It's a long shot, but no longer than the thought of catching the Cards. Standings right now... St. Louis 84-62 San Fran 83-63 Dodgers 83-63 Astros 79-68 There's less ground to make up in the wild card, but of course it's against two teams instead of just one. But both San Fransicso and LA are playing about .500 ball right now. It could happen.
Funny how 24 hours ago the prevailing sentiment was "the season's over". Whatever happens down the stretch, they've (akin to last year) salvaged what looked early on to be a loooong season, playing great ball over the last 2.5 months.
It is pretty amazing how much changes over the course of the season. At the beginning of the season, I was convinced that Morgan Ensberg would be showing us that he will be manning the hot corner for a long time, Adam Everett would be wowing us with his defense so often no one noticed that he couldn't hit, and Daryle Ward and Richard Hidalgo would have 20-30 homers each...my how the season's grind changes things. Were it not for the amazing play of Geoff Blum, Vizcaino and Orlando Merced, this team would be just waiting out the end of the season right now. I hope that we as Astros fans will get the honor of watching Wade Miller and Roy Oswalt pitch healthy for an entire season. Those guys have the capability to put up RJ and Schilling type win numbers if neither has any injuries. What a great combo.
I felt the same way in spring training, Raven. The future looks great for the organization - there's a tremendous amount of talent in A ball that's about 3-4 years away, several young power arms & some good postion prospects too. John Buck & Chris Burke will hopefully be able to step in for Ausmus & Biggio after next season. Lane looks like he merits a serious look for starter's duty in RF next year, his defense has improved leaps & bounds from what I saw in Round Rock. A Ward/Berkman/Lane outfield would be acceptable, if no suitable CF/leadoff guy is found in the offseason. An improvement at 3rd would be nice, but an Ensberg/Blum platoon wouldn't be the end of the world, assuming Blum's year isn't a fluke. Not sure what to do about SS, there just aren't many good ones around.
Question...now that there will be no strike, and an agreement was reached by owners and players, will McClane sign the rest of our draft picks?
I stand by what I said in the other thread...barring a minor miracle such as 5/6 in the remaining games against the cards, and 3/3 against the Giants, the season IS over. Astros: (Home) 3 vs. StL., 3 vs. Milw; (Road) 3 vs. StL., 3 vs. Mil, 3 vs. SF Cards: (Home) 3 vs. Hou., 3 vs. Ariz; (Road) 3 vs. Hou., 3 vs. Col, 4 vs. Mil LaD: (Home) 4 vs. SF, 2 vs. Col, 4 vs. SD (Road) 3 vs. Col, 3 vs. SD Giants: (Home) 4 vs. SD, 3 vs. Hou. (Road) 1 vs. SD, 4 vs. LaD, 3 vs. Mil Best case scenario for the Astros: 3/3, 3/3. 2/3. 2/3. 3/3: 92 wins Cards take head-head matchup, meaning to win the division they could only go 6-4 (84 + 1 + 6 = 91) against Arizona, Milwaukee, and Colorado. Any better than that and they win the division. If we assume the Giants and Dodgers go 2-2 in their four game series, both teams are at 85 wins. That means the Dodgers only need 8 wins in the remaining 12 games (against the bad Padres and Rockies) to guarantee the wildcard spot. If the Dodgers manage to blow it, and the Giants-Dodgers go 2-2, and the Astros sweep the Giants (whew!), the Giants could *still* get the wildcard by sweeping those same Padres and the even worse Brewers. Whew. What does this all mean? The division is still more likely than a wildcard spot. Further, for that small chance to come to fruition, the Astros MUST take care of business, and we damn well better root for Arizona to sweep the Cardinals.
Already has, or at least all of the picks we could. I have no idea which of the unsigned guys enrolled in D-I schools. I'm also not sure when the list was last updated. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/draft/astros02.html
I agree edc, it will take a minor miracle, but it basically happened last year, except the roles were reversed. If the 'Stros win 5/6 with the Cards, things get real interesting. If they don't, for all practical purposes they're done. I like the condition of the 'Stros pitching staff a whole lot better than the Cards, though. Should be fun.
Agreed edc. And let's not overlook the Brewers. They suck, I know, but they could conceivably split with us.
This is the first time I've ever felt like the utility type players were carrying the team. Kinda strange. Although I always liked Spiers and Candaele too.
