Yeah it's early, but so was the panic attack thread...My contention is do the astros have what it takes to keep being alone in first place... There are reasons I think it will happen... 1. There are signs that players such as Ausmus, Biggio, and Lane will hit better than we have perceived,...or better than what they average. 2. The Astros outfield suddenly has legitimate pop...Lee is Lee and is who we thought he was...which is good...Scott is showing last year was no fluke. Lane and Burke are actually doing good enough... This is all good reliable pop. Plus Hunter is waiting to break out when his time comes... 3. Puma will be Puma...The fat dude is too good, and WILL get better which is very encouraging to compliment the surge of pop in the outfield... 4. Yall may think I'm crazy, but the bullpen sans Lidge is impressing me. Things seem to have gone our way for the bullpen more times than not lately... My hope is the starting pitching will be more consistent from #3, 4, and 5...but I believe that will happen well enough... With these things in mind, I believe we can tell the national media who picks the Brewers or cardinals first to kiss our grits when it is all said and done...
I agree, and the team's confidence is high...... The one down factor is Lidge, I think the team has to get rid of him, he is someone the other players will look at and feel sorry for, or when he comes in, they will all wornder when he is going to blow it. I criticize Garner a lot (and deservadly) but him yanking Lidge was the right thing......he knows the clubhouse got down last year with all those blown leads and others that we barely held on to.... Lidge has to go for this team to be all it can be........IMHO. DD
Wish Lidge could be tossed down to AAA. As for the rest of the team, I'm loving our offense! We seem to have no problem scoring runs, too bad for the starters (pitching) though. Unless they pitch a complete game or late into it. They won't get any W's.
Brad Lidge blowing it first game of the season was a big downer to the team and probably put them into a funk more than they wanted to believe. Or the Astros probably would be up another game or two instead of the suckage they demonstrated the first week. But oh well, first place now. Still unsure about Chris Burke, if he'll be more than mediocre and live up more to the promise he's supposed to have. It'd sure be nice if his bat and outfield glove could come around. Ausmus you cant count on to go into a tailspin at some point... (sorry but he did this last year too if i remember). Good thing is they might not need every one of those pieces to come around, if the starting pitching besides Oswalt develops consistency. And if Jason Lane keeps hitting, if Luke Scott's can pick it up a little more in average, which he seems capable of, and there's still Mike Lamb off the bench for some pop. And we know Berkman's gonna come around. Looking to be another nice year to follow. (Should Clemens' name even get mentioned?)
Its still all about pitching. How much longer will Wandy and Sampson put up sub 2 ERA's? How much longer will Jennings be out? Will Albers improve upon his shaky (but effective) debut last night? Will Woody continue to get rocked? The Stros are in first place because they've had 10 quality starts in 15 games, and they've gotten some big hits late. They've also only lost ONE game on the road (and for a team that's had a losing road record the last two years, that's huge). Puma will be puma, Lee will be Lee. Scott and Ensberg have been decent early... if they keep it up the entire season, the offense will have no problems (even if Everett stops hitting, Burke doesn't hit like he can/should, and Biggio has his usual swoon). Our bench has more pop/veteran poise than any other team in this division... Orlando, Lamb, Lane, Loretta. That's some good options right there (without even considering Pence on the farm). The bullpen isn't as big of an issue to me because if they're pitching a lot of meaningful games, that means we're getting a lot of leads late. Bullpens come together and are revised year after year... when the Astros lost Wagner, their bullpen was supposed to go way south... and it ended up being their biggest strength in 04-05. They'll figure out a solution this year as well.
So, even if Lidge continues to pitch poorly, having the fifth or sixth man in your bullpen (he's not a closer or even a setup man) who is struggling will cost you the division? Sorry, lots of teams have issues somewhere in the bullpen... the key is to keep them out of the important roles.
He cost us game 1....and has almost cost us a couple of others.....and in the NL Central where every game is going to count....do you want to rely on him? DD
No, you didn't and he pitched OK on Thursday, but what I am saying is that his mere presence will hurt the team's confidence. Any time he is run out there, the team holds it's breath. DD
Seriously, DD, you have no idea what the team thinks. You have no idea what goes on in the clubhouse. You are projecting. Just because YOU do or think these things, does not mean anybody else does.
You are correct Buck. It is how I feel, and am probably projecting. However, if you just watch the players faces, you can see the angst..... At least that is what I see. DD
If Lidge was left in yesterday's game, he'da probably blown that one too. The look on Garner's face after Fielder hit the homer was priceless Good thing the offense has loosened up and is clicking. Now they can win in spite of Lidge. Lidge Lidge Lidge..we need someone to pick on every year as Astros fans, right?
honestly, who has a better chance at making the playoffs..yanks or 'stros? not which team do you think is better..but which has a better chance of getting there? once you get there, anything can happen. i think, given the competition in this division, the 'stros stand a better chance of GETTING to the postseason than the Yanks do. i think the red sox are and will be the class of that division...and the AL wild card is gonna be tougher to win than the NL wild card.
