September 10, 2016: Astros

Unlike the Giants talked about earlier this week, there is only one team with the name Astros; they reside in Houston, which is where the Cubs find themselves this weekend.  Let’s do some quick things off the top of your head when you think of the Astros.

The Astrodome is one of the first things that pops to mind; long gone, the home of the Astros now is Minute Maid Park… wasn’t it called something else before this name?  I like the new field whatever it’s called.  The .short left field, the deep, up hill center field, the railroad tracks.  It’s unique if anything else.  The first person that comes to mind when I think of the Astros is Nolan Ryan.  That’s the team I remember him the most with.  Jose Cruz, Kevin Bass…. some of the older Astros I remember.  Collecting baseball cards when I was young led me to know and remember many of these old guys.

I remember one memorable Houston Astros game.  Doing this from memory, so maybe some of the details are off, but it was a playoff game against the Mets where Billy Hatcher hit the game winning home run.  I believe it was around 1986; they had this game playing at the Boys Club.  I remember it being really dramatic.  I kind of liked the old Houston Astros uniforms too.

For Sox fans, thinking of the Astros brings back the best memory of all time; the 2005 World Series Championship.  I remember them boycotting white socks during that series; little good that did them.  A sweep was the result, and the Killer B’s of Bagwell & Biggio would end up without a title.

Other guys I recall are Mike Scott and the Cubs own broadcaster, Jim Deshaies.  I also remember listening to the Astros broadcast years back; I really liked Deshaies then.  I think him and Len work really well together.
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On to some more current Astro relevance.  That is of course the year they drafted Mark Appel ahead of the Cubs; the Cubs of course selected Kris Bryant.  How many ways can I say thank you?  The history of the Cubs has been forever altered with the help of Houston.  It kind of reminds me of that Portland pick of Sam Bowie, which allowed the Bulls to draft the best player in history.  Now I’m not comparing Bryant to MJ, but just saying… maybe one day he will be looked at as the greatest Cub ever…. Just maybe he’ll be among the top MLB players.  It’s only his second year, and he really couldn’t be much better at this point.

He made his presence known in game 1 of the series hitting a 2 run homer in support of Lester’s 7 shutout frames.  The more I think about it, Lester should go Game 1 in the NLDS, and Hendricks Game 2.  That leaves Arrieta and Lackey for 3 & 4.  Although would we feel comfortable with Lester in a Game 5 winner take all game?

The Cubs dropped the 2nd game of the series which sets up the rubber match on ESPN Sunday Night; and yes, I will be watching that and not whatever football game is on.

With the Sox World Series and the Cubs drafting of Bryant, the Astros have played an important role in our history.  Being in the AL now, they could be a future World Series opponent of the Cubs.  Don’t think it will happen this year as many predicted, but with their young roster, it could happen.  To face and lose to both the Sox and Cubs in the World Series… that would definitely be a first.  I’d love to write that chapter of our history with the Astros.  Until then, we’ll have to settle for a series win on Sunday.  Magic number still declining….