PopTop
08-01-2005, 10:25 PM
I have been b¡tchin' and complainin' about how unfair the schedules seem in baseball the last few years, but this isn't another one of those rants. Instead, I'm interested in hearing from some of y'all if you think it's just me or do the Astros seem to have an advantage the rest of the way?
Games Remaining: 57
Home: 30
Away: 27
Pretty even, if you ask me. If everyone had 57 games left and their home-away split was in the 30-27 to 27-30 range, I'd say the schedule maker did a damn good job. But dig a little deeper.
Days Off: 4 in Aug and 3 in Sept...Houston had 4 days off all of July, and all 4 came at once during the All-Star break. In the 27 days they did play during July, they played 29 games going 22-7. Having 4 days off spread out in August would seem to be an advantage for Houston compared to what they had in July.
On the Road: Of the 27 road games, only 8 of those games are versus teams sitting .500 or better right now. The Astros have battled back to own a 21-33 road record now...but they're 15-11 away from home since calendars reached June. Six of those 11 road losses came in sweeps at Baltimore and St. Louis. If we fail to reach the postseason, those two sweeps are going to bug the poop outta' me. Anyway, 12 of the road games are out west, beginning this week in Arizona and San Fran. Everyone in the West is under .500, so the idea of facing 19 sub-.500 teams on the road out of 27 games the rest of the away schedule might be a bit bloated. Still, the road schedule seems to favor Houston here, something that seemed impossible to fathom earlier in the year.
Facing the teams we need to beat: If we lose most of the games we have the rest of the way against the likes of the Senators III, Cubs, Phillies and Marlins, currently the four teams closest to the Astros in the NL Wildcard race, then this will not be a positive. But the fact that 20 of our remaning 57 games are against our closest competitors is a good thing in my mind right now. Puts the ball in our lap. Half of those 20 are against the Cubs, so those 10 games --- better than 17% of our remaining schedule --- really loom large. But seven of them are in Houston, giving the Astros an edge there.
This whole thing could blow up in our face right now. No way can we continue to win at a .740 clip and no way can our Big 3 keep pitching sub-2.00 ERA as they have since early June. Like a friend of mine said earlier this year when the club as just about to bottom out, "This team will break our hearts yet." Sure hope he's wrong, and the way the schedule works out, it seems like he just might be.
Games Remaining: 57
Home: 30
Away: 27
Pretty even, if you ask me. If everyone had 57 games left and their home-away split was in the 30-27 to 27-30 range, I'd say the schedule maker did a damn good job. But dig a little deeper.
Days Off: 4 in Aug and 3 in Sept...Houston had 4 days off all of July, and all 4 came at once during the All-Star break. In the 27 days they did play during July, they played 29 games going 22-7. Having 4 days off spread out in August would seem to be an advantage for Houston compared to what they had in July.
On the Road: Of the 27 road games, only 8 of those games are versus teams sitting .500 or better right now. The Astros have battled back to own a 21-33 road record now...but they're 15-11 away from home since calendars reached June. Six of those 11 road losses came in sweeps at Baltimore and St. Louis. If we fail to reach the postseason, those two sweeps are going to bug the poop outta' me. Anyway, 12 of the road games are out west, beginning this week in Arizona and San Fran. Everyone in the West is under .500, so the idea of facing 19 sub-.500 teams on the road out of 27 games the rest of the away schedule might be a bit bloated. Still, the road schedule seems to favor Houston here, something that seemed impossible to fathom earlier in the year.
Facing the teams we need to beat: If we lose most of the games we have the rest of the way against the likes of the Senators III, Cubs, Phillies and Marlins, currently the four teams closest to the Astros in the NL Wildcard race, then this will not be a positive. But the fact that 20 of our remaning 57 games are against our closest competitors is a good thing in my mind right now. Puts the ball in our lap. Half of those 20 are against the Cubs, so those 10 games --- better than 17% of our remaining schedule --- really loom large. But seven of them are in Houston, giving the Astros an edge there.
This whole thing could blow up in our face right now. No way can we continue to win at a .740 clip and no way can our Big 3 keep pitching sub-2.00 ERA as they have since early June. Like a friend of mine said earlier this year when the club as just about to bottom out, "This team will break our hearts yet." Sure hope he's wrong, and the way the schedule works out, it seems like he just might be.