When "Dandy" Don Meredith served as the color commentator for Monday NIght Football in it's ABC "hey-days" .... he used to sing part of an old song that went ....."Turn out the lights ...the party's over. They say all good things must end ......" He would get those two lines out of his mouth .....before either Howard Cosell or Frank Gifford would get him to stop singing ....but everyone watching back in those days knew that song meant one thing ....and one thing only. It meant that "Dandy" Don thought the game was over ...... even if there was a lot of time left on the game clock.

Now the question is ...... if "Dandy" Don were observing the Astros 2007 season ....would he start singing ...."Turn out the lights......" I'm afraid he would .... especially with Hunter Pence finding out Monday night that his injured wrist is worse than the team originally believed. Late Monday night general manager Tim Purpura announced that Pence will be out 4 to 6 weeks due to a chip fracture in his right wrist. Wow ...as if things weren't going bad enough ..... now their most exciting player is going to be out at least until September.

Interestingly enough there is some very good news out of the Astros clubhouse concerning injuries. Pitcher Brandon Backe threw 60 pitches in a simulated game Monday and felt very good afterwards. If everything progresses like he hopes ..... he will throw another simulated game on Saturday and then he will make the first of six re-hab starts in the minors one week from Thursday.

So .....the question remains ....is it time for Meredith to sing that song?? I believe it is.
I am the enternal optimist ...and I wanted to give the team two weeks after the All-
Star break before I jumped on the "wait 'til next year" bandwagon. Well .... in light of their bad start for the second half (3 & 7 since the All-Star break) and their bad break (Pence being out for 4-6 weeks) ....all I can say is: Wagons ho!!!!

Let me know if you've given up hope. Just e-mail me your response to mmusil@khou.com

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