more NL-west road action

Craig Biggio got the day off yesterday, but the rest of the Astros couldn't finish off the sweep of the Padres and lost 5-2 (they were in the retro uniforms for the game, and while a retro-uniform plunk would have been nice, then you would have wanted me to find out how many other retro-uniform plunks there have been, and I have no idea how to do that). Tonight they move on to Arizona to step into the batters box against Miguel Batista, who plunked Biggio as well as Burke and Taveras just last sunday, July 30th. Batista also plunked Biggio on June 25, 2001, and there's always a chance that if Craig Biggio gets an early hit of Batista, the pitcher may take extreme action to avoid being the answer to a trivia question. Biggio is sitting at 2,898 hits, and no pitcher wants to be known for the rest of history as the guy who gave up Biggio's 2,900th hit - especially since he already threw Biggio's 280th HBP.

One year ago, on August 4, 2005, Jose Valverde hit Craig Biggio with a pitch at Arizona, so tonight could be the first time Biggio has been hit by a pitch on the same date in consecutive years at the same road ballpark. He's only been hit by the same team on the same date in two consecutive years twice, but the Reds hit him with a pitch on July 27, 1993 at the Astrodome and July 27, 1994 at Riverfront, and the Rockies drilled him on September 9, 1996 at he Astrodome and September 9, 1997 at Coors Field.