This forum is a shitshow. Let’s be honest. We had folks this weekend literally talking about how they were done and we needed to lose to insure a better draft pick. We also have people defending Dusty to the nth degree. I get the temptation, because holy glasses half empty, Batman, y’all are some really negative people. I’m not sure how you watch baseball regularly, and I can’t imagine what you did before 2017. Let’s start with this…baseball is a game made to humble you. Even our best hitters go hitless…and it happens with pretty good frequency. It’s a sport where if you somehow get on base about 3.5 times per 10 at bats, you’re probably a millionaire many times over. So when one of our players strikes out…or goes in a slump…it isn’t because he “has no heart” or “doesn’t care just like his manager”…it’s because it’s an insanely difficult game of skill that even the best ever have done at about a 4 out of 10 clip. On top of that, it’s a game where the worst team beats the best team more frequently than in any other sport. A bad bounce one direction or the other…a missed call strike on the corner…a foul ball that’s just inches away from being a 3 run homer…Bill Buckner…Carlos in that Royals playoff game…Billy Hatcher’s foul ball followed up by a HR about 10 feet to the right of the previous foul ball…Howie ****ing Kendrick. Baseball is a b**** (female dog in case it censors me). Our manager…with all my disagreements with him…wants to win. Another WS title would cement a pretty great career for him aside from the random press snippets from Cincy that you guys regurgitate a lot. His lineups baffle me and the stuff with my Irish brother, Chas, concerns me. But when we win, I imagine he’s happy right along with me. Dusty Baker has forgotten more about baseball than I’ll ever know. He’s already shown me he can manage a team deep in the playoffs, and I think he was super important to our franchise post cheating scandal. Our players…they want to win. It’s not a character flaw when they strike out. Or when they make a mistake. A bunch of them have already shown you they’re champions. They’ve performed at the highest level of the game in the tensest moments imaginable. So if they strike out tonight, remember that. It probably doesn’t mean they don’t care. There’s a ton of history there to suggest they ****ing care a lot. Jose Abreu. Imagine being that man right now. The pressure to perform given expectations. He came here to win. He’s heard the noise, and he’s probably his own worst critic. He’s not trying to fail….also, of late, he’s been doing much better than most of you give him credit for. Our pitching…yeah, it’s not what it was last year. I’m concerned about that. But is there a team in the AL that doesn’t have a concern? ….which leads me to my last point Experience. We have it. If you ask me are we better than the Atlanta Braves, my answer is absolutely not. But were they “better” than the ‘stros in that WS? Were the Nats better in 2019? Were the 1990 Reds better than the Bash Brothers in Oakland? Of course they weren’t…but it’s baseball (read above) and the best team doesn’t always win over small sample sizes. It’s why they play 162. (And why the Dodgers in 2020 are Mickey Mouse af). But I’d take another AL pennant and my chances with a team with this much experience. I need to remind you all that my grandparents believed that Houston became a city when we got a baseball team. I don’t remember 1980 (I was 6) but 86 was huge for me and formative. Amazing how losing and going through that with your team makes you love them more. Seeing Bill Doran (my boyhood hero - along with Han Solo - crying in the dugout..ouch) A huge gap during years where I thought we were gonna do it again but maybe next year until 1997…my first year of law school and right after I got married in June of that year, and I was there that night with my dad when they clinched the first division title since Scott pitched that no-hitter. Then the 98 team that was the best I’ve ever seen..and they were knocked out in the first round. Then 99 and holy ****ing Walt Weiss. Then 01 and losing to the Braves again…wait, I forgot how disappointing 2000 was in a new ballpark (and walking into that ballpark for the first time through a train station with a train on the left field wall and thinking about my Irish grandfather who worked for the railroad and loved trains and the Astros..that was a lot)…then being there with my son!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Being there with him when Bruntlett-Everett-Berkman happened..and when Burke walked it off. He was 5. Amazing. Then we couldn’t score, which is a theme in Astros history. Then nothing…Hurricane Ike and we’re screwed over…then we trade away guys I love…then we tank…and I mean we absolutely tank. A ton of losses “on purpose.” I had season tickets then…we were really bad. Then you’re moving us to the AL wtf!!!??? I was pissed. But I loved the move back to the orange and blue..and thanks to @HeyNow I was there with my kids that night and I still have pictures of them with Jared Cosart and Justin Maxwell That Correa error in 2015 nearly killed me, and I was convinced we’d never win anything…and then it was made way worse by the fact we couldn’t beat the Texas ****ing Ramgers in 2016. ….and then………we finally did it, and I was with my son and I couldn’t stop thinking about my grandparents and how proud they’d be of our team (especially since they both HATED the Dodgers and Tommy Lasorda). That was like poetry for me and my grandma literally wrote poetry. I told you we’re Irish, right? Also…quick reminder…we literally just won the WS. When I read **** here I always feel like you mother ****ers forget that. Do you understand how long I rooted for this team before that ever happened? We are currently the World Series Champions. Suck it. So let’s do this…when we get down in a game, let’s not vilify the manager and the players (most of whom have accomplished way more than I or (gasp) even you ever will). Totally fine to criticize what you disagree with…and if someone makes mistakes (and I assure you, I’ve made more than most of the guys we’re rooting for) maybe we don’t write them off and call the season off. This game is built for people to make mistakes. It’s frustrating as **** to read that **** when I’m looking for COMMUNITY to watch a game with, and I have a shitload of posts here and have met quite a few of you in person…so this is my attempt to reach out and say, you’re gonna be ok. And you can still love the Astros even when they lose and break your heart. For most of my life, that’s what they did. So grow the **** up and GO ASTROS!
