Risk is higher than it was 10 games ago of having a down season...but only minimally so. In the same way that the Texans are less likely to make the playoffs if they're 0-1 than if they're 1-0. But it doesn't mean everything's over automatically either. The team is more likely to come back from this than not. "Free money" implies that I'm claiming to know everything that's going to happen with perfection. I don't. But I do think (1) this team was expected to do very good things coming into the season, and I agreed with that (2) We're only 6% into the season, and McCullers and Reed (plus a likely trade deadline move if needed) are still to come. (3) Streaks happen in baseball. If 3-7 happened when the team was already 10 games over .500, most people wouldn't be saying anything. Why does it matter when it's the first 10 vs. middle 10 of the season?
It's very possible it's just a bad streak, but they just don't look very good at all. The pitching has been beyond horrible, and the offense is streaky as usual. Not to mention Ken Giles is a joke of a pitcher. Awesome that we traded away half our prospects for a scrub set-up guy. Hopefully he and everyone else turn it around but the early returns aren't promising. Just because they have a lot of talent doesn't mean they'll recapture the magic they had last season. It's Houston sports so I'll be pessimistic until proven otherwise.
The Texans equivalent would be, in Week 1.... 5+ obvious mistakes/messups (each), from 6 guys we traded plenty to obtain, plus more mistakes from guys who were already on the team... and of course, we lose after being the AFC SuperBowl favorite (something the Texans have never been). Yeah, there would be panic _____ That said, the season isn't over and the Stros could very well turn things around.
The truth is lost on some but I hear you loud and clear. Let the few that don't see that there is a problem keep blowing smoke up each others ass.
Thanks for taking the analogy. I'll agree with your scenario, but I don't think there would be panic. People would say "ugh, that sucked. It's just 1 game...we'll turn it around." If game 2 went the exact same way, there would be worry. And if they lost game 3 (regardless of how it happened), there would be all out panic. But 0-1 for a team, as you said, that came in as an AFC favorite? 1 loss wouldn't lead to panic.
Either KC was in mid-to-late season form or the Astros just weren't good enough this series. I can see this Astros team starting slow and taking time to come around. It's disappointing for sure. Early impressions look like we are back to being a struggling young team with loads of unrealized potential waiting to be tapped. Too early to say if we are going to have that sophomore slump. I think we need a good dose of a team we are used to beating up on cause KC sure isn't it. I'm kind of pissed we got them so early in the schedule this season.
Is it possible we were just a really good team for half a season last year...and that gave us inflated hopes?
Might even get that down to a really great team for 6 weeks, when they first got 10 games over 500. After that, the Astros were a 500 team.
They got to 15 games above .500 (after sweeping the Royals)... and then Springer got hurt. There's no question that had an impact on the team for the rest of the season (even when he came back, wasn't quite the same).
Let's not forget, in the postseason, they beat the Yankees on the road and nearly beat the Royals, who won it all. It's a good team - but young teams, especially young teams that arrive ahead of schedule, often regress a bit before figuring it out. I think they'll be OK, and they're certainly set long-term - but no one should be surprised if they slip a bit this year. One of my biggest pet peeves: I detest hearing players - especially players with minimal skins on the wall - talk about World Series/Super Bowl/Finals; I think it speaks to a cart-before-the-horse mentality that has a touch of arrogance/entitlement to it. I heard the Astros talk *a lot* about the World Series this winter - a team two years removed from baseball's worst stretch in history. Again, I think they'll figure it out - but this might, longer-term, not be a bad thing; the cold hard slap of reality can be a positive.
This has been kicking around in my head as well. We were very good for about half a season and then mediocre.... and then you look at the Cubs that were good, and then great the second half and now are great to start this season. I am not ready to reach this conclusion yet. There is too much young talent that we know can play. I will say that I believe we need a catcher that can hit and our rotation is mediocre outside of Dallas K.
Right. I mean they won one game in NY. And they ended up losing another series to the champs. I'm not sure those games by themselves tell us much, though.
You'll bring up good points. We started so strong last season. I'm afraid without that strong start this season...we will struggle once again in the second half when teams start playing their best ball...unless we follow suit. We could end up like the Rockets at or around .500. Wouldn't that be a b****!
After ten games, the Astros are 3-7. White 1.299 OPS Rasmus 1.103 OPS Altuve 1.025 OPS Tucker 1.015 OPS Correa 0.947 5 of the 9 starters are scorching hot. The rest of the hitters have OPS below 0.600. Maybe the Astros hit a bit of a perfect storm? Two extreme cold weather series on the road, followed by a home series against the World Series Champs.
Perhaps... that's the beauty of playing 162. You most definitely are what you are after that many games (which is also why I don't think they "faked" it last year... even if they were streaky both ways).
4 of the starters being ice cold is enough to keep from putting together big innings. Scoring on solo HR's and that is about it. At least 2 of the 4 guys not hitting have to begin to or offensively, things are not likely to change much for us. The situation is similar in the pitching department in that we have 6 pitchers with a <3.60 ERA and 7 pitchers (the rest) >6.00 ERA. So roughly speaking, about half the team is playing very well, and the other half playing terrible.
