why isn't every day Craig Biggio tribute day?

The Astros put together a nice ceremony for Craig Biggio yesterday, honoring his achievement of 3000 career hits. But, one can only assume that if the team does something like that to honor something that's been done 26 other times, they must have something REALLY special waiting for when he becomes the first player ever to reach 288 plunks. Unfortunately, in the ensuing baseball game, Biggio did not get any closer to reaching that historic mark. He did hit a homer, and the Astros won 6-4, but the Brewers pitchers may have thought it was a bad idea to hit a guy in front of an entire stadium full of people wearing shirts with his number on them. They obviously don't understand.

Tonight the Astros travel to LA - the regular one, not the one in Anaheim - to play the Dodgers - a team who embody everything Craig Biggio has taught us is wrong about baseball... dodging. The Dodgers are 3rd from the bottom among NL teams in plunking Biggio, with a total of 12, but they have 4 games left to move up the charts. If they plunk Biggio 3 times, they could move past the Phillies on the all time list - and give Craig Biggio the all time record. Chad Billingsley is tonight's scheduled starters, but he's only hit 1 batter this season and 4 batters in his career. Although, he's only thrown 154 more career pitches than Biggio has career hits.


Frank Castillo threw Biggio's 16th career plunk on August 13, 1992.