AP:

Hamilton’s second home run of the night chased Astros starter Shawn Chacon.

But Houston rallied with five runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to tie it, getting Chacon off the hook and into the record book. The right-hander set a major league mark by making his ninth consecutive start without a decision to begin the season.

Other curiosities:

The winning pitcher was Wright. The losing pitcher was Wright.

Chacon got a no decision. He's now 0-0 in 9 starts this year. Impressive.

Don't you love it when you think a guy is out of baseball and then suddenly you realize he's made 9 starts this year and appeared in 65 games last year?

I should really pay more attention to the NL central.

Chacon got a no decision. He's now 0-0 in 9 starts this year. Impressive.

Justin Verlander and Barry Zito are jealous.

Don't you love it when you think a guy is out of baseball and then suddenly you realize he's made 9 starts this year and appeared in 65 games last year?

Not only that but he's actually done pretty well. He's walking a few too many guys but otherwise not bad at all.

I still keep waiting for Jose Jimenez to re-emerge with the Tigers.
Speaking of the Tigers, I realized Francisco Cruceta is still in baseball.
He'll be back in 2010 with another AL team, if history is a guide.

One half word: roids.

kevin,

they preferred the great corey patterson. duh.
- just kidding. they expected to not need him because of jay bruce and they weren't about to get rid of griffey before #600 or trade adam dunn (not sure why exactly, but hey, not my team)

and they certainly NEEDED a good starting pitcher and looks like they got one with volquez

and yeah, hamilton was like this last year too. he was on the DL a couple times with weird stuff, but when he was playing, he was incredible. especially when you consider he hadn't really played much of any baseball because of being a drug addict for the 4 years before that.

if he hadn't been on the DL so much, he really should have been ROY - he's the absolute best all around player of the three - braun, pence and hamilton

Why the #### did the Reds just hand him away?

It's Cincinnati...and the Hamilton/Freel drinking rumor (?) didn't play well.

I don't get why people keep saying that the Reds just gave away Hamilton. Have you been paying attention to Edinson Volquez at all?

Ednison Volquez is a quality haul, and considering they got Hamilton for free, it's basically pure gain even if Hamilton is a better offensive player than Volquez is a pitcher.

Further, there were rumors about Hamilton backsliding which I think would scare the absolute crap out of anyone who controls his rights. He's a stunning talent, but he's also danced with the devil in the pale moonlight more than once.

(Hamilton is BATMAN!)

Further, there were rumors about Hamilton backsliding which I think would scare the absolute crap out of anyone who controls his rights. He's a stunning talent, but he's also danced with the devil in the pale moonlight more than once.

Are you referring to what was said on this site? That was completely unsubstantiated.

Sending Hamilton to the Narrons was a socially responsible thing to do.

Yeah, I've yet to see any citation(s) for those rumors. HW spends a lot of time in Cincinnati and I seriously doubt he'd make something up, but as far as I can tell, he just heard that around town.

I felt Volquez was still rough around the edges, but he's delivering uber-pwnage to the NL this year. When was the last time both main players in a trade went on to obliterate their respective leagues? At the moment, Hamilton's leading the AL in VORP and Volquez's only behind Zambrano.

When was the last time both main players in a trade went on to obliterate their respective leagues?

I wouldn't say "obliterate," and it was a year after the trade, but Ramirez/Beckett did pretty darn well on both sides last year. (Not to mention Lowell.)

Obliterate? I dunno, but in 2006 Carlos Lee hit .322/.369/.525 for the Rangers and Francisco Cordero put up a 1.69 ERA with 16 saves for the Brewers.

I don't get why people keep saying that the Reds just gave away Hamilton. Have you been paying attention to Edinson Volquez at all?

Kevin is very busy -- fighting the war on terror (unofficially, of course), massaging Jacoby Ellsbury's prostate, etc. He can't be expected to keep up with all MLB goings-on!

Battlekow:

Correct. I was given the same general story by multiple locals. That with Narron out the Reds were concerned that Josh might go down the wrong path.

And I never wrote that I though Josh was a bad guy, etc which is how it was represented.

I stated last year after seeing him play he was the best all-around player on the Reds. He's a Jim Edmonds clone. And I am the only who sees that? The swing, the running style, everything. It's spooky.

There's a big difference between "Hamilton's fallen into his old bad habits," which is one story we heard, and "The Reds are afraid that without Narron around, Hamilton will fall into his old bad habits." I have no idea which one is true.

Boots:

That's probably because I worded what I had been told poorly.

But it's moot. The Reds apparently mafe the trade on its merits.

Which would be a first for Krivsky, ex-GM.

Boots:

That's probably because I worded what I had been told poorly.

But it's moot. The Reds apparently mafe the trade on its merits.

Which would be a first for Krivsky, ex-GM.

Why the #### did the Reds just hand him away?

What I posted in the Hamilton trade thread: I'm not sure who his sponsor is, but Jerry Narron's firing probably created a rift between Hamilton and the organzation that led to this. Narron and Hamilton are from the same part of NC and had known each other since Hamilton was in HS. After picking up Hamilton in the Rule 5 the Reds hired Jerry's brother Johnny to baby-sit Hamilton. Johnny even held on to Josh's meal money during road trips so that Josh wouldn't be tempted with all that cash burning a hole in his pocket. Johnny wasn't rehired for '08, no surprise given that they had canned his brother. Hamilton was certainly not happy about it - he referred to him and Johnny as a >package deal. So this isn't a surprise. I'm sad to see Josh go, and wish him the best in Texas.

He's also a very serious injury risk. He sprained his wrist swinging a bat in the on deck circle last year, for cryin' out loud.

Keith Law has very stated strongly that the unsourced rumors being spread here are false, at which point the rumor-spreaders pretty much backed down and deferred to his firsthand knowledge of the situation.

considering they got Hamilton for free, it's basically pure gain even if Hamilton is a better offensive player than Volquez is a pitcher.

What's the corollary to sunk costs? It's not "pure gain" if you make get a hugely valuable player for almost nothing, then give up most of those gains trading him for a less valuable player. Two separate deals have to stand on their own merit. Not saying Volquez is a lesser player, just that if he turns out to be it's a waste of a hugely valuable player.