How about a positive Astros thread? I'm pumped about watching Michael Bourn all year. I tend to fall in love with speedsters with good defense, but I like what I see from Bourn better than just about all of them. He's got a great plate approach, he really knows how to run the bases, and he is an incredible centerfielder. He may replace Ichiro as my favorite MLB player to watch.
After last night's game, I wonder if Bourn is the next 100 steal guy. Bard didn't have a chance to catch him either time. If he gets on base at a good clip, he could easily steal 70-80 bases. Not too much else after last night, though. Overall, I'm excited to see what the offense can really do. I won't use a game against the reigning unanimous Cy Young winner as a fair representation of what they're capable of.
Yeah he got amazing jumps both times. Unlike Willy Taveras, he has that ability to get a good jump in addition to great speed. He is going to be a good one.
give me bourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrn hoping backe can turn it on and finally be a good regular season pitcher, too
Not so much what I'm excited about (that would pretty much be baseball in general), but what I'm looking forward to following this year, things that can make the difference in these guys being merely ok, or being good to great: Towles' footwork & throwing motion behind the plate Pence's plate discipline & his arm in RF Bourn's approach at the plate Wandy's changeup & composure on the mound Backe's command of his fastball Chacon's & Sampson's ability to keep the ball down in the zone Command in the back of the pen: Valverde, Brocail, Villareal Wright vs. some of the great lefties in the NL How the lineup shakes out once Matsui's hole is whole.
Hey everyone im Zach im new to all of this, i just wanted to say hey and i hope i can share all of my Houston sports team knowledge with you guys!!!! Thanks
I want to see if Wandy and Backe can be big leauge pitchers. They both look like they can do it but they need to put it all together. Also Tejada. Anything is better then Everett was at the plate.
They haven't showed much to get excited about so far. For a lineup with a bunch of sluggers they looked pretty anemic. Yep, that is what good pitching can do. Wish we had that too. Long season, never know, but not too optimistic at the moment.
I am excited to see if Towles can be a successful hitter given a starter's playing time this year. His brief stint last year gave me hope that we have a catcher who can contribute offensively...we'll see.
Bourn seems like a popular answer, for good reason...but for the sake of different opinions, i will go with Hunter Pence...i wonder if he can be 30 hr 100 rbi scoring machine this year P R
Let's not get TOO excited about Bourn just yet. I think he'll turn into a pretty decent player, but some people are setting the bar just a tad high. That being said, he's my pick, too. He's seems to have the plate discipline and baserunning instincts that Taveras may have lacked; I'm excited to see what he can do at the top of the order. I'm a little worried about his spring numbers, though. For the first couple of weeks, he showed he was perfectly capable of getting on base and batting over .300. And then, over the next couple, he also showed he perfectly capable of batting under the Mendoza line. We'll see how it pans out. Plus, as a UH graduate, I'm happy to see a Cougar on the team, right when another one was shown the door. Also really looking forward to see what Towels can do, but that may or may not be because I drafted him in late rounds as my primary catcher in no less than three fantasy leagues.
i'm really excited about berkman i think he will have a bounce back year i expect .295 37 hrs and 124 rbi
