There's Always Next Year (Reprise)

It's Halloween. It's my nephew Isaac's birthday. It's the week of the Hindu holiday Diwali. It's the last week of Daylight Savings. And, oh yeah, it's game 4 of the World Series...

When your team isn't in the playoffs and the teams that you've pretended to be cheering for have dropped out before the Main Event, it's hard to remember that the baseball season isn't over already. I watched a bit of the Phillies games (the ones where Oswalt pitched), and took a passing glance at how Berkman did in the Yankees games. But once it got down to that Other Texas Team and Barry Bonds' old team, I lost interest. I guess I have to admit that being an Astros fan isn't quite the same thing as being a baseball fan. I love the game, but I love it more when my guys are on the field. It's a bummer for the advertising community -- I'm probably more typical than not, and this year's World Series is going to be a washout for advertisers. (I checked that out with my in-law Bob, who writes for Advertising Age.)

I have a confession to make: Although I did tell my in-law Bob and Frank from the office that I was cheering for Philadelphia, because of Oswalt, I had mixed feelings about the Phillies losing the pennant race. Yeah, it would have been great to see Oswalt pitching in the World Series. But in my heart of hearts, did I really want to see him pitching there in some other team's jersey? I'm a bit ambivalent about this. Maybe there's a bit of justice in his helping his new team get soooooo close - and then losing. He should have stayed with us. You know, we're going all the way... next year. There's always next year.

I don't have any ambivalence at all about Berkman not making it to the World Series in his Yankee stripes. On principle I cheer against all New York teams, even though both of my sons, their wives, and their unborn children reside in Brooklyn. Berkman was our guy forever, like Bagwell, like Biggio -- and then he wasn't anymore. I've heard musings about his coming back to the Astros next year. Why do we want him back? Batting average under .250? Only 14 homers and 58 RBIs this season? Was his sub-par year an anomaly or is he over the hill. Didn't the Little Pumas disband? I'm not holding my breath waiting for his return. Don't get me wrong - I loved Berkman when he played for the Astros. He was always fun to photograph at Spring Training. But he went over to the dark side. Let's play the young guys. They weren't 100 percent in September. But you know, there's always next year. 

One piece of sad news for fans: Bagwell won't be returning as the pitching coach next year. I was looking forward to seeing him in an Astros uniform at Spring Training next March, but he's decided not to re-sign due to family reasons. Hard to blame him. He doesn't need the cash, and his daughters are still young. But it was always great to see him in the dugout during the games in the second half of this season. I may still get lucky and see him at Spring Training - he still works for the team and comes to Kissimmee for a week or two, hanging out at minor league practice, and sitting with the coaches during the Astros games.

The schedules for Spring Training and the regular season are out, and it's not good news for this Fan in Exile. I always plan my trip to Kissimmee to coincide with the week that has the most home games. The tentative schedule that has been posted is awful -- the home games are mostly on alternating days. If I go the first week, I can see 4 games. But I'd rather go later in the month, when the starting pitchers are throwing a bit longer. Hopefully, more games will get scheduled between now and January, when tickets go on sale. For the regular season, the Astros are coming to Washington again in September -- but it's a weekend series. Since I can't go to the Sabbath games, that means I'll only get to see them once in DC this year. I checked to see when the Astros will be playing the Mets, thinking that I could go up and see my soon-to-be-born grand babies and catch a ball game too -- and they're scheduled to be in NY on Passover. Yes, there's always next year -- but it looks like I'll be watching it all on mlb.tv.

Happy Halloween. Happy Birthday, Isaac! Diwali Mubarek to my Indian friends! Oh, is there a World Series game tonight?

There's always next year.

GAME 162: There's Always Next Year

GAME 162 - October 3: Astros 4, Cubs 0 [Happy Birthday Joel!]

The long cold baseball-less winter is imminent. Oh yeah, I know that the 2010 season isn't over. Some teams are going to the playoffs. I'll watch some of the playoff games, cheering for the Phillies, hoping that Roy Oswalt makes the most of his trade. Cheering against the Yankees just on principle, even if the Puma's playing for them. But for the Astros Fan in Exile, the season ended today, and it's a long gap before pitchers and catchers arrive in Kissimmee.

Figeroa pitched the season finale on 3 days rest, with another shutout performance to add to his win over the Reds' B team last week. He even got a hit -- it was about the worst excuse for a hit ever, barely made it out of the batter's box. But the catcher didn't play it fast enough, and give Figgy credit for hoofing it to first base. Meanwhile, the catcher unwisely tried to catch him for the third out, made an errant throw, and allowed a run to score. Made a nice case for himself for the rotation race next spring. The other Astros runs scored on a solo homer by El Caballo, and two RBI singles by Tommy Manzella.

The Astros scored their 4 runs early, so it was a relatively relaxing ballgame. No big heart-thumping moments, even considering that the two teams were in a battle for the honor of fourth place in the NL Central division. Happily the Astros secured that distinction, leaving the Cubbies down in fifth, only surpassed in awfulness by the truly terrible Pirates (105 losses!). Finishing the season 10 games under .500 was disappointing, but it was a net improvement from the hole the Astros dug for themselves in the first half, before we sold off our stars to contenders. On the other hand, it's also an improvement over 2009, so we're going in the right direction.

