I'm so tired of all this Clemens talk. I will always be a Clemens fan because it wasn't until he came to Houston that we made it as far as we did in the playoffs. Pettitte contributed as well, but I have to say that there was one other time in this team's history that I was head over heels in love with this team and it was back in 1998 when we traded for Randy Johnson at the trading deadline. We already had a kick-ass offense and a stud pitcher was exactly what we needed at the time. And although we lost to San Diego in the first round of the playoffs, I still to this day regard that trade as the most exciteable one that's ever happened to the Astros. I just wish we could have kept him after that year... Randy Johnson (post Astros): 1999 271 IP, 17-9, 2.48 ERA, 364 K, 70 BB, 1.02 WHIP 2000 248 IP, 19-7, 2.64 ERA, 347 K, 76 BB, 1.12 WHIP 2001 249 IP, 21-6, 2.49 ERA, 372 K, 71 BB, 1.01 WHIP 2002 260 IP, 24-5, 2.32 ERA, 334 K, 71 BB, 1.03 WHIP I wonder all the time what kind of damage we could have done in the playoffs if Johnson had chosen to re-sign with Houston.
The problem in the late-90's playoffs wasn't the pitching...it was the bats that were so hot for 162 games cooling off dramatically over a 5 game series.
I also remember Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux (along with '98 Kevin Brown) having something to do with our late 90's postseason futility.
Good times. The city was apesh!t over that trade. I remember going to the first game he pitched. It was insane.
In 98, you can't blame the Astros' bats. You blame this guy for selling his soul to the devil to end the Astros' magical season.
And MLB for having days off between the first three games allowing Brown to come back on short rest to start game 3. Two things that still upset me about that series thinking about what could've been: 1) see above 2) Noodle-armed Tony Gwynn throws out Alou trying to go first to third in Game 3 in a game we lost 2-1
The '98 & '95 Stros had a virtually identical ERA+ (117-120) and the '98 bunch scored about 180 more runs. '98 easy.
My top 4 Astros teams: '98 (lost in NLDS) - freaking Kevin Brown '04 (lost in NLCS) - could've won it all if they had a healthy Pettitte (the Beltran year) '06 (didn't make the playoffs) - could've won it all if they had made it in (Cards won that year just barely holding off the hard-charging 'stros) '05 (made the WS) - thank you strong pitching performance, too bad they couldn't add Beltran and/or Kent to the '05 team.
Hard not to think of these as well: '01 (lost in NLDS) - tied for best record in NL, despite M*A*S*H unit starting rotation '99 (lost in NLDS) - didn't win 102, but still a very solid team. CEverett was awesome; Hampton and Lima won 22 and 21; Wags was Wags '86 (lost in NLCS) - Mike Freaking Scott. The three-man rotation in April. Good times. '80 (lost in NLCS) - just because they beat out LA
