It is Still Early

I sat down to watch the Astros game yesterday. Big mistake. The ultimate rout was 10 to 2. Sigh. I know it is still early and the team has historically been a second half team but... I read somewhere that the Houston Astros' payroll is in the neighborhood of $93 million. At this point if I were Drayton McLain, I would think about asking for a refund. He paid a lot of money to dump players to get power hitters. We all knew the pitching would be suspect. At this point we are all a little numb.

All the power hitters are playing softball. We are supposed to have a lineup that a pitcher can not walk one to get to a weaker hitter. So far our big bats are being used as fans to cool the air. Berkman, Lee, Tejada, Pence are all trying but even when they do get some hits, too many runners are left on base. Funny that was a problem last year.

Oh and then we hear that Miguel Tejada fessed up that he is not 31 but 33. It seems that when he first entered the big leagues it was suggested that he lie about his age. What that two years means who knows. Now the media guides will have to be amended.

Pitchers are still trying to find home plate. Even the war horse Roy Oswalt has had no real sucess. That should have been a given. Wandy Rodriguez is doing better than Oswalt. Go figure. Even when the team has a good lead the bullpen frequently lets the starters down. And at this point when I see Jose Valverde warm up I think seriously about changing the channel. With 1 save, 2 blown saves and a whopping 11.37 era in 6 games, it is enough to want Brad Lidge back.

Of course the Washington Nationals are not having much luck either. I wonder if the Pope said a prayer for them while he was at the stadium. Maybe the Astros should just decide to play all the other slow starting teams. So far the Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers lead the best of the worst with 7-9 records. The Astros and Giants are tied at second with 6-10 records. We could have it worse. The Detroit Tigers are suffering with a meager 5-11 record. But the lowest of the low honor goes to the Washington Nationals at 4-12.

Well, shall we all dig out our crystal balls and see where these teams will be say in July? Or where will they be at the end of September? If things don't significantly improve I wonder which or if any of the managers of these early losers could be dismissed. Of course all of these teams could turn things around and be on top. It is still early.

On the other hand I could watch the Houston Rockets who actually made it to the NBA playoffs. Wonder how long they will stay?