Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com.
The last thing I needed the first thing this morning was to watch the Astros exhibit the major league suck that they’ve given us the past week. Beyond simply going 1-6 for the week, it’s how they’ve gone 1-6, basically removing any hopes of “holding the line” until they get healthy. Let me count the ways: nearly being no-hit 2 times by the Reds, getting smacked around by both the Reds and Cardinals, and having every facet of this ball team go to hell in a handcart in the span of a couple of weeks. Makes me wish I had been able to be unconscious more often.
The Astros, if nothing else have demonstrated just how much Larry Dierker actually has to do with the day-to-day success of this club. With Dierker out, they’ve played exactly one (uno, singular, as in the loneliest number you ever knew)quality baseball game, and not counting the Expos series, which should be entered as “Exhibit A” that you can beat Montreal while sleepwalking, they’ve gone 2-9 without the rudder of their figurative ship. Having said that, blaming Matt Galante for anything going on with the Astros is like blaming the president for the economy. The incredibly ignorant amongst the public likes to do this a lot, and tuning into local radio, or even the TalkZone, you see the ignorant masses (yes, I am actually calling people ignorant…deal with it) who seem to think Galante’s inability to change the personality of this team in 2 weeks brands him as Houston’s own version of Bill Clinton, coming out in droves.
Here’s a hint and a half for you; the problem is not Matt Galante. He’s doing what most of us wanted in the first place, running the team the way he saw Dierker do it. He may be the only guy who has the right idea about what’s going on right now.
The problem is not Derek Bell’s either, although we all REEEEEAAAAAALLLLYYY want it to be. He’s been playing at this level (although “ring of hellfire and punishment” is probably a more accurate description than “level”) all year. To suddenly think the house of cards is falling, and the boys are going to use the green stamps to get the rowboat because of Bell’s inability to control her charm bracelet is ludicrous and asinine.
This is a team that, like every other team in baseball, sucks blue whales when they don’t hit. And, as with most teams,
when you combine below average pitching with no defense (although it’s hard to defense homers 30 rows up) you have the
current bucket of crapulence that resides between Kirby and Fannin. The fault lies squarely on the shoulders of every player in an Astros uniform. From Biggio and Bagwell down to Barker and Johnson this team is playing (again loosely using
a term) like it’s 1991 instead of 1999. They look tired, they look uninterested, and they look very average.
At this point, slump-busting sessions aren’t going to help. Team meetings aren’t going to help. Days off and rain-delays aren’t going to help. Galante or Hunsicker ripping the players isn’t going to help. The only thing that’s going to help is each and every individual on this team nutting it up and getting back on the field Tuesday night and playing up to their capabilities.
If they can’t, or won’t, then maybe it’s time for Hunsicker and McLane to decide which players they want to build around for 2000 and beyond. Maybe it’s time for some of these guys to worry about where they’re going to be playing after July 31st.
Maybe it’s time to look at trading one or two guys who look for all the world to be corner stones of this franchise and
start over. I know this isn’t going to be a news flash for most of you, but the current mix isn’t working. It’s to the point that you have to wonder if April and May were the fluke and not the current ball of fecal matter currently being pushed off at $27.50 a ticket as “Astros Baseball”.
After all, if they’re going to play like the Expos, maybe they need to start being treated like the Expos; maybe they need to be playing elsewhere.
Astro Of The Week… Any fan who sat through any inning, either on television, radio, GameCast ™, or in person, of the past four games. You have my respect and condolences. You should ask for your money back. Whatever they were doing out there, (I suspect it might have been a Monster Truck Rally) it wasn’t baseball.
DisAstro Of The Week… Any one collecting a game check since Dierker went out. You owe the city and Major League Baseball in general an apology.
