Houston Astros: Five most devastating series in Astros history
The Best/Worst Season-1998 NLDS
This one didn’t make the cut on the actual list but I felt it deserved to be mentioned. While there weren’t any specific heartbreak moments, it was more just how high expectations were going into the post season, and how big a flop it ended up being.
If you’re not as familiar with this season, I’ll refresh your memory.
First off, not a lot of people remember that there were four killer B’s originally. It was after the team had acquired Sean Berry and Derek Bell to go alongside Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell that the moniker started. Obviously it changed as the Lance Berkmans and Carlos Beltrans of the world came along. But Berry, Bell, Biggio and Bagwell were the original four.
And in 1998, the killer B’s were buzzing along just fine as the Houston Astros lead the majors in runs scored and RBIs by seasons end. The offense was fine throughout the year, but at the mid-season point, the team wanted one more boost as they felt they needed more pitching. And boy did they ever get it in a trade with the Seattle Mariners.
When the Houston Astros traded for Randy Johnson, Johnson had actually been struggling to that point in the season. He had a 9-10 record and a 4.33 ERA in Seattle. Then he came to us. And all was right with the Astros world.
It was the first and only time the Astros broke the 100 win mark with a 102-60 record.
Look at these numbers he put up for us down the stretch.
A 10-1 record in 11 starts. Of those 11 starts, four were complete games. He pitched 84.1 innings, striking out 116 batters during that time and a 1.28 ERA to boot.
It was the first and only time the Houston Astros broke the 100 win mark with a 102-60 record. We were going to the World Series. No doubt.
And then…Kevin Brown happened. The Astros ran into a buzzsaw when they faced the San Diego Padres and their ace in the opening round of the 1998 playoffs. In game one, Brown threw a post season record 16 strikeouts giving up no runs through eight innings, leaving Randy Johnson no room for error and basically no chance to win. The Astros lost the game 2-1 after squeezing a run out of Trevor Hoffman in the ninth. Brown then pitched on three days rest in game three of the series and while he wasn’t nearly as dominant, he only gave up one run giving the Padres a 2-1 series lead.
The biggest disappointment is that the team had Randy Johnson going in game 4 against Sterling Hitchcock who was making his first ever post season start. Seemed like a certainty we’d go back to Houston. But instead, despite Randy Johnson holding up his end of the bargain giving up only one earned run in six innings, the Astros vaunted offense (as had become a pattern of the 1990’s Astros) fell flat.
Randy Johnson‘s phenomenal pitching in the series went unrewarded as he threw 14 innings, striking out 17 and yielding only three runs (two earned) in that span, and went 0-2 in his two starts.
The killer B’s went 6 for 51 in that series and the World Series aspirations went out with a whimper.
What could have been huh?