Things Can Only Get Better
Just like the rest of you Astros fans, I'm feeling in a bit of disarray about the state of the team right now. Much like the current political climate in the country, our spacemen are going through turbulent and chaotic times right now. The bullpen is not looking as sharp as it was during Spring Training, and the bats are all but frozen. So I figured that referencing the Howard Jones hit tune that is as old as I am would be the best thing to assess what could possibly be going on right now.
The team is heading off to Seattle to open a 4 game set with the divisional rival Mariners this evening through Thursday. They will then follow it up with a 3 game set versus the Chicago White Sox. More cold weather is sure to be a stick in all of the players' collective crawls. Unfortunately, the schedule only gets more difficult from there. Guess who awaits them when they return home? The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, with the red hot Shohei Ohtani.
Some how in some way, the reigning world champions have got to find a way to get it together. That includes your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis. He's now hitting below .200 and still has an OPS below .600 as of today. Nobody is more scared of that little development than me. More playing time in 2018 was supposed to be a big boost to El Oso Blanco's overall numbers. Instead, these first 2-3 weeks of the season have done the exact opposite. I suppose the baseball Gods are getting all their laughs in, as are most out in the fan base, including the CDH (critics, doubters and haters) crowd.
However, if you think for one minute that I am about to throw in the towel and concede things over to those people, then you obviously don't know me at all. I was pretty quick to get back up and swing hard at them in my latest piece from House of Houston. You can view it for yourselves in the linked tweet below:
Far fetched? Not really. In fact, there have been a good number of players that have lasted well into their 40s, or pretty close to it. This would not have been the case a couple of decades back. The game has changed in some good ways and other not-so-good ways. But player longevity has been increasing, and that has been one of the good changes that baseball has seen over time. They don't call it America's pasttime for nothing.
Additionally, it is a game of ebbs and flows. Some players have really hot starts. Others, like Gattis, may not have it as well off. But the truth is, those are the kind of paradigm shifts in baseball that take place over time. Hot streaks and slumps run rampant in this sport. Players like Gattis, or Marwin Gonzalez as another example, will get their bats hot. On the flip side, even a player as good as Ohtani has been since entering this league will also have times where he struggles. Whether it's not spotting his pitches right or slumping at the plate himself, it's only a matter of time before he knows what the reverse feels like.
Reason and logic need to start prevailing in the fan base over impulse and feelings. It has to! The standards can afford to be shrunk down a little bit, even for our defending world champions. That's not to say we can't feel upset when something doesn't go right. Just that it isn't the end of the season if they don't make a play on defense correctly or if they have hard times thawing out the bats. As Howard Jones reminds us in the song, things really can only get better.
The team is heading off to Seattle to open a 4 game set with the divisional rival Mariners this evening through Thursday. They will then follow it up with a 3 game set versus the Chicago White Sox. More cold weather is sure to be a stick in all of the players' collective crawls. Unfortunately, the schedule only gets more difficult from there. Guess who awaits them when they return home? The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, with the red hot Shohei Ohtani.
Some how in some way, the reigning world champions have got to find a way to get it together. That includes your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis. He's now hitting below .200 and still has an OPS below .600 as of today. Nobody is more scared of that little development than me. More playing time in 2018 was supposed to be a big boost to El Oso Blanco's overall numbers. Instead, these first 2-3 weeks of the season have done the exact opposite. I suppose the baseball Gods are getting all their laughs in, as are most out in the fan base, including the CDH (critics, doubters and haters) crowd.
However, if you think for one minute that I am about to throw in the towel and concede things over to those people, then you obviously don't know me at all. I was pretty quick to get back up and swing hard at them in my latest piece from House of Houston. You can view it for yourselves in the linked tweet below:
It's no secret that Evan Gattis is, by definition, a late bloomer. He didn't even break into the big leagues until he was 26 after spending 3 years in the Atlanta Braves minor league system. Even now at his age 32 season, the bull-bear is still far off from his prime. When you compare the collective ages and service years of a vast majority of players, it becomes all too clear that Gattis can still, very easily, survive close to, if not completely, another decade in this league.HOLD UP, WAIT A MINUTE! #Astros fans, it might be time to pump the brakes on some early struggles from #ElOsoBlanco! Gattis has, historically, been SLOW in April BUT these April slumps bring May bombs! @tvwizard85 breaks it down. ⚾️🤔💯🔥https://t.co/kGnClvrFjN— House Of Houston (@HouseOfHouston) April 16, 2018
Far fetched? Not really. In fact, there have been a good number of players that have lasted well into their 40s, or pretty close to it. This would not have been the case a couple of decades back. The game has changed in some good ways and other not-so-good ways. But player longevity has been increasing, and that has been one of the good changes that baseball has seen over time. They don't call it America's pasttime for nothing.
Additionally, it is a game of ebbs and flows. Some players have really hot starts. Others, like Gattis, may not have it as well off. But the truth is, those are the kind of paradigm shifts in baseball that take place over time. Hot streaks and slumps run rampant in this sport. Players like Gattis, or Marwin Gonzalez as another example, will get their bats hot. On the flip side, even a player as good as Ohtani has been since entering this league will also have times where he struggles. Whether it's not spotting his pitches right or slumping at the plate himself, it's only a matter of time before he knows what the reverse feels like.
Reason and logic need to start prevailing in the fan base over impulse and feelings. It has to! The standards can afford to be shrunk down a little bit, even for our defending world champions. That's not to say we can't feel upset when something doesn't go right. Just that it isn't the end of the season if they don't make a play on defense correctly or if they have hard times thawing out the bats. As Howard Jones reminds us in the song, things really can only get better.
Original Photo Credit: Bob Levey of Getty Images
I won't stop and falter, and neither will he!
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