WOW, I was in class so I missed both the Rox and Stros...was Zito that good or the Stros Offense that crappy?
Berkman doesn't have a no trade clause. Oswalt has already said in the past he would void it depending on the team. Lee loses his no trade clause after this season I understand Oswalt/Lee like it here, but honestly a blind man can see this team is going nowhere. Why would you not want to go to a possible contender or playoff team ?
Oh I agree, I'm all for moving everything we can and starting over. I just don't see it happening.. I was sure Berkman had a NTC, but I'll take your word for it...Oswalt loses value every season he declines (past three or four)...who's going to want Lee and his massive contract?? We'd have to surely eat a big portion and we still wouldn't get much in return for a DH pretending to be an OF. Future is not so bright for the Stros.
This franchise has been handled so poorly in the past few years. Oswalt and Berkman had very high value still in 07/08 and earlier seasons. Unfortunately Drayton was blind and focused on the win now mentality instead of the rebuilding. Now look at us ;/
Berkman has a full no trade clause. Amazing how we have only needed two games to see what this season is going to be like. Run production is going to painful to watch. On the positive side the starting pitching and defense is much much better. Rodriguez wiped away an entire month of sub par performances today. That was a huge relief to me, because if Wandy was not right, this season would be even longer. Why does Pence look so lost at the plate? Anyone have a clue?
I thought so. I looked it up as well and yeah, he does. JEEBUS, the Astros are hogtied! Drayton and Tal have got to go. By the way, anybody notice how Tal looks like Mr. Burns??
The SF Giants had the 2nd best pitching staff in the majors last season top to bottom (bullpen included), and are even better this year so getting shut down by them is no surprise. Zito had a sub 3 ERA for the last half of last season and was damn good this spring as well, and i bet that he will have a very good season this year. The giants were the only team that walked into Philadelphia and held that lineup to 3 runs total in 3 games in September of last year with Lincecum, cain and zito. I expect them to make the playoffs this year because they require minimal offense to win games. In short, the Astros should be evaluated on how they handle the staffs of the teams they will face next, rather than one of the top 3 pitching teams in the majors, who are capable of shutting down any lineup.
Either way there really isn't a realistic bright side to this season. I hate that to because I live for baseball season. At least it seems we've slowly been drafting well and with Berkman/Matsui/Blum/Michaels/Meyers/Feliz coming off the books we might be able to give our younger guys full time positions in the major league while playing the role of a true buyer in free agency. Instead of picking up other teams aged scraps.
Game was pretty empty, emptier than I thought it would be...but that's fairly typical for the 2nd game. It was actually somewhat pleasant in a way...kind of nice to go to a game for once and not feel like a sardine. Too many haters though; it's the second game of the season so lighten up. The team may very well struggle to score runs, or some of these young guys might step up. Kind of hard to tell after the second game.
he does look like him! Astros will be competing for one of the worst records in franchise history, I'm not too sure what that is but I dont think this team wins more than 62 games. 59 - 103 to finish up the season. We have Lee, Pence, Feliz and the rest are either tripe AAA players or Pinch hitters that are in the starting lineup.
OHHHHH MAN -- BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Dude. There was like ten-page "the Astros will not lose 100 games" argument last year around late April/early May. Dude was all "you ppl are idiots if you don't see they'll lose 100 games". Then the Astros didn't approach losing 100 games, and the guy never ate his crow. So, for the love of all things baseball, let's pretty please not have another "100 games" war, m'kay?
I don't think were THAT bad. I think we are still within the 70 win range. If we reach 100 losses it's gonna be rough ;/ and no doubt there will be a shakeup on the roster or management.
One thing is for sure and that's that they're going to have to start winning or attendance is going to be dismal this season. Last night, the second game of the season, had a PAID attendance of just over 24,000. Generally you can at least expect the opening day buzz to continue through the first series.
I can't believe people in this forum are encouraging low attendance, and are excited to be sticking it to Drayton. How dare the owner only spend $92.4 million. How dare he not tell Ed Wade to go out and give another Carlos Lee deal that costs the team draft picks and future payroll flexibility. How dare they not trade our few prospects for another aging shortstop and pay him millions. How dare he not trade players that love Houston, are Houston icons, & make the on field product worse. How dare he not trade a player that is overpaid, with a no-trade clause, where he would have to eat a good portion of the contract just to get anything of value back. As long as the team is signing draft picks, signing international free agents, & improving the system, then I'm not going to complain. Does the front office still make stupid moves? Yes. Should they pay bigger bonuses in the draft? Probably.
True. Houstonians generally attend when there are W's, unless it's football. Generally not true -- the second game of the season is often a lot lower in attendance (IF I remember correctly).
Either way 24,000 is a piss poor attendance number for the second game of the season. If on the second day of the season you are getting that low of a number then you are in trouble. 4th largest city in the nation and our team is going to be in the lower half of attendance. Such a shame.
