Astros - 5th in Division. The offense/pitching is not there.

I don't think pitching is the issue. I mean, the team ERA is 3.8 I believe. I know it is 5th in the NL right now. The problem is the offense. That is the #1 problem. The team is not going to gel, I think that a manager change might shake things up enough to get them going. It worked for Florida, why not us?

 

Huh? What has Lidge done to show he is not a closer? If I am missing something, please fill me in. If you are talking about giving up the HR to Sosa, then it seems like that is more frustration of a recent event than logical thinking. The previous 4 gams Lidge has 1 win and 3 saves, with 8 K's, no walks and 1 hit and 1 ER in 5 innings.

 

I agree, fire the manager. I thought hiring Williams was the worst option possible when they did it.

 

You could tell that this was going to be the same ol' Astros after the first game. For some unknown reason, their bats disappear every time a clutch situation arises. It's going to take many years before this team will ever amount to anything in the postseason.

Sidenote: I was born in St. Louis.

 

lidge will be a fine closer. i'm not worried there. it's the hitting that has me worried.

they do seem to find a new way to lose everyday, though. of course, that could be indicative of a team that simply can't score runs, anymore.

 

When are they going to fire their hitting coach? How bad does the offense have to get? Did anyone listen to Kevin Bass on 610 last night? He was saying he saw an obvious hitch in Bagwell's swing. Why is our hitting coach not correcting that? BTW, Hidalgo has already hit 4 HR's for the Mets - the same amount he hit in 2 1/2 months with us.

 

I think you're greatly overemphasizing the function of a major league hitting coach.

Especially to a veteran like Bagwell, he's his own hitting coach. He's got enough video to analyze his swing all he wants. Plus, Bagwell has always had that same hitch in his swing, and slumps like this are not exactly out of character for him. Frankly, Bagwell is the only one who knows how much of his struggles are health related.

You think Biggio worked with Spillman on his new look at the plate in Spring Training? Biggio said "This is what I'm going to do, you keep that pitching machine full."

Younger guys are a different story, but they have to be willing to change, unlike MoBerg & Hidalgo.

When they fired Ruhle & McGraw, they were scapegoats. If they fire Hooton & Spillman, it wouldn't be any different. They players on this team have to perform, and almost to a man they've done a very poor job the past 2 months. They're not as bad as they've looked and are bound to get hot soon (please lord, soon), but there's no guarantee they will. And there's nothing any coach or manager can do about that.

 

The Astros problem right now is their offense. Bagwell had 8 freaking RBIs in June... 8!!! There problem is they aren't hitting, period. Beltran has single handily won 4 games for them so far, but he can't carry them forever.

I'm not worried, they will snap out of it and they are only 2 games out of the wildcard, but if they are in the same situation a month from now there would and should be some coaching changes... right now it's all on the players though.

 

Pretty amazing since they've only won 2 games with him on the team.

 

ugh, that's what I get for not reading the entire thread before responding

 

Around four games out of the playoffs with over 75 games left to play. Way too early to proclaim this season a loss. I'm keeping track of all the people counting them out right now for a great big I told you so when we make the playoffs.

BTW, there is no lottery in MLB.

 

Beltran has done next to nothing since the series against the Cubs. In the last week he is 3-25 with 3 RsBI.

You can give him (and Oswalt) much of the credit for the 1-0 win against Texas (robbed Young of HR) and the 3-2 win against the Cubs (along with Biggio's 2 HRs and Clemens pitching), but he was 0-9 in the two wins against the Rangers at MMP. To suggest that he has single handedly won 4 games in inaccurate.

 

They are actually 5-8 since his arrival.

 

The batting order is just plain horrible. It needs to change to:

Beltran (USE HIS ******* SPEED!)
Everett (Can move Beltran Along)
Berkman (He's here mostly b/c he switch hits)
Kent (Needs to regain form)
Biggio (Better type hitter, could put down the squeeze, has more power)
Bagwell (Just out of respect put him in the 7th hole)
Ensberg (Really should be batting 7th)
Ausmus (Just a plain, flat out bull **** player)
Pitcher (Potentially the best hitter on the team!)