FanHouse Astros

We've heard of a rain delay in baseball. It happens occasionally -- in fact, it's happened frequently this season. Something you don't quite see so often is the non-traditional, but still quite crowd-pleasing, bee delay.

Thursday afternoon, the Astros entered the ninth inning leading the Padres 6-1. According to the Associated Press, Padres left fielder Kyle Blanks began moving toward the infield during Miguel Tejada's at-bat. After an umpire went out to see what the problem was, all players were pulled off of the field. Stadium security cleared out several sections of fans as well.

Ivan Rodriguez has had a great career. He won an MVP award with Texas in the '90s, has 13 Gold Gloves and an impeccable reputation as a defensive catcher. He's caught more games than anyone in baseball history, and his presence on the 2003 Florida Marlins was widely cited as an intangible reason for their improbable run to the World Series. There have been some loose ties to PEDs that come along with being in the Texas Rangers' clubhouse in the 1990s and that might affect Hall of Fame voting for him, but it's way too early to tell with something like that.

Pudge, however, has decided that all of this isn't enough and he'd like to stick around for a few more years until he reaches 3,000 hits. He's only about 350 hits away, but at the pace he's currently going, he might have to start and play regularly for three years after this one to reach his goal.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
The "Silver Boot" will stay in Arlington, Texas.

It ain't the Axe, or the Old Oaken Bucket, but the Silver Boot is an attempt to add college football flavor to interleague play, as it goes to the winner of the Texas-Houston six-game series.

By winning 6-1 on Tuesday, the Rangers went up 4-0 in the series and clinched the boot for the third straight year.

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Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Indians had a night to forget on a day they honored a movie about their days as lovable losers. The Brewers and famed announced Bob Uecker were in town for a memorable night in which Uecker's team was on the right end of a few big homers.

The Indians led 8-3 in the fifth and 12-7 in the eighth before the Brewers scored seven runs to win, including four on Prince Fielder's first career grand slam. Fielder's big blast was set up by three consecutive Indians walks, which Uecker must have called by saying "Ball Four. Ball Eight. Ball 12."

"Overall, it was a very bad night on the mound," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "We continually got ourselves in bad situations. They kept coming, and we kept making it tougher on ourselves."

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NEW YORK – Thanks in part to the influence of a 300-game winner, and the brother of a 300-game winner, the Rangers no longer have to try to out-slug people.

In the most remarkable turnaround of the season, Texas' pitching staff is actually pretty good, with a 4.46 ERA after shutouts Thursday and Friday and allowing three runs Saturday. If the Rangers can keep it there all year, it would mark the first time since 1993 the franchise had an ERA better than 4.50.

Not coincidentally, Texas leads the AL West at 35-26, the second-best record in the league.

"This is my third year here," right-hander Brandon McCarthy said, "but in two years I got sick to death of hearing, 'Texas pitchers stink. Texas pitchers stink.'

"Now we can turn those tables a little bit, be the group that maybe changes that whole mindset. It would be an awesome accomplishment."

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Jose Contreras and Manny Parra took a day between Triple-A assignments to share a mound in Milwaukee. Parra and the Brewers can only hope that he emerges from his demotion as well as Contreras did.

The White Sox veteran righty pitched eight scoreless innings to beat the Brewers on Saturday. In two starts since returning from his voluntary Triple-A assignment, Contreras has not allowed a run in 16 innings.

"I know what Jose went through during the last eight months, and going to the minor leagues was a great thought by him," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "Before he left, he told [White Sox general manager Kenny Williams] and myself, 'I need to pitch, I need to go out on the mound, I need to get stronger. When I come back, I'll come back fine.' "He's stepping up to his word, and he's just throwing the ball good."

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Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Red Sox haven't had a streak like this against the Yankees in a long time. Nearly 100 years, actually. The Red Sox beat the Yankees, 6-5, on Wednesday night, their eighth consecutive victory against their rivals, dating back to last year. It is Boston's longest winning streak against New York since 1912.

That was before Babe Ruth played his first big -league game.

The Red Sox have hit .295 and they have a 3.66 ERA against the Yankees this season. They've outscored the Bombers, 51-28.

"We're moving guys over, we're getting big two-out hits, and when you do those little things like that and you're playing good baseball you're going to win ballgames -- regardless of it's the Yankees or anybody else," Jonathan Papelbon said. "We just happen to be playing good baseball against them right now and we've got to keep this momentum."

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Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Everyone knows the No. 1 prospect in Tuesday's draft (and if you don't, read this). But after Washington selects Stephen Strasburg, things get less precise.

"Anybody from [No.] 2 to 15 could be just as good as the other guy," an executive from an NL team with a high pick told FanHouse. "It's really a strange year because it is in the eye of the beholder."

For example, Arizona State right-hander Mike Leake has been discussed as high as No. 3 overall, to the Padres. But he's more likely to go in the middle of the first round, no lower than Arizona's picks at 16 and 17.

You know, you've got to give the White Sox credit for trying. After being shot down by Jake Peavy when the Padres and White Sox had worked out a trade to send the righty to Chicago, rumors again began swirling last week that Chicago was interested in another right-handed National League ace.

This time, the name connected to the Sox was Houston's Roy Oswalt and though nothing anywhere near Peavy-level talks went down between Houston and Chicaco, the Houston Chronicle is reporting that Oswalt will nix a deal to the White Sox and possibly to any team in the American League because apparently prefers to stay in the National League.

With the Astros sinking in the standings, rumors have started to swirl about the job security of manager Cecil Cooper. Owner Drayton McLane addressed those rumors Thursday by saying that Cooper's job is not in danger. As it always goes with these sorts of votes of confidence, I'm not entirely certain if that's a good or bad sign for Cooper.

Any time job security needs to be addressed, things can't be going well. Any time Drayton McLane is your owner, you're about a five-game losing streak away from losing your job to start with. In fact, it's McLane's notorious impatience that makes the statements he made to the Houston Chronicle's Jose Ortiz even more entertaining. Check them out after the jump.