Amazing post. You are 100% right But that doesn't mean Dusty and his ****ed up lineups are OK. We just have no pathway to change it. So we watch and hope. Then vent to each other if it doesn't work out. What else is there?
That’s fair..also i hope you read it at some point, because I’ve been a fan for a long time. This stupid ****ing team is a huge part of my life.
I forgot to say that when me and my son go to a game now…no matter where our tickets are…we end up walking over and standing where we were standing when he was 5. When Burke hit that HR…and bruntlett-Everett-berkman happened for us….so we were standing there game 7 of the 2017 ALCS and my kid had tears in his eyes when we took the picture I have as my ipad wallpaper. If he ever has a kid, I HAVE to watch a game standing there with that kid! Get it in your bones like that. This team is family, and win or lose WE ARE IN. The Astros are generational at this point…stop being a b**** and lean in to it.
Not enough. That’s just empty sunshine pumping. Some of us like to examine why we lost a game or discuss patterns that we see. We represent both sides. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
Ours too. Let people root the way they want to. Please stop trying to tell people how to be a fan just because it’s more agreeable to you. That is what hurts the board more than anything. Sunshine pumpers who get too offended, so they come in and criticize other posters and derail the baseball talk. BTW, this is a very tame board. It’s not even bad here. We happen to have a complete moron as manager, who is sabotaging the teams playoff chances. So, it may be a little extra chippy in here right now because of this.
Indeed. Managing a baseball team in a strategic way is all math and the math is all known. It’s a game with a million outcomes during the course of the season and the law of large numbers is a b**** to overcome. We know, with almost certainty, that Dusty’s decision making is the difference between us comfortably winning the division and maybe not making the playoffs. to think people aren’t going to talk about that is crazy. It’s literally the story of the season in an overarching sense.
Honest post, and believe me, for a really really long time I used to be the one to roll his eyes every night at the folks that would go in on Dusty when the lineup cards would come out. I always thought what the hell are we complaining about? We're winning games and what could we actually do to roll out a better lineup than the guy that's there with the players and staff every day? I mean he did win a WS ya know.... NO....not anymore. Dusty is ruining this team's shot to do something incredibly special. I will not relax.
Where did I say stop being critical? I explicitly said that's fine. What I'm saying is if you give up on this team last weekend and say you are worried more about our next draft pick, then you can kick rocks. I'm not telling you how to fan, grown up. I'm telling you have some context in your fanning.
What kind of narcissist tries to make everyone root just like him, just so that he feels more comfy reading the forum? It ain’t in your bones more than it is mine, pal. We are die hards here and we all have had our incredible Astro moments that shaped our fandom. We aren’t on here ranting because we love the White Sox.
This thread went sideways because this forum is the ****ing worst I'll watch elsewhere and leave y'all alone in your misery as fans of World Series Champions.
Well written, MadMax. I enjoy reading informative and entertaining posts, nevermind the length (not what she said). I will concur that baseball is a brutal, humbling sport and I have loved every moment from Walling/Scrap Iron at 3B to Diaz/Maldy at C. That being said, I have never questioned a Skipper more than I do with our current incarnation. It's because the season is so long, patterns become apparent to even the most casual observer and hardcore fan alike that our love for the game and our team drives us bananas. Here we are, together, suffering in our passion. Cheers!
Right. And my point is who are you to ask them to change? Roll with it. Try not to let the board get you down. Maybe….adapt.
You're absolutely right. I don't care. Do what you want. Not sure if you bothered to read the point where I said I was frustrated with Dusty. But honestly I've never met you, and I'm not mad about that. Fan away
