Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospetus ($) observed the following regarding the Stros’ sweep of the Cardinals:
The Astros took advantage of the losses by the Cubs and Giants, completing a sweep of the Cardinals to tie those two at 70 defeats. If they run the table this weekend against the Rockies–and they’ve won 15 straight home games–they can do no worse than a tie for the wild-card slot.
What a waste of two-and-a-half years. Someone owes Larry Dierker an apology.
Ouch!
Tom– awesome site.
I have something I would like to ask you in private; please email me. Thanks.
Good point. Dierker was underappreciated. Wonder if we can get him back…
I owe Dierker that apology.
I thought Dierker had lost the club and his cool, and that Williams would be an improvement.
Maybe that first was true to some extent, but obviously I blew it with the second.
But hey, at least we bloggers admit when we’re wrong, right?
Kevin, I actually think you were right that it was time to replace Dierker as manager, as he had come somewhat unglued under the pressure of the job. That was particularly noticeable in comparison to the easy going nature of his first couple of seasons, and I think that did not wear well on the Stros’ players.
OTOH, the hiring of Williams was a mistake from the start. This is rank speculation, but I’m betting that the decision to hire Williams was a Tal Smith move. Williams just never seemed like a Hunsicker guy to me.
I don’t think firing Dierker was indefensible – there was dissent in the clubhouse, and it’s easier to get rid of the manager than Biggio and Bagwell – but I never liked Jimy. I thought his tenure in Boston was enough of a reason to avoid hiring him. I must say, I’m surprised at how well they’ve played under Garner, from whom I expected little. Whatever the cause of their resurgence was, I’ll admit to being wrong about Scrap Iron.
A few random thoughts about the baseball playoffs
What can you say about the Astros? They won 36 of their last 46 games, which is just outrageous. They…