Someone needs to give Phil Garner the hint

Not a lot of time tonight guys. But here's the deal. Watching the Angels v. Astros on CBSsportsline online, and Lackey is in a heck of a jam. Craig Biggio singled for just his 10th hit of the year - really! - a Pence strikeout, followed by a Berkman single, and it's two men on, two outs. Lackey does the sensible thing and pitches around Lee to bring up the #5 spot, Loretta. Sensible because Loretta isn't Lee, but still a tough spot, as Loretta is batting .317. And he ground rule doubles, bringing in two. Mark your calenders, boys. Because this is one of the only times that Phil Garner has constructed his lineup in an attempt to accomplish a goal - i.e., score runs - and his plan has actually come to fruition.

The Astros are 12th of 16 NL teams in runs scored. I have said before that managers do not hit, they do not pitch, and they never score runs. But this is partially Phil's fault. This guy is just about sabotaging his players, and we've gone over this before as well. But it still blows my mind. Why in the world is Craig Biggio still leading off? There is absolutely no reasonable circumstance - NONE - where you put your worst hitter in the leadoff hole, every single game. And Biggio is their worst hitter. It's nothing against Craig, it's just, he's 41 years old. He needs to be worrying about IRAs and 401Ks, not batting averages. Right now, the dude needs 10 more hits. I'm hoping that the second he reaches that number, Garner yanks the guy and sends him either packing to the 9-hole, or to the end of the bench. The guy has an OBP of .279. If you're a leadoff hitter, you want your batting average to be, hopefully, above that number. But at least around there. I just don't understand where Garner is coming from here, unless he is just trying to give Biggio enough AB's to ensure that he really does make it to 3,000 before the end of the season. I hope that's it.

But really, does it matter? The Astros aren't going anywhere this year. They're not acquiring a Carlos Beltran, or a Roger Clemens, or anything like that. This team is dead in the water. So who cares? Frankly, it's just really entertaining to see so much drama - the Brad Lidge situation, the Dan Wheeler/Chris Sampson issue, this Biggio deal - all this for a team that, after their July Firesale, (who are they going to sell, by the way? Adam Everett?) will probably finish the year with 95 loses.

And to continue where we left off - in the next AB Lackey allowed a 3-run shot to Mike Lamb. At this point, Lamb is 12 for 18 in his last 5 games, including tonight. He has 13 RBI. Of his 20 RBI total so far this season. Wow. So maybe the Astros' starship rides Mike Lamb to a 90 loss season instead. Who can tell?