My opinion of the Astros has not evolved much beyond what I hastily put together back on February 17. I have expectations of what the 2017 Astros can do, and I'm terrified that they will not be able to live up to the expectations (AL West, AL Pennant, to start). But I thought about how my expectations of the Astros have evolved since the lone pennant in franchise history. So - as far as I can remember - here is a brief summary of my thoughts on Opening Day over the last 12 years...
2006: Carlos Lee!? Woody Williams!? This season gonna be lit.
2007: Gonna email McTaggart every day to ask him when Hunter Pence is coming up.
2008: Were the Astros the only ones who didn't know Tejada would be in the Mitchell Report? How old is he, anyway?
2009: Hey, maybe Pudge has something left in the tank. At the very least he can mentor Bud Norris and (squints) Mike Hampton.
2010: It's going to be bad before it gets better.
2011: Brett Wallace is The Truth and this rebuild won't take too long, at all.
2012: 2013 should be alright.
2013: At least no one has to watch this
2014: Baseball doesn't love me
2015: Maybe 80 wins is doable!
2016: I think the Pennant is in reach!
2017: I wonder how they're gonna break my heart *this* year
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
