At What Point Did You Realize This Season Wasn't a Fluke?

today

 

When we responded after being swept in Texas. I didn't truly let myself think about October baseball until Wednesday afternoon.

 

When Correa didnt turn out to be a bust..

Honestly it was when we traded for Kazmir... Because for years I have been watching managment strip down this team (culminating in the release of Hunter Pence - when I knew we were in for years of sadness) so to see them actively adding players not prospects, I knew THEY knew this wasnt a fluke and we were going for it ... It was a great feeling.

 

The trade deadline, when they added Kazmir. That made a huge difference because it extended the rotation to include two of the top 15 starting pitchers in baseball. That deal made it unlikely that the Astros would have a long losing streak unless there was an injury to the top of the rotation.

Honestly, anything can happen but when you have a roster that has the kind of pitching upside this team has: Keuchel, Kazmir, McCullough, Fiers, McHugh, Feldman, Feliz, Harris, Sipp, Velasquez, Qualls, Gregerson, Fields and Perez........ you are very likely to keep your head above water.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Leaving this here <a href="https://twitter.com/Lana">@Lana</a> <a href="http://t.co/aGVqxP3gSp">pic.twitter.com/aGVqxP3gSp</a></p>&mdash; Jose (@JoseWorldPeace) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoseWorldPeace/status/637099465875128320">August 28, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Probably around the time LMJ threw that complete game. We so desperately needed another pitcher, and LMJ stepped up to the plate and delivered.

By the time we got Kazmir, I felt we had officially become favorites to win the AL West (not that the Angels didn't put the fear of losing it back into me).

 

Everyone is coming around.

Comedian Jim Breuer joins the panel on MLB Now to talk about the Houston Astros.

https://vid.me/nEcc

 

Honestly? When they won 10 in a row to push the record to 18-7... I know it's early and I wasn't making plans for October by any means - but that's a significant, meaningful start/cushion.

They went 52-60 last year after a terrible April (18-32). If they did nothing but settle into last year's May-Oct pace (46%), that would have been on pace to win 82 games after that start. Finding... 5-8 additional wins... I honestly didn't view that as impossible.

So, yeah... 18-7 I had an inkling this might get interesting.

 

I was in early too. For me it was the sweep of the Padres in San Diego.

 

April. Pretty much when the set the baseball world on fire. And when Correa and McCullers got sent up and started performing lights out was the nail in the coffin for me. I knew we was for realz.

 

Difficult to answer. The Astros had a fluky winning percentage early and then followed it up with a lot of around 0.500 ball which is what I expected from them, and then they made deals at deadeline, and have played about as well as expected after deadline.

So probably a few weeks before deadline when Astros were likely to make a deal and Correa and McCullers had established themselves.

 

When they revamped the bullpen in the offseason.

 

During their strong finish last year. Get on my level.

 

Like others have said, for me it was after they came out playing well post-All Star game. They were a spiraling wreckage going into the break and I was deeply worried they had used up whatever magic pixie dust they were breathing for the previous months. But then they righted the ship and found more pixie dust so they could fly the plane back on the wagon.

Yeah, I like to mix my metaphors.

 

Just about a month ago, August 1st. I took my daughter to her first game and from the moment we got out of the car until we got home that night, everything was just perfect. The atmosphere at MMP, the display of power (4 homers), Keuchel recovering from the horrendous 2nd inning. I knew then it was going to be a special season. It felt like '86 all over again (I missed the late '90's and '05).

 

I always thought the playoffs were a possibility thanks to the weak division they're in, but this past homestand with the no-hitter and all the late inning heroics showed me that they have a lot of poise for a young, inexperienced team. That's when I started to believe.

 

I think I realized they were good enough to be .500 or better when they didn't fall apart after the early winning streak and were leading the division going into June. I'm still in a bit of denial and do not like seeing the "magic number" threads at all. I don't want to think about playoff rotations and matchups until that "x" is by our name in the standings.

 

This season feels very 1986. I'm going strictly from memory but I'm pretty sure they turned it on in a post-All-Star series with the Mets and then kind of rolled. And the season featured a mostly "Really?..." offensive line-up bolstered by two fantastic pitchers (Scott and Ryan), a soft-tossing veteran lefty (Knepper) and a rookie (DeShaises). It even featured an incredible three-game stretch against the Dodgers (IIRC). And, of course, also featured a no-hitter. And, holy ****, look over in the NL and the freaking Mets are back, too.

This team has never felt '97-'05-y to me. But '86? For sure. Very '86.

 

I've been high on them for about that long, realizing how a healthy Springer might have gotten them around .500, then seeing the FO make moves in the offseason. I don't remember the last time I was truly disappointed in them. Maybe before Luhnow?