| Douglas Benton. 4th August, 2005 - 3:44 pm
 If I had made this claim when they were 16-31, I probably would have been fired. Now fast forward to the present day and the claim doesn?t seem so far fetched.
The Astros now stand at 59-48, two games ahead of the Washington Nationals for the wild card and while success bloomed late once again in Houston, the formula stayed the same.
The Astros will either sink or swim with their pitching, both in the rotation and the bullpen. First, the starting rotation with Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt, and Andy Pettitte can match any rotation in baseball, and will prove very dangerous in a playoff series. When you crunch the numbers, the Astros can start one of these guys in each of the five games in a short series and up to six times in a seven game series. Pitching is key in the playoffs and if these aces can go deep into games, they can then hand it over to their strong bullpen.
While the bullpen might not be as deep as other contenders, the man at the back end is a good as they get. Closer Brad Lidge is the best closer in the game if you just look at his stuff alone because he can finish a hitter off with his high 90?s fastball or screw them into the ground with his devastating slider. Lidge also has the ability to pitch two innings at a time, which will help keep the Astros? specialist rested for key situations.
With so much pitching at their fingertips, the Astros? hitters don?t always get the respect they deserve. Second baseman Craig Biggio is having a rebirth of a season, which can be attributed to his move back to the familiar infield, and third baseman Morgan Ensberg is quietly becoming one of the best hitting third baseman in the National League. With Jeff Bagwell out with a shoulder injury, Lance Berkman has stepped into his big shoes to take over the power role in the middle of the line-up.
Very rarely does a wild card team come into postseason play as the favorite, but that just might happen this year. The reason for this is because of their slow start, the Cardinals pushed them so far down in the standings, and they couldn?t crawl out. Now they are playing the best baseball in the National League and rolling toward October success. |
