It’s the All-Star break and the Houston Astros now have a chance to take a look at the first half of the season and decide where they succeeded, failed and need improvement. They are currently at .500 for the season and have clearly overachieved. I did not expect them to have this good of a record at this point.
Successes
Starting Pitching - Is the starting pitching the best in the league? Far from it. However, I think everyone will agree that the Astros’ starters have greatly exceeded expectations. At the beginning of the season, I figured that it would be a bonus if every starter got 10 wins. I was hoping for 12 which would be a total of 60 wins from the rotation. Oswalt has struggled with his wins, but he has had good games with bad luck. Wandy has been great with a few games where he stumbled. Brian Moehler has recovered from his horrendous start. Hampton wasn’t too good at the beginning of the season, but he has figured things out (except for his last start). Ortiz has been good for some games and then really bad. Paulino has been the same. I still see the starting pitching as being a positive for the first half. They haven’t given up and seem determined to win.
Stolen Bases - The Astros haven’t been known as a base stealing team, but with Bourn having such a breakout year on the bases, they are now a threat to steal in every game. The team has 61 stolen bases and they will build upon that.
Failures
Hitting - Some of the players like Tejada and Pence are doing good at the plate, but the majority of our players are not holding up their end of the bargain. Of particular note is Lance Berkman who is definitely having an off year. I do want to make special note of Michael Bourn. His hard work in the off-season has been evident in 2009 with a great season at the plate compared to 2008.
Defense - The Astros have been really good defensively with the exception of Tejada. Miguel had a great defensive season in 2008, but, this year, he has 12 errors. That’s almost 25% of the Astros’ total errors (44). Next on the list is Berkman with 6. Makes me miss Adam Everett even more.
Needs to Improve
Berkman needs to hit better. If he can get us an extra run every game, that could mean a great deal. Miguel Tejada has GOT to play better on the field. Twelve errors is unacceptable for a season, much less for a half season. The starting pitching needs to continue to grind it out. Missing on this list is the bullpen. I don’t think they have been a success or a failure, but rather in the middle. They need to get better as well.
Houston is 3.5 games out of first place. They have a shot at the playoffs either as a division winner or as the Wild Card, but they have to buckle down and not give up. This is their time now… the second half of the season. They usually start playing better and win loads of games. They can easily overtake the Cardinals and Brewers.
Posted by macavityabc on July 13, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I think Berkman is back. Or he was for the last month or so. He’s raised his average from below .200 to over .270. He’s in the top ten in home runs and in the top twenty and RBIs, and considering his terrible start, that’s great. After the All-Star Game last year, he went downhill fast. If that happens again, the Astros are probably doomed. Not that they aren’t already doomed. They’d have to win at least 46 games (or more) to get into the play-offs, and their schedule after the AS game is brutal.
Posted by superpowers on July 13, 2009 at 6:16 pm
we need to beat as many Central opponents as we can. No excuse to lose anymore games against the Pirates and the Reds. Mind you, that is only 9 more games.