The Pecan Park Eagle

The Astros Are Now Strapped to the Table.
The O’s May Use Orange-Headed Needle Tonight.

THE 2016 AMERICAN LEAGUE WILD CARD RACE

THROUGH ALL GAMES OF WEDNESDAY, 9/28/2016:

GL above = Games Left to Play

* Green Lettering = Hanging-In-There Possibilities 

* Red Lettering = Ready for the Needle

…. Down the Stretch They Come .… the finish line date still reads Sunday, but it could come today (officially) for the Astros and Yankees today, Thursday, Spetember 29, 2016. On more win by the WC #2 Leading Orioles tonight against the WC # 1 Leading Blue Jays tonight and both the Astros and still charging Yankees are officially eliminated from the possibility of a “play-in” status into the 2016 AL Championship Spot and World Series with the NL winner that shall follow. ….  As one of our cherished Astros “collateral damage starting pitchers”, Doug Fister did his part to sink hope by surrendering a 3-run homer to Robinson Cano Wednesday Night in Houston by allowing the third batter in the game to send a ball on a faraway fly ball beyond the left field wall for the immediate big lead that the locals would never overcome. We are told that the ball traveled all the way to the corner of Despair and Exit Avenues. …. Fister gave it his best, but he will need some help tonight to complete the Astros elimination process. Since the Astros have the night off today, it will all be left up to the O’s to finish off the “Stros and Yanks with another win over the Jays …. a win that would tie the O’s with the Jays for both spots in the WC race for positioning. …. And that could leave the door open for the Tigers, or even the M’s to sneak into the WC#2 spot by the end of day on this coming Sunday. …. One consoling thought remains. …. The Astros are bout to be eliminated from the embarrassing possibility of advancing to the World Series …. and then potentially becoming the same franchise club that helped both Chicago MLB clubs from ending their early 20th century absences from the taste of victory in a World Series. Prior to defeating the Astros in the 2005 World Series, the White Sox had not won there since 1917. …. The Chicago Cubs, who are still one of the favorites to reach the Series this year, of course, haven’t won there since 1908! …. And the Astros really do not need to add that one to to their bullet-list of crushing disappointments …..even if they are, thanks to their involuntary league reassignment and record with the Pale Hose from 2005 as members then of the NL, the only club that could fulfill this particular double pain whammy by being their as the AL representative, if and win the Cubs ever do shatter the antiquity of their still in motion “Since 1908” status as the validation basis for their also running “Lovable Loser” status. …. By not reaching such a nightmarish match with the Cubbies, pitchers like Doug Fister will now be denied their opportunities for notoriety on the disappointment shelves of both baseball and Houston sports history.

UH COUGARS NOTE. GO, COOGS. GO! – BEAT UCONN TONIGHT! – Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle almost nailed it in his headline for the pre-game story this morning. It read: “No Way to duck Ward this time.” – Duarte missed the possibilities that UH starting QB flash, Greg Ward, who missed most of the only loss in Coach Tom Herman’s tenure at the Cougar helm last year due to injury, could, indeed, slip on a banana peel on his way to tonight’s 7:00 PM ESPN televised game, or be re-injured, but we get his intentionality, nonetheless. Barring re-injury to Ward, the Cougars (4-0) should be up to handling the Huskies (2-2) in style.

OU FLIP-FLOPS. Apparently beating OU before 70,000 plus at NRG in the season-opener – and in a year in which the alleged Big 12 favorites also lost to Ohio State at home to go 1-2 for starters, has turned out to be not a good thing for UH’s chances of admission to the same conference. The Sooners are now sending out messages that say “maybe we ought to hold off on expansion for now.” That’s code for “we would still like to expand the Big 12, but now we can’t do it without leaving UH out of the picture without appearing cowardly and unfair (because now we are getting the first hand message from personal experience that they will be too much of a threat to us as competitors on the field and in recruiting. If they are this good without our help, what are they are going to be like if they get to share our conference tv income as competitors for the same recruits?) I guess the Cougars may have to shop around for a first class conference that understands that added strength is a good thing. As a UH alum, I would much prefer to see the Cougars go into the SEC, but I also would rather see UH go into the PAC 10, than the Big 12. They’ve got great clubs out west – and I think they might value a connection to the Houston area as an addition to their recruiting power in Texas – and not see UH as a noisy inconvenience to their own recruiting in our area. – We’ll see what happens, even as we await the grubby ex-UH Athletics veep and new Baylor AD Mack Rhoades to make his own slimy weasel run at Tom Herman for the eventual head coaching job up there in Waco.

Have a Nice Thursday, Everybody!

____________________

Bill McCurdy

Publisher, Editor, Writer

The Pecan Park Eagle

Houston, Texas

Tags: AL WC#2 Update Thru Wed 9/28/2016

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