I said 3rd place before the season. The starting pitching is a lot worse and the bullpen is about the same. The offense should be improved but thats not saying much. I don't think they are as good as the Cards or Brewers.
The Brewers? Unless you truly believe the aging Jeff Suppan was the missing link to contending for a championship, they're essentially the same team minus Carlos Lee. Also, a lot of you are undermining Jason Jennings... you'll actually be suprised that we now have a guy that has been healthy throughout his career (unlike Pettite), a guy who can pitch more than 6 innings every 4th day (unlike Clemens), and a guy who's best years are not behind him (unlike both of them). I'm not guaranteeing that he'll surpass those previous two guys' performances, but its nice to finally have another pitcher (besides Roy) that can be depended on to take the ball every 4th day without fail. The starting pitching is definitely worse than 2005... but it has a chance to be MUCH better than it was in 2006... where Pettite was VERY shaky, Roger didn't show up till the second half, and the combo of Wandy/Nieve/Buchholz/Hirsh was laughable. Yes, I believe in Sampson to outperform ALL of those youngsters. And, btw, the division is still up for grabs... much easier to win it this year than it was in 2005.
This squad has underachieved offensively for the past few years, and it's pretty upsetting to see that continue now that we badly need bats to give a shaky pitching staff cushion. Garner needs to go if he can't get things cracking by June. Clemens won't resign watching this sorry crew - he openly regretted "wasting his time" last year with a team that kept blowing his wins. Evan
R.J said something kind of funny I love how Uncle Drayton honored Jeff Bagwell Friday night. Retire his number? No, we'll do that in August, thereby getting two Jeff Bagwell dates to lure you into buying his hot dogs and beer. You can call our uncle a lot of things, but dumb wouldn't be one of them. If things keep going the way they are, Bagwell may be managing the team by then.
I don't see how this squad underachieved offensively the past couple of years. It was obvious that they'd suck. Biggio's on base has sucked for a while now. Taveras, Everett, and Ausmus has never been able to hit. Ensberg had one carear year which is proving to be an exception. And our corner OF/1st base were always manned by unknowns except for Berkman. Carlos Lee can't offset that. Even if he played will, it's more than offset by the decline of Biggio and Ausmus.
Good god! More positive thinking from sometime Astro fans! How many times does it have to be said. Baseball is a MARATHON, not a sprint! Oh and by the way, somehow by accident we have managed to win 4 in a row! Since starting 1-5 we have now won 7 of 8 and that's without Biggio even halfway up to par and with Puma starting slow. Dude, get a life! We have as good of a shot to win this division as anyone!!! No one is this division is super strong at least yet. Maybe Rocket may consider us now since, this team started slow but definitely is showing some fight and heart early on. Now, if we can just avoid the May 'gloom and doom'. Just a what if ... What if, the Stros met the Yanks in the WS and with Rocket, we beat AP and the Yanks! Petitte would be pissed! LOL!
They are 8 out of their last 10 and I believe that makes them the hottest team out of the last 10 games. This happens every year for the Astros. They start off slow and make a historical comeback to either make the playoffs or just fall short of it.
Yes, this is true but, an exciting thing is developing ... Last year, we were trying to always hold on to a lead and just get enough to win. With exception of the last two weeks of the season when the Stros tried to make that ridiculous comeback only to fall short, our offense was pathetic. This year, we have a new dimension added to this team. Imagine what happens when Hunter gets called up? This could definitely be a more exciting year for Astros baseball than most on here want to admit.
actually they started out with the best record in the NL in April last season. this thread qualifies as utterly ridiculous.
Miniming's one of the biggest trolls on the board. when Houston's going bad he quickly pops up to post how much they're gonna suck.
I am starting to get worried. The Astros pitching is getting worse. I know we got a quality start from Woody yesterday, it is just that other than Roy, I am never confident that our pitching will keep us in the game. I sure hope this turnsaround. We need Patton and Pence. Also, what happened to Nieve? I thought he was on the short list to get called up?
If I understand correctly, he's thrown a minor pity party in RR and also pretty much sucked against the AAA hitters, struggling with control.
Is there cause for concern, hell yes, but panic...No, its too early and most of the teams are sucking wind right now...
"Panic" is such a funny term for a sport. The bridge isn't falling and the building isn't burning, so, I'm OK.
Apparently he had more hits given up than innings pitched. He needs to get over himself and start pitching like he knows he can. I like what I heard on SC the other day...the Astros, despite all they're early struggles are still only at .500...if they can stay around that mark and start to show signs of improvement they'll be ok. The key is to not fall too far behind.
IMO they need to get him closing games down there. With Lidge's struggles and Wheeler better in middle relief, I'd like to see if Nieve could eventually fit the bill in that spot. He's got the velocity, and he did much better last season in relief.
They likely project Estrada as their next "dominant closer". Nieve is starting because there's a serious lack of viable candidates to be given a shot in case of injury/ineffectiveness. Also, he started having arm trouble last year with the sporadic bullpen work.
