...because I am a fail at updating.

So here's what's going on in Astroland:

Should we trade José Valverde?  Personally, I'm going to go with YES.  He's a great closer but if we're offloading salary (which we have to since they didn't raise ticket prices for 2009), toss him.  There are teams who want him (Indians?), and if anybody out there wants a disturbingly emotional closer who might be one of the funniest men I've ever met and has great minor leaguers to offer in return, let's talk.  I'm not sure if Justice was just blowing hot air but it seems like a good idea.  I wonder who we would replace him with?  Wesley Wright is not a viable option, because great roller coaster seasons do not good pitchers make.  LaTroy Hawkins, maybe--he only gave up one run last year for us, but we've only got him for one year so we'll need to find a backup plan for that.  Geoff Geary?  He pitched pretty well last year but didn't pitch enough for me to make a confident call.  Or do we bring someone in from the outside?  I really don't know.  What do you think?  Who could we possibly find?

Should we trade Ty Wigginton?  I'm honestly not sure.  Who would we replace him with?  I'm a little averse to this idea simply because of his phenomenal year last year.  We might be able to move Mark Saccomanno, who hit a homer on the first major league pitch he ever saw, to third, but, then again, I don't know much about moving players.  There are many options from within: Darin Erstad, Geoff Blum, and David Newhan could all play third, to name a few.  I suppose it would be the same thing as Valverde--for great prospects (and Wiggy wouldn't pull as many as Valverde, which is why I'm not sure about this), well, why the heck not?  He is a great guy, as are so many of our players, but personality can, too, be replaced (although that might be the last time you ever hear me say that, and I'll never own up to it).  I suppose we'll see what Uncle Drayton Ed Wade decides to do.

So if you watch Rachael Ray, which I hope you don't, a bunch of women from Houston are getting married today in Minute Maid Park because their weddings were interrupted by Hurricane Ike.  That will be interesting to watch.

Why will I be watching Rachael instead of going to school?  Because I have an upper respiratory infection!  YAY!  Fever plus horrid cough equals sitting at home watching too much Sportscenter.  And maybe some Discovery Channel.  But really, I feel like crapola, so I think I'm going to leave you with a question and go take a nap.

If Major League Baseball were to create another pair of expansion teams, what cities would be chosen and why?

♥

...and I wish I'd never come back.

Drama doesn't go away just because I escaped for the weekend.  High school is petty and I hate it.

I LOVE DENVER and its surrounding areas.  I can't wait for ten months to move there.

I spent HOURS at Colorado Mills.  Sports Authority, Denver Autograph Co., with a little Bath & Body Works thrown in there for a little spice (har har *dodges rotten tomatoes*).  I talked to some very wonderful people, including someone who actually has the same name as I do.

I WANT TO GET AWAY FROM THIS.

GUH.

On to real news:

Girls, eyes off the pretty Matty and on the text, please.  That's right, kiddos.  Matt Holliday will never again don a Rockies jersey.  As much as I hate to see him go, he's a Scott Boras client and it would have been rough for him and the team to get a contract his agent would be okay with.  Besides, I LOOOOOVE Huston Street and would really appreciate the chance to get a picture with him now that he'll be playing in the Superior Circuit.

At least they didn't trade Tulo.

Yesterday I wandered around downtown, took a ride on the light rail, and hugged poor, empty, beautiful Coors Field.  I navigated with a map (SHOCKER) and didn't get lost.  But then I had to come home and that pretty much sucked.

I think I might change my blog's focus at the start of next season and not wait until I actually physically move to Denver to change it.  Got a great title ready!

I hope everyone's having a good offseason, and go Astros/Rox.

...and it's back to football.

How do you know the baseball season is over?

You're actually watching football at 1 PM instead of channel-flipping from FSN Houston to CBS during commercial breaks.

When you drive past the Holiday Inn, you stop wondering why they misspelled "Holliday."

You're actually doing homework.

