The Rocket Returns tonight!

[livethesounds]

Roger Clemens makes his triumphant return to the Houston Astros rotation tonight against the Minnesota Twins and young lefty Fransico Liriano. Its his first start against Major Leauge talent since the WBC in Feburary and his last in the Majors since the World Series.
Is he ready yet?
Will he be as dominate as he has been the past 2 years for the Stros'?
Will he help Houston back to the playoffs and to the Series?
Will he win tonight?

[DaveFeelsRight]

I think they should have kept him for tomorrow against the sox.

[livethesounds]

I think they should have kept him for tomorrow against the sox.

Probably would have been a good idea, especially considering what they are doing to the cards, but the buzz it will bring to houston being a home game is big for the city and the team.

[StandMyBrothers]

Roger Clemens makes his triumphant return to the Houston Astros rotation tonight against the Minnesota Twins and young lefty Fransico Liriano. Its his first start against Major Leauge talent since the WBC in Feburary and his last in the Majors since the World Series.
Is he ready yet?
Will he be as dominate as he has been the past 2 years for the Stros'?
Will he help Houston back to the playoffs and to the Series?
Will he win tonight?
*Francisco Liriano
-No, come on, the minor leaguers were hitting the crap out of him
-Not a chance
-No, Houston doesnt have a single shot at making the world series. They aren't going to win the Central and have no shot at the wildcard
-No, Francisco Liriano is going to school him, the team, and the whole city of Houston.

[livethesounds]

*Francisco Liriano
-No, come on, the minor leaguers were hitting the crap out of him
-Not a chance
-No, Houston doesnt have a single shot at making the world series. They aren't going to win the Central and have no shot at the wildcard
-No, Francisco Liriano is going to school him, the team, and the whole city of Houston.

You must have something against houston

one, there is little chance he can be as good as he has inthe past two years (Cy Young, lowest era of carrer) but he will still be Very Good.
two, the stros might not win the central, but are at least the favirotes to win the wild card. who else is going to step up and challenge them? the reds are a terrible second half team, philly dosent seem to have the drive, and the nl west dosent seem as good as they were last month.
Will they go to back to the series? eh, its hard to say yes, but its hard to say no, they went with this EXACT team last year, and now the players are better and more experienced, and they have more good rookies.
Ive never seen Liriano and have barley heard of him, could he shut downthe astros? sure, will he? i doubt it, that place will be rocking tonight. Clemens is the most popular sports figure in H-town and its gonna full to the brim like a playoff game, the stros will show up.

[Yankees' #1 Fan]

i still dont understand how you supposedly follow the game of baseball and you didnt know who Liriano is

[livethesounds]

i still dont understand how you supposedly follow the game of baseball and you didnt know who Liriano is

Well i mostly stay in my astros bubble, but most of what i follow is NL players and news. and i also watch sportcenter every night, thats the extend of my AL knowledge. i know im afraid to see the stros play the white sox starting tomorrow.

[LeftWideOpen]

*Francisco Liriano
-No, come on, the minor leaguers were hitting the crap out of him
-Not a chance
-No, Houston doesnt have a single shot at making the world series. They aren't going to win the Central and have no shot at the wildcard
-No, Francisco Liriano is going to school him, the team, and the whole city of Houston.

pretty much agree across the board. the only thing i'm not sure about is whether he's ready, aka as good as he's going to be, already. i think he might be ..but i don't think he has a chance at being as dominant as he's been and there's no way the astros make the playoffs.

i'm a fan of clemens, too. i just think there is too much hype and there's no chance he lives up to it all.

[livethesounds]

pretty much agree across the board. the only thing i'm not sure about is whether he's ready, aka as good as he's going to be, already. i think he might be ..but i don't think he has a chance at being as dominant as he's been and there's no way the astros make the playoffs.

i'm a fan of clemens, too. i just think there is too much hype and there's no chance he lives up to it all.

i guess the stros will surpise everybody for the 3rd year in a row. is it just that texas gets no respect?

[histrionics22]

i guess the stros will surpise everybody for the 3rd year in a row. is it just that texas gets no respect?
No, its just that they are weaker than they were last 2 years.

[LeftWideOpen]

lidge has been unreliable and pettite has been pretty terrible. on offense, it's been lance berkman, ensberg and not much else.

Houston needs some offensive punch, ASAP, or they are going absolutely nowhere. Jason Lane and Preston Wilson have done nothing and Biggio is clearly on a rapid decline. Even if they acquire another bat or two, they need to cross their fingers that the bullpen and Pettite correct themselves and Oswalt stays healthy.

