You wouldn't expect improvement from a 2nd-year 24 year old who jumped from AA to the bigs? Really? They certainly didn't plan on him regressing like he has.
Hey, it's Triumph the sock puppet. We need a skit of Triumph the sock puppet laying some interview hurt on the Astros. Triumph the sock puppet: "Brad, do you know you haven't had a hit since the Beatles last had a hit record?" "Willy...you need to free your bat to get some hits. You haven't been 'free' since 'Free Willy 3'!" "Morgan...why is it you forget how to hit every time you get an injury? I haven't seen that kind of forgetfulness since I drank a bottle of Morgan's Rum!" "ALL OF YOU...PLEASE PUT ME ON YOUR HAND SO I CAN POOP ON YOU!"
Why would you expect Qualls, Wheeler or Lidge to regress? Each of them were phenomenally consiste the last two years, all are young and in the prime of their careers. Pettitte certainly was not likely to be as good. But the back-end of the rotation was projected to be better than a rookie Astacio and a rookie Wandy last year. Backe got hurt, Andy sucked, Qualls, Wheeler, and Lidge all regressed. No one has performed above expectations. So the pitching hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain. As for the offense, the Astros were the 5th best offense in the NL last year with Berkman in the lineup (they certainly sucked without him in April and part of May). They added a 25+ HR hitter in Wilson to replace the rotating disaster in left-field of last year of Burke/Lamb/Luke Scott/etc. I think that's a decent improvement. Lane and Ensberg both have performed below expectations. No one has performed above expectations. Every year, you expect some players to play below and some above expectations. Right now, plenty are performing below, but no one of consequence is playing above (Lamb and Burke both qualify, but are part-time players). No starting pitcher is pitching outstanding. No bullpen pitcher has been lights out. No offensive player outside of Berkman has been reliable. That's on the players, not management, in my opinion.
The astros will start winning again once they get back to the inferior National League, where everyone is just as bad.
Piss poor series. When they make a movie out of this season I want to play Randy Quaid..."Get the moving truck in here, back it up, back it up."
1. I never said I thought Lidge would regress. 2. Wheeler doesn't have a great track record prior to 2005. 3. Qualls was due to regress. 4. Pettitte was due to regress back to his career norms. 5. The back end of the rotation was bound to be disaster, with or wothout Backe. 6. The offense was lousy last year and all they added was Preston Wilson 7. Ensberg is only one of two players on the team with an OPS above .900. 8. This was gonna be, at best, a slightly improved offense from last year, and that meant that there was no room for a decline in pitching performance. 9. The basic problem is that their offeseason sluggishness allowed them no opportunity to overcome poor performances. The offense only has two good hitters, and one of them has slumped badly since May.
A conversation yesterday morning between Drayton and CD. Drayton - Hey CD, what's up? CD - Not much, prepping for the draft. Drayton - Things haven't been going as planned over here, could you take a little of the heat off my boys. CD - No problem, I've got a couple of bad deals on the burner; let me throw my 8-sided dice to see which one I'll pull the trigger on. Drayton - Make it a doozy because we can't score and the bullpen is about as stable as the situation in Gaza. CD - Looks like I'll be dealing with the Grizzlies, that trade is the equivalent of prison sex. Drayton - Sounds like winner, I'll owe you buddy. You can count on me to take the heat this winter when your team will be lotto bound again. I'll do the old stand pat thingy, you know, not resign Clemens and basically do nothing to better my team plan. Tim loves doing nothing. CD - That'll be perfect. Drayton - OK then, have fun tonight. Get ur done!
