Well, for Stros fans, the end of the 2005 World Series certainly did not turn out not to be as fulfilling as the ride to get there.
Nevertheless, the past two days have been a ton of fun and filled with exciting, nailbiting baseball. This was not your typical World Series sweep as each of the four games went down to the wire and could have literally gone either way. The White Sox are the better team overall and clearly deserve to be World Champions, but the Stros certainly made them earn it.
Interestingly, the first 24 innings of the Series generated more runs than expected from these two relatively weak hitting and strong pitching clubs — the Sox scored 17 runs and the Stros 13. However, the final innings of the Series reverted to the expected form — the White Sox scored a total of 3 runs in their final 18 innings, yet won Games 3 and 4 because the Stros scored only 1 run on 6 hits (four singles and two doubles) in their final 19 innings. In the end, the Sox slightly superior bullpen depth and better overall hitting performance in the Series was the difference.
The atmosphere at Minute Maid Park each night was electric and quite an experience. The weather for each game was absolutely perfect, and the capacity crowds both nights stood for a good part of each tantalizing game. There is nothing quite like the concentrated excitement of attending a Major League Baseball playoff game. And, by the way, Houston’s own Lyle Lovett performed in his typically classy manner during Game 4 while singing an absolutely superb rendition of “God Bless America” during the 7th inning stretch.
So, now it’s on to what will be a busy and eventful off-season for the Stros. The club faces the probable retirement of two of its future Hall of Famers — Roger Clemens and Jeff Bagwell — while accomodating the aging veteran Craig Biggio on his quest for 3,000 hits (it will probably take him two more seasons to achieve that record). The club faces big question marks in left field, catcher, and in its starting pitching after Roy O and Andy Pettitte, but Brandon Backe put on another outstanding playoff pitching performance in Game 4 and the Stros have a host of young arms in their minor league system that are close to MLB quality at this point. So, continued solid Stros pitching appears to be a reasonable expectation.
However, the continuation of the downward trend in the Stros’ overall hitting remains a knawing problem, so I am hopeful that the club’s futility in that area during the World Series will prompt the Stros to be active participants in the trade and free agent markets this off-season. The Berkman-Oswalt-Ensberg nucleus is basically sound, but upgrades in hitting are probably essential if the club is going to contend for another pennant and World Series berth in 2006.
That said, this was an improbable and wonderful season for the Stros organization. I was one of the few who predicted before the season that this club could contend for the playoffs, but even an optimist such as me had no inkling that this club would battle toe-to-toe for the World Series Championship. This Stros club has a big collective heart, and this season has proven that such a heart is every bit as important as the ability it supports.
It was a great run, Stros. Thanks for letting us ride along.
I will be the first to confess that I did not follow the Astros as closely during the regular season as I tried to during the playoffs, so I pose this question to Tom and others who have more observational data than I.
Who was the Astros’ biggest underachiever during the playoffs? Was it Brad Lidge or Morgan Ensberg?
Although I did not see a lot of Astros games, the ones I did see were the last regular season series against the Cubs, the NLCS against the Cardinals, and of course the World Series. Lidge blew games in all of those. He was advertised as “unhittable”, but it looked like hitters figured out how to attack him by the end of the year.
And Morgan Ensberg? Pick one stance in the box and stay with it, will ya? He led the Astros in homers? Over the last 20 games, it seemed like he should have led them in grounding into double plays, key strike outs with runners in scoring position, and check swing taps to the first baseman. After all, has anyone EVER seen an opposing team issue an intentional walk to the #3 hitter with a base open in a game situation, in order to pitch to the clean up hitter? If the players did not have their names on the back of their jerseys, I would have thought that Ensberg was actually Brad Ausmus, given what I had read on this blog this year…..
So, as the ‘Stros now begin to prepare for 2006, where will the hitting come from that they need to compliment their great starting pitching? Superficial analysis says that they should dip into the free agent market to get a right handed hitter with some pop in his bat for that short porch in left field. And get a clean up hitter that teams pitch around instead of try to get to…..
Still, my cap’s off to this year’s ‘Stros, who climbed higher on the ladder than any team from Texas before them. And I echo Tom’s opinion that a lot of the reason for their success was the heart and competitiveness they showed. Thanks, guys.
jrb
I would like to tip my cap to the Stros. I live in Chicago, avid Sox fan and a daily reader. Sorry it could not come out in your favor but we have struggled for so long that it is a relief to finally win. I am sure the Stros will experience the same feelings in the very near future.
As an outsider looking in, a few players here and there and your in for the ride of your life, winning the World Series.
Given the history of the Sox ownership, I am sure at least 2-3 of our players will be available in the off season. I won’t say “wait until next year” because the Cubs have that one patented.
GO STROS ! GO SOX !
Where’s Carlos Beltran when you need him?
Just kidding. Only about 125 days until spring training!
Remember when Asmus said it was asinine to suggest putting the tying run on base in Game 5 of the NLCS? The White Sox put the go ahead run in scoring position by walking Berkman, just to get to Morgan Ensberg. That’s embarrasing.
What about an upgrade at shortstop. Adam Everett is the weakest hitter on the club, and that’s counting Brad Ausmus. Ausmus has job security – the pitcher love him. Everett, while a great fielder, isn’t much help at the plate.
We were robbed! Houstonians should invade Chicago to seek revenge. Thank God that I’m not a sore loser. In that case, I would really get mean and nasty.
One thing Houston fans must realize, Drayton picked up Clements and Pettitte to get us to a World Series and it happened! The result is not what we wanted, but you have to admit that this is a gritty team.
What I was most impressed is that we have some young talented players. Burke seems to have an eye for watching the ball, he was the catalyst this post season in several games. Need to get him to work in the off season in the outfield a little more and get some experience.
Tavaras had a great rookie season, Jose needs to work on his eye and bunting, but he will be important to us for next year.
All in all I was pleased what we did this season and look forward to next season..
Jim Bob, Lidge was not as dominant this season as last, but that simply means that he returned to being a far above-average reliever from having one of the best seasons that any reliever has ever had. Really, only the Pujols shot could be construed as a major blunder by Lidge. The Podsednik homer was a fluke and it’s hard to criticize him for giving up the run last night. He got the ground ball; it simply had eyes.
As for Ensberg, he really was not the same after his hand injury this season. My sense is that it bothered him throughout the playoffs. Frankly, Ensberg is not as good as he was during the first half of the season and not as bad as he was during the playoffs. His career stat line is likely to be about what he was during the second half of the season, which is a 20-25 RCAA a year player. That’s still pretty darn good.
Howard, as for Everett, he clearly costs the club runs at the plate, but his excellent defense gains some of those back. Consequently, if the club can fill in the holes at other positions, the Stros should stay with Everett at short, particularly given the cost of upgrades at that position.
Well said.