Hampton to begin PRP

As in "plasma replacement therapy." For an explanation of PRP, click here.

Apparently, if he doesn't feel marked improvement by the end of this road trip, he'll go with surgery.

Hampton:
"I'm doing everything I can to get back. Any option that I have, any therapy, treatment or anything I have I'm trying. I'll probably know here before the road trip is over I think I'll probably have a good indication if I'm going to pitch this year or not...

..."(Astros team physician Dr. David Linter) said some of the Texans players have been doing it with ankle sprains and hamstring pulls and stuff like that. Brocail's tried it. I talked to Erstad. He had done it. He had tried it in the past. The big thing is it's not going to hurt. If it has a chance to speed up the recovery process, why not do it? I've been stuck so many times it kind of becomes second nature. It's just a little pain for now. Hopefully it pays off in the end...

..."Nothing is going to help by putting (surgery) off a month or two. I think the sooner I have it the sooner I have a chance to pick up a ball and see if I can do this."

So perhaps we've seen the last of Mike Hampton in an Astros uniform.
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Paulino, on being named a reliever:
"I'm healthy. The opportunities that they give me I need to take advantage. I just want to have a genuine opportunity and I want to focus on any job that they give me and take advantage of it. You know how good it feels when they say you're going to relieve, because I feel more comfortable when I know what fixed role I have. Sometimes my mind wanders when I don't know what my role is. It's hard to say it, but it's true sometimes it's harder to focus when I don't have a set role."

So just to keep him off balance, because of the way the rotation lines up, with Wandy and Roy pitching against the Cardinals this week, and Coop giving Wandy/Roy extra-rest to pitch against the Cubs next week in a last-gasp effort to save this season (which at this point, if the Astros finish above the Cubs I'll be mildly satisfied), Felipe Paulino may get a start on Sunday. Because we don't want him to be focused, or feel comfortable.
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And finally, Coop has no idea how Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan does it:
"They brought guys in that they saw some potential in. The guy (Duncan) over there seems to get them fixed. A new guy comes here, and he seems to fix them. They had (Todd) Wellemeyer last year pitch good for them. (Kyle) Lohse has had a couple good years after really bouncing around for a little. I have to say that the guy who's working with them or fixing them is a pretty good mechanic. I haven't the faintest idea (what Duncan does), but whatever it is, it seems to be working. They keep getting guys, reclamation projects and making it work. There's been some guys that it's worked pretty consistently. He's gotten (Chris) Carpenter squared away. He's gotten (current Brewer Braden) Looper to be a stinking starting pitcher and the guy's a bullpen guy. There's something to that. There's something to it. You got to give the guy some credit. I don't know what the philosophy is, but whatever it is it's working."

Good to know.