on the path to a .500 season after what...12 games?? i'm not saying that everything is peachy. i'm not saying that at all. clearly there are problems. i'm saying the opposite is NOT true. i'm saying the sky isn't falling. hell, in this thread alone we've arrived at the conclusion that Roger will be asking for a trade!!! Seriously, NJ...do you not see that as silly after 12 freaking games. The Yanks are 5-8...the Giants are 6-6...the Dogers are 10-2...Atlanta and Florida are just one game over .500, each. What in your experience of watching baseball makes you think these things will stay the same??? I understand your concerns for the offense. But frankly, last night we met an ace. Our ace hammered theirs...their ace hammered us. Both bullpens fared well. Both teams combined to give up one run in about 24 combined innings of pitching. I have concerns for this offense, too. Clearly they're missing their best hitter. And I have reason to believe McLane will go out and get another stick to help out. There's probably some tinkering with the lineup that would help maximize production as well. So it's not that I think we're World Series bound!! It's that I don't think our season is doomed. It's that I don't think last year's Cy Young winner and hometown hero is going to demand a trade tomorrow. Remember how ridiculous that May/June thinking looked last October? I'm not saying for sure you'll see a repeat of that. But I'm saying let's watch some of this shake out before we give up on the season. And yes...if you're giving up on the season after 12 games, you're not much of a fan.
You know Max is serious when he capitalizes the beginning of his sentences. Keep up the good fight, Max. I think I'm bowing out for a while. I watch baseball for the love of the game. Reading this junk is starting to ruin it for me. This post not approved by pgabriel.
We all love the game...some of us hate to see our teams lose. This is a message board...where people post how they feel about certain things....the state of the Astros for instance. I'm sorry that we all don't have the warm fuzzy outlook that you, Max, and some others do...perhaps if there was anything to go on other than a miraculous 36-10 stretch by a much better OFFENSIVE Astros team last year and a history of trades executed by a GM that is no longer here, we would feel differently. We all realize that our pitching may be amongst the best in the league..but so far, our lineup is producing less than we naysayers evern expected. So, please...don't act like we are raining on your parade here....we are fans (perhaps more passionate than you given how upset we are with the state of things) alike. I understand you dont like when guys pick on Drayton....fine. Bottom line is that we aren't very good RIGHT NOW (a phrase i used in the offseason when you guys told me to wait and see what happens between then and spring training)...and whether its Beltran's fault, Boras' fault, Bagwell's fault, Drayton's fault, Hun's fault, Tim's fault, your fault or my fault....I could care less....we are struggling and thats all I can see. I see, therefore I post.
ypu mean the one where i said something to the extent of " Its all nice to be 4-2, but we still cant hit the ball and we cant expect to keep winning like this since we have the least amt of runs scored?"? That one?
whats pessimistic about talking all offseason about how bad our lineup will be only to see it be worse than expected?
ok...then again i ask...WHY WATCH??? YOU WERE RIGHT...in your own mind, anyway. and you've used a grand total of 12 games to prove that. hell, you did it in about 8 games. so why bother??? i know you're a baseball fan...and it's why it baffles me that someone who has watched baseball year in and year out would start making declarations about the course of a 162 game season after 8 are in the books. again..think Yankees fans think this is where they'll end up?? see any trends there that would concern you, too??
Well, you admitted in your previous post that you were pessimistic when we were 4-1. What is so hard to understand that we've played exactly 12 out of 162 games?
in my own mind? you think that we have a good lineup? Gun to your head....do you think that the Astros will make the playoffs with this current lineup (including Berkman)? If yes, what are you basing it on other than there are 150 games left?
I realize your point is that you feel your position is realistic as opposed to pessimistic and I see where you're coming from... It's just that from outside of the context of this discussion, this looks pretty funny in an ironic sort of way:
Here's a shocker...I don't know. I do know one thing is that you can't predict a season, especially when your team has two aces and two above-average pitchers in their starting five, 12 games into the season. The funny thing is, the only part of our offense that's really been killing us, at least through the first two weeks, is clutch hitting. Not hitting in general, just clutch hitting. You probably gave up on the Rockets after they started 6-11.
nice cop out i wasnt thrilled with the Rockets start...but given that T Mac is one of the 3 best all around players in the league and Yao is a top 3 center, I knew we had the talent. The same way I look at the Yankees and say...they have about 19 proven all stars so it wont surprise me if they win the division and make the WS. However, looking at our lineup and seeing an aging 1B who's better days are CLEARLY behind him...a gritty 2B who quite possibly could repeat last yrs decent #s....a SS who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat...a 3B batting cleanup who doesn't swing the bat...a catcher who will bat about the same as our best hitting pitcher...a blooming OF in Lane who actually could produce based on what I have seen (go figure, i am using a 12 game measuring stick to say Lane might have a good year)....a rookie in CF and an All star on the DL who we hope to have back to 100% by June....I dont see much.
How is that a cop-out? I've never stated one way or another that we'd make the playoffs. All I've ever said is that I wouldn't be surprised if this team competed based on it's pitching staff and the flexibility we'll have to make moves as we get closer to the trading deadline.
