Hey everyone, I just wanted to take a minute or two and let everyone know about my future here at the Crawfishboxes.  Well, the 1st change will be that I am no longer going to be a major contributor here.  I started writing here about 2 years ago(actually, almost exactly 2 years ago) at the request of every one's favorite writer, Rastronomical.  He needed someone to take over some of the duties of the blog and I was happy to come along... but before I was writing here, I had my solo gig at the MLBLogs platform where I paid $5 a month to blog(yea, I paid to blog...  sad really). The readership wasn't anything like it is here and I was happy to be able to spread my "wisdom"(that's in quotations to express the sarcasm) to a bigger crowd. 

Well... that time is over.  I really do enjoy the back and forth with the readers here and have made some really good friends  in the Astros community because of it.  But, when it comes down to it... this is and has always been a hobby for me... and hobbies are supposed to be fun.  and I'm just not enjoying myself here any longer(it's not the readers fault).  I haven't been for a couple of months and do not see that changing any time soon... so I basically gave my 2 weeks notice to the owners of SBNation and let them in on my intentions a week or so ago.  I'm going back to where I started blogging.  If you feel the need to drop in and say hi... you can do so at my "old" blog here ->  http://strosbro.mlblogs.com

I'll still be around here for a little while(anywhere between 24 hours and a month or 2) to help out if needed... but I doubt I'll really be needed... so you'll probably see less and less of me.  If you have any questions about my departure or just want to drop me a line, you can e-mail me(you can get the e-mail address from my profile, just click on my name). 

Au revoir

I just noticed one of the advertisements was showing BOSS Baseball cards... just wondering if anyone actually collects cards any more?  

I used to collect cards when I was younger, but I was more into football cards.  I was(and still am) a Cowboys fan and I really collected Emmitt Smith cards.  I was also a pretty big Nolan Ryan fan(what Texas kid who pitched wasn't), so I collected those as well.  I still have them, but they really don't have much value to them.  They are stored in a box up in the top of my closet.  My newest cards are probably mid nineties cards...  I'm not real attached to them, and if someone offered me $100-200 for them, I'd probably just hand them the box and be done with it.  

Phillies VS Rays with the Phillies up 3-1 in the series. 

he St. Louis Cardinals intend to cut ties with often-injured left-hander Mark Mulder, paying a $1.5 million buyout rather than exercising an $11 million option on his contract.

General manager John Mozeliak said Tuesday he sent a letter to Mulder's agent, Gregg Clifton, informing him of the franchise's intention. The Cardinals had until Nov. 15 to notify Mulder.

"We don't have to do anything yet, but the likelihood is we will buy him out," Mozeliak said.

Link

Mulder has shoulder problems and has missed most of the last 2 seasons with multiple surgeries... before the shoulder issues, he was a pretty good pitcher... but lately, he's been anything but a good pitcher. Over the last 2 seasons he's pitched just under 13 innings with and 11+ ERA. Is he even worth the risk?? He has 103 career wins and 60 losses with a 4.18 ERA... but that was before the injury problems.

I say... put him in the Mike Hampton category... if we can get him on the cheap and offer him some incentives... go for it.  But I'm not going to give him 5+ million a season or anything like that.  I'll give him... 2 million with incentives to get up to 5 million and then a guaranteed 2nd year of 5+ million if he makes 25 starts... but I'm not going much more than that.  

Mulder has a chance to make a GM look REALLY smart next season... and a chance to make a GM look REALLY stupid next season.  Being an Astros fan, it seems like we've been on the lesser end of that totem pole a few times too many.  So I would exercise this with extreme caution.  But there's no doubting the guy has talent... and if healthy, could help this team.

That's right... the Tampa Bay Rays are your 2008 AL Champions after beating the Red Sox in game 7 to move on and face the Phillies in the World Series.

Not a whole lot here for me to say... I caught the last inning and a half on the radio on my way home from my hockey game and listened to my mortal enemy(Joe Morgan) broadcast the game...  

