Since the Cubbies were eliminated I have to change my prediction around here.

NLCS Phillies vs. Dodgers

Phillies win. Advance to the World series.

ALCS Red Sox vs. Rays

Rays win. Advance to the World series.

Phillies versus Rays, I don't care up to this point, interesting World Series.

The things I really wanted to happen this postseason is...

A. Dodgers to be eliminated.

B. Brewers to be eliminated. (Check)

Reason? Dodgers I do not like because of Manny, Manny should not even be in the playoffs I think because of his antics back in Boston. It is a disgrace that someone like that is allowed to play at such a high level, But when teams are desperate they will take him, he is really good with a stick. Brewers, Bud's team, hahaha Eliminated, Yeah he did that so it would go in favor to his team. He shouldn't be allowed to own a team because he is the comissioner of baseball.

So how did everyone like Valverde, just want to know... I know a couple of people who didn't enjoy him. They didn't like his antics on the mound, I would like to see what everyone thinks of him. Some keep saying I'd rather have Lidge.

Personally, I would rather not have Lidge, because face it, if we had Lidge, He would be doing the same thing, blowing games, giving up leads etc. Personally I am very happy we found a closer who can close in Houston. Sure he blew 5 games in the beginning but he eventually got it down.

I love the way he pitches as well. This is the way he pitches. He gets up so high. Brings it down , pitches it at 95-100 mph. Blows it by the batters. Every out he goes and crouches in the grass by 1st base. Then the different dances he does when he gets all 3. Love the way he gets pumped. Great closer. Who cares if he is too full of himself. More people need a closer like that.

Today is a happy day for me, because if you know me, I have posted a bunch of times for my dislike of Brocail.

We didn't for sure get rid of him, but we may have. He has been good before, but he is getting old. It isn't that he wasn't a good pitcher back in his time. It is just, most pitchers can't pitch past 40. 3.25 million is way too much as well. Ed Wade looks like he knows what he is doing.

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081001&content_id=3578739&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou

Wow.
That's how I start this blog off, Cecil is no dummy, but in his first year, he really pulled it together, Cecil is now 86-75 as a manager. Isn't great but it is pretty good for his first year, he has learned more about the game and different situations, who knows what he has in store for us next year.

Cooper was honest with his words when asked to grade himself, from start to finish. He gave himself a C-minus for the first two months of the season, a B or B-minus for the middle two months, and a B or B-plus for the last two.

                                                                                               -Alyson Footer

Who knows how great Cecil is going to be, but he has done good so far.

Course Ed Wade also came in and got it done this year. With a lack of pitchers on the market he put us together for an okay season with offense.

Couple of side notes,
Brad Ausmus, We will all miss him dearly, he may still play in the Majors, but as a back up catcher near home, probably San Diego if anywhere. Know one will forget his Astros top chart career RBI's for a catcher. What will be most missed is his arm and throw-outs at second. I wouldn't be suprised to see him on another team, but I hope he retires with his last year in an Astros uniform. Good luck to Brad and his family whatever they decide to do.

Great year. Here are the last 5.

2004: 92-70

2005: 89-73

2006: 82-80

2007: 73-89

2008: 86-75 (1 game cut out)

Mike Hampton, what is everyone's thoughts on him, just trying to get a general idea of what everyone thinks, personally I am not sure about him.

I know we were all ripped off in losing one game, we wouldn't have made it to the playoffs, but people years to come, if they add that up won't make 162, and I am sure they will wonder. They should have let us play in Houston as well. Can't wait come March. What will the off-season have in store? A lot of blogs will be wrote with signing's and such.

(This blog is posted at another site, copy and pasted so info is a little old, bare with it though.)

Cecil Cooper stated that he wanted the Astros to win 88-90 wins this season, is he crazy? SO basically he wants the Astros to go 28-15 at least being that there is 43 games left. Or a later interview said he wants the astros to go 30-13. Well lets take a look at everything.

In 2005, the Astros got off to a poor start, dropping to 15 games below .500 (15-30) in late May before becoming nearly unbeatable. From that low point until the end of July, Houston went 42-17 and found themselves in the lead for the NL Wild Card. The hitting, largely absent in April and May, was suddenly there, with even the pitchers contributing.

The Astros had also developed an excellent pitching staff, anchored by Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens (who had a league-low ERA of only 1.87), and Brandon Backe. Rookie starters Ezequiel Astacio and Wandy Rodríguez were also successful.

