So when a team with a nine-game losing streak comes in and sweeps a team that at one point was considered a "rival," it's a good thing, right? Not so fast, says Ben Bussard:
The Astros may be the only team in the Majors playing worse than the Braves so let’s not read too much into this, folks.
Losers of six in a row, the Astros hold the National League’s worst record at 8-16 and have scored the fewest runs in the Majors with 72—not exactly an offensive juggernaut.
Houston has hit just 9 home runs as a team which is tied for the fewest in all of baseball and is three less than the number of deep balls Chicago White Sox first basemen Paul Konerko has hit by himself.
Not only does Houston have a problem (please excuse the played-out Apollo 13 reference) hitting the long ball, the Astros only have two starters who have an average north of .238—Michael Bourn (.317) and Jeff Keppinger (.301).
The Braves also dodged the only bullet in the Houston pitching rotation in ace Roy Oswalt, who leads the Astros starters in ERA (2.73), WHIP (1.15) and strikeouts (28).
Wins are great and series sweeps are even better—especially when you’re mired in a seemingly endless losing streak. But when they come against teams as futile as the Houston Astros, how much can we really take away from this weekend?
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