I really just made this post to get the headline out there... I was going to go with more of a "Jesus Saves, banishes the Devil and comes out victorious", but I figured that would have been too religious and a little over the top.  But it's true... as the Devil Rays, they never won more than 70 games in a season... as the Rays, they are the AL Pennant winners 100% of the time...  Maybe the Astros should just change their name to the 'Stros and see how they come out.. The Houson 'Stros...  okay, I don't like it.. but I don't like the Tampa Bay Rays either... so what do I know.  

Yes it's true... the Red Sox are once again coming coming from a huge deficit in the playoffs to try and make it to the playoffs.  The Rays started off the series with a 3-1 lead but have lost the last 2 games to force a game 7 to see who will face off with the Phillies in the World Series.  

Alright, now that we got this AL crap out of the way... let's see what the Crawfishboxes readers predicted, and who is still alive in their predictions.  

On 9/28/08, before the playoffs even started, many of us through out our wild predictions on who we thought would go to the World Series, and who would win.  Here are some of our predictions.  (Original post can be found here).

Stros Bro(me) -  Red Sox over Phillies  Still Alive

Tony_O - Cubs VS Twins with the Twins winning.  Dead

jbotter - Rays VS Brewers with the Rays winning.  Rays still alive

Joe in Birmingham - Angels over Dodgers - Dead

Rastronomicals - Phillies beat the Cubs(who cares about the AL). Phillies still alive

Only_A_Lad - Angels over Phillies.  Phillies still alive

TimStros - Rays over Phillies. Still Alive

DyingQuail - Rays over Cubs.  Rays still alive

HighLeveragePerformer - Rays over Cubs. Rays still alive

GoCubs! - Since I hate the Cubs, I'll add this quote from "GoCubs!" as well "But, the Cubs will make the World Series, like it or not. "  WRONG!!  Angels over Cubs. WRONG on both counts

WSAstrosfanWS - Cubs over Angels. Dead

TexSkins - Phillies over Rays.  Still Alive

littlevisigoth - Rays over Cubs.  Rays still alive

So there you have it.  Not to toot my own horn(okay, to toot it a little), myself and TimStros, and TexSkins are the only 3 people that are 100% still alive in the predictions... is it a coincidence that TimStros is my brother???  Unfortunately, we both can't be right and the game 7 tonight will determine whether the Rays or the Red Sox go to the World Series.. It will also determine whether me or my brother(TimStros) were right in our WS predictions.  

The attorney for Houston Astros pitcher Brandon Backe, one of 10 people arrested this month during a brawl at a wedding reception, alleged in a complaint to the FBI that Galveston police violated his clients' civil rights.

Attorney Bob Moen, who represents Backe and six others arrested in the incident, said he met with FBI agents on Wednesday to ensure there is a fair investigation into the incident.

"I have initiated a formal complaint against the officers involved for their actions against the clients I represent for violating their civil rights," Moen told Houston TV station KRIV.

Full Article

Pretty simple question really... the Astros were not a member of the 2008 MLB playoffs and therefore most of our reasons for watching baseball was taken away from us once the season end.  Obviously most of us are more fanatical about the Astros than your normal fan(being that we spend an awfully large amount of time chatting about them on this internet meeting place).  

That being said... what do you do during the off season?  Do you still check the news sites on a daily basis trying to find anything Astros related to help tide you over until spring training?  Do you go into baseball hibernation and pretty much ignore anything Astros/baseball related until next season?  

Do you do some combination of the two?  

Personally... I'm some where in the middle.  After the baseball season I usually kind of ignore baseball for a little while... I mean I'll check my google news(in which I have an Astros section created) and I'll look at anything new there... but I don't really go out searching the internet for anything new and fun about the Astros...  eventually I'll get back into the swing of things and start doing more intense research and then start trying to figure out what this team needs to do for the next season.  Right now I'm kind of in the forget about baseball stage... Maybe after the playoffs when the teams can really start "moving and shaking" I'll get back into the swing of things.