Houston Astros: 2017 World Series Champions!!!

40 years.


That's how long I've been a fan of the Houston Astros.  I was five when my infatuation with the team started.

Back then it was all about Enos Cabell, Jose Cruz, J.R. Richard and Terry Puhl.  Then Nolan Ryan came on board and it all clicked. Through the years of Dickie Thon, Bob Knepper, Phil Garner, Kevin Bass, Bill Doran, Kevin Bass, Mike Scott and Denny Walling followed by Glen Davis, Jim Deshais, frumpy old Charlier Kerfeld and the magical 1986 team with the no-hitter.

After that some leaner years, with great (to me) players though. Billy Hatcher and Gerald Young, some young buck named Ken Caminiti, Buddy Bell, Danny Darwin and a young catcher named Craig Biggio. The dawn of the 90's brought us Larry Anderson, one of the pivotal players in franchise history and Casey Candele, the original 'everyman's' player.

But the trade of Larry Anderson (one of the games all-time great characters and funny-men) brought the Astros one Jeff Bagwell and we were off. Pete Harnish and Tony Eusebio joined the fold, each to play key roles in the development of the team. Daryl Kyle and Shane Reynolds joined the pitching staff along with Doug Drabek.  Eric Anthony joined the team and hit one of the longest home runs I've ever personally seen.

The mid-90's brought terrible uniforms, and Steve Finley and Luis Gonzales. Plus, a labor strike. (And Bagwell's only MVP.) Those were fun times. Derek Bell made his appearances as did Billy Wagner (Enter Sandman), The bulldog Mike Hampton and the debut of Bobby Abreu.

The late 90's brought us Sean Berry, Tim Bogar, Richard Hidalgo and the late, great Jose Lima.  And then the Grand Randy Johnson experiment.  Which was brilliant but fell just short.  Into the late 90's and early 2000's Lance Berkman, the Big Puma, started his rise to local hero fame. Carl Everette and Bill Spires were also mainstays of those teams. Teams that consistently finished either 2nd or 1st in the NL Central, but could never knock down the World Series door.

The 2000's ushered in the Ballpark at Union Station, also known as Enron Field. It also saw Moises Alou added to the roster, who may, or may not, have peed on his hands for grip, and flame-throwing, but out of control, Scott Elarton, and a cup-of-coffee by Dwight Gooden, who threw the first pitch ever at Enron in an exhibition game. I missed that first pitch, and the entire first inning, because the Metro bus driver from our park and ride got lost.

These early 2000's teams were good. Roy Oswalt was the ace and the offenses were stout. Brad Ausmus became the catcher and then-local sports columnist Richard Justice fell in love with him. Morgan Ensberg would be clutch from time to time and light-hitting Adam Everett was never the star they wanted him to be.

In 2003 the Astros spent a lot of money, for them, to sign Jeff Kent. He solidified the hot-corner and provided depth behind the "Killer B's" of Biggio, Bagwell and Berkman. In 2004 it all clicked. The Astros traded for Carlos Beltran before the trade deadline and he went on to have one of the best post-seasons of any player, ever. Oh yeah, they also signed Roger Clemons and Andy Pettitte to deals, this was a good team. There was trouble brewing however when closer Brad Lidge gave up a homerun in the NLCS to Albert Pujols that is still flying somewhere today.

But they ran into a juggernaut that year in the form of the Chicago White Sox, who swept them in four.  At that time we didn't care however, because we knew that big things were ahead for this team. How wrong we were.

The next year saw the loss of Billy Wagner, the signing of Chad Qualls and Wandy Rodriguez, and the beginning of a slide. 2006 saw the departure of Jeff Bagwell and Andy Pettitte, and the deepening of the slide.  By 2008 this was Lance Berkman's team. Carlos Lee was the 2nd star, but the Clemens and Biggio's and Bagwell's were gone. Hunter Pence showed promise, and Miguel Tejada had an all-star year, but the team finished 3rd. In 2009 the Astros signed Pudge Rodriguez, and finished fifth, things were coming off the rails, yet team owner Drayton McLane refused to acknowledge the team needed a rebuild. The City had fallen out of love with the team it once adored. 2009 was awful, the team finished 4th in the division and only Michael Bourn made the All-Star game, as the "has to be one" Astro representative.

