At long last, we are back in business! Apologies for all the trouble — what I thought would take hours took nearly a week to fix — and thanks for your continued patience and support. You’ve got a lot of commenting to do, so get to it! 
First-Half Grades:
Thanks again, GY, for all the work you do behind the scenes to make Ducksnorts what it is … I didn’t need a reminder, but it certainly reinforces how much I enjoy reading your blog and the all comments!
Here’s a bit of explanation/history about Morgan Ensberg (whom I, and I’m sure many of you, have had an eye on since the Huff trade) …
The Aubrey Huff deal has the potential to give the Astros the production they need from the third-base slot. Morgan Ensberg had a great 2005, but his shoulder injury sapped his bat this season. In true Astro style, Ensberg went out on the field and gutted it out despite the pain and loss of production. The Astros finally pushed Ensberg to the DL in hopes that they could get him back to that early 2005 form. Listed with a shoulder contusion, Ensberg’s lingering injury is likely more complex. There’s no real timetable here–the team hopes he’ll improve, but at worst, he can be pushed back out to fight through the slump.
… this from WC @ BP … doesn’t sound like Ensberg’s an option for 2006.
And one more note of interest from WC @ BP …
The Rangers’ Adam Eaton has been better in his outings, staying on track for his return. Eaton is focused more on feel, so you should be focused on his control numbers: walk rate and pitch efficiency.
Here’s some interesting notes from an email I get from the Portland Beavers broadcast team …
DAILY BROADCAST NOTES:
– Beavers hit three more home runs, fall short in 6-5 loss to Tacoma
– SPECIAL GUESTS TONIGHT: Kevin Towers and Grady Fuson from the Padres front office join me during the game
– NEYER TOO: Rob Neyer will be my guest analyst for a portion of the game
– Tim Stauffer for Portland; Cha-Seung Baek for Tacoma
… you can see these (and sign up for the email) at http://www.richburk.com/index/Daily_Broadcast_Notes … GY, this would make a good link on your right side list of links …
So maybe KT and Grady are up to “scout” Paul McAnulty for a 3B job???
Hmmm, and dprat’s in Portland at the same time! Coincidence? You decide!
LM, are you saying that dprat is either KT or Grady?