Roy Oswalt Vanquishes the Pirates and the Astros Clinch A Winning Season
by Stephen Higdon on Sep 21, 2008 6:09 PM CDT
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PrintWhile I should be overly joyed at the prospects at the Astros clinching their winning season, it feels flat given the prospects of them playing October baseball one week ago was so strong. Roy was dominate on the mound, allowing four hits, striking out four, and walking none through six innings of work. A vast improvement over his last outing to say the least. While the Astros still remain alive, mathematically, in the NL Wild Card Race, perfection and collapse from their rivals will be necessary to see October. With an elimination number of 4 and a week's worth of action remaining, the prospects are daunting.
Nevertheless, the Astros made our season interesting for the first two weeks of September and have managed to keep themselves relevant into the final week -- something I thought could only happen in the best of circumstances in March. It's hard to call their season a failure, but they vastly underperformed for a significant part of the season, making calling it a success hard too.
While not necessarily putting a the final nail in the 2008 season just yet, the Astros off-season plans become very relevant in light of their customary late season surge. A repeat of the 2006-2007 off-season has to be avoided. However, Ben Sheets' fore arm tightness leaves a huge hole in the FA pitching market -- presumably. In the coming weeks and months, look for detailed talent and risk evaluations of our targeted acquisitions, starting with Sheets and moving through the rumor pool. If we don't have October baseball to watch, Astros fans can console themselves with religious checking Peter Gammons' blog and my favorite aggregator of all things rumored, MLBTradeRumors.
Congratulations Astros, you did what very few thought possible for a majority of the off season and season. Lets pray to the baseball gods for Astros dominance and Brewer and Met misfortune, but lets also hope the Ed Wade makes some very wise moves this off season too.
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I'm not sure what hurts worse
The way the Astros played pre-All Star break… or the 5 game losing streak to kill most(if not all) of their chance to make the playoffs… I think the 5 game losing streak hurts more(probably because it’s recent).
Go 'Stros!
The recent collapse was a kick in the gut.
Particularly with the way it started.
Their failures months ago are more of a “well, dammit.” For me, at least.
Definitely the post-Ike losing streak.
It made it hard to wake up in the morning.
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by Stephen Higdon on Sep 21, 2008 8:36 PM CDT up reply actions
Roy Oswalt is now 16-10 with a 3.60 ERA.
Back when Roy O’s ERA was in the 5’s in June, I predicted that he would end the year with an ERA in the mid- to high- 3’s. That was certainly a vote of confidence on my part , but that very high ERA declined so slowly after that (it is tough to knock an ERA in the 5’s down to the 3’s when it’s that late in the season), I started to wonder if it was possible for my prediction to materialize. But he did it. And he still has a chance at maybe 1 or 2 more wins to add to that total. Remember when much of the baseball world was saying that Roy’s days as an “ace” were gone? This kind of season finish is phenomonal, when you think about where Oswalt stood for most of the season.
His HR allowed were just so random
He had to return to form. If only we’d have been more assertive with him and said take a game or two off and get better. Imagine if he would have turned it around in June instead of late July/early August.
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by Stephen Higdon on Sep 21, 2008 8:37 PM CDT up reply actions
After the All Star Break
Roy is 9-2 with a 2.29 ERA…
Before the break he was 7-8 with a 4.58 ERA
Go 'Stros!
That kills me.
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by Stephen Higdon on Sep 21, 2008 9:44 PM CDT up reply actions
He could have been a 20 game winner and Cy-Young no brainer.
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by Stephen Higdon on Sep 21, 2008 9:45 PM CDT up reply actions
To touch on DQ's "Cy Young" comment...
If the Astros luck into a playoff spot, then I think Berkman is really going to win the NL MVP.
Over at the SBN sabermetrics blog, they’ve got a listing of players by Wins-Produced-Above-Average. It’s adjusted for “clutchness” (whatever that means) and fielding. Berkman leads the NL. And he leads Pujols by more than a win. That’s pretty awesome.
Berkman deserves it. Even now, when he’s in a massive slump, he’s still getting on base. Without Berkman, there is no hope for an Astros season. Not even close.
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
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Cincinnati
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
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Houston
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
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Milwaukee
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0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
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Pittsburgh
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0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
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St. Louis
|
0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | Lost 0 |
(updated 2.14.2012 at 12:03 AM CST)
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