plsnorage

Pittsburgh fans are going to be pissed if the Astros sweep them. Their wild-card chances are on thin ice. And also they failed to sign Mark Appel after drafting him. He's from Houston and grew up an Astros fan. Watch him agree to sign with us and we draft him number one in next June's draft. But it doesn't matter since we will be an American League team.

We screwed the Phillies and Pirates chances to win the wild card and then switch leagues before the dust has time to settle down. LOL, they can get payback in Interleague Play but it will never be the same unless the Astros play the Phillies or Pirates in the World Series one day.

I'm still hoping the Phillies win the second wild card spot but they're 77-74 and three games back of the 80-71 Cardinals who took care of business and swept the Astros in their last series. Had the Phillies swept the four-game series with the Astros last week like they were favored to do each game, and not lost three out of four, they would have been right there and the favorites to take the wild card.

As of right now, the Phillies have a better team than the Cardinals (IMO) but it could be too little and too late...

The Pirates are 5.5 games out and the Astros can just about eliminate them if they sweep them or even taking two out of three games would get the job done. I just don't see the Pirates winning the wild card at this point. Their offense is starting to sputter at the wrong time - scoring 1, 1 and 0 in three of their last four games.

It seems like the Brewers and Dodgers have the best chance to overtake the Cardinals for the second wild-card spot, but hopefully the Phillies can win just about every game left this season. It's going to take that kind of finish for the Phillies to get it done.

Well, at least the Pirates didn't get swept. A big 8-1 win today. Their bats finally woke up with 18 total hits and they left 16 men on base. They could have scored at least 15 runs in this game. They still have a small chance to finish with a winning record this season.

A.J. Burnett was sensational also. 8 innings, 11 strikeouts and only 4 hits allowed. Why did the Yankees let this stud go?

I wish the Astros had a veteran like that. He's still a stopper and puts up good numbers even on a so-so team like the Pirates.

This post was edited by Madmartigan on Sep 23 2012 03:42pm

and that is why i was reluctant to bet on us today lol, had a feeling the Pirate offense were gonna destroy us.

They have too many good hitters to be shut down for so long. It's a shame they went through that slump the past week and cost themselves a shot at the wild card. Pittsburgh fans have to be hoping for a winning record -- even a .500 record would be good for them. The Astros will be bad for three or four years in a row but we should be good soon. The Pirates have been so bad since 1992 (20 years in a row and counting)...

Ending the season on a good note.

Ending the season on a four-game winning streak! Let's hope they close it out tonight and win tomorrow afternoon's final game.

Bo Porter as the new manager, Bagwell and Biggio being inducted into the Hall of Fame this winter (fingers crossed), new logo and uniforms to be unveiled in December, the move to the American League West, and likely two or three of our top prospects will make the team out of Spring Training - Jonathan Singleton and Jarred Cosart are the most ready right now. It's possible Delino DeShields Jr. will make the team also.

We're still a few years away from Carlos Correa, Domingo Santana and Ariel Ovando making the team. All three of those players have five-tool ability. They're talented but way too young. Santana is the oldest of the three players and he just turned 20 years old two months ago. Ovando turned 19 last month and Correa turned 18 last month.

The Astros will be an exciting team to watch in the AL West by 2014 and hopefully all the way to 2024 they'll be a playoff contender. They may be good for a long time.

And oh yeah, we'll probably draft Mark Appel number one overall in the 2013 MLB Draft next June. Another Major League ready arm to add with Cosart.

The Astros payroll will also be at $12 million next year - lowest in baseball. When they are young and talented at almost every position by 2014 (when all of those guys I mentioned are up on the big league roster), they'll be able to put together a stacked team by going on a free agency shopping spree.

Owner Jim Crane says he plans to have a payroll around $110 million in the next few years. LOL, that's like $100 million they'll have to spend from where they are now. They can re-sign guys to bigger contracts, and also add three or four big-name free agents (superstar caliber players) on top of that.

Houston is building the team the right way. They already gutted their payroll and put together a strong farm system over the past few years. They'll be ready to compete with the big boys when the time is right.

Astros score 3 runs in the top of the 9th (Justin Maxwell three-run homer) to tie it 4-4 at Chicago. LOL, the Cubs bullpen.
Come on Astros, end the season with 4 wins in a row. They've got to get this game to extra innings.