the fact that the rebuilding process will test my heart and drive for the team.\u00a0 I can accept that.\u00a0 What I would not have been able to handle was a blown move right out of the gate.\u00a0 So it is nice to finally enjoy a victory as an Astros fan- no matter how small that victory may be.<\/p>\n

I will be sad to see Mark Melancon<\/a> leave, though.\u00a0 Not because of any stats, or because he made one of my outlandish predictions<\/a> come true, or because of any way he could possibly help the team between the lines.\u00a0 Melancon will be just fine as a closer.\u00a0 As he logs more innings his BB\/9 will decrease and finally allow his 8K\/9 to let him slam the door shut.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0No, this break-up is of a more personal shade.\u00a0 Before Marky Mark was chuckin’ in The Show, he and I were teammates in Tucson.\u00a0 We were both on the 2004 University of Arizona team that went to the CWS that year.\u00a0 You can only imagine my excitement when he came to Houston as part of the deal that sent Berkman to the Yankees.\u00a0 It was pretty cool to have a friend playing for your favorite team.\u00a0 It was a unique lens from which to view.\u00a0 But that is neither here nor there.\u00a0 Honestly, I just wanted to share a quick story about Mark and myself from that 2004 trip to Omaha.\u00a0 It goes like this\u2026<\/p>\n

It was the night after our first game of the tournament- a loss to Georgia- and Mark and I were back at the hotel.\u00a0 Because I was medical redshirting and not playing I was obviously itching to go out and enjoy the local taverns and watering holes.\u00a0 Mark tells me that he has some friends from high school in town and I should hang out with them.\u00a0 One house party, and many sodas later, I find myself back at the hotel approximately 3:30 A.M.\u00a0 Not quite sure which room was mine I began trying them all.\u00a0 Then called my girlfriend at the time to find out why she wouldn\u2019t open the door to her apartment.\u00a0 She immediately realized how lost I was and called Mark, begged relentlessly, and convinced him to find me.\u00a0 He finds me on the floor below and politely walks me back to the room.\u00a0 Then Beelzebub reared his true colors.\u00a0 His eyes locked with mine and I felt his tug on my soul as he yelled something at me about how, \u201c\u2026and If I blow a f—–g save tomorrow I\u2019m going to f—–g kill you!\u201d\u00a0 Sure enough, the next day Mark, the true freshman, was out there in a win-or-go-home game at the College World Series.\u00a0 And true to form Marky Mark shoved and made sure we saw another game that season. \u00a0It was tits. \u00a0Mark, if you ever read this, big ups man.\u00a0 You deserve everything that comes your way.<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> No, the Texans don\u2019t count for me.\u00a0 I grew up an Oilers fan and moved out of Houston before the Texans were a team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[2]<\/a> Don\u2019t believe me?\u00a0 Look at the splits for him pre and post All-Star break.<\/a>\u00a0 Match that trend with the fact that he is finally throwing his new cutter with much better control and I think you will agree with me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Welcome to the big leagues Jeff Luhnow.\u00a0 A mere six days into his inaugural tenure as a general manager of a Major League franchise Mr. Luhnow has already completed his first trade.\u00a0 As a fan I\u2019m stoked.\u00a0 Sure, it might have cost us a cheap and controlled closer, but who cares when you\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,1300,17,6],"tags":[518,201,2999,2997,3000,1906,2998],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5681"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5681"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6117,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5681\/revisions\/6117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}