Houston Astros: Getting Back To The Basics

Our beloved Houston Astros.

What are we going to do with them?

This team has put us all on an almost never-ending emotional roller coaster from season’s start all the way up until the present.

Just one week ago, the team’s playoff hopes seemed to be slim to none as the team continued to slide while their divisional counterpart, the Texas Rangers kept on winning baseball games.

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But the Astros were able to string off some impressive wins this past weekend over the Rangers and had they won Friday’s game, we’d be talking about a chance to get the AL West title back, a title that’s rightfully ours but it was foolishly relinquished when the Astros got comfortable.

And that was the problem.

This team thought that they had the division locked up last month but with any professional sport, there are no guarantees.

It’s hit home quite hard for these Astros as they struggle to fight for their collective existence after the season is over.

It’s going to be quite difficult to catch the Rangers as they still have a 2.5-game divisional lead over the Astros.

Unless a total collapse happens, the Rangers will likely clinch right at the end of the week.

For the Wild Card, which is what the Astros are shooting for, they have a 0.5-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels and a 1.5-game lead over the Minnesota Twins.

The Angels continue to be a huge threat — winners of five straight — to the Astros’ hopes and that has turned every game into a “must-win” type situation.

On the other hand, the Astros face the Seattle Mariners tonight in a three-game set.

The Mariners are already looking toward next season — they’re 74-82 — as they’ve lost five straight.

This is the perfect situation where the Astros have the unique opportunity to take charge and control the playoff destiny.

After a day off of rest this Thursday, the head out to Phoenix to play their final series of the season against the up-and-down Arizona Diamondbacks.

Every single game is winnable and this team must play with the utmost of tenacity.

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We need to see a sense of urgency, just like this weekend, where there was a mix of cranking out the long ball and finding innovative ways to get on base.

What I saw this weekend, was the Astros that I’ve known to love and what has made them successful this season.

The starting pitching is still on-par while the bullpen has had their fair share of issues.

They’ve had the highest ERA in September out of all teams — over six — which unacceptable even on the loosest of terms.

The bullpen definitely needs to shore things up and it looks like they may be trending in the right direction even opposite the meltdown that Luke Gregerson had late in the game against Texas.