The games dwindle down to a merciful few

It's official.  The Houston Astros have tied the worst loss record of their history.  They have now lost 97 games this year with only 16 more to play.  They have the worst record in all of Major League Baseball.  Their next three games will be against the team with the best record in Major League Baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies.  By the time the Phillies leave town at the middle of the week, the Astros loss record could well stand at 100.

Their sorry won/loss record does not tell the whole story though.  Many, if not most, of their games have been interesting.  That is especially true of the last couple of months in which they have featured a team of mostly rookies, and very young rookies at that.  These guys have been fun to watch with their enthusiasm and their energy.  Moreover, they are a talented group and they do know how to play the game.  They show great promise for the future and give their loyal fans, like me, hope that we won't have to wait until we are old and gray (Well, older and grayer!) until we have a competitive team to support once again.

Meantime, as we anticipate the stars of our future, tonight we get to see the stars of our past.  Roy Oswalt will be pitching for the Phillies and Hunter Pence will be in right field. How strange to see them in those uniforms!  And Brad Lidge will be in the bullpen.  A few years ago, one would have thought those guys would be Astros for life, but things like that don't happen any more unless your name is Bagwell or Biggio.  It probably wouldn't even happen to them if they were playing today.

As the games dwindle down to a precious few, this season will certainly be one for Astros fans to remember (or try to forget) for more reasons than one, but we can at least hope that this will be the team's nadir and that we can look forward to brighter days ahead.  As the song from "Damn Yankees" said,  "Wait'll next year and hope..."

UPDATE:  Astros win 5-1!  Baseball is a funny game.

Comments

  1. SnapSeptember 12, 2011 at 1:54 PM

    Someone on Facebook said *the Phillies Astros are in town ... guess I'll go*!!! The youngsters have been entertaining. It will be interesting to see who makes the team next year and will Wandy be around (probably not ... a salary I'm sure they'd like to get rid of). Never dull and boring!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dorothy/The Nature of ThingsSeptember 12, 2011 at 2:36 PM

    It's baseball, Snap, and baseball is never boring! As someone once observed, baseball is only boring to boring people. And I really like these new young guys. I'm already looking forward to next year!

    ReplyDelete

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