By Knoxbanedoodle
Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com on June 11, 2001.
Some people want to bring heat on the Hun right now because the Astros are underachieving. But let’s take a look at it, seriously.
You can imagine that during one of last year’s ridiculous games, where the opposition ran all over Mitch Meluskey and exploded against the bullpen as if we had cloned Doug Henry six or seven times, the Hun sat in his air conditioned suite, perhaps fiddling with his nice cuff links, and thought: “This is hell.”
Fast forward to the offseason. The much maligned, much praised GM of our beloved Houston Astros dives head first into the market and comes out with Nelson Cruz, Brad Ausmus and Mike Jackson. The really heart warming thing is that IT WORKED. Among the pleasant surprises we’ve gotten to enjoy this year is the fact that there is no running game against the Houston Astros, and our bullpen, sporting an overall ERA of 3.89 right now (was significantly smaller before Saturday night’s Lima/Slu fest against the Rangers) is good for ninth in the league, off the 3.24 pace set by the Reds by only .65 runs per nine innings.
However, sometimes it must seem to a major league G.M. that building a team is a totally futile effort wrapped in Sheer Faith and secretly depending on Good Luck. You must detract from this pile to add to that pile. Push here, and that thing over there pops up. Pull this lever, and that other one smacks you in the jewels. The Hun undoubtedly counted on serious offensive production from his big boys – Bags, Alou, Hidalgo – while hoping for continued improvement from Berkman and perhaps the beginnings of a solid comeback from Biggio. Furthermore, he must have counted on the continuing excellence of Scott Elarton, a good sophomore showing from “Volvo” Wade Miller, and, of course, a whole slew of recoveries.
Well, Bags and Hidalgo have been getting it done, and most teams in MLB would love to have them, but in order to make up for the pitching of Elarton (frightfully below expectations), Bottenfield (below expectation) and Lima (duh), the offense has to do better. Lugo is rapidly making disbelievers of lots of Astros fans. Does Biggio’s fielding (below expectations) and hitting (above expectations) even out? Does the dismal team performance with RISP and the reams of home runs even out? Does the (at times) awful starting pitching and (at times) stellar bullpen even out?
I think that the answer to lots of these questions is a resounding “YES”, and that is why Gerry presently looks down from his nice suite and thinks, “This is a .500 team.”
The Cup Is Half Full
The Houston Astros have not yet gotten hot. In my opinion, the closest we’ve been to “hot” was through the first four games of the year. We scored lots of runs and our pitching was solid. We scored lots of runs with two outs and our bullpen held the leads. We got the big hits and made the tough pitches. (Enter: the Piroots . . . .)
Anyway, it is my belief that this team will get hot (just as last year’s eventually did) and when they do they will inspire the Fear of God in the collective heart of the National League. IF Elarton can turn it around, IF Reynolds can stay right where he is, IF Oswalt continues his brilliant, fairy-tale career, IF WaMi is the Man we all think he is and continues to keep us in games, IF Lugo gets on base, IF Bags, Hidalgo, Berkman and Alou all get going at the same time, IF Wags comes back healthy and strong, IF Mike Jackson, Jay Powell and Nelson Cruz can keep on keepin’ on, this team will tear through the league like so many hot knives through so much butter (for at least two or three weeks, anyway). That’s a lot of “ifs”, but through my rose colored glasses I see none that are unlikely enough to be dismissed outright. The biggest IF though, the biggest of them all, is IF they can do it soon, and before it’s too late.
One of the many nice things about the unbalanced schedule, as we’ve all heard a thousand times, is that any team can get on a hot streak and ride it to the top in a very short time. The bottom line for me is that the Astros are a .500 team right now because they haven’t really been close to firing on all cylinders all year. But they will (you know they will) and when they do, THEN the Hun will look down from his suite and think, “And there she is.”