Sep 11 2008
the houston astros are ridiculous
Rather than discuss the game right now (0-0, top 5), I want to just write on this whole weekend series craziness.
The Houston Astros were set to host the Cubs this weekend for a three game series. Sounded great at first and then came Ike. Hurricane Ike, which is projected to be a category three or category four hurricane, is rolling into Houston this weekend. We knew about this for at least two weeks, yet, there was no consideration towards this upcoming series. Now that the hurricane is coming and arrangements need to be made, there has been so much craziness going on this week about how these games are going to be played.
Don’t get me wrong; a hurricane is a horrible, devastating event and I don’t intend to make light of the situation. I think that the Astros, however, are being slightly ridiculous with all of this back and forth about how the series will be played. They started the week saying that they’d play the Friday game and then a double header on Saturday. Then, as the storm’s path changed, the organization changed their minds too, possibly rethinking playing these games in Houston. Understandable. The Cubs organization has offered suggestions as to playing the games at a neutral site rather than make both teams have to make these up on off days later. The Cubs suggested Miller Park, or St. Louis, but the Astros declined both saying it would provide too much of an advantage for the Cubs. We get it, you’re the home team in this series… so maybe why don’t you all come up with some other place to play these games? I don’t understand why the Astros don’t go with Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, or Turner Field in Atlanta. I think both places are far enough away from Chicago to not give the Cubs a home-field advantage with fans; plus, both stadiums are vacant and seem to have good forecasts for the weekend.
It seems as though the plan is to play a double header on Monday in Houston and to make up the final game on September 29, after the Cubs final regular season game. Do the Astros not understand that is probably not going to be worth all of the hassle in the end? Hurricane Gustav just roared through Louisiana on August 26 and people are still without power. That was just under the status of a category three hurricane. Do the Astros genuinely think that it will be possible to host three games immediately following the hurricane? It all seems like pretty bad logic.
And besides, the Astros aren’t going to win the wild card, even with the easier schedule and streaky playing as of late, so why go through all the hassle? It is getting pretty obnoxious to see the Astros decide that baseball season begins after the All-Star Break every year and winning 22 of 30 games or whatnot.
I’m sorry for sounding really angry and annoyed and making this a ranting post. Thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by IKE…
Go Cubs!
