Having been back home for a few days now, and being, exclusively, amongst Houstonians, I've had a several conversations with friends, friends of friends, parents friends, etc., about next season. While clack so graciously crunched the numbers and suggested that our offense might not be as bad as we all thought it would be, there is no doubt about it—in my mind—we're going to be bad. No matter how clutch our bullpen is next year; no matter how much Cecil Cooper learned from his many mistakes last year; but maybe if Mike Hampton returns to his glory days somehow; are we going to be able to outperform our true talent level (read Pythagorean record) but as much as we did in 2008 to feign contention. Further, our management isn't even feigning building a championship. There is, of course, also the matter of the recession too...
Getting back to the conversations I've been having...They've all centered around the question: Will Drayton ever learn a lesson in all of this if people flock to the stadium and buy overpriced cokes, beer, and peanuts? A lot of people have opined that they're mad as hell and they're not gonna take it anymore; that something being not going to Minute Maid Park, all season long.
In the interest of me being objective, I'm going to say nothing good or bad about this strategy/decision. I just want to get a read from the most diehard of Astros fans: the denizens patrons of the Crawfish Boxes.