I am close to giving up. The problem I have is that they show no heart, no emotion. This squad is a far cry from the 04 and 05 teams. The worst part is that I go to sleep every nite cursing them and asking myself why I care so much. Only to wake up the next morning and think to myself "they are still in it" "they can get on a streak and pull this out" I have never been this excited for Texans season.
people say this no heart thing ALL THE TIME, in every sport, but what does it really mean? are they not trying or giving a good effort? i seriously doubt that. they're not winning because they're just not that good. like does berkman have less heart now then in '05? if they put together some kind of run over the next 3 months it won't be because they got emotional all of a sudden, they'll just be playing better.
It's a BS concept IMO, just like the whole "they wanted it more" crap that people say sometimes. Precisely.
I've given up on this season. However, I am still watching the games and support the team. I just don't believe we have a snowball's chance in hell of making the playoffs. It will take an act of God for the Astros to do a 180 and I think those acts are all used up in the last few seasons' miracle runs. It makes it easier to watch the games when you have basically become resigned to the fact that we aren't going anywhere this season. I no longer feel the need to throw things, curse out loud, and break stuff when they screw up because I understand that this team is just not that good. I just laugh it off and wait for the next moment to laugh at. I am looking forward to Biggio's 3,000 hits, though. I'm not sure what I will look forward to after that, however, except some more laughs.
I think the difference this year is hasn't been the offense alone...no area has been real consisent, save maybe for the starting rotation but even Roy hasn't quite been Roy at times and Woody has been just awful. Bullpen has pretty much imploded and suffered injuries at a time when the bats were finally starting to come alive. It just isn't there this year...can this team at least end better than the Cards or Cubs..that would be a moral victory of sorts. The future still looks bright though with Pence and Sampson's emergence and Wandy playing like a solid 4.
I think it's overused to be sure...but there is merit to it...you can't forget the psychological aspect of the game. A team starts losing and losing and losing...eventually they'll adopt that mentality and just not try as hard anymore (Texans ring a bell?). It's not hard to spot the differences, mentally and emotionally, in a team that has adopted losing as the norm to a team that has a winning mentality. With this team I don't think it's a matter of them not trying or not giving a full effort...I think it's more a matter of them letting this losing affect their play. They are capable of playing better than they have...not 90 wins better but somewhere in the 80 win range was concievable to start the season.
I just disagree. You can see a team that's beat down by a string of bad luck, and you can see sometimes guys with kind of a cloud over their head as if they don't expect things to get better--but I've never seen guys "stop trying" or "not wanting it." Losing SUCKS, and professionals HATE to lose. Guys might get discouraged or beat down, but I don't believe they resign themselves to losing. Even the Texans--David Carr, for example, tried his ass off IMO. He just sucked, is all. It all comes back to the fact that the Texans weren't that good, and these Astros simply aren't that good. This ain't the little leagues.
msn -- one of the things i've heard people give credit to the astros for over the past 3 seasons is never giving up. there are teams that throw in the towel, so to speak, when they get far down in the standings. it's just very difficult to show up and play in the long summer months when your out of it and you know it doesn't count for anything really. not that they're quitting...but that they're not nearly as motivated. the credit given to the 'stros was for being professional and not doing that even when it felt like they were out of it.
And I believe those Astros teams were better than what they were playing at the time. Did those other teams "give up" or were they just not that good? Could the 2004 Pirates have gotten enough "heart" to make a run and get into the playoffs? We always hear about "spoilers" come late September. How could there be "spoilers" if they've all given up and resigned themselves to losing? This is an awfully subjective topic--I can certainly see you guys' point and it's not far-fetched at all. Not being purposefully argumentative; I just think it's certainly overplayed and that it has much less of an impact on the actual game than we might think.
oh, i hear ya. i think heart can be overplayed. but i'm not sure professionalism is. i'm not really talking about heart so much as the ability to look past however poorly you've been playing and to give a consistent effort, no matter the results.
Heh--every time I see the word, "professional", or some form of it, I'm reminded of the guy on here who said a guy was being "unprofessional" when he went 0-for-4 or something like that.
assuming they drop at least one more in milwaukee, i'll be fascinated to see what they do from here on out - bummed, of course, but fascinated. my sense is that they see this team as an underachiever and will look to upgrade parts of it while maintaining the core. i hope not; i think the team is severly flawed in its construction and they need to move on. i'm not terribly enthused about a team with ausmus, ensberg, lane, everett, biggio, scott, burke, lamb and loretta all playing significant roles again next year (or insignificant, in the case of ensberg and lane).
I'd be happy with a lineup of Berkman, Loretta/Burke, Everett/Loretta, Lamb/Loretta, Lee, Pence, Scott or better/more consistent hitting rf and upgrade at catcher. So really you're looking at one or two spots to upgrade offensively. Then look at upgrading one or two key spots in the pen and sign Jennings or another number 2 and the team will look pretty good. They lose this series I'd be really surprised they make a comeback...they had their chance to grain ground when the Brewers were scuffling a few weeks back...and they squandered it. And at this point I wouldn't be too averse into looking at what you could get for Jennings...if he can bring in something valuable to this team to help them either offensively or in the pen I'd consider. You can always sign him back in the offseason.
The Astros need to get back to wearing the traditional road greys... the new "cool base" red jerseys have got them too comfortable (with losing).
Its a different material. The red ones they're using this year are different from the other red ones in the past... its MLB's new "cool base" technology. That's why they haven't worn the grey ones since... I can't even remember.