The Astros final game of the season was nowhere near as exciting as the Phillies/Braves game, which went down to the wire, with Billy Wagner striking out the side to save a 8-7 win for Atlanta. It was do or die for the Braves - they're still alive for the wild card spot. The Phillies, of course, already won their division. Meanwhile the Nats went to the 14th inning to win a meaningless duel against the Mets - the winning run was a bases loaded walk. The Rays (formerly satanic Devil Rays) are taking 12 innings to eke out a win over KC, cementing their lead over the Yankees in the AL East. But who cares? They're both going to the playoffs. Out on the west coast, Brad Ausmus is catching his last major league game in LA, before retiring and perhaps reinventing himself as a coach or manager. (Wouldn't it be cool to have Bagwell and Ausmus together again in Astros uniforms?) In a game that matters more, the Padres and Giants are duking it out to figure out who's going to the playoffs; the outcome feeds into some arcane three-way algorithm with the Braves. One of my Facebook friends mentioned something about football games today. Football? Are they allowed to play football on the last day of the baseball season?

So this concludes my regularly scheduled post to the Astros Fan in Exile blog. I managed to write up all the games of the year, despite the disappointing season outcome. I have a few months to think about whether to take this on again next year. What do you think? If you're out there reading this, leave a comment and let me know. Meanwhile, I'll post sporadically during the playoffs, and over the Hot Stove months, before Spring Training. Keep in touch. It's going to be lonely without my social media buds this winter!

GAMES 157-161: Blackout Blues

GAME 157 - September 28: Reds 3, Astros 2

GAME 158 - September 29: Astros 2, Reds 0

GAME 159 - September 30: Reds 9, Astros 1

GAME 160 - October 1: Cubs 2, Astros 0

GAME 161 - October 2: Cubs 8, Astros 3

I left the game on for a few minutes after the loss to the Reds on Tuesday night. That's uncharacteristic for me -- I usually kill the video within seconds of the last out of a loss. But I wanted to watch the jubilation of a team clinching a division title and ticket to the playoffs, the jumping and leaping, the division champs tee shirts, the drowning in champagne. Our guys stood around and watched as the Reds celebrated. Some of the sports writers, including Alyson Footer, commented on how it's hard to be the team that allows the other guys to clinch a playoff spot. They'd know -- they've seen the Astros do it before. But given how many young kids are on the Astros squad at this point, I'm glad that they had a chance to experience that firsthand. It's got to make them hungry for the experience. And as all losing teams (except possibly the Pirates) say: There's always next year. 

Having secured a division title for the Reds, the Astros went on to lose the series. Their only bright spot was Wednesday night's win, when Figeroa and the bullpen shut out a Reds team that lacked any regular starters. They'd all earned a night off. The low spot was Thursday night's bashing, in which Brett Myers couldn't make it out of the sixth inning. Mills let him go down 8 runs and then pulled him, breaking his perfect streak of 6+ inning starts. 

With the recent downturn in Astros performance, their hold on third place in the Central Division was lost, leaving them to duke it out with the Cubs for fourth place. Losing the first two games of the home series against the Cubbies didn't help -- they go into today's season finale tied. 

Of course, I didn't actually see much of the action after Tuesday night's gift to the Reds. In a year when the Astros are contenders, the arrival of the fall flurry of Jewish holidays is always a mixed joy. The holidays are (mostly) a wonderful time to enjoy family and friends, with several weeks of special meals and events. On the other hand, since we don't use computers, televisions, phones, or other paraphernalia of modern communications on the Sabbath and holidays, I miss all the ball games. Ever since we canceled our subscription to the Washington Post, I don't even find out the outcomes of games unless I go visit a neighbor with a newspaper. This year's Jewish calendar put the bulk of the holidays falling on Wednesday nights through Friday nights, leading right into the Sabbath -- three-day baseball blackouts for me, occurring three times in September. If the Astros had been in contention, I probably would have gone nuts. But given the situation, I've just caught up on Saturday nights after the Sabbath -- read up and watched highlights from the missing games, perused a few box scores, checked the status of injured players. Next year the holidays again fall on this three-day blackout schedule, but since it's a leap year they'll all be a month later. That means that if the Astros do make the playoffs, I'll end up missing most of the action. But I'm getting ahead of things here: First we need a winning season. 

We're going into today's season finale -- which I'll get to watch live -- with a 75-86 record. With the 2-8 results of our last 10 games, it was not the last-minute eking-out-a-winning-season result I'd giddily predicted a couple of weeks ago. Instead, it's probably a more realistic representation of where we are now. The great starting pitching has faltered, the kids (except for CJ) are playing like the minor leaguers that they recently were. Hard to say what will happen in the off season, or what the team will look like coming out of Spring Training. Well, there's always the year after next...