After 2011 the team was sold. Jim Crane came in, inheriting a team that had lost 106 games and finished last in the NL Central.  2012 was last time the Astros would play in that division, and they finished dead last again, with 107 losses. One bright note, Jose Altuve was the team's All-Star game representative.

2013 saw the beginning of the rebuild. Dallas Keuchel was a rookie, Altuve was in a Sophomore slump but Jason Castro showed some promise.  The team lost 111 games. In 2014 though there was improvement. The Astros only lost 92 games, George Springer made his rookie debut, Altuve returned to All-Star form and Marwin Gonzales started playing better. The team had hope leading up to 2015.

As amazing as this sounds, the 2015 team led the Major Leagues in strike-outs, by a lot, and STILL made the wildcard game.  The team as we now know it was starting to come together as Carlos Correa, Brad Peacock, Luke Gregerson and Evan Gattis all joined the roster. The team made the playoffs, beat the Yankees in an exciting Wild Card game only to lose to the eventual Champion Kansas City Royals in heart breaking fashion. (The Astros blew a 3-1 lead before the Golden State Warriors did).  2016 was a year lost to injury and strikeouts, as the team decided it needed to go back to the drawing board to build a winner.

Enter 2017. And what just happened.

This team, this wonderful, outstanding, beautiful team that I've been following for my entire life just did what I thought was unthinkable.  All of the stars came together, the team signed Justin freaking Verlander, Alex Bregman became a star, Yuli Gurriel became a 33 year-old rookie, and Charlie Morton delivered 3 plus innings of some of the most clutch pitching I've ever seen.

It was a beautiful night, a marvelous night, a night that I never thought had any chance of happening.

But it did.

And right now I'm still not even sure it's really, really real.

Houston Astros: 2017 World Series Champions.


Thank you for giving this one Houston sports fan the sports moment of a lifetime.

Houston Astros: So much for fate.

It seemed the stars were perfectly aligned. Then the game happened. A game that was as much of a wet fart for Astros fans as the city itself. 

Were you caught in rush hour traffic?  It took me 2 1/2 hours to get home, on a drive that typically takes 45 minutes to an hour. Then the rains came, we found a roof leak, and the Astros lost.  As far as bad birthdays go this one ranks right up there with the time only one kid showed up to my bowling party on Halloween day. (In retrospect, not the best day to hold a birthday party)

Days like this are why I no longer celebrate my birthday.  Fate is bunk.

And the Astros are in deep trouble.

It's not that they can't win the game tonight, but that I'm afraid they won't.  Because Yu Darvish is taking the mound against them, a very good pitcher that had a very bad game a few nights ago, but who will have the entire Nation behind him because he was the epitome of class after the Yuli Gurriel situation. (On a related note: Rich Hill is a sanctimonious prick)

But to cast this story as "the good guy Dodgers versus the bad guy Astros" is way, way to simplistic.  Don't forget that that walking piece of human garbage Chase Utley is on the Dodgers roster as is Yasiel Puig, who can have fun, but is also a brooding, glowering sore loser when things don't go his way.  And the Astros have Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa, two of the legitimately good guys in baseball.

It's never about "good versus evil" despite what fans will tell you, and despite the fact that I make jokes about it on various occasions.  It's about pitching versus hitting and I'm still worried that the Dodgers have more good of the former.

And that's a problem.

Because again the Astros bats went cold when they needed it most. They couldn't plate a single run with men on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, they went into a funk after that for four innings, in the 8th and 9th they went meekly, on around 20 pitches.

