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Last year we finished 1 game out, this year????

Discussion in 'Houston Astros' started by DaDakota, Sep 27, 2004.

  1. DaDakota

    DaDakota Balance wins
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    Last year we finished just one measily game out of the playoffs, and it is looking a lot like that might happen again this year.

    Do we have a chance, IMHO, it is a slim one.

    DD
     
  2. rrj_gamz

    rrj_gamz Member

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    I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday...Although, to be honest, as much as I dislike the Giants, I would rather see them there vs. the Cubs...
     
  3. NJRocket

    NJRocket Member

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    tied...and we win a playoff game vs the cubs on monday

    if we dont make it, i want to see the cubs vs red sox
     
  4. Nick

    Nick Member

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    If this team wins 4 out of 6 (which they should), they'll end up with 90 wins.

    I won't be dissapointed with that... 90 wins is very respectable.

    We have to remember that, even if we had Pettite, Clemens, Miller all healthy... we couldn't have predicted that this team was going to win 100+ regular season games. (even before the season, when making the playoffs seemed like a formality). That stuff doesn't happen too often, even with the best of teams.

    Thus, the Astros would have been where they are right now... a wild card contender. Nobody was forcasting a possible 105 win season for the Cardinals.
     
  5. wrath_of_khan

    wrath_of_khan Member

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    This is what I've been thinking about after the more disappointing losses the past week.

    We're battling the Cubs for a playoff spot -- exactly where everyone thought we'd be. Nobody really thought we were going to run away with the division, did they?

    Only thing is, the Cards had one of the great seasons in recent memory, so we're battling for the Wild Card and not the division crown. We're still one of the top teams in the NL -- at least by win-loss record.

    90 wins isn't too far off of where I thought we'd end up.

    I know it would be frustrating to come up short once again, but 90 wins as a final outcome is pretty good on paper with Pettite and Miller missing so much time. It's just frustrating the way the season played out (dead in the water and then right back in it) -- IF we end up a game or so back, that is.

    But if we make the playoffs, how satisfying would that be?
     
  6. JPM0016

    JPM0016 Member

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    I agree, we won the 2001 division title with only 93 wins

    All things considered they are about where i expected
     
  7. Nick

    Nick Member

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    Also, they would have won last year's division title with 88 or 89 wins.

    I guess they picked the wrong year to be a pretty good team... but then again, they picked the right year to have a guy like Clemens on the staff. Clemens, plus a healthy Oswalt, would have ran away with the division last year. (hell, a healthy Oswalt alone would have meant a division winner).

    This stuff does happen (good teams not making the playoffs)... see the 1993 Giants who finished with 103 wins :eek: and still didn't make the playoffs because the Braves finished with 104 wins :eek: :eek:!

    Of course, this was before the wild card. Ironically enough, it added fuel to both the pro-wild card people, and the anti-wild card people.

    The pro-wild card people pointed out that a team like the 93 Giants deserved to make the playoffs, given that the other division winner in 93 had a much worse record.

    The anti-wild card people (Costas) remarked that this would be the last great pennant race of our time... because in the future, whenver you'd have two great teams in a division... most likely, one would end up winning the wild card anyways, making the pennant essentially meaningless (see 2001 Astros vs. Cardinals, or any Red Sox vs. Yankees for the last 2-3 years).
     
  8. PhiSlammaJamma

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    Damn those Braves. That is an unbelievable run. And even more unbelievable the failure that ultimately follows.
     
  9. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    DaDa...if they do win...if they pull this comeback off. are they still heartless in your book? you posted that the other day...and in baseball, where the margins between winning a playoff spot and not winning a playoff spot seem so tiny (1 game out of 162), it just struck me as odd that you would say that. particularly after they got themselves back in this race with a very improbable comeback in a spot where a lot of other teams would have quit.
     
  10. DaDakota

    DaDakota Balance wins
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    Max,

    I think that the team doesn't come to play every single game, and thus underperforms against mediocre pitching in particular.

    I just think we need new leaders.

    I have no doubt at all that this team with Garner all year would have clinched the Wild Card already, if not contended for the division.

    The worst thing that happened to the Astros in the last 40 years was Jimy Williams.

    DD
     
  11. Rocketman95

    Rocketman95 Hangout Boy

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    Exaggerate much? :)
     
  12. DaDakota

    DaDakota Balance wins
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    Ask me wife.

    ;)

    DD
     
  13. synergy

    synergy Member

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    Exactly, old man grump was simply terrible for the team. I hated his strategy from the day we hired him.
     
  14. Nick

    Nick Member

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    Yea, unfortunately, McLane and co. wanted to go with somebody who was almost the virtual opposite of Larry Dierker.

    --One who didn't call his players out in the media (they got one that didn't speak to the media at all... or at least in any terms other than a cliche).

    --One who made decisions based on a vast amount of baseball knowledge and managing experience, not because of what happened within the last week. (dierker not bringing in Dotel, and bringing in the relatively "hot" Mike Jackson in the playoffs).

    --One who'd managed before in the playoffs

    --One who'd managed before in the playoffs and actually won a playoff round.

    The only guy readily available that fit all those requirements was Jimy, and he doesn't have a tremendous career amount of managing wins for no reason.

    Of course, he's also an expert at his teams finishing second... thus, we were stuck with meeting his career goals.

    But, there's no way the Astros would have hired Garner (or any other "player's manager") after Dierker... they were looking to go the opposite route.
     
  15. Uprising

    Uprising Member

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    I sure hope this year doesn't end the same way. I would love to see the Cubs have a short 2 game skid....man would that be nice.


    If not the Astros, I want to see the Giants win the WC.
     

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