A lot of it is that Astros fans are spoiled, they are used to being a league powerhouse and now that is no longer the case, it's hard to get used to a team that's merely "good". The starting pitching and middle relief being mediocre to bad makes this adjustment more difficult.
Joe Espada: note what just happened the next time you have choice to make between Dubon and Singleton.
What? If this team hasn’t changed much then we might as well pencil in that AlCS as the team that doesn’t have it is coming off 7 straight of them.