Thank You Astros

This isn't a thread about some news breaking story (sorry Rich). This isn't about the people who doubted before the season or midseason. This isn't about shoving crow at their faces. This is NOT about Beltran (although I can still smile whenever I looked at the Beltran Sucks T-shirt I customly made). This is NOT about Kent, or what Berkman said about him ignoring all races equally. This is about the roller coaster ride that we all went through this year.

I'm sure people are looking for something more in depth: something about who to start Saturday, something about why the Astros will win, strengths & weaknesses, etc. This is more about thanking a team that has done everything the hard way (sometimes unnecessary, but who's complaining now). I can't see how anyone can complain about this team. Sure, they are not the most athletic, the most talented, etc. In fact, this team needs to scrap for runs to win. But, this team has something that can only be felt and cannot be determined by looking at the box scores: this team has the heart and the chemistry that every Houston fan can sense. Can you imagine Kent's reaction if he was an Astros and Lidge blew game 5?? I'll stay away from Kent again since I mentioned that this isn't about him. I'm just trying to make a point on HOW teams react to situations. Lidge would obviously get a few pads on the back for support, but the teammates would joke about it to lighten up the atmosphere. I'm somewhat certain that it's times like this that got Biggio to step up when he did.

Let's start a new paragraph and talk about Biggio and Bagwell. You talk about leadership by example. No one would ever walk into an Astros locker room and NOT know who the leaders of the Astros are. Clemens knew that "Bij and Bags" are the heart and soul of the Astros Franchise. And for the past couple offseasons, they finally stepped up. It's not as if they were choking, they just ran into the Atlanta SPs and Kevin Brown. (I'm trying to forget Sterling Hitchcock, or whatever his name is) Biggio really stepped up this offseason. He's getting that bat head on the ball and driving balls to get on base. He's approaching 40 (if not already 40) and he tried to bunt his way on base to begin last night's game. When you show that kind of hustle and the class that he's shown throughout his career, no Kent, Beltran, Carl Everett, or hardheaded_astro_0092 could make much of a scene to disturb the Astros locker room, but I digress....

This team went through thick and thin to get to where they are now, and their season is STILL far from over. They were 15-30, they were left for dead. Most home games were half empty at the beginning of weeknight games until around the 3rd inning (unless there's a nice promotional item going and then everyone arrives like 2 hours before the game). This team fought tooth and nail and refused to lose. No one really gave this team much of a chance. Those who did probably did it skeptically. No team ever represents Houston Sport Teams like this year's Astros. I think we should get the recognition of a city where our sport teams NEVER do things the easy way. When we got back and took a lead in the Wild Card chase, we lose a few games and fell behind 2 teams again. We climb back and took a nice lead and allowed the Cubs to push us down to the wire. We gave up 2 game winning HRs to Pujols this year (1 of the walkoff variety) and started 2 rookie pitchers for a big part of the season. Our best hitter got a freak injury and our possible hall-of-fame bound first basemen had "season ending" surgery. We got shut out in what must have been a record amount of times and we owe almost $20 million to that first baseman previously mentioned for the next year. They fought back. They blew a game to the Cubs that made things go until the last day, they fought back. We were down 6-1 in game 4 against the Braves and was threatened to head back to Atlanta for game 5 and face possible Smoltz?... and they fought back. They blew game 5 of the NLCS and people were looking at Deja Vu all over again, and they fought back.

I just want to say thank you for the ride thus far. In the words of Biggio, "If I haven't gotten a heart attack so far, I'm not going to." (something to that degree) I hope the Astros make it an easy series win, but based on history, it's not going to happen. However, regardless of the outcome, I'll tip my cap and applaud to what is a magical year for the Astros in every extent!