You never felt comfortable at 1-0 because you knew that Verlander is human.  A great pitcher no doubt, but human, and the Dodgers have a powerful lineup as well.  Taylor, Seager, Turner, Bellinger, Puig, Pederson is just as good as Springer, Bregman, Altuve, Correa, Gurriel, McCann, possibly better.

But here's the rub.  Morrow, Maeda and Jansen are much, much better than Morton, Gregerson and Giles.  Much, much, much better.

In game 7 the Dodgers give the ball to Darvish while the Astros place their hopes on Lance McCullers.  Unless the latter can miraculously do something that Verlander could not (Pitch 9 scoreless in a World Series elimination game) I'm afraid that the stage is going to prove to be too big, too soon for these baby Astros.

I hope I'm wrong.

Go Astros.

Houston Astros: For Your Consideration.

Tonight is Game Six of the 2017 World Series.

The Houston Astros have a 3-2 Series lead on the LA Dodgers.

The Astros will be giving the ball to Justin Verlander in an attempt to close the Series out.

Verlander wears jersey number 35 for the Astros.

35 years ago I saw my first live baseball game in the Houston Astrodome.

The original name of the Astros was the Colt 45's.

Today is my 45th Birthday.




I think this goes without saying but I'll say it anyway:





GO ASTROS!!!!!!




(as an aside, this post is my 1,500th on this blog. Not related to the game in any way but hey)

Back in the saddle: A hodge-podge of things.

So I took a little time off from the sports blogging.  Not that I haven't been watching, I have, I just haven't felt the need to write about it much.  A lot of things have happened however since I last wrote about anything on February 11th.

Let's take a look.

March Madness: Believe it or not, the University of Houston is squarely on the bubble. If you would have asked me if they could be after the horrible loss to Grand Canyon I would have laughed.  But Kelvin Sampson is a heck of a coach and has the team playing pretty good basketball right now.  A deep run in the AAC tournament and they might not want to tune-out on Selection Sunday.

Speaking of, LSU with Ben Simmons is a candidate for the team that wasted a generational talent (again). Not only are they clearly in danger of missing the Tournament but this will most-likely be Simmons one and done year with the team.

Maryland is probably the most talented team in the country.  However, they also are the worst coached, and worst mental team in the country.  Because of that I see them falling out of the tournament in the first two rounds.

The SEC is a 3-bid league but they're going to get more because of who they are.

Don't talk to me about how good the Big XII is.  Until someone can beat Kansas for the conference title then they are the Big One and the Little Nine.

Saw this yesterday and it's a good question:  So far this year Jim Nantz has not been on the call for one college basketball game.  Despite this he's going to be CBS' lead announcer for the Tournament.

Houston Rockets: Finally gave up on Ty Lawson, the team is still not very good. I will say this again. If you're a Rockets fan then you want them to miss the playoffs.  Also, it's time to start asking the tough questions of Daryl Morey.

Houston Texans:  I saw today that Robert Griffin III was released by the Redskins.  There will be a call to bring him to Houston.  There's also a call to sign Brock Osweiler. If I had my druthers I'd take RG III over Osweiler.  People forget that RGIII was pretty good before he got caught up in injuries and the Gruden mess.  Better yet, you can probably get him for cheap so sign Osweiler, sign RGIII and let the two of them compete in camp.  That would free up a draft pick (that GM Rick Smith would waste by overreaching into a weak QB class anyway) to shore up the many, many other holes in the Texans roster.

Of course, they're not going to do this so welcome to Houston Christian Hackenberg.

On that note: Houston Chronicle NFL writer John McClain has the Texans taking Paxton Lynch with the 22nd pick in the 1st round. (Texans beat-writer Aaron Wilson has them taking Emmanuel Ogbah, DE-OSU at that slot.) Typically McClain's first mock draft is a thinly veiled attempt to troll Texans fans.  This time however I think he might have opened up with what will be his final prediction.  I've seen Lynch go all over the board however and I don't think he'll be available at 22.  Wilson's pick is just bizarre.  Even after a strong combine Ogbah is considered a late 2nd/early 3rd round prospect who has little explosiveness, and a questionable motor.

