In 2004 the Houston Astros lost to the cardinals in the NLCS in 7 games. Then in the off season lost 2 of their best hitters to free agency beltran and Kent. The next year they lost bagwell to injury for almost the whole season. The 2005 looked to be worse on paper . Yet in 2005 we beat the cardinals in 6 games and made it to our first world series ever. Do you think the rockets can have this kind of season too where we look worse on paper but actually perform better on the court??
They had good pitching. Roy Oswalt Andy Pettitte Roger Clemens Good relievers and one of the best closers at the time in Lidge.
Yes, we did take a minor step back ON PAPER this offseason. However, I think we got a more than capable replacement for #25 on the Mavs (not saying his name anymore) in Ariza, and most importantly...free agency isn't over yet. People are acting like the sky is falling but do we really think Morey, one of the most active GM's in the league, is going to finally stay put with this roster? No way. I'll stay optimistic until the season actually starts. Remember that nightmare offseason where all we got was Lin and Asik (the two players people are crying about us losing now)? We ended up getting this dude named James Harden right before the season started. People need to relax. Having said that, I think the biggest improvements to this team are not something that can be measured on paper. Just look at the difference in how well we played before and after the all-star break last year. Our core, for the most part, is still very much in tact. Like Dwight has said, this team is going to succeed/fail based on him and Harden. We were the youngest team in the league last year, the simple fact that all of these guys, including Harden, will have another year of NBA experience under their belts will be huge. I know the first round exit lit a fire under Dwight. I really hope it did for Harden too. I'm expecting Dwight and Harden to improve this year both as individuals and as teammates. We will be fine.
Good pitching == good defense Our current roster efforts seem to be focusing much more on the defensive end. I like where this thread is going
"We then lost that world series in 4 straight games" - Debbie Downer On a serious note, I have been saying/thinking this for a while. I barely see how we are much worse on paper, but I am really excited about being better in tangibles. I think Ariza was a step up who can play without the worry of living up to a max contract like 'he who must not be named' :grin: We focused a lot on defense which was our biggest need from last year.. where are all those posters who acted like they knew everything saying we needed to focus on bench and defense not a star player? now that we failed on the star player and are focusing on bench and defense everyone is complaining we arent going for a star player... MAKE UP YOUR MINDS. We were a 54 win team last year and I think we only got better, didnt lose any offense (we were #2 ovr) and gained a bunch of defense.. I'm thinking 4th seed and we take the playoffs hard this time.
2 guys that took HUGE leaps from '04 to '05 that were critical to our success: Lane & Ensberg. The other factor was healthy pitching. We will a similar leap from Jones/DMo, and healthy defense (i.e. Beverly + Ariza).
I know he was already a rising star in 2004, but would Nick Johnson be our Brandon Backe? This thread has made me miss baseball
seems like yesterday! life was easier baseball was fun and we could watch it in that tv thingy. don't get me wrong, still LISTEN to every astros game but 2004/2005 just brings a ton of nostalgia.
Take this crap out of here. I think there is a dedicated baseball section in CF. I have zero idea who beltran, kent or bagwell are. This is the GARM - for the Rockets not Astros. I do not care about fat men non athletic sports like baseball...
Or take your crap out of this thread. Watch Puig or Trout and tell me baseball is non athletic. Bo Jackson would disagree with you.
You don't have to understand baseball at all to understand what he is saying. If you actually try to read his paragraph, instead of hating maybe you'd understand. Team loses in 7 games (vs Blazers we lost in 6 games). Team loses 2 good players in free agency (Parsons and Asik). Team looks worse on paper. Team beats the team they lost against in 6 games. There I dumbed it down for you.
