and we whooped 'em up...oh yeah! to all you people who left early i would like to say: BOOOOOO! you've got to stay till the end even if the hope is dying.
Great game today. Glad we won after I stuck around the whole time. I wasn't only disappointed with everyone leaving, I mean why were the stands so empty in the first place? If they can't draw more than that for a weekend afternoon game against basically our biggest rival right now, then what kind of game will it take to get people out to the park?
This type of attendance usually happens when you have an owner who never brings in players to create excitement for fans. Why should Astros fans have optimism? We aren't as good as we were last year, personnel-wise. And look how great we did last year... Or the other playoff years before that... In MLB, to make money, you must first spend money.
i didnt notice it being empty in the first place... maybe its because i had kickass field seats behind 1st base and i didnt bother turning around. people were leaving when the game was still tied. is getting to your car faster worth missing the rest of an awesome game
Of players who played significant time, the Astros lost Alou and Castilla from last year. Alou is currently on the DL with his recurring calf injury meaning that he probably would have suffered the same injury had he reamined with the team. Castilla is currently hitting around .053. Why do you say the personnel is not as good? The bench, on paper, is clearly better but they will have to produce for more than 6 games. The starting pitching is better simply because Oswalt and Hernandez will be inthe rotation the whole year. The bullpen will be better especially when Brocail and Pichardo are ready. Again, another whiner who complains abotu a team that has won their division 4 of the past 5 years. Again, it's not the owner who fails to hit in the playoffs.
The regular season Astros over the last 5 years (2000 not included) has been good enough to at least get to the World Series...they just haven't performed. How that is Drayton's fault is beyond me. The 'stros have been one of the top teams in all of baseball over the course of the last 7 years or so (cumulative record).
Stros are a mid market team. Husicker doesn't have to go out and buy players, especially not now when the team is basically getting better every year without trades or signing. Personally, I think he's doing a good job draftings, and thus is able to produce winning talent on the field. I will however be very upset if he repeats his performance of losing his ace 3 years in a row.
that's not the astros fault but it is their problem...MLB needs to be revamped from a revenue sharing/salary perspective.
In MLB, to make money, you must first spend money. Yeah, we saw how well that worked out for the Florida Marlins. Such generalizations used to rationalize a blinding hate of Drayton McClane are exactly the reason kidrock8 is on my ignore list. I just got tired-head from reading his drivel.
It has been a while since the Astros 'lost' an ace. This is the 3rd season Hampton has been gone and they didn't exactly lose him conisdering they received Dotel in return. Question - Right now would you trade Dotel for Hampton straight up? I assume that Oswalt will be their ace. It will be a while before he is even eligible to be lost considering arbitration, etc. As long as Wagner has pitched here, he would not have been a free agent until after this season. Miller is in a similar situation to Oswalt. The core (Oswalt, Miller and Hernandez) are here for a while (unless traded). After this season the Astros lose Mlicki (~7 million) and Reynolds (~6-7 million) contracts. Berkman's new deal will kick in, but they will have some money to play with. My guess is, if they are not in contention in August, Reynolds (if he is pitching well), will be traded. The Astros are in decent shape contract wise. They will probably have to reward Ward, Miller and Oswalt but they will not HAVE to do it.
Elarton then....I know he had injuries since that have removed him from ace status, but he was the ace coming into last season before being traded for Astacio. BTW, I like our team. I like that it is home grown. Just saying, the Yankees would have kept Astacio if they had Mlicki as the fourth starter.
When talking about an ace, I would assume you mean an ace at the end of a season. Elarton was far from an ace when he was traded. Is anyone upset that the Astros made the trade for Astacio using Elarton? Again, they didn't lose him for nothing. They acquired a good asset. Unfortunately, Astacio got hurt and the Astros could not take a chance on a lot of money for a hurt pitcher. In other words, they did not 'lose' Elarton. They received value in a trade.
All I'm saying is that Elarton was an ace at the beigining of the year. He got banged up, but was still worth an overpaid ace in trade value. That ace, Astacio, got lost because of money. The injury may have helped the Astros lose him, but I think most knew the Astros wouldn't spend the $9 mil on him unless he was instrumental in winning the WS. I didn't want to say eli because the stros got Ace value in return. Since Astacio's time was questioned, I looked back at what the stros got for him.
