Charged with a single mission -- to win their remaining seven games and hope that Mets drop four and the Brewers two in the process -- the Astros failed last night. But, is this the end? Is the 2008 season, for the Astros, over? Not quite, because if you're an enternal optimist hope still exists -- barely.
4.5 games out, with six left on our plates, the Astros currently own an elimination of 2. That means that the Mets can only win twice between now and Sunday, or the Astros, in spite of their best efforts, could be going home. Of course, they can also only afford three more Brewers wins as well. So what do the odds tell us the chances of these stars aligning are:
| Report | Wild Card | |
| BPro Unadjusted |
0.05057% | |
| BPro Schedule Adjusted |
0.09582% | |
| Cool Standings |
0.1% | |
| SCS Weighted |
0.1% | |
| SCS 50/50 | 0.1% |
I really could have saved myself the effort and just wrote: Stupidly Bad. But I figured the visual would be more effective. The odds at this point, aren't worth looking at. We all know this is a long shot if it even still is one, but for tonight, at the minimum, we get to tune in and see whether or not the Astros can float themselves one more day. Tonight's game is a play off game and we get to experience the pressure, anxiety, and euphoria/devastation that comes from these moments. In spite of two awful months of Baseball in June and July, in spite of Cecil Cooper's best efforts sometimes, in spite (well perhaps because of) Ike and Bud, the Astros are still allowing us to cling to hope for one more day, and it's the final week of the season. Whether the Astros complete the improbable again, I can't find it in me to say that they'll have failed. It's gonna be a big night.
Alright, enough with the platitudes. Here are your match-ups to infuse with voodoo and send desperate pleas to the baseball gods for them to fail:
I swear to...something important that I'll leave nameless because my parents read this blog now...if Zambrano sucks it up like he did last time out and hands the Wild Card to the Mets, in terms of karma, it ensures the the Cubs will Choke for the one hundred and first straight year. It's hard for me to even type this, but "....go....cubs..."
This one is simple: Maholm is on my fantasy team, we need Maholm to beat who ever the Brewers put on the mound against. There's no reason (unless your HLP or the other guy who's battling for third in our league) to not want this to happen. If the Brewers win, blame HLP.
Randy Wolf, you better show up tonight.
Also, let's all cling to this excellent Michael Scott (Steve Carrel) from The Office:
"Tell Alan that the Mets suck! Okay? From me, big time. Go Pirates!"
0 recs | 7 comments
With an elimination number of 2...
yeah, this one’s all but over. I mean, it’s possible. But it requires such a monumental collapse from the Mets that there is no hope to speak of. Then again, it is the Mets.
The real question is this – if we’re eliminated tonight, does Coop still send Oswalt out tomorrow? I know he’s slated to pitch the last game of the season, too, but winning two more games is kind of just stat-padding at this point. Is it really worth the risk of some freak accident?
Continuing on that point, what are the Astros’ plans for Roy in the offseason? He’s our only good starter, so maybe Drayton and Wade should consider bubble-wrapping him and storing him in the equipment room. Or at least carbonyte-freeze him, like Han Solo.
Only_A_Lad - September 24, 2008
I'm game for Carbonite-freezing
Stephen Higdon - September 24, 2008
Where's the faith in Wandy?
entropic soul - September 24, 2008
There is only so long you can keep saying, "Well if he'd just..."
He’s going to be a key player next year, just not THE ACE. Therefore, there’s no reason to waste the time and effort of carbonite-freezing.
Stephen Higdon - September 24, 2008
Well, you don't necessarily have to be good to be frozen.
The payoff just has to be right.
I had a similar idea for Backe. You know how sometimes “Playoff Brandon” shows up and throws seven innings of one-run ball? And you know how, in the regular season, he’s pretty awful most of the time?
Well, I figured we could tell him that the guys over at NASA just invented a stasis chamber for deep space missions. In this chamber, one year only lasted five days. But they needed to test it on MLB pitchers to see if it would work.
So we’d “freeze” Backe (shove him into the utility closet) in between starts. We’d “unfreeze” him (get some dry ice and strobe lights, make it look cool) and tell him that the Astros just made the playoffs and we need him.
He’d go out to the mound, throw a few innings, and then we’d “freeze” him again.
I don’t know how we’d get around Backe noticing that the 2009-2035 Astros all featured Lance Berkman at first while Roy Oswalt was still in the clubhouse.
I thought maybe we could give Berkman a fake mustache and tell Backe that Roy really is a wizard.
Only_A_Lad - September 24, 2008
Well, I was refering to the comment that says Roy is our only good starter.
I think Wandy’s been good this year. Maybe not great. But good.
entropic soul - September 24, 2008
When Wandy puts two above-average seasons together,
he’ll be good. Right now, he’s just average.
Only_A_Lad - September 24, 2008
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