Thursday, July 23, 2009

If this is a dream, please ... ...

... don't pinch me or try to wake me up!

My Astros are now tied with Chuck's Cubbies for 2nd place - only one game back of the 1st place St. Louis Cardinals - in the National League's Central division. Criminy, yowsers, etc!

How the devil did we ever do that? Well, we took the first two of four games against the Dodgers in that series out in Los Angeles and just last night completed a 3-game sweep of the Cardinals in our park! Hooray for home field and last at bat advantage!!

Since acquiring Chris Coste from the Philadelphia Phillies off of the waiver wires on July 10th, the Astros are 8-3. I don't want to say that he has made the team better or made it gel all by himself, but it certainly helps that he's been swinging the bat well and has been able to fill in for Lance Berkman (strained calf) at first base for the last three games.

We're "off" today ... a well-deserved respite and a chance to take a deep breath before focusing on our next opponents at home, the "hapless" Mets. Boy, do I hate that adjective! I heard it over and over again these past few days and I don't like it even the least little bit!! Talk about locker fodder!!!

So what if the Mets have been on a downward slide lately? So what??

After the 3-game series with the Mets, we travel to Chicago (a 4-game set, including a makeup game from May) and then St. Louis (3 games) before returning back home on August 3rd to face the San Francisco Giants. Our next 'break' is not scheduled until August 6th.

There are a whole lot of other teams in 'our club' who will be facing tough foes in the next week or week and a half. However, my son-in-law's Red Sox are not amongst them! (You can check out their schedule for yourself, if you don't believe me.) Tammy's Yankees have - at least what would appear at first glance to be - a far tougher schedule. Steven's Blue Jays fall somewhere in the middle.

Patrick's Braves, currently, have a record of 8-2 in their last ten games. Unfortunately, they are playing in the same division as the Philadelphia Phillies and have a formidable schedule coming up against the Brewers and Marlins (both away) and then the Dodgers at home.

My Astros' National League Central division has been, perhaps, the most interesting to watch since the All Star break. Three of the teams in this division - Brewers, Reds and Pirates - are scheduled to play against the Padres and Diamondbacks during this next week or so. Those three teams we could probably term as having the 'lightest' schedule, but one never knows, right?

I know I said that there would not be another major update of 'our club' until August 3rd, but too much has been happening not to post one of an interim nature, wouldn't you agree?

Before I sign off on this post, however, - and I sure hope I'm not jinxing my Astros by publishing it! - there's one other thing I'd like to say ... ... Michael Bourne, who has been getting hit after hit recently - and is the National League's premier base stealer, was loudly booed last night by the fans and decried in no uncertain tones of condemnation by Milo Hamilton (our radio announcer) when he failed to deliver (twice!) with men in scoring position.

A case of, "What have you done for me lately?", I guess. I don't like that attitude. I don't like it at all, folks! Not even the least little bit!!
Let's hear it for Michael! Yea, Michael!!

Later!

3 comments:

Tammy said...

Goldenrod! I about got my socks knocked off when I read this post. Your team is coming back quite nicely, I'd say. It's amazing what a few weeks can do for each team, isn't it?

Go Astros! :)

Chuck said...

Thanks for sweeping the Cards. We play so erratically we need all the help we can get!

steven said...

hi goldenrod, you see i wish i could have predicted the success of your boys but i couldn't. i successfully predicted the mid-season demise of the jays based on many many many similar seasons!! it's exciting when teams don't follow tradition and even though it's a team sport, i do think that the energy of one person can affect the whole team in a good (or sometimes a not-so-good way!) have a lovely day. steven