Atros Report August 24, 2003

Houston Astros 68-62
1st in N.L. Central tied with the St. Louis Cardinals

CINCI AND CHI-TOWN

The Astros entered a 4 game series with the Chicago Cubs with a 2 game division lead. After losing 8 of 13 to the Cubs and Reds, Houston is now tied for the division lead with the Cardinals. Houston continues to struggle and it is a testament to the weakness of the Central that the Stros are still in 1st place in the division. The Astros lost 3 of the 4 games in Chicago and then lost 2 of 3 in Cincinnati. The series loss to Chicago was painful because of it’s large effect on the division race but the series loss to the Reds was just as demoralizing because Cincinnati was a team the Astros had dominated this season. The Astros then headed home looking to turn things around and managed to take 2 of 3 from the Cubs. However they followed it up with another disappointing series loss against the Red, losing 2 of 3. Over the next 2 weeks the Astros have home and away series with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres.

OFFENSIVE WOES

The biggest factor in the Astros recent struggles has been the offensive inconsistency. The past 2 weeks the offense has averaged 7 runs per game in wins and 2.375 runs per game in losses. The pitching staff does not have such a glaring differential. In the same span the pitching staff has allowed an average of 3.4 runs in wins and 5.25 runs in losses. An inconsistent offense won’t cut it for the stretch run or the playoffs. The Houston offense is too talented to be struggling the way they have this season. If a turn around doesn’t occur in the next month it will be time look towards 2004.

MOVES

August 14 - The Astros finally sign Rick White after the mix-up a week earlier. To make room for White the Astros sent Kirk Saarloos back to AAA. White will be used in long relief, mostly when the Astros starters struggle.
August 18 - With Jason Lane back healthy the Astros called him up and sent Colin Porter to the minors. Lane will get a few at-bats pinch-hitting and playing occasionally when Berkman, Biggio, or Hidalgo has a day off.
August 20 - In a somewhat surprising move Houston released catcher Greg Zaun and promoted Raul Chavez from the minors. Brad Ausmus should continue to be the primarily catcher but Chavez has been hitting well this year and is almost as good defensively as Ausmus.
August 21 - Jose Vizcaino returned from DL and Eric Bruntlett was sent down to make room. Vizcaino hopefully will provide some decent help off the bench.

F.I.C LOCAL SPIN

With the ongoing struggles and unreliable offense Houston fans continue to question the teams heart and desire. The offense shows flashes of brilliance but almost immediately lapses back to its usual anemic production. Through all this many Astros hitters remain emotionless and thus appear to not be pushing themselves. Strikeout after strikeout with runners on is a continuing annoyance to die hard fans. However the problem may be a bit more external than a lack of heart. At times it seems that every hitter on the team is doing nothing except swing for the fences. This leads to many strikeouts, high fly balls, and weakly hit ground balls to the pull side of the hitter. When the offense is producing, as it should the hitters work the count and make solid contact. Perhaps the Stros hitters need to focus on hitting like this every at-bat instead swinging wildly for glory.