How so? If he was interested in playing elsewhere, he would have just declined arbitration. It's not like the Astros could force him to play for them. If he wants to play for the Astros, he will - regardless of arbitration. If he doesn't, he won't.
Flawwed logic... once you make the playoffs, everything becomes a crapshoot. If the Astros are good enough for the WC, they most definitely have a chance for the World Series again.
do you realize how funny that sounds after last year? we spent all of last year as a potential wild card team. we didn't exactly run away with the wild card. we heard all season long how we couldn't win in the playoffs. who coudl beat the cardinals? we heard that here over and over and over again. that the whole run back was really ultimately worthless, because it would just mean another early playoff exit...or, at the very least, we'd lose to the cards again. the differences between playoff baseball teams is razor thin. clemens had a great performance vs the braves out of the bullpen. after that, he wasn't special in the playoffs. his starts left something to be desired. his ERA was over 7, if i remember right...and he won 1, lost 2. my hope is that he comes back within the next month and is much more fresh coem playoff time.
Exactly! Why don't more people understand this? The "sure thing" almost *never* wins. Must I bring up 1998 yet again?
I thought this thread would talk about the Stros stealing 7 bases and Frank Robinson's breakdown afterwards but instead it is the usual trolling being done by Aceshigh7. I mean the guy has to be a troll because no one in their right and sane mind would post some of the drivel he does and actually believe it - right??
Actually some of what Aceshigh says is the truth. Though, I still think not offering Clemens arbitration was the best thing and it is true there wasn't much available for the Astros during the offseason. By far the stupidest thing said in this thread is the contention that Brad Ausmus is a .300 hitter because of his last 5 months batting average. That wasn't Aceshigh. I'm still waiting for someone to commit to that tipjar wager about Brad Ausmus' batting average by the end of the season.
Of course, we shouldn't look at a 5 month sample to make a current judgement on a guy. Bottom line is the guy's been hitting very well for the last 5 months and that was the entire point. That is not a small sample size when you're concerned with the present. Kevin Bass even talked yesterday about how many veterans just get it after they've been in the league this long. While no one's calling Ausmus the best hitter in the NL or anything, to completely ignore his production at the plate for nearly a full year of baseball is ridiculous.
being an all-star? finishing 7th in MVP voting in 86? wait, he did those things! bass was a really good player for about a 5 year stretch, da da.
Bass was my second favorite position player after Billy Doran during those years. A switch hitter who got on base and had some pop in his bat -- just a perfect player for the middle of the order in the Astrodome. Not to mention he did the best Sammy Davis, Jr impression in Astros history.
While certainly you have to take what Ausmus has done over that 5 month stretch with a grain of salt, considering his career averages, I don't think it's a stretch to believe that he could continue it for the season, that perhaps he has improved his swing. It's not like that never happens, even for veterans.
I know, it was sarcasm....he was a pretty good player, and I wish we had someone like him in LF or RF now. DD
Hey dumbass. You are wrong. They are two different statistics. Runners stranded - 12 - total number of runners left on base. LOB - 32 - cumulative runners left on by each batter. Houston AB R H RBI BB K LOB Season Avg C. Burke 2b 3 0 0 1 1 1 5 .350 B. Ausmus c 4 0 1 0 1 2 3 .315 L. Berkman rf 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 .296 J. Lane rf 3 0 1 0 0 0 3 .205 M. Ensberg 3b 3 1 0 0 2 1 3 .272 M. Lamb 1b 4 0 0 0 1 3 5 .321 P. Wilson lf 5 2 4 1 0 0 1 .254 E. Bruntlett cf 5 1 2 0 0 0 3 .297 A. Everett ss 5 1 1 1 0 3 6 .221 A. Pettitte p 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .111 O. Palmeiro ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .206 D. Borkowski p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 W. Taveras ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .272 R. Springer p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 C. Biggio ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 .295 C. Qualls p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 36 5 12 5 7 10 32
Please admit that the only relevant number for the team, as far as LOB is concerned, is "Team LOB." Your reputation for baseball acumen, which even now appears to be held together by Scotch tape, will be destroyed beyond repair if you truly wish to assert that the Astros left 32 runners on base in this game.
Actually, LOB can be either a cumuluative total for each individual batter or cumulative for the entire team. There is no "runners stranded" stat in the box score...it's just LOB.
