Official 2010 Houston Astros Thread

[drew corleone]

OK, here we go... given that the Astros are picked 5th or 6th in almost every predictions column nationwide, I thought it appropriate to start with this...

All right people, we got 10 minutes 'till game time, let's all gather 'round. I'm not much for giving inspirational addresses, but I'd just like to point out that every newspaper in the country has picked us to finish last. The local press seems to think that we'd save everyone the time and trouble if we just went out and shot ourselves. Me, I'm for wasting sportswriters' time. So I figured we ought to hang around for a while and see if we can give 'em all a nice big shitburger to eat!

It's a nice thought.

Back to reality...

I generally take an optimistic outlook on this franchise, but there's no sense in thinking this is going to be anything other than a mediocre season. Still, baseball is a funny game, and I think there a number of things we can look forward to in 2010.

Here's what I'm most interested in tracking:

(1) Young arms. New pitching coach Brad Arnsberg has raved about Paulino's stuff, and it gives me a ray of hope that he can help the kid really develop into a consistent part of the rotation. By the same token, I'm eager to see how/if Bud Norris emerges in his first full season in the bigs. In general, the rotation has the potential to be the strongest area of this team. Plus, Jordan Lyles and Chia-Jen Lo will start at AA and Ross Seaton moves up to High A.

(2) Tommy Manzella. He figures to add much more in defense than Miggy did, even as he provides much less punch at the plate. As the only rookie position player on the OD roster, he'll at least get a chance to prove himself at he major league level (or fill a stop-gap role until Jio Mier is ready for the Bigs).

(3) Catcher. Both Towles and Castro had very good springs. Castro will get a chance to get a little more seasoning in RR, while Towles will get a chance to atone for his miserable debut two seasons ago. It would be great to see both emerge as dependable backstops.

(4) Bourn/Pence. Both of these guys are fun to watch, and both still have yet to hit their primes. Pence spent time in the offseason bulking up... not sure if that will help him better hit breaking stuff, but this team could certainly use some added pop.

(5) Defense. If nothing else, this team is going to be much better defensively up the middle and at hot corner.

Play ball!

[tx 3 putt]

if towels can piece together a good start, he'll be great trade bait

norris worries me, 10.00 spring ERA, niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice

berkman / oswalt need to play up to their normal levels or gtfo. i think both are gone in july / august. they were nothing but cancers in last year's locker room. no two players cried more / backstabbed clark more than these two. either put up some serious numbers are gtfo !

[UTPhil2006]

The road to 162-0 starts today

[drew corleone]

3-putt... I don't think Oswalt/Berkman "backstabbed" Cooper (I assume you meant Cooper, not Clark). Cooper was clearly in over his head and he did about as poor of a job managing as was possible. The entire team gave up on him, and from what I've read it wasn't those two that were most vocal in their displeasure.

I don't see Towles bringing much via trade, unless he puts up a half-season of numbers mirroring his Grapefruit League production, and if he's handling the bat well it makes for a good 1-2 punch behind the plate, assuming Castro is the future All Star we think he may be.

Norris worries me less than Wandy, who admitted after his last, disastrous ST start that he thought he was making good pitches. He was getting pummeled. I suspect that Norris, at least early on, will likely look like he did last season, when he put together a respectable ERA despite a four-game stretch that saw 21 ER in 17 innings. He's going to have bad games, but he's only 25, and I'm less interested in his ERA this season than I am his ability to consistently throw 6-7 innings (he went 7 only once last year) and avoid the kind of stretches I mentioned.

[Scraps]

Heres to a long 7 months

[mez2]

[wacohorn27]

Well ... I guess there's only one thing left to do.

wh

[Gourmand]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO STROS

I feel good today. The Astros will certainly be better this year than last now that they've jettisoned the old arms in favor of younger guys with good stuff and hired a manager who appears to have a clue how to run a team and communicate with his players.

This team will surprise the groupthink mediots who refuse to give Ed Wade and Bobby Heck the credit they deserve for their offseason moves aimed at revitalizing the talent pipeline. I will be surprised if they finish lower than third in the NL Central. This is an 83-win team imo, and if Roy and Lance stay healthy, they can challenge for the division title.

[UTEX90]

Be competitive and have season ending progress over last year. That is all I ask for. Good luck Stros.

[drew corleone]

Barring a collapse from one of the Cards/Cubs/Brewers I would be shocked to see them finish as high as third. But I do believe another strong draft and continued development could have them in position to make a darkhorse run as early as next year.

[Storm the Field]

Bout to go grab a few drinks near the staidum then head to the game. Would love to start the season 1-0 but I doubt we'll have much success against Timmy L tonight. If I recall correctly the Giants pretty much owned us last year.

Here's to another season of Astros baseball. Regardless of how rough things like at times this season, there's a decent chance I watch at least 120 games (5 at the staidum, 115 on TV) as I have the past 3 or 4 years since really getting into baseball.

[Mike_Tyson]

I predict that Milo will be giving the score after the 1st, 5th, 8th, and 9th innings this year. Because I expect us to be less than good, Milo will be exceptionally awesome this year.

[mez2]

so when's the shaggy outing. those are always fun.

[Gut Wagon]

I don't think I've ever posted on an opening day Astros thread to wish them good luck, but they've been so horribly mediocre in recent years that it can't hurt. Here's hoping they actually do enough during the season to make me think they'll win another pennant in my lifetime.

