William P. Hayes's Houston Astros fan blog

So, by now every Astros fan has had a chance to process the injury to Carlos Lee and what it means for the rest of the 2008 season.  While many have written the season off and don't care what the Astros do to fill the void in left field (or more importantly, the no. 4 hole in the lineup), there have been some, including ESPN.com, which have suggested the Astros should sign Barry Bonds (a FA) to fill in for Lee.  Now, I must admit, my initial feelings about Bonds joining the Astros were not favorable, but, after some time to think it over and analyze the Astros situation, I say, "why not?"

At first, I allowed my dislike of Barry Bonds as a person and the fear he would taint the Astros brand of baseball to blind me.  Why would the Astros allow the King of the Steroid Era to come into our wholesome town and play for the "good guy" Astros, an organization that has built this reputation over the past 2 decades by having players such as Craig Biggion, Brad Ausmus, and Jeff Bagwell?  But, then it dawned on me, or rather my repressed memories came out of the dark.  The Astros have already been tainted by steroids.  Anybody remember a guy named Roger Clemens?  And, oh yeah, our starting shortstop Tejada was a proud member of the group of players named in the Mitchell Report.  Now, the Astros have always seemed to have more respected and upstanding citizens on their team, but to think they are better, or less tainted than any other MLB team when it comes to the Steroid Era, is just not true.  So public perception aside, why else does the signing of Barry Bonds make sense?

Continue reading "Barry Bonds to Astros?"

So, it's the middle of August, the Astros are 8.5 games out the wildcard with multiple teams to pass, and it looks like they just lost, arguably their best hitter, Carlos Lee for the rest of the season.  Sounds like a great time to create my own blog focused on the Astros.  Because, after all, this is going to be an exhilirating last month and a half of the season for Astros fans!

 Yes, I am being sarcastic, but I would like to say that I am looking forward to this whole blogging exercise.  I recently found out about this opportunity through an ad and decided that since everyone else has a blog, why not?  Hopefully, this will be rewarding for me and I will have enough good things to say to make it rewarding for you too. 

With that being said, welcome to both of us and Go Astros!

Continue reading "Welcome...to me and you"