Darian,Nov 2 2005, 05:15 PM Wrote:89-73 isn't "barely breaking .500," and the Astros have nothing to do with the NL West. ;)
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Hmm, I don't quite know what I was thinking then. I was meaning the Astros and was typing the record of the Padres.
I think I've made it clear from other posts, but to reiterate my intended meaning (before I botched it up :P ) was that I was unimpressed by their play during regular season. The Rocket pitched great when he was at the closed dome, and I can't deny he did have the best ERA in the league for a long time (<.055 iirc). Their pitching was great at times, but the rest of the team (bats and fielding) never looked good on the games I caught on national TV (I don't get a lot of Astro's games up in the Northeast). Their home field domination was obvious, they went 53-28 at home, but only 36-45 while away (the White Sox by comparison won more on the road than at home).
Their record of 89-73 is mediocre. Competeing against the monstrosity that is the NL West makes the wild card run that much easier (Hell, the Indians had a 93-69 record and still came up 2 short of the wildcard in the AL).
I don't mean to come off as an Astro basher. In truth have a slightly above average team, and there is definitely a lot of possibility of going places with the right management choices. But they certainly aren't there right now.
Cheers,
Munk