Last week, I mentioned to one of our loyal readers......... our only loyal reader, that the Astros, were about to begin a series that could send them toward NL central division leadership or reeling to the basement. Well, a 1-5 record later and I want to know the answer. Are the Stros, reeling or is this just a bad stretch? They are still above .500 at 30-28. They certainly have been in a worse position this late and still made the playoffs or even the Series. The problem is, Murderer's Row; Puma, Tejada, Lee, Pence, have been very quiet during this stretch. I think that the bats will wake back up, but the pitching has been sloppy and somewhat unwatchable. I see a serious run at a starter, soon. Who? I don't know, but I can't help, but think that Ed Wade will at least pursue someone. Anyway, I aint giving up
GO STROS!!!
2 comments:
Well my guess is it is a slump and not the end of the season. I do think though that the Stros will be in the middle of the pack come the allstar break but considering that we are in a division that, over the last few years, has been affectionately known as "The Comedy Central", we still have a fighting chance for at least a wildcard spot. And I agree we need an Ace in our staff. As much as I like Roy, he has shown a lot of inconsistency this year. My guess is he has either developed some bad habbits like opening up his shoulders during delivery or he is trying to over-compensate for some unknown injury that we will hear about later. In any case, pitching still carries even a slumping team and this year we are hurting in that department. I predict and up and down stretch for a while but it just might take a fresh arm with control to get us through to October.
In the midst of a slump, quite possibly in yet another mediocre National League central season for the Astros, there stood on the mound one night Roy O. His performance this season has been riddled with ups and downs much like his teammates and his record reflects that, but one night on the mound there stood Roy O. So worried about his seemingly loss of command and conrtol he even asked his friend the Big Puma to stand at the plate and watch him warm up before the game. So worried about having an all too familiar shelling early that when a double was hit off of him in the first inning, his thoughts went immediately to 'here we go again', but one night there stood on the mound Roy O. He prodeeded to strike out 10 before the night was done and other than a solo homerun allowed just five scattered hits through seven innings. He had the fastball down and unhittable, his change-up fooled batter after batter and once even showed the crowd that all too familiar sheepish, farmboy smile after fanning a batter because one night there stood on the mound Roy O. The Stros have alot of regrouping to do and in a season that for once much more is said about the offensive production of Tejada, Burkman, and Lee. Much more is talked about of the likes of Pence who apparently has picked up the dirty helmet and pine tar riddled bat of one Craig Biggio, who left them in the dust to work more at his "sunshine", the moments of past pitching excellence has excaped our water cooler conversations, but one night there stood on the mound Roy O....He still has what it takes to win, he still has what it takes to baffle even the greatest of hitters, he still is our ace, our opening day starter, our excuse as if we needed one to concentrate a little harder at the plate, to put up just a few more runs, to not allow a great pitched game to slip away. He stood in the shadows for 4 years quietly striking out batter after batter, quietly allowing the likes of Roger Clemens, Andy Petite, and yes for a brief time, Randy Johnson take the glory...but one day on the mound there stood....Roy O.
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