we dont come out of the gate looking and playing like a minor league club we're not sitting outside of the playoffs today. we dont totally collapse against the rangers and we're battling for a division title. anyone who says they feel really good about the mental makeup of this team is looking at this season with rainbow colored glasses.
we dont come out of the gate looking and playing like a minor league club we're not sitting outside of the playoffs today. we dont totally collapse against the rangers and we're battling for a division title. anyone who says they feel really good about the mental makeup of this team is looking at this season with rainbow colored glasses.
Exactly. The Stros weren't good enough this season and April-May was mostly the reason. It's okay to point out specific stretches within a season to explain where things went wrong or good.
Haha yup that's why we just dropped 3 of 4 at the absolute most critical part of the season to a team we have been dominating all year, in horrendous, choking fashion no less. Our performance against our biggest division rival is certainly indicative a mentally strong team though... Oh wait.
Every year a team has things that can go wrong or go right that will effect their would be true level. The Astros unfortunately were on the negative side in that regard with multiple players having catastrophically bad seasons, and only one guy really significantly outperforming expectations. We need to add one front end starter. I still think between Keuchel, McCullers, Musgrove and Martes we could have another front end guy or 2 in house. Those guys are question marks though, so we need to add something that feels like a safe bet to be good. LF, CF and 1B need to be improved. I'm fine going with Gourriel and Reed at 1B next year, but we have to address the outfield. The production we got out of everybody not named Springer was pathetic. Still feeling really good about the organization's future, this was just a tough year.
Any time a team is able to recover from a slow start... to actually be in the lead for the WC or division... most will tend to no longer blame the slow start for their position. Regarding this season, I'd say the 2-3 week swoon around the trade deadline, when this team was not only leading the wild card but was in striking distance for the DIVISION, represents the bad stretch they never fully recovered from. The team did correct a lot of what plagued them in the first month... hitting with RISP, the bullpen found some more stability with Devenski, Feliz, Giles improving, Gregerson getting back to his comfort zone, and Valbuena providing that 4th viable option in the lineup (which was also a void after his injury, till Gattis/Bregman/Yuli helped fill that roll).
I already said this in the first post you quoted. Injuries were our final downfall (Valbuena, July when we couldn't score), but we were mostly healthy up until then, but we underperformed for nearly the first 2 months, leaving zero cushion (room for error). We would've been closer, or leading, the division if we didn't go 0 for freakin 6 against FWorth Apr-May... we literally could NOT beat them. Think we couldn't have used Giles' stepping up Apr-May to solidify the back end? Luke-Harris never happen if he did what he was supposed to. I still remember him blowing it against BOS on national TV... same night the Rockets embarrassed themselves at home without Curry second half. Great night H.
They had a bad April. Went 17-12 in May. All teams (even elite ones) will have down months. The Cubs and Rangers both had losing records in July. But most casual fans would probably react worse to a bad April than a bad July (which essentially means nothing). One bad month does not leave "zero cushion" for the rest of the season.... again, its like a 162 game season is a foreign concept.
Sure. It was a **** year that went sideways in a lot of ways. Get pitching, more pitching, a catcher (backup?) and an OF/DH bat and then it's ON next year. Sounds easy to me, right?
Any team can say that about the worst part of their season - all teams have good and bad months. Ours just happened to be at the beginning so it's magnified.
Didn't check FW, but the Cubs bad month (July) was 12-14.. Astros (April) was 7-17. Huge difference 0-6 vs Rangers in April Experts were already saying how difficult 90 wins would be. April sunk us this season, same way it catapulted us last.
It wasn't just those games, there were 10 or so throughout the year that they straight-up blew in a variety of creative ways. I said at the time(s) "hope this isn't one one those that you talk about in September". It happens to every team, but that doesn't make the hindsight any easier when you miss the playoffs by a couple of games.
I know you want a simple yet dramatic explanation for everything... but again, you're wrong. They overcame the bad month... and then some. They were 10 games above .500 in July. They've yet to exceed that level... for a host of reasons beyond the month of April.
That's not true... they never "led" the wild card race; they were - for literally one day - the second wildcard team (on July 1). They didn't push past .500 until June 22. So they've spent more than 45% of their season at or under .500. Pretty big hole...
We just weren't that good on the mound. Plain and simple. We are average and it showed. Same thing with Texas. They were just more talented and it showed. Team has talent, but not enough of it. Mentally strong, as evidenced by correcting the problems of last season and the first two months, but not enough talent on the mound.
I'm still waiting for your LEGIT explanation as to why spring training had no effect on Giles' closing. Good luck with that ... with mostly full health. Then, when health steadily declined, they had no cushion. Stros didn't do well enough when they had health (April and most of May).
