Falling asleep Thursday night wasn’t easy. It wasn’t just the excitement of watching Craig Biggio put the finishing touches on his Hall of Fame credentials by becoming the 27th member of the 3,000-hit circle. It was also a hint of sadness that the sun is now almost at the horizon, setting on the greatest era in Houston baseball history.
If newly acquired starting pitcher Jason Jennings can repeat something close to his 2006 season in 2007, then the Astros will have found a counterpart for Roy Oswalt in the starting rotation comparable to what Carlos Lee adds to Lance Berkman in the batting order.
The 2005 Astros finished 11th in the National League with 4.3 runs per game. The 2006 Astros rank even worse at 15th in the National League, although they?re scoring slightly more than last season, with 4.5 runs per game.
After somewhat of a roller-coaster ride through the first three-and-a-half months of the season, Preston Wilson currently has the following line for 2006:
Avg OBP Slg OPS G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI BB -------------------------------------------------------------- .283 .321 .422 .742 85 332 94 18 2 9 34 47 18
The 2005 Astros were a rare species of pennant-winner. They finished 11th in runs scored, the first National League team since the 1973 Mets to claim the flag with so lowly an offensive output. Consequently, improving the batting order was an offseason priority for general manager Tim Purpura.
“As far as on the field, the only thing I wanted to be remembered as is that I was consistent.”
