Could we be witnessing our last Astros "game of the day"? As a lifelong Astros fan, I'll have to say yes. Quite possibly the most underachieving team in baseball.

Might also want to watch David Dellucci in the Rangers-Tigers game. He's hitting a ridiculous .288/.495/.589.

That won't last, of course, but Dellucci has really taken to the leadoff slot. He could easily set a career high in OBP this year (excluding his 1999 season of little more than 100 plate appearances). Shows what laser eye surgery can do.

so lefties don't hit burnett?

maybe we won't be tortured by the sight of lamb "playing" left...

i used to hope we win.

now i just hope we don't get no hit.

or get used for all NOT top 10 fielding plays...

Cabrerra w/another outstanding game through 6... If him and Bedard are the real deal which it looks like they might be the O's will hang around all year.

Wow. Young and Robertson each go 8 scoreless. Tigers get two in the 9th off Cordero. We'll see if they can hold on...

Urbina strikes out Delucci with a fastball on the outside corner with runners on first and second to end the game. The simultaneous reaction of Pudge and Urbina was priceless.

Did they kiss each other again?

My reaction was laughter. The pitch was at least six inches outside and maybe high as well. In the top of the inning the Rangers got shafted on a couple checked-swing calls. So I guess the umps were consistent, which is all you can ask [wink].

Low-scoring games were a dime a dozen last night. Every time I think the hitters might be coming out of their season-long funk, they get lousy again. Last night was a very good imitation of 1968: an average of 7.1 runs a game with three shutouts.

If I'm flipping around mlb.tv, I'm much more likely to get sucked into a game that's 2-1 than one that's 8-3. I think there's a happy medium between 1968 and the late-90s games that saw 17 runs scored and lasted 5 hours.

Well, yeah, but I'm a lot more likely to get sucked into a 8-7 game than a 4-0 job. Close games are always more attractive. And baseball has never averaged close to 17 runs per game and/or a five-hour time of game.

I'm a hardcore fan. If baseball puts the 1968 game back on the field, as they did last night, I still watch on Extra Innings.

It's hard for today's fans, accustomed to above-average offense since 1992, to remember just how much damage the second deadball era of 1963-68 inflicted on baseball.

By the end of that historic offensive collapse, pundits were competing to pronounce baseball dead, deader and deadest. Pro football had rolled over baseball, whose moribund offense made the game look exactly like what its detractors called it: a study in stillness where nothing ever happened.

Luckily, baseball recovered with rules changes (including the maligned DH) that eventually restored a lot of vigor to the game.

Nowadays, aggressive marketing like mlb.com and Extra Innings (not to mention old-fashioned basic cable) have made the widest variety of games available, so pitcher-duel fans and high-offense fans can both get their pick.

Baseball is even promoting the minors on cable and the Internet. The minors have come back from an even deader patch than the majors to set attendance and revenue records.

So the game is a lot healthier than it was in 1968. But imagine EVERY night like last night, and you'll understand just how grim things looked for baseball once upon a time.

I think you've nailed it -- variety seems to be the key. I like a high scoring game as much as the next guy/gal, but I also enjoy watching good pitching.

I'm a Red Sox fan, but if I'm watching teams I don't have an emotional attachment to, I find that the "take and rake" style of play can get boring fast. Good strategy given the reality of the game, but aesthetically not so hot. And my 17 run/5 hour comment was hyperbole, as I'm sure you understood.

I wasn't around for 1968 - my baseball fandom began as a kid in the early 80s, so perhaps I look back at that era with a bit too much nostalgia, but I seem to recall it being a pretty balanced game. Didn't the Whitey-ball Cardinals face off against the Harvey Wallbanger Brewers in the World Series in (I think) 1982?

Although, as reruns of "This Week in Baseball" on ESPN Classic seem to show, attendance in those days was nothing compared to what it is now.

An interesting discussion (and probably a recurring one)...