I haven't put my first round mock draft together but it's sure as heck not going to include the Texans taking Ogbah.


Houston Dynamo: I haven't watched many Dynamo games.  In fact, I don't watch much M(inor) League Soccer at all.  When you're used to watching the International leagues the pace of play is glacial, the skill is sub-par and the tactics are basic.  I don't care what US apologists like Alexi Lalas and Taylor Twellman say, the product is poor.  I feel that the closed league system that the MLS employs leads to that.  While promotion/relegation isn't a be all/end all fix for US Soccer it is one step in the right direction.

That said, after watching the opener vs. the New England Revolution on Sunday I won't be wasting much more time watching this team.  Horrible defense, shoddy goal keeping and uninspired mid-field and offensive play?  I'll watch the BPL, La Liqa and Serie A thank you very much.


UFC: I'm finding this fight promotion to be more and more unwatchable every event.  The staged fights at the press conferences/weigh-ins are getting stale and the entire event feels more like a side-show than a serious combat sports event.  This makes sense when you realize that UFC President Dana White is nothing more than a glorified carnival barker.

And it's not just the trash talk, I like it as much as the next guy, it's the predictability of the run-up to the fights now.  Also, McGregor jumped up two weight classes to fight a mid-range guy at 170. It's a loss that he never should have had to take.

Now that Holm has lost to Miesha Tate White has already come out and said that Rousey gets the first shot at Tate.  Why?  Let's have Rousey/Holm II and the winner of that gets Tate for the belt. Just another example of Dana White playing favorites and politics with the championships.

I'm done with them.  Back to boxing, which has it's flaws but which owns them, and doesn't try to act like they don't exist.


And finally......

Houston Astros: Big hopes this year.  Early on the pitching is struggling a little bit but the bats appear to be better than last year.  Like most in Houston I'm hoping to get a full year of Correa/Sprinter/Altuve healthy and just ripping the cover off of the ball.

Houston Astros: ALDS Game 4 Does Not Compare to Oilers/Bills

After struggling through a brutal 8th inning, which saw the Astros squander a 6-2 lead and fall behind 7-6 before ultimately losing 9-6, the Houston Chronicle's John McClain was among the first to bring up Buffalo.

Of course, he was referring to the infamous Comeback a game so etched into long-time Houston sports fan's minds that it almost has a life of its own. Think of it as the Houston sports version of Watergate, a disaster so big and so impactful on Houston's psyche that all other sporting meltdowns are compared to it, much in the manner every government scandal is now followed by -gate.

The problem here is that the analogy doesn't quite work.

The reason being is that the Comeback was final. When the game was over the Oiler's season was done. It was lose and you go home and they certainly did.  This was also near the end of the team's reign as they had one more good year (1993) before owner Bud Adam's made good on his promise to break up the team if they didn't win the Super Bowl.

The Astros, on the other hand, did have an epic collapse but their season is not over. They still have a Game 5 to play and a chance to redeem themselves.  Yes, the task is going to be much tougher in Kansas City than it was in Houston and yes, losses like this hurt. But if you remember back to 2005 the Astros faced adversity then as well. It was in the 2005 ALCS, Game 5, the Astros had a 3-1 lead, were up 4-2 heading into the 9th inning and then this happened.:

I was watching with a group of people at a bar and I remember when Pujols hit that shot. My immediate reaction was "Ding! You are now free to move about the Country" in a take-off of the old Southwest airline commercials. Anything moving that fast should have been staffed with flight attendants serving drinks.

The thing was, in game 6 the Astros came back, won the game 5-1 and advanced to the team's only World Series behind the arm of Roy Oswalt.

One big difference between this Astros team and the Oilers and Astros of the past is also glaring: In short, this is an Astros team on the ascendency, not an aging team making a last big run before things get blown up.  The core of this team is young, resilient, and is well ahead of where anyone projected they would be at the beginning of the year.

