vator wrote:With each passing game, the feeling grows more and more that this is going to be a bad season for us...I hope I'm wrong. Anybody out there have any optimisim and encouragment for me?
Well...I think our offense should be pretty good and more fun to watch this season.
However, I've said many times(even though it's stating the obvious) that our rotation is weak, and even Oswalt isn't as studly as he once was(still damn good don't get me wrong). Our bullpen should hopefully be solid but I have my doubts about that as well. It's hard to say until the real season starts because ST doesn't really mean jack.
If our pitching is as bad as I think it will be, we'll be losing alot of 10-8 games and it's going to be a long season. However, we do play in the NL and our division isn't really that good. I know the Cubs are pretty solid, the Brewers are good(not as good as they think IMO), and everyone else will be battling it out for 3rd place. It's not unlikely we can be competitive but I just don't see how we can expect to win enough games to get into the postseason with the pitching staff we have. We'll be relying ALOT on guys like Wandy/Woody/Backe to have good seasons(Wandy was great at home last year but sucked on the road, and Backe, well who knows what we'll get from him?), and hoping some other guys like Chacon/Sampson can be pleasant surprises. I don't know what to expect out of the bullpen since it's so different than last year. Will Valverde really be an upgrade over Lidge? Sure he's probably good for 30-40 saves but how many of those will be the patented Lidge "heart attack" saves? Who is our setup guy? Villareal? Brocail? Borkowski?
Just too many questions with the pitching, and admittedly I haven't seen too many games this spring to get a good feel for some of the guys we have.
The lineup is the one place I'm not too concerned about, as long as we stay healthy. Bourn looks like he can be the leadoff guy we need(all he has to do is get on base and steal some bases for us, which he can do). With Pence/Fat Elvis/Fatter Lee/Roid Boy in the middle of the lineup we can do some damage. Towles is an upgrade over Ausmus(and could end up being really good actually), Wig/Loretta aren't bad, and Matsui, well he sucks balls but he has speed and if they are smart they will bat him 8th.
But we have some speed in that lineup and guys who can knock the crap out of the ball so I expect us to score some runs and be much more consistant offensively. Problem is it won't matter if we score 6 runs a game if we're giving up 7.
I'm somewhat optimistic overall because I think in the NL, in our division, with the lineup we have and a decent overall defense(only real weak spots being in LF, SS, 3B, and even those guys aren't terrible), and with some of the arms we do have(Oswalt is still a pretty damn good #1 option, and Chacon and Sampson and some of the guys we have in the 'pen should be solid), we could possibly contend atleast for the WC. If Backe can stay healthy, if Wandy can improve a bit on the road, if if if if....
...well, only time will tell. I'll remain optimistic for now that we have a shot at being competitive throughout the season but we shall see. I suppose this is a pretty long reply to your post vator but ultimately I'll just say that I think we're either going to be REALLY bad or be competing for a WC spot up to the end. I suppose it won't hurt to bust this out though:
Can't wait for the season to start! Go Astros! Ride that Twinkie Road to Victory!