When doing laundry, you find an Astros shirt and marvel, "Wow, haven't seen this one in a while."

You don't know where your Tulo shirt is.

On long drives you're flipping among college football channels instead of MLB channels on XM.

You go to sleep before 10 PM.

You miss baseball terribly and get a little twinge of sadness when you go to sleep on your "sports fanatic" baseball-shaped pillow.

♥

...IS MY DAMN GAME?!

The one game I decided to watch and it's NOT ON.

I refuse to watch online.  I want my announcers and my commentary!

Well, I guess I haven't got a choice.  BJ Upton just hit a homer.  GO RAYS!

WTH is going on?  Nothing on mlb.com or tbs.com about it.  What does "technical difficulties" mean?

Okay it just came back.  Good.

♥

...uggh.

I started out by watching some back episodes of Bones on Hulu.  I LOVE BONES, but the particular episode I watched was about a child, so that made me very sad.  And then I read that Casey Weathers has to have Tommy John surgery.  He's a Rox prospect who was playing in the AFL with Michael McKenry, who is blogging AFL for the Rox.  Keep Casey in your prayers, thoughts, good vibes, or what have you.

I still haven't watched playoffs.  Been too busy watching the Texans WIN A GAME and the Cowboys get blown up and ToRo breaking his pinky.

♥

...but I just wanted to post to say go Rays and

HAPPY TWENTY-FOURTH BIRTHDAY TROY TULOWITZKI!

From your biggest fan :D

♥

...I was accepted into my number one college.

So if everything goes exactly to plan, next year I will be moving to Colorado.  As I've said many times before, I will probably switch the focus of my blog to the Rockies, and the title will probably change just to signal the change of an era of sorts.  I actually have a great title in mind.

Anyway, I just wanted to broadcast my epic excitement to all my four readers!

♥

...went to jail?

I knew he wasn't the smartest guy in the world but seriously?  Because I hate baseball players who get physical with anyone, I am bestowing the Kylie B-slap of Fortune upon him.  Remember Shawn Chacon?  Yeah, he was the last one to get it.

♥

...not to be a Cubs fan.

Not only was I raised to hate the Cubs, but I've grown anti-fond of Cubs fans themselves.  When you hold up "I like Ike" signs in Miller Park and boo the Astros, well, you deserve your team's getting swept.  I'm not sure the players themselves deserve it, but certain Cubs fans most certainly do.

It's also a good day not to be a Brewers fan.

Go... everybody!  I want the Rays to go all the way, but if the Red Sox win the ALCS then I'll just cheer for the NL team, whoever it is.

Despite the epic suck of the Astros against the White Sox in 2005, I feel slightly guilty cheering against the other Chicago team.  The Dugout has made me love wordupthome Jim Thome, and I'm partial to Ken Griffey as well.  Sigh.

So much postseason drama, so little time.

♥

...but my AL bracket is totally correct.

I picked Brewers/Cubs/Red Sox/Rays, then Rays/Brewers, and then Brewers to win the WS.  But I don't care about winning the bracket contest--I want the Dodgers, Phillies, and Rays to win (originally, as in two hours ago, I had that backwards... oops)!

I LOVE Cole Hamels, and I heard his voice yesterday after the game--and I really wish I hadn't.  Much too high-pitched for my taste.

One of my friends has a vintage N64, and literally in every spare moment of our time we play Super Smash Bros.  When I close my eyes I see Captain Falcon (in his feminine pink suit, hee hee) doing his flip grab, because that's really the only one of his moves I'm good at.

I ordered the March 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated, mostly because there was a giant article (and some pictures) about Tulo... and he was on the cover... which was a fold-out...  It was fantastic.  Cost me ten bucks but I figured it was my one-month-belated birthday present to myself.

I've literally slept for nine hours every night for the last week and a half and I'm SO exhausted.  I don't understand why I'm so tired--school's not that stressful.

Going back to Denver sometime next month to re-visit the school.  Yay!

♥