I would agree with you if Edmonds and Rolen were healthy - that trio would be the best in the majors, by far. But Edmonds has a variety of injuries, the most concerning being that he has numbness and a lack of feeling in his forearm, and had an elbow MRI just last week. He also had a noticable dropoff last year - for reference, his numbers weren't much better than Jason Lane. Rolen is coming off of a pair of shoulder surgeries, and the HR Monday notwithstanding, has shown no power whatsoever this spring. They are starting a 2B that has an OPS worse than Ausmus - and he played the last 2 years in Coors Field! His away numbers last year were worse than Adam Everett. They are starting a rookie in Left Field. They have a drunk 5th starter. They just have a ton of questions right now - kind of like we did at the beginning of last year. Not saying they won't win the division, but its a lot more up in the air than last year.
have you learned nothing! NEVER criticise the Astros lest ye be condenscended into oblivion by RM95 and MM!!! but seriously, i agree with you. i dont know how anyone can look at our lineup at see a serious playoff contender in it.... the offense isn't there. it's nice to believe we can have another magical season and get the hits when we needed them, but i consider that delusional. does anyone remember how poorly we struggled at the bat during the WS? bottom line is that we are NOT a very good offensive team, and with Clemens gone our offense is gonna have to step up even moreso. and i'm not comfortable with that.
Really now???? . Yeah, you've been a real saint. 1) Insulting someone's experience/intelligence because you disagree with his take (or perhaps fail to grasp his take). 2) Sarcasm, which is cool if you're not acting like a jerk when employing it 3) Insinuating that anyone who doesn't agree with your take doesn't want to see the Astros win a WS. 4) Calling those who don't agree with your take "horrible homers". 5) Telling everyone *else* that *they* fail to understand. 6) Whining about being attacked after 1-5 above. Yeah, you're the victim here. Sure some folks retaliated. What do you expect?
Against the BEST starting rotation in the American Leauge. Doesn't that count for something? Does anyone remember that they scored as many runs as just about anyone else once Berkman came back healthy?? Let me ask you this question: does 4 games against the premier starting lineup in the junior circuit count more towards gauging a lineup's potential than 4 months? Because for 4 months, they were 5th in the league in runs scored. For 4 days, they were schooled by the elite.
Correct clutch hitting KILLED us in the world series. With the exception of Lance Berkman we would get on base but just couldn't get any clutch hits to bring across the winning runs. So therefore I do blame our offense and lack of clutch hitting on why we didn't win a game in the series. We had a healthy Berkman except for the first month of the season. We had him for the playoffs and the world series so I don't understand. You are acting like he was out the whole year. We basically lost Clemens and gained Preston Wilson. Given that I feel we got worse, would you argue that? But if Clemens does come back then we did get better overall as a team. But as of right now we downgraded. The Cards did lose some players but none were a huge part of why they are so good. They didn't even have Rolen for most of the season yet they ran away with the division. They did lose some players but some of that will be gained by Rolen coming back this year. I mean they really have a great lineup and a really good pitching staff. I think both teams are worse coming into this season with the players that were lost. Even though I hate saying it I feel the Cardinals have a better overall team. And msn you are correct sir. I am sorry for saying "do you even watch baseball?" that was not a good way to start off a debate and I apologize. It cought me off guard because I have never heard anyone argue that the Astros have a good lineup. But I think we are all homers for our teams. I try to not look through my Astros glasses all the time and try to be a realist and decide if my team has a legitimate shot or not. Not saying that anyone else is, but I can be a real homer sometimes and that causes me to not use my best judgement. And there is nothing wrong with being a homer we all want to see our team win.
Now, here's a legititmate complaint about the offense, that can be backed up with real facts from last year and this year. They're streaky. Way too streaky. And that's because they have a lot of K guys and not enough contact hitters. The answer for this team is not to add a big slugger, but get guys who aren't big SLG/RBI men to put the bat on the ball more often or add someone who will. When you look at teams with very streaky offenses, you will often see a high number of K's up and down the lineup. Teams who are a little more consistent generally have less K's in the 1, 2, 7, and 8 spots in the lineup.
what's the ultimate goal here? to be the best, you must beat the best. and the best SWEPT us. we've got a good team, but sans clemens and with a couple other pitching problems, i dont have confidence in this lineup outscoring other teams consistently.
No, it's precisely the opposite. With Berkman OUT, the Astros were WORST in the league in runs scored. With Berkman IN, they were FIFTH in the league. That is the point. In the World Series, they faced the BEST pitching staff in the American League. Just about everybody looked like idiots against those guys. It's almost like we Astros fans are acting like the offense tanked against little leaguers.
Agreed! But the argument presented, as I understand it, was the offense "sucks, is horrible, and can't make the playoffs", and I don't think the facts bear that out.
