The Houston Astros played their hearts out, I'm damn proud of them

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

I'll agree we should temper expectations but I hope that this generation of Astros does not end up like the 90's Atlanta Braves who dominated the national league and were the consensus "best team in baseball" for most of the decade but only managed 1 world series title.

Nah, the Braves were already starting to become a Buffalo Bills-type joke when they did finally win it. Nobody's won back-to-back World Series this century yet. The Astros didn't choke any more than the Giants did in the year between their championships.

The reason why we didn't win 108 games too is because our best hitters weren't consistently healthy and everyone took a dip.

Let's bear in mind, though, that the Astros' 2017 lineup produced numbers that compared favorably to the 1920s Yankees. The Braves with Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz/Millwood/Avery/Mercker etc. never enjoyed that in any given year during that run in the 90s. When you score like it's 1927, it's easier to give up 6+ runs and win, but we couldn't manage that this time around. Altuve, Correa, Springer, Gonzalez, Reddick - almost everyone except Bregman - took a dip in productivity, some more than others.

We could say "what if Jose's HR counted" but we could also say if the lottery numbers came up differently, one of us in here would have spent all day today on the phone with lawyers and financial advisers. But instead of good luck we had bad luck, and we weren't better. If we were better, one call wouldn't have changed everything.

Baseball fan wisdom is knowing the difference between bad luck and mismanagement, and/or choking. Choking is when you're a better team than the other and you still find a way to lose. Winning 100+ regular season games, then batting .182 and making Kevin Brown look like the greatest pitcher who lived - that's choking.

We've every reason to trust in A.J. Hinch and, most of all, to trust in Jeff Luhnow.

I'd bet Hinch has almost certainly had a heart-to-heart with Bregman over humility in the social media age.

Let the growing, maturing and healing commence - Let's go 'Stros

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Nah, the Braves were already starting to become a Buffalo Bills-type joke when they did finally win it. Nobody's won back-to-back World Series this century yet. The Astros didn't choke any more than the Giants did in the year between their championships.

The reason why we didn't win 108 games too is because our best hitters weren't consistently healthy and everyone took a dip.

Let's bear in mind, though, that the Astros' 2017 lineup produced numbers that compared favorably to the 1920s Yankees. The Braves with Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz/Millwood/Avery/Mercker etc. never enjoyed that in any given year during that run in the 90s. When you score like it's 1927, it's easier to give up 6+ runs and win, but we couldn't manage that this time around. Altuve, Correa, Springer, Gonzalez, Reddick - almost everyone except Bregman - took a dip in productivity, some more than others.

We could say "what if Jose's HR counted" but we could also say if the lottery numbers came up differently, one of us in here would have spent all day today on the phone with lawyers and financial advisers. But instead of good luck we had bad luck, and we weren't better. If we were better, one call wouldn't have changed everything.

Baseball fan wisdom is knowing the difference between bad luck and mismanagement, and/or choking. Choking is when you're a better team than the other and you still find a way to lose. Winning 100+ regular season games, then batting .182 and making Kevin Brown look like the greatest pitcher who lived - that's choking.

We've every reason to trust in A.J. Hinch and, most of all, to trust in Jeff Luhnow.

I'd bet Hinch has almost certainly had a heart-to-heart with Bregman over humility in the social media age.

Let the growing, maturing and healing commence - Let's go 'Stros

Lets see first you say the 90's Braves didn't have the hitting the Astro's had. then infer they were chokers contradicting your own definition of what choking is. I never said the Stro's choked just that they didn't have the same chemistry in 2018 that they did in 2017 due to a certain acquisition.


Nice strawman discussion you are having with yourself there. Continue...

[metalmancpa]

Originally Posted by Texas Minded

It just seemed that things would not fall their way in this series.

Umps didn't help that's for sure.

Sigh... yep, next year.

Beaten by a better team. But yes, Joe West and his crew definitely didn't have a good ALCS.

[SanJac]

Please don't blame Osuna acquisition for the Astros losing... that's ridiculous. Osuna can't be blamed for Correa's injury, Altuve's injury, McCuller's injury, Morton's injury, McCann's injury, Devinski's bad year, Peacock's bad year, etc. etc.

Strong pitching carried the Astros throughout the year. It's really amazing they held on to win the Division and won 103 games with all the injuries they had. Verlander and Cole were workhorses. Bregman was team MVP.

The team will continue to compete for Championships in the next few years... We do need to beef up our starting pitching though which is getting a bit long in the tooth...

I love this team and though I was disappointed they lost to Boston I mostly felt bad for them because they are such a great group of guys. They'll be back though!

[fashiongal]

I’m proud of them. After watching almost every televised game since the season started, hubby and I are going through serious Astros withdrawal! Can’t wait until next Spring. Hope they all rest up and get healthy.