In July alone, the Astros went 22-7, the best single month record in the club's history. The Astros finished the 2005 regular season by winning a wild card berth on the final day of the regular season, just as they did in 2004, becoming only the second team to come from 15 games under .500 to enter the post season, the other team being the 1914 Boston Braves, now the Atlanta Braves. (Those Braves would go on and sweep the Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series. Coincidentally, the Astros beat out another Philadelphia team, the Phillies, for the Wild Card, to face the Braves in the first round of the playoffs.) (Wikipedia)

So the Astros have done something amazing before. But. Look at the pitching staff then. We didn't have hitting then, now we got the hitting but we have average pitching, I would say we are not going anywhere.

But if you also take a second, and don't look at the season stats on all our pitchers you would know,

Bullpen:
LaTroy Hawkins: has a 0.00 ERA in 7 apperances since coming to the Astros. Chris Sampson: has a 2.18 ERA out of the bullpen.
Wesley Wright: has a 4.50 ERA, He is a rookie, and he doesn't see many people, so his ERA sky-rockets everytime he has given up a run. The most runs I have ever seen him give up is 2.
Jose Valverde: had a bad start. He had maybe 4/5 blown saves at the very beginning, then he had 2 more along the way the rest of the season. That's why his ERA is high around 4.54. At the begining of the season his ERA was as high as 23.00. Jose Valverde's 95-98 MPH fastball is hard to get, that's all he throws I am surprised how no one hits him.
Doug Brocail: I don't know stats on him, because he is bad. Bottom line. He is not consistent. Let me look him up... 4.13 ERA in 55 Games.
Tim Brydak: Has a 2.91 ERA he has been really consistent since coming from the Tigers. In 45 games.
Geoff Geary: Now Geoff has had a 2.47 ERA in 41 Game Appearnces.

So being realistic, This has been the best bullpen performance I have ever seen on any year for the Astros, Brocail is the only shaky one.

Starting Rotation: Actually I have been impressed this year by the starting rotation, I thought they were going to be a lot worse. I really liked Shawn Chacon. But he punched Ed Wade, so there he goes.
Roy Oswalt: I have been disappointed this year with his performance this year. But towards the second half he seems to be getting his stuff back. Which is good if we are going to make a playoff push like they always do at the end of the year.
Wandy Rodriguez: Wandy has been one of my favorite pitchers, he has always been consistent the only exepecption is when he was injured. He gave up a lot of runs then.
Brian Moehler: Brian I would call our anchor. Absoutly amazing what he has done this year. He is 5-1 in his last 10 games. He has a 3.13 in those 10 games. 8-4 on the season. His pitching consists of usually 0-3 runs per game 4 if he is having a bad day. I don't think Brian will lose another game. Honestly I think he is going to be around 15-4. Call me crazy. He is pretty old, on the end side of his career. He didn't do good for the Marlins, and when Wandy got injured he pitched excellent against Boston. He won a position in the starting role, Sampson went to the pen, everything seems to be coming together for the 08 Astros.
Randy Wolf: I am not sure about him yet but he has been 2-1 since coming to the Astros. He is 2-6 in his last 10 games with a 6.08 ERA. I don't know about him. (He needs to be replaced next year)
Brandon Backe: Who can forget about him? Brandon has had a bad year after coming off Tommy John, but it has been known for pitchers to do bad thier first year after Tommy John, take Andy Pettite for example. So he is if-y for this year.

3 starters I am confident with.

As for the offense. I have been happy with it this year. They slump like all offense does. Carlos Lee has recently gotten injured but and yes that will hurt us. But, our offense will manage I think. Carlos being in the lineup, I'd say would have us win 5 more games for this year. Now Wigginton and Berkman and Tejada are stepping it up, Erstad is taking an RBI role of contact. Berkman and Wiggi are hitting home run after home run. Geoff Blum's stats look bad, but he is like an Adam Dunn, doesn't get hits, but gets HR's when its needed. Michael Bourn, I don't think he is too good. Kaz Matsui, he is okay, Hunter Pence has not done as good as he did last year, which is his Sophmore slump. Loretta was better last year. Daivd Newhan is terrible, I don't want to see him play again. Quintero sucks at hitting

Fielding is led with Michael speed in the ourfield. Erstad's arm now because of the Lee injury. Infield Berkman has only made 4 errors this season. Kaz has great range. Miguel has done better at SS then he has in previous years. Wiggiton is here for his bat. His fielding is okay. Catcher, if its Ausmus, great fielding, Quintero is okay.

How I rate the 2008 Houston Astros.

Pitching: 76% C
Hitting: 93% A
Fielding: 80% B
Overall: 85% B

Now next year Ben Sheets and C.C. are going to be Free Agents. I think Wolf needs to be replaced by ethier of them. The Astros need to go after them, if we do Sheets, who I want a lot more than C.C. Sheets could boost the Stros up to an A team. And the pitching up to an A.

So there's my outlook on the year. I think the Astros will when 80 to 90 games. It could happen. If we get to the playoffs Carlos Lee comes back.