Phungo 5 with Capewood's Collections

2009 Phungo #55 Roger Clemens

This weekend the Phils are visiting the great state of Texas and the Houston Astros which gives me the rare chance to check in with a Phils fan for Phungo 5. Today we will hear from Astros/Phils Card Blogger Cliff of Capewood's Collections.

Cliff is a transplanted Philadelphian in the Houston area and this holiday weekend I am sure that is happy to catch both his favorite teams on local TV for a 4 game series.

1) First off how are you since your health scare last year? And have you learned anything simple that the rest of us can keep in mind to keep ourselves healthy?

Thanks for asking. It's been almost a year and I'm doing great. There are no simple answers, unfortunately. The answers sound simple but aren't in practice. Eat good, exercise often and tell you doctor if you're having chest pains. It might not be gas.

2) As an Astro fan, you have seen Brad Lidge go through this before - a great season followed by one where he just falls apart. What can Brad Lidge do for the Phils as a struggling closer?

That's a tough one with Lidge. It seemed to be a good move going to Philly after his relatively poor performance for the Astros in 2007. I have no answers. Madson could fill in as closer but he seems to have hit a bad patch as well.

3) A 2nd Astro Phils question, How is Ed Wade handling things in Houston? He was basically run out of Philadelphia after running out one terrible team after another. But one could argue that the Phils young core is made up of a bunch of Wade draftees.

I don't think Wade has had much of an impact. The Astros right now are a pretty old team. Getting I-Rod at the beginning of the season didn't make them any younger.

4) The Astros are 4 years removed from appearing in the World Series (2005), and several of those players are gone (Lidge, Biggio, Bagwell), How much are those players missed and is any of the new talent like Hunter Pence, and former Phils Michael Bourne capturing the excitement of the fans?

The Astros have been a strange team for a few years now. They get off to a slow start and then finish well. Last year they were the best team in baseball after the All-Star break but had dug themselves too big a hole in the 1st half. This year, it looked like they were going to do it again although this year they got hot before the All-Star break. They played well for awhile after the break but have run out of steam. Of course Bagwell and Biggio are missed, they were great players and the fans loved them. I think they will be a hard act to follow. I was excited when Bourn came to the Astros but his first year in Houston was not good. But he's really turned around this year. Pence has slumped a bit from his rookie season but got off to a good start this year. He's been slumping lately but he's an exciting player and the fans love him. He has more enthusiasm for the game than most of the rest of the team combined.

5) Name a favorite baseball scene or sequence in a non-baseball film (ex not form the Natural, Bull Durham, Major League or the Shoeless Joe Movie)

Yikes! I had to cheat on this and dig around on Google a bit because I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head. After my search I would have to say it is the scene in Good Will Hunting where Robin Williams tells Matt Damon that he gave up a ticket to game 6 of the 1975 World Series because of a girl who walked into the bar that he just had to meet. She eventually becomes his wife.

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Great stuff as always from Cliff, I want to ding him on his first answer - but he is probably right, I was hoping that answer was to go to the ballpark and chow down on Ballpark Franks and overpriced beer. Great choice on the movie. I am a fan of GWH and it is one of the few Robin Williams Roles/Movies that hasn't annoyed me in that last 20 years. 5 out of 5 for Capewood.

Thanks Cliff and enjoy watching the Phightin's this weekend.

This may be the last Phungo 5 for the year or at least till playoff season. The Phils have now played every team in the league and I have gotten around to posing Qs to many a blogger. I hope everyone has enjoyed the feature. For a look back at a previous Phungo 5 click here.

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I am posting a Roger Clemens Phungo card today. Get used to seeing these - It's a 79 card set and I haven't gotten around to posting about half of them. I am sure at this point the Astros would just as soon forget Clemens even though he was a huge part of their 05 NLCS team.

Regardless this is still one of my favorite cards. I have blogged about the game featured inthe photo before. Today marks the 3rd anniversary of that great game on a previous Labor Day weekend when the Astros and Phils faced off. It was a beautiful day, Clemens and Cole Hamels both pitched extremely well and the Phils won in walk-off fashion. All days should be as good.