This is exactly why the Astros won't win the division this season. Every little thing that goes wrong seems to hurt them a lot. Redding has a terrible start, the game looks like it is over from the get go. Then Nelson Cruz comes in and pitches great in his time there. We get some timely hitting, and some excellent small ball (I must admit, I seriously questioned letting Cruz hit with the runner at 3rd and one out) and we manage to tie the game again. Hooray. New game. Now we can pitch our solid bullpen guys, and in all likelihood we will get to the Ranger bullpen. So what freaking happens?! One of the more consistent bullpen guys on the team comes in and gives up 4 more freaking runs (1 charged to Cruz). Right back to the ******* drawing board, eh? It is just so frustrating cheering for this team. So very, very frustrating. If it is not one thing, it is everything else. Somehow, the forces of evil manage to gather their strength most nights to get every little Astros mistake, every bad call (like the one with Blum that would have given us 2 outs and have ended the inning on the next grounder) comes back to bite us in the ass somehow. PS. If we come back and win this game, I will immediately withdraw all comments I made in this thread and apoligize to God.
Who cares about the Astros. They will be nothing but mediocre unless Drayton gives up the team for a real owner who is willing to spend. Every year, other teams pick up major free agents while the Astros pick up guys like Nelson Cruz. I lost interest many moons ago.
Okay, I started this thread with the intention of being negative and bashing the individual players. But I must object to the Drayton bashing at this point. Was the team not competitive last season? Did we not make the playoffs and have a good shot at advancing? Was it Drayton's fault that his big sticks couldn't perform in the playoffs? We have made the playoffs 4 of the last 5 years. That is great success in baseball where it means much more to make the playoffs than in other sports. So please, if you are going to be negative, do it towards the players who can't seem to string together the right kind of performances to get a decent win streak.
The problem is that, when the same players namely Biggio, fail in the postseason, something must be done. Did we upgrade our team by not adding anyone worth a damn? Is Geoff Blum our best offseason pickup? Clearly, this team needed a shot in the arm, after such miserable postseason performances. It is up to Drayton and his locked up wallet, to allow the Astros to actually upgrade the team for once. How about signing a Steve Karsay? I know he was expensive, but damn who couldn't see that we need relief? The last FA worth a damn that we've signed was Drabek and Swindell back in 93. After that, who is the best FA we signed?
How about signing a Steve Karsay? I know he was expensive, but damn who couldn't see that we need relief? What good does that do? The problem is that the hitters are not hitting. Adding another middle reliever is NOT going to solve this team's problems. A middle reliever will win us an extra game or two. Woohoo. Saying it's Drayton's fault is ridiculous. This team was the best in the NL in 1998 and 2001 in the regular season. There's nothing different about a postseason game. You still pitch and you still hit. These teams had ALL the pieces. They choked. That's up to the players. You can get whatever players you want, they still have to perform. We got Moises Alou after he was arguably the World Series MVP in 1997 and he sucked ass in the postseason for us too. Owners & GMs can only go on track record. If the players don't do their jobs, that's their own fault. The last FA worth a damn that we've signed was Drabek and Swindell back in 93. After that, who is the best FA we signed? Who cares? (by the way, it was probably Caminiti) How many other teams have farm systems that produced a Berkman, Hidalgo, Ward, Oswalt, Hernandez, Miller, etc over the past several years? There are multiple ways to get good players - we tend to spend on the minor leagues and go the route of home grown players plus trades or mid-season acquisitions to get the missing pieces (Alou, Johnson, Williams, Astacio, Castilla, etc).
Clearly, this team needed a shot in the arm, after such miserable postseason performances. It is up to Drayton and his locked up wallet, to allow the Astros to actually upgrade the team for once. By the way, this team didn't NEED an upgrade (on paper). After all the midseason changes last year (Dotel to the bullpen, Oswalt, Hernandez, Redding replacing Bottenfield, Lima, Elarton, Berkman emerging, etc) they played at nearly the same pace as Seattle last year up until a mess the last week or two. Most people considered them to be the best team in the NL last year. They had the best record even after being under .500 in June due to the crappy players we had early on. Add a year of experience to many of the core young guys -- and yes, we lost a few hitters -- and there was no reason not to expect this team to be extremely competitive.
I'm with Major... I'm still baffled by those who thought this would be the greatest Astros team ever.... Outside of Bags, Bidge and Ausmus, this team is a collection of VERY young players....particularly so in the starting rotation. But guys like Ward, Berkman, Lugo, Ensberg(at the start of the season), Dotel, and most of their bullpen are guys who haven't totally come into their own yet. We had ideas about Ward, but Ward had never played as a regular over the course of a major league season. This team is in a rebuilding mode while still keeping around veterans. Last year the rebuilding itself propelled the team into the playoffs, as young pitchers surprised the pants off of virtually everybody. I would like to see them add a position player in the offseason...Scott Rolen would be perfect, but I don't know if that's plausible. Unfortunately, our players haven't performed as expected...and there's no one to blame but them for that.
I think kidrock was referring to maybe Mike Hampton, Freddy Garcia, or John Halama. But Drayton traded those guyz...they didn't leave willingly...although Hampy woulda left anywayz.
Nah actually Hampy was traded to the Mets for Dotel, Cedeno and some other scrub. Well they're all scrubs now. Good point about DK...forgot about that.
DK left for like a million more dollars for a state income tax. One pitcher (who hasn't done that much since he's left) leaving does not make a bad owner.
Mike Hampton was traded. Daryle Kile left via free agency, but not because of lack of a good offer by the Astros. We offered almost the exact same contract to him that the Rockies did. And in actuality, with Texas having no state income tax, he would have made MORE over the length of the Astros contract than he did with Colorado. It was just a simple case of Kile wanting to leave, which is the main reason he is now referred to as The Traitor. He was given every opportunity to stay.
