You're right, many of those teams went out and blew money and are in the EXACT same boat we are now... so spare us with the "we suck" comments. Those teams and their fans aren't panacking and neither should ours. Yet NONE of them have a better ERA then the Astros... we are third in the league in Team ERA. We are also having our offensive problems but we ARE hitting the ball and are in the top 10 in Team AVG even with two of our starters doing horribly. It's also interesting to note the Cubs are 13th in team batting average (we're 10th) and 12th in team ERA (we're 3rd)... and the Cardinals are 28th in team batting average right now, and 29th in team ERA. So don't tell me they made great improvements from last year based on their early record because making ANY assumptions after 8-10 games is ridiculous to begin with... good or bad.
You completely missed the point....those teams have veteran players (that were either retained or signed) who have proven track records...and all they need to do to suceed, is play up to the past levels....we dont. Our guys all pretty much need career years...and ROY-years for us to get over the hump. How is it that you don't see this? Its not rocket science.
Or only two players who are struggling at the plate ARE proven veterns. Our rookies have shown they can hit and hang with the big boys. Taveras isn't going to forget how to hit after 8 games of full-time play, and neither is Scott or Burke. If Everett was hitting about .270 and Ausmus about .250 there is no doubt that we'd be in a lot better shape in the Won/Loss column. Another stat note... the Astros are 5th in the majors in OBP and are probably near the top in LOB (left on base), I can't find a LOB stat but I know they are top 10 at least, maybe even top 5. They'll come around, and have all proven that they can hit... so I didn't miss your point.
Holy crap! Bagwell, Biggio, Berkman, Oswalt, Pettitte, and Roger FREAKING Clemens all say hi! Ever since it was evident the Astros lost out on Beltran you have done nothing but b**** and moan. It's a free country, so carry on.
So you want Ausmus to hit his career average and you want Everett to hit 20 points higher than his career average. You act like these 2 guys are perennial silver sluggers. If it was Bags and Bidge hitting .081 and .125 (or whatever those 2 slugs are hitting), you would have a point...but they aren't...and you don't.
i never questioned the pitching....but if it makes you feel better to take things out of context, feel free
BS. We act like he's doing his job, or eventually will as all things average out. YOU, and other perennial whiners, act like they *should* be, and then whine endlessly when they don't perform up to your expectations. Folks with realistic expectations see things differently. Every spot in the order doesn't have to hit .333 and drive in 90 with 25 dingers, believe it or not.
Adam Everett hit .273 last season, no reason to see why he won't/can't match that. Brad Ausmus hit .254 last year, no reason to see why he won't/can't match that. They will come around, and if they can hit +/- .010 of their 2004 averages we'll be just fine. Lance on 610 brought up a good point about Everett this morning, that he was being "too aggressive" at times and "too cautious" at others in the leadoff role trying to make something happen. He has been too cautious towards the beginning of the game trying to give his lineup more pitches to see from the pitcher and too aggressive late in the game by trying to make something happen. I just don't think Everett has the mentality to be a leadoff man, and I think he could easily hit .280 in another spot besides leadoff.
Damn! Bagwell and Biggio can pitch?? There's the last thing to cement them for the Hall, for sure! But, if it makes you feel better to ignore half the context, go right ahead.
take your own advice the context was that we added no one....we only lost guys...nor did we replace what we lost with anything proven....just rookies..AA rookies at that.
If Ausmus his what he hit last year, he's still the worst hitting regular in the NL. Everett is near the bottom as well if you look beyond BA to walks, run/rbi, and power production. And that's before adjusting for the fact that they play in one of the better hitter's parks. Argue if you like that we don't need production from every lineup slot, that's open for debate. Argue that their defense makes their offense palatable. But just because someone hits .270 doesn't make them a good hitter. That's not the be all and end all to offensive production. It's not even a particularly good measurement.
They don't need to be good hitters, they just need to do what they did last year, and I am sure they will. No one said they were good hitters.
I keep coming back to the fact you're using an 8 game sample size to support your contentions of how this team will perform over 162 games. You simply can't take an 8 game slice of ANY season and use it to make any credible point about the peformance of a team over the whole 162 games. Way too many games...way too many factors.
so you are arguing that if Ausmus hits 250...and Everett hits 270, we will be good enough to make the playoffs?
NJ, this is beyond silly, now. This team made the playoffs last year. At the beginning of the season, before Beltran, most thought this was a playoff team. But they lost Pettitte...and that really hurt. At the halfway point (thereabouts) they added Beltran. In the offseason they lost Beltran...they lost Kent...they got back Pettitte and "discovered" Backe over the course of the last season. Their starting rotation is stronger than it was last year. Their hitting is not as strong as it was last year. I'm hopeful they can compete. But when they sweep the Reds in April, I'm not ready to fly a pennant, yet. And when they get swept by the Mets, I'm not ready to condemn the season.
Uhh yes. What did you expect them to do, which .330 out of their cornholes? They are only two of our hitters. Bagwell will do his usual, Biggio will continue to amaze us, Berkman will be the man, Taveras will be a scoring/stealing machine, Lane and Ensberg will have solid seasons... and we do have the best rotation in the National League and maybe even the majors. We'll be fine.
The main reason we were succesful down the stretch and in the playoffs was because of Carlos Beltran and Jeff Kent. 5 games, 8 games, 10 games, 100 games won't replace their hitting. It's not a matter of time. It's a matter of talent.