[Huckleberry]

73-89

Let's be honest, the Astros have pretty generally been overachievers. Due for an underachieving year.

[HornzUp]

73-89

Let's be honest, the Astros have pretty generally been overachievers. Due for an underachieving year.

That sounds about right. I really hope some of the young guys grow a lot this year so we are at least able to jump into next year with a lot of potential. Not too much can ever be expected from us in April/May but here's to surprises!

[MNLonghorn10]

is bush sr. falling asleep behind home plate?

[Murfdogg21]

Is that Coach Boom sitting behind home plate?

[PhatAtUT]

down 3 already in the 2nd. game's probably over with lincecum facing this shitastic lineup.

[naked_bongo]

Giants new look line-up with Huff and DeRosa already producing. Lincecum got roughed up in the spring. We'll see how he does today.

[crackamacgowski]

Feed in Austin has shitty audio. Fuck you Fox Sports.

[PhatAtUT]

i wish we could trade patti smith for jim knox.

[naked_bongo]

Quick game. Lincecum keeping the pitch count down.

[Gut Wagon]

Would have been nice to get something out of that last threat. Hope it isn't our only one.

[crackamacgowski]

God Bless America. Jesus. Will it ever go away? Do they do Take Me Out To The Ballgame afterward or is just the god stuff?

[crackamacgowski]

Lincecum is making these guys look silly.

[drew corleone]

God Bless America. Jesus. Will it ever go away? Do they do Take Me Out To The Ballgame afterward or is just the god stuff?

The Astros usually only do it on Sunday. Must be an OD deal. They do still play Take Me Out to the Ballgame (and Deep in the Heart of Texas).

[crackamacgowski]

At least there's that. Wish it would just go away all together, but what can you do?

[Publius]

this will be a rough year. If they get 75 wins I'll be a little bit surprised.

[PhatAtUT]

hunter's been pitched tough tonight, but he's really looked terrible. this lineup without berkman in it is one of the 3 or 4 worst in MLB.

[drew corleone]

Are any of you really *more* discouraged after game one that you were before game one, considering a Lance Berkman-less offense was facing the best pitcher in the national League?

[PhatAtUT]

Are any of you really *more* discouraged after game one that you were before game one, considering a Lance Berkman-less offense was facing the best pitcher in the national League?

no, i actually predicted 6-0 earlier this afternoon. still, its frustrating when you care so much to get your ass whipped on opening day.

[wacohorn27]

I like Gervacio.

wh

[drew corleone]

no, i actually predicted 6-0 earlier this afternoon. still, its frustrating when you care so much to get your ass whipped on opening day.

Look on the bright side... it's probably only going to happen 85-90 more times this year.

[texdude2006]

I like Gervacio.

wh

I totally agree. He is fun as hell to watch and is a damn good pitcher too.

[PhatAtUT]

thinking about tonight's lineup, we have only one starter who is an above average hitter for his position. and we might have the worst catcher and shortstop in the majors.

[texdude2006]

thinking about tonight's lineup, we have only one starter who is an above average hitter for his position. and we might have the worst catcher and shortstop in the majors.

C and SS both had hits today though....Agree on C, not sure why Towles is in there. SS is solid solid D, so I'll take a below average D

[drew corleone]

thinking about tonight's lineup, we have only one starter who is an above average hitter for his position. and we might have the worst catcher and shortstop in the majors.

Can we give Manzella and Towles more than one game before we slap that label (especially the former, given that he's not been in this position before)? .260/.320/.375 ranks you middle-of-the-pack among MLB SS's, and fewer than half of the catchers that received significant playing time last year hit over .250.

In terms of being "above average," I think you can still make a case for Berkman and Lee in the group, and Pence finished among the top 30 MLB OF in average, sluging HR and RBI last season. Bourn also finished in the top third in average and OBP, and led the league in steals and was seventh in runs (granted, not hitting positions, but still offensive contribution categories).

[PhatAtUT]

i was counting Lee as the one above average and was excluding berkman since he wasnt in the lineup. id consider bourn and pence to be about average in terms of production for CF and RF. i didnt look up any numbers for comparison though. and you're right, its not fair to call manzella the worst SS in mlb right now, but the guy had a .756 OPS at AAA last season, so im not expecting .260/.320/.375. ill mellow down and not be an asshole all season.

[drew corleone]

Point taken. Didn't think you were being an asshole.

And I'm trying not to be overly homer guy this season.

[PhatAtUT]

lets go wandy....

[EddieMoney]

Nice crowd at minute maid tonight

[drew corleone]

Per Tag, Zito hasn't won his first start in a season since 03.

Go Stros.

[Scraps]

Nice crowd at minute maid tonight

Yeah the Marlins would be jealous

[PhatAtUT]

0-6 with 3ks for hunter so far this season.

[softlynow]

The only excuse for not ruling that ball a HR on replay is blindness. Unbelievable. Won't matter, as 3 runs is likely enough to beat this team 8 of 10 times this year, but still an awful call, especially with IR at their disposal.

And 75 wins wouldn't just be surprising, it would require an act of God. Mills should be manager of the year if this team tops 65 wins.

[PhatAtUT]

well they've scored in one inning out of 18 so far this season....

[hornsareus]

We suck.

[tx 3 putt]

it's going to be a loooooooooooooooong season

uncle drayton better get used to shitty crowds

[drew corleone]

We're going to have to put some of you on suicide watch during this opening 9-game stretch. Things aren't going to get better against the Phillies and Cardinals.