So yes, I will admit, watching that seemingly unending 8th inning drag on and on, while Royals filled the base-paths repeatedly, was painful. It was like a slow, persistent leak that starts to crack the walls that you cannot locate or fix. It was a collapse, maybe even an epic collapse.  But it wasn't the end.

There's still another game to look forward to and that makes all the difference in the world.

So no, this was not just like the Bills, it wasn't even closely reminiscent of that.  It was a loss against a team that can hit the baseball like few others in the Major League's this year and which also had the best record in the American League.  The Royals are good.  I am not surprised they didn't go down without a fight*.

I do not expect the Astros to go down without one either.  So here's to a good game 5 and Go Astros!





































*Although we might need to consider sacrificing a live chicken to offset the anger of the Baseball Gods caused by this Tweet from the news office of Governor Abbott. (Thanks Guv)

The Disastros

The first Major League Baseball game I saw in person was an Astros game in the Astrodome. Despite this, I was still a proponent of blowing up both the team, and the Dome itself when both were still an open question.

While I still think bringing down both the Astrodome and the Astros remain good ideas, I remain concerned that the rebuilding plans in the aftermath of both implosions are lacking. John Royal, of the Houston Press, stated much the same in a stream-of-consciousness post this morning bemoaning the lack of Major League talent in Houston's Major League ball team. From the on-field talent to the coaching the Astros are not yet ready for prime time. While there are glimmers of hope, the starting pitching for one, being an Astros fan these days remains remarkably frustrating as many players seemingly ready for promotion are brought along slowly, if at all.

Add in factors such as the ComcastSportsNet Houston mess and customer unfriendly policies like dynamic pricing (which price tickets to games people might want to see [The Yankees] higher than games people don't care much about [The Athletics]) and you have a recipe for fan apathy.

Fortunately, for the Astros, the city's one playoff team is off the local sports radar as well. The Rockets are in the same boat as the Astros TV-wise. Even worse for them, when they did debut, last night in the playoffs, they threw a stinker out for all to see. For many Houstonians who don't pay attention to the Association before playoff time last night's debacle was their first real glimpse of Rocket-ball.

At least they watched. The Astros have famously drawn a 0.0 television rating (twice) which places them below even KGOW in terms of fans. By any metric, the Astros have lost the City in which they play. They've also probably chosen to lose a generation of baseball fans, which makes their rebuilding job all that more difficult.

The situation becomes even more frustrating when you realize that there is real talent in the Minor League system that many observers say is ready, or close to ready, right now.

Carlos Correa - Many baseball observers feel he's close to ready NOW. Not in 2015 or 16 but right now. The Astros seem content to have him bang away in A League, but there's ample evidence that they should fast track him to see what he can do.

Mark Appel and Vince Velasquez - Two starting pitchers that aren't too far away and definitely should be fast-tracked to the big club. The Astros again seem to be content to let them stagnate in Class A ball.

Jonathan Singleton - Singleton is batting .326/.453/.698 in AAA while the Astros Major League 1st baseman, Chris Carter is hitting .123/250./.461 and has 26 strikeouts in 19 games. That's stunningly bad.

These are just a few of the prospects that are languishing in the Minor Leagues with no good baseball logic holding them back. Before last week, George Springer was languishing in AAA as well. All he's done since joining the big team is bat .273/.304/.673. Yes, Springer's strikeouts (7 in 5 games) are high but this can be explained away by his newness to the Majors. Chris Carter has been around long enough that there's no expectation he's ever going to not be a strikeout machine.

I might be different than some Astros fans, but I'm OK watching the team lose provided there's hope that they can win at some point in the future. As long as the Astros keep burying their best prospects behind AAA players who just happen to be on a Major League team that optimism is not there.

They'll continue to be the Disastros, a laughing stock and Mattress Mack can laugh all the way to the bank.