Justice seems just as reactionary to all that is goin on, like a casual fan would who just saw this team for the first time last week. (Or, better yet... he seems like an East coast beat-writer after the Yankees just got swept by the Devil Rays.) Where was all this criticism when the team was doing well? Oh yea, it must have gotten lost in all the cheerleading and pennant dreaming that Justice, and everyone else at the Chronicle, were getting caught up in. Now, the team has faced an offensive slump... something that they've gone thru every year since 2000... and everybody's ready to jump ship and start blaming people... including the people who are supposed to be the most even-minded, common-sensed, have-all-the-info, been around the game long enough, writers. There's nothing to explain the nature of why this team is in an offensive rut... its kinda cosmic really how everyone struggles at the same time, how Hidalgo can go from All-star to bum in less than a month, how Ensberg STILL can't hit a HR (does he hit them in batting practice?), but they DO have time to turn it around. Honestly... 8 year olds who've been watching baseball for 2 years seem to have more baseball sense than this column proposed. This reminds me of some of the YOF/SOF debates in the Rockets forum after a bad loss... its THAT mind-numbing. Baseball wasn't decided in April (when we were awesome), and its not decided in June (when we've been awful). I'm not saying we'll run away with the division or anything, but to write everybody off at this point is pretty pretty dumb. Things will get better.
It reminded me of a typical talk-radio-caller rant: totally devoid of anything factual and relying solely on innuendo and baseless opinion. Justice has really been slipping this season.
I just think he's catering to more of the east-coast bias/national media hype that's covering this team this year. That equals less of the honest, unassuming reporting, and more reactionary/you're only as good as your last game/ the sky is falling reporting.
The only way Kent's no-trade clause could hurt the Astros this season is if they tank and they try and trade him to a contender for prospects. Justice is seriously talking out of his ass.
Great way to put it. And I've always thought of Justice as being far better than that. Teams go through slumps..they experience parts of a season where they don't play well. But crap, this team is no where near out of this race....no one in this division is playing extraordinarily well. It would appear the Reds are coming back down to earth, and now it's St. Louis' turn to be on top for a while. I fully expect that by the end of the season both the Cub and the Astros will be playing far better than they are right now. We already know what the Astros are capable of on the positive side, posting their best April in franchise history.
After reading it again, I still have absolutely no idea why RJ felt the need to preface an otherwise decent article on Bagwell with all the Pollyanna redass handwringing nonsense. Part of me wants to think that he doesn't really believe it. Chance, when's Justice scheduled to be on 610 again?
Justice is just upset that Duhon rejected his romantic overtures. He's just heartbroken...give him a break.
