July 1, 2004

ASTROS AND RED SOX SEEK HELP AS DESPERATION TIME ARRIVES

      This is a make or break year for both the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox, and as the season approaches the halfway mark both franchises look to be in a state of desperation.   The Astros have, hopefully, tended to their issues by moving a mediocre player with a large contract—Richard Hidalgo—and acquired a very good player with a short contract—Carlos Beltran.  As for the Sox, their early season success has given way to a middling June and they now find themselves further behind the Yankees than they are ahead of the Devil Rays.  The “Woe is me” time has begun in Boston.

       When the Astros signed both Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens they were making a big commitment to the players and to the fans that they intended to contend for a championship—or at least win a playoff series, something they have yet to do in their long history in the NL.  Both of their franchise players, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, are nearing the end of the line and would like to have some kind of playoff success before they retire.  While Biggio looks as if there are a couple of years left in his legs, as well as a pursuit of 3000 hits to look forward to, Bagwell appears to be fading fast.  His injured shoulder has not responded to surgery, exercise, or rest, and it appears as if he is close to being nothing more than a decent power hitting DH for some American League team.  This could be his last shot at success in Houston.  Also, Clemens came out of retirement ostensibly to lead his home town team to playoff success, something he would like to do to cap off his hall of fame career.  If the Astros wallow in the mire for the second half of the season it could damage the reputation of the franchise and hurt any future attempts at attracting major talent. 

      The Red Sox are in the midst of a prototypical season.  They began the year with the hype and the hope that this will finally be the time to end the Curse of the Bambino, but as the season progressed the inevitable fatalistic attitude took over.   They have little chance to catch New York and win the division, which leaves the wild card and another opportunity at the free spending Yankees in the championship series.  In order for history to change, however, the attitude will have to change first.  The Sox continue to say the right things—that the players of today have no sense of the club’s heartbreaking history—but in truth the history weighs on the shoulders of each member of the roster, of the coaching staff, of the organizational members, of the press, and of each and every fan in New England.  There is no way to extricate that weight--it will be an integral part of every minor success and it will be an excuse for every minor failure.  If the Sox do manage to upset the Yanks in the championship series they will still have to deal with the National League as getting to the World Series, while it may be the largest hurdle they face this year, will not, on its own, eliminate the curse. 

       The Astros are hoping the Beltran’s unique combination of speed and power will inject some life into a batting order that has looked lifeless for most of the season.  They are hoping the Beltran’s defense will plug a huge hole in the outfield, as much as Biggio tried to play center he still looked like an infielder out of position.  The Astros are praying that a positive attitude and a renewed passion will surface in an Astros team that has underachieved the past two seasons, and has fallen short in clutch situations-- such as the final series last year when Houston lost the series, and the division to the Cubs.   They are hoping that the successful histories of Clemens and Pettitte will take them over the top when the games turn crucial, but the team must stay close enough in the end or whatever successes the two pitchers have had will be moot.  The Cardinals are playing well, the Cubs are hanging in despite missing some key players, and the Reds are surprising everyone in baseball.   The Astros have a major battle just to contend to the end.

       The Astros are hoping that a revamped bullpen—the team has traded away closers Billy Wagner and Octavio Dotel in the past few months—will be strong enough to keep the team in those tight games when their all-star starters flame out.  They are hoping that a reinvigorated offense can score enough runs to take the pressure off their starters and allow their bullpen some margin for errors.  There is a lot of hope in Houston—time will tell if that hope will be rewarded.

       The Red Sox are long past the hope stage.  They no longer hope for success—they expect failure.  Somehow, someway this team will stumble when it counts, it will make an error that costs the team a big game, or it will make a bad pitch or run itself out of a key inning.  Meanwhile the Yankees will do the necessary things to win—it is an example of extreme contrasts and the major contributing factor behind the Sox failures.  Look behind each of the Sox past stumbles and inevitably there will be a Yankee win.  

       Smallish Beantown continues to try and ride with the big boys from New York, and they continue to come up short.  This season the Sox figured they were ready to take their most sustained run at the Bronx Bombers.  They had assembled a solid line-up last season, and brought back all of that heavy thunder.  They also addressed the weaknesses in their pitching staff adding all-star starter Curt Schilling and all-star closer Keith Foulke.  They even changed managers, bringing a fresh non-Boston personality in Terry Francona out of mothballs.  Everything seemed to be pointing in the right direction.  Even with the early season injuries to Nomar and Nixon the Sox came flying out of the gate.  But with each loss the pressure began to build, and as the Yankees coolly and calmly returned to their normal level of play the Sox felt pressured and began to fall.  The weight of that curse began to take them down under the water. 

       The organization cannot let this team drown.  Quality additions need to be made before the trade deadline.  This is the final season in Boston for many Red Sox players—including star shortstop Nomar—and with the organization likely to take a wide swath through the payroll this will be the last chance for many on this team to break the curse.   The Sox need to add an established starter with a winning attitude, a solid middle inning reliever, and perhaps one more bat to come off the bench.  The team needs to get Bill Mueller back at third and swinging the way he did in winning last season’s batting crown.  The team needs Nomar to break out of his spring training doldrums and key the middle of the line-up, and the team needs Derek Lowe to pitch much closer to the form he exhibited two years ago when he won twenty.  The team desperately needs some above average performances if it is going to lick that curse.

       The chances are, though, that both the Red Sox and their near 100 year championship drought, and the Astros and their more than 40 year playoff famine will continue.  The Curse of the Bambino and the Curse of the Astrodome will live, and likely for many, many more years to come.