How bout this starting line-up. 2B=Craig Biggio RF=Orlando Palmerio LF=Lance Berkman 3B=Morgan Ensberg CF=Jason Lane 1B=Mike Lamb SS=Adam Everett C=Brad Ausmus I live Willy but his OBP is too low and he is horrible with RISP. Mike Lamb BA is low but he is a quailty run producer and thats what this team needs. Lane or Palmerio could play center decently. IMO, this is the best line-up the Astros could put out with the players they have.
Damn, sucks for Roger. We yet again fold over after a great game by the Rocket. Damn, Lidge really is human now....
Just finished watching the game on tape ... Unbelievable loss ... This one really hurts. Clemens was really the only offense we even had all game. For those hating Garner for pulling Clemens so early (as I was), ESPN is reporting that he was pulled because of back problems. He said it was more preventative. This was a very demoralizing loss, not to mention the fact that the 4 teams right behind us in the Wild Card just won and picked up a game on us.
Why is this a demoralizing loss? Teams lose - that's the nature of baseball. Florida just lost 1-0 the previous day. The Philies have had 3 losses in their last 10 games that something like 2-1, or 3-1. One game is August is not demoralizing. I know it seems that way in such a close race, but the reality is this isn't football. One game just doesn't mean that much. Last 2 weeks of September? Absolutely. Playoffs? Absolutely. Middle of August losing 1 game? It doesn't help the cause, and hurts just as much in the standings as losing in September, but its not going to affect the team at all. The crazy-hot run we were on in July is over, but as long as we keep winning series, we're fine.
You obviously don't know much about baseball. Last season the Astros went to the playoffs ONE game over the Giants. EVERY GAME MATTERS. Loses don't seem bleak through September...but they are. Trust me.....if the Astros lose out on the playoffs by a game there will tons of games the Astros could blame. Including last night and all the other games they lost while Clemens was on the mound. They should probably be at least 7-10 games in the wild card lead and probably a few back of the Cards if they just scored a few runs for Clemens throughout the year.
True, but we are still UP in the WC standings with a 2 game cushion in the loss column....and that is a GREAT thing. DD
You can't really say that... because the Astros have won plenty of games that they shouldn't have. Baseball is a game of inches and sometimes the other guy is just lucky and you aren't... over the course of a 162 game season there are going to be plenty of close losses, so you can't pin down a handful and say we should have won those and we would be 5-7 games up, because on the flip side we've won just as many that we should have lost. EVERY team good or bad as those losses that hurt a lot, and last night was one of those... but that one loss will not make or break the season. The great thing about baseball's long season is no teams ever get in to the playoffs on luck, if we miss the playoffs by one game it isn't because of any given game, but the collection of them all.
Although a loss is a loss is a loss, a loss earlier in the season is not near as important as one late in the season. Certainly they count the same in the standings, but it is MUCH less important to lose a game early in the season than late in the season, simply because there is plenty of time to "make up" for that loss. You also cannot assume that everything in this entire season would have occurred the same way if an event happened differently. For example, had they won one of those 1-0 Clemens' starts, there is no telling what would have occurred afterwards. They may have gone on a 20 game losing streak, they may have gone on a 20 game winning streak. The only safe bet is that things would occur differently if something different happened. It is akin to an announcer bemoaning the fact that a runner was thrown out trying to steal and the hitter then hits a home run. The announcer tends to assume the hitter would have still hit a home run, when, in actuality, if the runner was still on base, the pitcher may have thrown a different pitch or, most certainly, delivered the pitch differently.
Those were some ridiculous strikes on Ensberg. The last pitch and that curveball were both way outside, and low and high respectively.
Well there goes another HR off Astacio. And by the way .. I don't know how you can say last night was not a demoralizing loss. Yes it was just one game. But in a game where Roger Clemens had pretty much the best stuff hes had in any start for the past 2 seasons and you still lose. I call that demoralizing. Major were you even able to watch the game last night to determine if it was a demoralizing loss?
