Sometimes there’s no place like away from home. At least that’s what many Astros fans thought after the team followed a 6-1 road trip with a 1-5 homestand. The can’t-win-at-Enron-Field explanation of what’s ailing the Astros was punctured, though, by a sweep at Los Angeles last weekend. The ineptitude against the Dodgers suggests that the problem isn’t the ballpark, but the ballclub.
The Astros are among the top clubs in the National League at getting runners on base. Their 13.84 baserunners per game trail only Colorado’s 14.41 and San Diego’s 14.11. With so many ducks on the pond, Astros sluggers have had ample chances to build their RBI totals.
In The Baseball Book 1991, Bill James, examining the question of whether Nolan Ryan’s strikeout record would ever be broken, wrote, “Because more batters are using whip-handled bats, strikeout rates are still going up. They went down for several years, in the mid-seventies, but they’re going back up now, have been for several years.”
A little more than 10 years ago, 32-year-old Rickey Henderson was on top of the baseball world. Coming off an MVP season in 1990, Henderson, then with the Athletics, stole his 939th base on May 1, 1991, breaking Lou Brock’s career record. While Brock took 19 seasons and 1,245 attempts to set the mark, Henderson required slightly more than 12 seasons and 1,154 attempts to overtake it.
How did they do?
The Astros streaked out of the gate 8-3 but went 4-9 the rest of the way. The differences between the two halves of the month, particularly on the mound, are stark:
Dates R/G ERA --------------------- 4/03-4/15 5.64 3.83 4/16-4/30 5.15 6.47
The basepaths have treated the Astros unkindly so far this season. Through Sunday’s win against St. Louis the Astros had stolen seven bases in 14 attempts. Only time will tell whether they continue their lead-footedness, but last year indicated that the Astros no longer possessed the fleetness of past seasons.
