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Liftoff, at last: a switch in managers, a clubhouse coming-together and big contributions from Carlos Beltran and Brad Lidge launched the Astros back into postseason contention

Sporting News, The, Sept 27, 2004 by Stan McNeal

Not that long ago, the Astros' hopes for a big season had been written off like Jason Giambi's prime, Ken Griffey's health and Larry Bowa's job security. Done, done and done. This was not what a club billed as one of the game's Next Big Things had planned.

Not with the Rocket and Andy coming home. Not with the bashing B's of Biggio, Bagwell and Berkman. Not with one of the game's best 1-2 punches in the bullpen (Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel). Entering the season, picking the Astros to make the World Series, or at least reach baseball's final four, was as trendy as LiveStrong wristbands and your kids' No Show Socks.

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For six weeks, the results on the field matched the hype off it. Roger Clemens, on his way to another stellar season, won his first seven starts, the Astros settled in at the top of the National League Central Division and Houston was loving it.

Then came a rough last two weeks of May, followed by a June swoon and July gloom. The first half of August wasn't so great, either. When the Astros woke up on August 15, they found themselves four games under .500, 19 1/2 games behind the first-place Cardinals in the N.L. Central and seven games back of the Cubs in the wild-card race.

These were the byproducts of a 32-45 skid that was as disappointing as Hal Sutton's Ryder Cup weekend, injuries to two of the Astros' top starters, Andy Pettitte and Wade Miller, were part of the problem, but not as much as an offense that seemed to age almost as fast as that of the Seattle Mariners.

Still, the Astros kept grinding. They traded for Carlos Beltran, one of the game's premier talents, but that didn't do much immediate good in the won-lost column. Neither did firing the manager, replacing the hitting and pitching coaches or searching everywhere but monster.com for pitching help.

Throughout this sorry stretch, though, one thing never wavered: the club's expectations. "If you're going to start throwing in the towel just because things aren't going right, you're in the wrong business," general manager Gerry Hunsicker says. "We're not here to play for next year--not with this team."

The Astros, of course, have more than resolve on their side. They have talent. As Cardinals manager Tony La Russa says, "It's a marathon season, and by the end, you're going to find the good teams where they're supposed to be. And the Astros are a good team."

As the season grinds toward an October 3 finish, the Astros find themselves fighting the Giants, Cubs and Padres in the N.L. wild-card race. The Marlins still have an outside shot, too. Entering the week, Houston was on a 37-19 tear and threatening to throw the wild-card scramble into a virtual dead heat.

"If you told me before the season that we were going to lose Pettitte and Miller for half the year, I probably would said we wouldn't be in this position," Astros slugger Jeff Bagwell says. "We battled through it and have given ourselves a chance."

So what happened?

Some of the credit goes to the gung-ho approach of manager Phil Garner, who replaced laid-back Jimy Williams at the break. Some goes to the detailed approach of the new hitting coach, Gary Gaetti, and familiarity with the new pitching coach, Jim Hickey, promoted to the big leagues after 14 years with the organization.

There also was a clubhouse difference between two of the team's stars that may have sparked the turnaround. After Roy Oswalt, like Clemens a Cy Young Award candidate, was ejected for hitting Cubs catcher Michael Barrett in a home start on August 22, he was tweaked in the media by Bagwell, a pro's pro not known for calling out a teammate. Among other things, Bagwell said Oswalt got what he deserved, an accusation that did not sit well with Oswalt. But the two talked out their differences, and in Oswalt's next start, against the Cubs in Chicago, he was confronted by Barrett when he first stepped into the batter's box. Benches emptied, words were exchanged and when the Astros went back to the dugout, something must have clicked. Oswalt beat the Cubs that day and the Astros were off on what became a 12-game winning streak that turned around their season.

Healthy contributions from Beltran and Lidge have helped, too. The 27-year-olds were thrust into new situations at the same time when the Astros traded their closer, Dotel, in late June. The Dotel deal gave the Astros a five-tool center fielder and the closer's job to Lidge. Both have thrived since the moves.

Beltran had hit 23 homers and driven in 51 runs after 77 games with the Astros. "When he first came here, it was just incredible how much he stuck out," Hunsicker says. "The grace with which he plays the game, his overall athleticism, is something to see."

The Beltran acquisition shows just how important winning now is to the Astros. He will become a free agent after the season and likely will command a deal larger than the top prize of last year's free-agent class, Vladimir Guerrero, who signed a five-year, $70 million contract with the Angels. If George Steinbrenner digs into his pockets as expected, the Astros could be out of luck.

Liftoff, at last: a switch in managers, a clubhouse coming-together and big contributions from Carlos Beltran and Brad Lidge launched the Astros back into postseason contention

Sporting News, The, Sept 27, 2004 by Stan McNeal

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