The big problem, though, is that the Astros are just mediocre. They aren't awful, but they don't have a high ceiling, even with Clemens returning. They are an 80-85 win team and that isnt good enough for the Wild Card.

[Yankees' #1 Fan]

yo why do you hate houston so much saying they are going to lose?!?!

[LeftWideOpen]

yo why do you hate houston so much saying they are going to lose?!?!

it must be my innate hatred towards texas and not the fact that i love the game of baseball and follow it closely enough to realize the astros aren't that good.

but i'm just a liberal so what does my opinion mean anyway.

[bigmike]

*Francisco Liriano
-No, come on, the minor leaguers were hitting the crap out of him
-Not a chance
-No, Houston doesnt have a single shot at making the world series. They aren't going to win the Central and have no shot at the wildcard
-No, Francisco Liriano is going to school him, the team, and the whole city of Houston.
I'm going to have to go ahead and agree with this.

and it's not an anti-houston sentiment. It's a realistic one. You should be happy to get 5 innings out of the rocket tonight with 4 runs or less.

not to mention they've got 3 great lefties he'll be facing tonight in Morneau, Mauer, and Kubel that he'll be facing. and you're not making the playoffs, either, so again, good luck with that.

[StandMyBrothers]

I have absolutely nothing against Texas, infact I'm in favor for Texas Rangers to do always beat the Angels and most teams. I'm a Twins and Cardinals fan, so yes I'm bias for the part of Minnesota. The game has been good so far, but I'm going to watch OSU now.

[hockey0001]

i still dont understand how you supposedly follow the game of baseball and you didnt know who Liriano is

agreed

and am i the only one who couldnt care less about Clemens right now? Sure he's a good pitcher and could have another great 2/3 of a season, but he'll do it for the Astros who arent going to do anything this year

[StandMyBrothers]

So I was right that Liriano did pitch well, except for that homer. great game kid!

[xbrokendownx]

francisco liriano is my hero

[Yankees' #1 Fan]

as predicted by me in some other thread as well, liriano was the story tonight.

[.lizzie.]

meh sucked for astros fans

[Yankees' #1 Fan]

tough noogies, it was easily predictable

[StandMyBrothers]

Clemens I think will be full strength by after the All-Star break

[Yankees' #1 Fan]

he will still get zero run support

[StandMyBrothers]

he will still get zero run support
true that

[livethesounds]

lidge has been unreliable and pettite has been pretty terrible. on offense, it's been lance berkman, ensberg and not much else.

Houston needs some offensive punch, ASAP, or they are going absolutely nowhere. Jason Lane and Preston Wilson have done nothing and Biggio is clearly on a rapid decline. Even if they acquire another bat or two, they need to cross their fingers that the bullpen and Pettite correct themselves and Oswalt stays healthy.

The big problem, though, is that the Astros are just mediocre. They aren't awful, but they don't have a high ceiling, even with Clemens returning. They are an 80-85 win team and that isnt good enough for the Wild Card.

Thats actually wrong
Lidge has had a couple rocky outings, but im pretty sure every close has them, hes got 19 saves so far and is 4th in the NL in thta category. I dont really conisder that unreliable. When he was blowing saves last month it was because he was tipping his pitch, he fixed that and now hes back on his game.

the first couple months pettite has been pretty bad some starts. im not sure why, but historically hes been a slow starter, just usually not this slow, this dosent mean he cant snap out of it and pitch well consistantly.

On offence its mostly been Berkman, but Ensberg has struggled. Lamb, Burke & Ausmus have been excellent for them when there stars have stuggled this year. they would have alot more losses if it wernt for those 3 guys. Jason Lane is coming on, as well as Preston Wilson, and Craig Biggio has shown ANYTHING BUT a decline in playing ability. he may not be able to get to a grounder as fast as he used to but hes still got a great bat, and is 4 in the leauge in doubles.

There bullpen has sucked terribly the first two months, but in the last month they have been solid. having taylor buckholtz in the bullpen now make it even better.

This team WILL NOT finish below .500 this year i can garentee you that, i think they definitly win the wild card. Clemens wasent amazing last night but he was still pretty good, hes still coming back for christs sake. Liriano was excellent though, and for the most part shut the offence down, credit to him.

