I still can't get over people who want Burke to play Shortstop. He's tried, he sucks. I'm all for replacing a Gold Glove with a bad bat if the replacement has a decent glove and a good bat. Burke is a horrible SS with a decent bat. He and Lamb on the left side of the infield might make the worst infield in baseball. If you want to try something, put Burke at 3B. But Everett is an Astro at least until Biggio retires (barring a can't refuse trade). And he's playing there 140+ games a year. My only other solution would have been to put Bruntlett in when Biggio rested (and send Palmeiro down). There is little doubt in my mind that Bruntlett could hit .300 if used more often. And while not Everett at SS, he's not Burke either.
Burke played SS all the way through College, he may not look all that comfortable right now, but give him some games and let's see. He looked good there the other night fielded a ball behind 2b and threw the guy out easily. DD
DaDakota is not a bandwagon fan. He's probably a better fan than most. The way he posts suggests that he's there rain or shine. He may be a little more bitter than most during the losing streaks, but he's still in here posting about it.
Thanks Joe Joe......and accurate as all get out. I am extremely frustrated, and I just don't see this years team as making a run.....they just don't have it. DD
The sweep by the Scrubs killed my hope for this season. If the rest of the National League wasn't equally pathetic the Astros would already be planning for next year.
Bored at work, I looked at the situational stats for a lot of the players and found what is a statisically good lineup. All of our 'everyday' players have a spot in the lineup where their numbers are better than other times (although some sample sizes aren't fantastic). The difference between Berkman hitting 3rd and 4th was a wash, and the rest just fell in place. Ausmus and Everett were both better in the 7 hole than anywhere else, but Ausmus was MUCH better. Biggio - 2B Taveras - CF Lamb - 1B Berkman - RF Huff - 3B Scott - LF Ausmus - C Everett - SS If these are the guys we are throwing out there, might want to try this sort of lineup. With the except of the last two, these hitters in these positions in the line up were hitting the best, with all being above .270. Baseball is probably the sport where this kind of strategy works the least, but if we're going down, might as well try something like this out.
On September 1, 2004, with 30 games left to play, the Astros were 3 games back of the wildcard. As of right now, we are 4.5 games back with a chance to be 4 back at the end of the evening. And we have more time to make it up than we did in 2004.
You need more than two games to make that definitive conclusion, especially when there was only one (somewhat) questionable play made. I'm not saying I want Burke to play SS right now, but you can't make these over the top, lead pipe lock statements based on two games. By all accounts, he looked decent during spring training. Not great, but capable.
Yeah, and on September 1st, 2005, we were only 0.5 games back of Philly, yet, in the end, we only managed to squeak into the playoffs a mere 1.0 games up on them. Plus, we were 71-62 at the time, 2nd in the WC standings, with 5 other teams still in the race. This year, there are SIX teams ahead of us in the standings and even ONE team tied with us (Milwaukee). We have a sub-.500 record, and theoretically, TEN teams are still in the WC race. It's not looking good.
July 1, 2005, we were 5 games under 0.500, 6.5 games back, and behind *eight* teams in the wildcard race. One month later, on August 1, we were 9 games over 0.500 and on top of the wildcard standings. A lot can happen in a month, let alone 6 weeks.
Now, how many times in HISTORY has something like this happened? They are done, toast...stick a fork in em. DD
Who cares? It's happened once in the last year. The fun of watching sports is seeing if they can pull it off again. If you've already written them off, why even bother following them?
Because I am addicted to the Astros & Rockets, can't shake em...I will follow no matter what, win or lose, but I am sure they are done. DD
there's only ONE team they have to concern themselves, and that's whoever's in the lead. right now it's the commies and we get 'em for 3 games next week. anyone who thinks this is over slept in a cave the past two years. wheeler, qualls and nieve will stabalize the back of the bullpen; scott continues to hit; huff continues to hit and the whole morgan ensberg debacle is being put to rest. lamb or burke will be in the line-up every night. done, done, done and done. and they end the month with 6 more against the richie cunninghams and 3 with the johnny depps. take care of business in ohio and they'll be the widlcard leader in 13 days. this team can do it. beelieve it.
I hear ya DD as much as I try to remind myself not to doubt Phil Garner this team just seems to take 2 steps forward and then 2 steps back. I'm really trying hard to keep the faith in the Stros but right now I find rooting for the Twins more exciting.
I wasn't talking about 2005. I was talking about 2004. The 2004 team didn't start their run until about this time. And there were just as many teams ahead of them as there are now.
