By Breedlove
Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com on May 24, 2001.
“Leading off for the Houston Astros… Number 7… Second-baseman… Craig… Biggio.”
It’s been awhile since we’ve heard those familiar words. They’re warm and fuzzy and they feel like home… and it will help the Astros win if we hear them again.Read More
By Breedlove
Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com on May 17, 2001.
With a fifth of the schedule complete and no real production from third base since the early weeks of the season, the Astros began to examine ways to solidify the starting eight. Despite his maturity, great attitude, and a healthy homerun binge to start the year, at .217/.289/.450 with an error every five starts, Chris Truby just was not getting it done. Read More
By Knoxbanedoodle
Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com on May 11, 2001.
The recent explosion of little ball talk on the TZ got me thinking about patterns in the Astros offense over the past couple years. Admittedly, when I started looking into the numbers I did so with the aim of discovering that little balls pays off, that Weaver-ball is overrated and Dierker isn’t getting the most of his offensive tools by standing around and waiting for the three run bomb. Even in a stadium like Enron there is a definite need to occasionally be able to manufacture a run, and, going further, perhaps there is a radical new way to blend the two diametrically opposed styles of baseball into a cool new battle plan. Here’s what I found: Read More
Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com.
Depending on when this gets posted, Jose Lima’s 2nd “last chance” of the year happens tonight or happened yesterday. Watching the Astros so far this season, I get the feeling that El Burro’s “last chances” are going to resemble KISS farewell concerts. Like KISS, he’s flamboyant, he had limited success over an even more limited period of time, and none of them can sing.Read More
Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com.
One of baseball’s classic sayings is “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.” For those of you too lazy to look it up, it refers to the 1947 Boston Braves and the deficit they had in starting pitching. I’ve been wracking my brain trying to come up with some catchy saying to include Wade Miller and Scott Elarton, but they all pretty much sucked. But with Shane Reynolds being about as effective in his two starts as the XFL was in getting anyone with 22 chromosome pairs to watch, Octavio Dotel being a base on balls machine (in the bad way) and El Burro Lima being… well a steaming pile of feces, something needs to be done.Read More
By Breedlove
Editor’s note – This article originally appeared on AstrosConnection.com on April 23, 2001.
Clearly Astros pitching has improved tremendously. Right now the staff sits at 9-6 with a smooth 4.03 ERA. That falls in the middle of the NL pack – excellent coupled with the team’s potent offense and a half-run better than the next best team. In 2000, their ERA of 5.41 was dead last in the National League, and the biggest culprit in the rotation was Jose Lima. So why is El Loco still a Stro when given Brad Ausmus, winter-ball, and time for an attitude adjustment he has shown no improvement?Read More