[bigmike]

Thats actually wrong
Lidge has had a couple rocky outings, but im pretty sure every close has them, hes got 19 saves so far and is 4th in the NL in thta category. I dont really conisder that unreliable. When he was blowing saves last month it was because he was tipping his pitch, he fixed that and now hes back on his game.

the first couple months pettite has been pretty bad some starts. im not sure why, but historically hes been a slow starter, just usually not this slow, this dosent mean he cant snap out of it and pitch well consistantly.

On offence its mostly been Berkman, but Ensberg has struggled. Lamb, Burke & Ausmus have been excellent for them when there stars have stuggled this year. they would have alot more losses if it wernt for those 3 guys. Jason Lane is coming on, as well as Preston Wilson, and Craig Biggio has shown ANYTHING BUT a decline in playing ability. he may not be able to get to a grounder as fast as he used to but hes still got a great bat, and is 4 in the leauge in doubles.

There bullpen has sucked terribly the first two months, but in the last month they have been solid. having taylor buckholtz in the bullpen now make it even better.

This team WILL NOT finish below .500 this year i can garentee you that, i think they definitly win the wild card. Clemens wasent amazing last night but he was still pretty good, hes still coming back for christs sake. Liriano was excellent though, and for the most part shut the offence down, credit to him.
so basically your hopes are based around the optimism that Andy Pettitte is going to revert to his outstanding yankee days and riding this three headed monster of Lamb, Burke and Ausmus? Really?

At least when my team is bad I can at least admit it. You might want to check into doing that.

[livethesounds]

so basically your hopes are based around the optimism that Andy Pettitte is going to revert to his outstanding yankee days and riding this three headed monster of Lamb, Burke and Ausmus? Really?

At least when my team is bad I can at least admit it. You might want to check into doing that.

lol, im not even gonna give that a response

[Yankees' #1 Fan]

why not

[livethesounds]

maybe because i dont feel like i need to respond to a completley stupid post. it took what i said and made something completley diffrent out of it.
I dont belive ausmus burke and lamb can carry the team, i also never even said that.
I dont think Pettite will be as good as he was in his prime with the yankess, and i never said that either.

Its quite hard for me to admit the stros suck when they dont even come close.
and if you really think the astros suck and arnt gonna win the wild card, tell me who the hell will and why exactly.

[Yankees' #1 Fan]

haha you just responded to it

[livethesounds]

haha you just responded to it

good observation

[bigmike]

maybe because i dont feel like i need to respond to a completley stupid post. it took what i said and made something completley diffrent out of it.
I dont belive ausmus burke and lamb can carry the team, i also never even said that.
I dont think Pettite will be as good as he was in his prime with the yankess, and i never said that either.

Its quite hard for me to admit the stros suck when they dont even come close.
and if you really think the astros suck and arnt gonna win the wild card, tell me who the hell will and why exactly.
Fine, to be serious they have a decent shot. But so does one of the other 7 teams that are within 3.5 games of the wildcard.

[LeftWideOpen]

maybe because i dont feel like i need to respond to a completley stupid post. it took what i said and made something completley diffrent out of it.
I dont belive ausmus burke and lamb can carry the team, i also never even said that.
I dont think Pettite will be as good as he was in his prime with the yankess, and i never said that either.

Its quite hard for me to admit the stros suck when they dont even come close.
and if you really think the astros suck and arnt gonna win the wild card, tell me who the hell will and why exactly.

you are a total fanboy. i'm not saying the astros suck ..i said they were mediocre. You know what that means? Average. If you look at their record and where I said I expect them to finish, you'll see that it's a consistent and valid observation.

As for your post responding about Lidge and Pettite etc, that was good for a laugh. Lidge couldnt even keep his closer's job at one point and blind faith is your basis for expecting an aging Pettite to turn it around drastically.

As for the guys like Lane and Ausmus stepping up ...good luck with that. The Astro's aren't that good ...but either is most of the NL, so 85 wins may just give you the wildcard. My money is on either the Reds or the Dodgers/Padres (whichever team doesn't win the West). All 3 are better and if you need an in depth analysis of why the Astros aren't as good, PM me and I'll respond when I have time to waste because I don't think anyone else but you needs to be convinced.

[livethesounds]

hahahahaha amazing.

I was just looking through all my old threads ive started and read through this one...and wow....just wow. im ashamed of myself. really really ashamed of myself.

[youkwalks]

you are not excused.

[thejetstolehome]

fuck clemens.

[The Matt Kaufman]

fuck clemens. /thread