1. see my last post 2. sarcasm does not go through too well on a message board. And I am not a jerk so I didn't mean it in any malicious way. 3. That is not what I meant at all. What I meant was that I want nothing less than a WS championship for my team. I didn't say anything about anyone on here wanting anything other than that. I feel that the Astros still need to do something else to get our team back there with a good chance of winning it. That is all. 4. I think we are all homers and sometimes that slants our judgement of our favorite teams. Again if this offended anyone I am sorry, but actually most of the people I have ran across when talking about sports are homers and speak like it when talking about their team. 5. If I say something like that then I am being taken the wrong way or trying to get my point across a little better, didn't know this would upset anyone. 6. It is called wondering why everyone was attacking me for my opinion. It seems like everyone was flaming me for no reason. It is not whining it is wanting a little better responses than I was getting from others. And thank you SWTsig that is the exact same way that I feel.
ANd yet we made it to the World Series..... I'll take another low scoring season any day of the year if we can get to the WS. I'm not all that worried, mainly because that was the first 2 games of the season. I forsee a turn around, so they are starting slow. So did Andy.
I think the point is that this team has the potential to be dominant if only it could learn the meaning of the word "run".
we all want to see our team win. So if we were to meet the White Sox again who do you feel would win? This is my whole point of posting in here. The Astros did not do anything that will put them over the hump and be able to defeat a team with as good of pitching as the White Sox with our very mediocre lineup. Our pitching is what got us to the WS last year and not our hitting. I presented the arguement that we don't have a good enough lineup to reach the ultimate goal and that is a WS championship. I still feel that way. So I have one question for you msn do you feel that the Astros will be at least 5th in the league in runs scored this year? For everyone that disagrees with me this is the point that everyone keeps throwing out.
Well, I gave you the reasons. Treat people with respect, and you'll get respect. As far as homers, I believe it *is* possible to have a favorite team and look at that favorite team objectively. And it irritates the fire out of me and others when an objective opinion is dismissed by another party as "homerism" or "horrible homerism" just because said party either doesn't understand the opinion or doesn't agree. I'm game for civil discussion if you are. We can disagree with one another's opinions without trading insults.
I have no idea, but they've put themselves in a good position to. From last year's lineup, they've added Preston Wilson. That appears to be positive movement to me. Would they have a chance in a best-of-seven against last year's White Sox? A little better, thanks to the addition of Wilson, but not enough contact hitting. That said, there wasn't a lot out there to add this offseason anyway. Considering the resources available, they did a good job. This coming offseason will be a different story--Bagwell is off the books, Roger and Pettitte are off the books, and there will be a bumper crop of free agents. This offseason will be a real test of Purpura's mettle.
As would I. I don't care if we average 2 runs a game as long as we win and make a good run. But I am worried because our staff was VERY good last year and with the subtraction of Roger will not be nearly as good. We only won the wildcard by a game last year and that was with Roger giving us a 1.67 ERA for the year. I am particularly worried about Backe and Wandy. They have been way too streaky for my liking.
There is nothing wrong about having a discussion about the Astros here. That is what this board is for. And msn I never meant to insult anyone, but I do love a good discussion especailly about sports. Like in this case I don't mind being the bad guy and going against the home team. I am still trying to find the best way to come across on a message board. I sometimes come across in a way that I completely did not intend to. Again sorry to anyone that felt I insulted them or their opinion.
Simply put, prior to watching any games, you could surmise that the offense will be better and the pitching will be worse. Preston Wilson, a healthy Berkman and Eric Munson were added, Vizcaino and Chavez were subtracted. No one had a "career" year last year. Even Ensberg's numbers were similar to his 2003 season (extrapolated over a whole season) when he split time at 3rd. We should expect Lane and Burke to improve over last year and Taveras is still unknown. He got so many infield/bunt hits, it will be hard to duplicate. On the other hand, he should mature in strength and knowledge, so he will hopefully develop. Pitching-wise, Clemens and Astacio are gone while Buchholz and Miller are in. If you look at Buchholz as the replacement for Clemens, we should assume a big drop. If you look at it that Buchholz is replacing Backe and Backe is replacing Clemens, then it doesn't look as bleak. The bullpen should be as good.
I don't take anything for granted though. I feel lucky to live in a city like Houston that not only has several professional sports teams but ones that have a tradition of winning. (hopefully the Texans will join this) I hope the Astros kick sand in my face and prove me wrong nothing would make me happier. I could not imagine being a fan of the Reds or Royals that would be painful. Did anyone else hear that the Marlins payroll for this year is around 19 million? Can this be true? I know they basically gave away their entire team except Willis and Cabrera but 19million I heard that and didn't know if anyone here could verify that. I mean most of their team must be playing for the minimum. I would be very pissed if I were either of those two superstars. To have a very good team and have it all ripped away, and as a matter of fact I would DEMAND a trade to the Astros, especially Cabrera!
