Guys give me a break. This pessimism is getting out of hand. I would like to have heard some of your "expert" commentary after our last game of last season. Would you have predicted that we would have gone farther than ANY other Houston Astros team in history in 2004? Probably not. As much as you guys like to rag on Drayton, him and Gerry have pulled something out of their hat almost every year. Last year Pettite and Clemens, the year before Jeff Kent, etc. We'll still have Oswalt, Pettite, Backe and hopefully Clemens in the rotation. That could potentially be the best rotation in baseball, especially if Backe keeps improving like he has shown. I for one am QUITE optimistic about next year.
thats the thing to really look forward to ......barring injury, our rotation looks great next year Oswalt Pettite Clemens Miller Backe Ill take my chances with those guys. Backe has balls the size of Texas.
A show of hands of the people who thought in the middle of August that the Astros would be playing the Cardinals in game 7 of the NLCS. Anyone? Anyone? If you raised your hand. LIAR!!!!!
This team never choked. Coming from a 56-60 record, 6 teams in front of the Wild Card race to... 1) Beating out SF and CHI to get to play the Braves 2) Beating out the hard nosed Braves and taking on the National League best record team to 7 games.... I think this team achieved a lot and I hope it moves onto next year and the years to come...
I think RM95 is the only one that can when everyone thought we were finished, he still said we would get to the playoffs
Back in July-Aug when this team looked like the stuff that you find lying on the side of the highway - if someone had told you that they'd not only make it to the NLCS but would wind up extending the best team in the National League to 7 games, you all would have jumped on it. The point I'm making here is that they got beat by a better team and that's nothing to be ashamed of. St. Louis was SUPPOSED to win and for this team with all of its flaws to go out and push them to 7 games is a remarkable achievement in itself. They just ran out of time and their flaws finally caught up with them. That said, let us hope that the Astros ownership and management take to heart and learn from this experience and do what it takes to make sure that this is but the first of many more playoff appearances to come.
So, why doesn't this Astros curse have a name? 42 years. That is a long freaking time. What was the catalyst? Anyone alive back then to remember some kind of bad omen that would cause this thing?
Its going to be another long offseason. Worst thing that can happen is we lose Beltran and Clemens. Kent won't be back so thats a huge dropoff in the lineup with Burke taking his spot. Maybe if we don't resign Beltran, McClane will go after Soriano to fill that spot. Im still pissed so all that does not matter now.
Astros Vault of Horror Smoltz(97),K.Brown(98),W.Weiss(99),C.Jones(01),Edmonds,Rolen,Pujols(04) Let's add Dykstra (86)
How about "The Astroturf Curse"? Naaah ... we don't want no stinking curses. We exorcised our demons this year, so next year nothing will hold us back.
Hofheinz envisioned the Dome, which brought about indoor baseball, which brought about the need for fake grass (Astroturf). Thus the Curse of Roy Hofheinz!!!!!! He desecrated the sport of baseball and football!!!!
Don't rub it in because I'll switch sports and add the 01 Pats to your Vault of Horror. Kick is up......its good.
The number one priority for the Astros in the off season is to sign Beltran, PERIOD! Were it not for him, they would have never made it to game 7. Our "Killer B's" reverted back to their hot and cold hitting ways and when it counted the most tonight, once again, the Astro "bats" were MIA. You take Beltran away and this Astros team looks like all of those other Astros teams that never made it to the dance. Once St. Louis was able to somewhat "neutralize" Beltran, there was simply nobody left to step up and score some runs. St. Louis won because their big guys - Edmonds, Pujols & Walker came through while ours failed in the clutch once again. That's the message that Astros management MUST take from this series and if they want to be back here next October, then they must find a way to resign Beltran and get some more players who can produce when it's all on the line. For the Astros, the clock just started ticking on 2005.
