but to keep lingering on it at this point does no good. Go out and play the games and play hard.

A team with real leadership would have sucked it up and taken on a “let’s go get ’em!” attitude. Instead, they have whined themselves right out of the playoffs.

Serves ’em right. Maybe as further punishment they should be forced to play the 2009 opening series vs. the Cubs at Miller Park.

…………highlights McLane’s poor judgment, although it doesn’t go far enough in saying he is the root cause of the problem. Had he not been looking to line his wallet, the games could have been played elsewhere.

WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

….they’ve looked just as bad against Florida as they did against us.

At this point, I’m hoping they don’t win another game the rest of the year.

the Astros’ “professionalism and maturity” as reasons why they were able to get back in the race because they’re showing none of that now (a point he makes in the article).

Look hurricanes—and their aftermath—suck. I live in Florida, and I’ve been through it. You can’t expect the world to just stop and feel sorry for you though. Pick up the pieces and try to move on.

I hate to sound un-sympathetic (or is it empathetic… always got those 2 confused), but it’s a whole lot easier to feel sorry for someone when they’re not standing in the corner screaming (and making t-shirts) about how unfair the world is and how bad I should feel for them.

He acknowledges the hardship, which there is some, but also put the blame on the owner and the players. I just read it now, and all the comments are blaming the team for not getting it done.

Looks like the perception may be turning.

And add me to the group that now hopes the Astros lose out the season. I also hope Cecil Cooper stays in the NL Central. We need more leadership like that for Cub opponents.

is there anyone outside of Houston that seriously expected MLB to force the Cubs to play three makeup games between the scheduled end of the season and the first playoff game? The only way this works is if you assume that the Stros management was trying to get three games against the Iowa Cubs to finish the season. I’m just glad that it’s looking like that third hurricane game won’t be needed.

…. is that the families of all players are spread out all over the country. It isn’t as if all the Cub wives, girlfriends (or both!) and children were all cozy in Chicago. Theriot and Fontenot, for example, come from Louisiana and if memory serves, that’s where they live. Wood is from Texas, and presumably his relatives are still there. Undoubtedly there’s more, but I’m too lazy to flip through the media guide right now. And so I doubt that all the Astro dependents were hunkered down in Houston. While certainly there was no small level of concern, this is being vastly overplayed. Sack up and play the game. The fans of the Astros should wish Jeff Kent was still there. He’d never abide those ridiculous t-shirts.

if you look on last night game thread DeRoMyHero wrote following. I wish I had written this myself, but it’s good enough that it bears repeating here.

The ’Stros:
1. On Wednesday, insisted that they would play the series as scheduled.
2. On Thursday, given the option to move the series to a neutral site (Arlington, Atlanta, DC, etc.), insisted that they would be able to host the Cubs over the weekend.
3. Chose to "stay with their families" and ride out the storm rather than taking the option that everyone else would kill for — fly themselves and their families on a charter jet to a neutral city with a 5 star hotel that has electricity.
4. On Thursday night, reluctantly postponed the first two games of the series after the Cubs refused to fly down.
5. On Friday afternoon, refused to evacuate themselves and their families.
6. On Saturday morning, felt the wrath of Ike.
7. On Saturday afternoon, saw their entire city strewn with debris and without power.
8. On Saturday evening, reluctantly agreed to play two in Milwaukee after Bud informed them that they must play in a dome because they had to get two games in and their were no other domes available.
9. Spent all of Sunday bitching about playing in "Wrigley North" in front of Cubs fans instead of noticing that the bases at Miller Park are 90 feet apart and concentrating on playing baseball.
10. Spent Monday bitching further about how Bud had screwed them rather than concentrating on playing baseball.

And it’s all Bud’s fault??

I honestly hope that the ‘Stros don’t win another game the entire season.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/news/1999/09/29/ecu_flood/
Proud of my Greenville team in 1999

Good to see a Houston paper/Astros reporter stating the truth about the matter.

is also a personal friend of Bud Selig’s going back 30 years. Members of the Bambi’s Bombers/Harvey’s Wallbangers teams are like family to Bud. Cooper knows that Selig wasn’t doing anything to try and hurt his team. But he let this type of whining continue out of some sort of belief that it was good for the team to have a scapegoat.

Ridiculous.

The most ridiculous stuff I read or heard was bashing the Cubs for not flying down or refusing to fly down Thursday, apparently directly from Jim Hendry.

Oh my God the GM of the Cubs didn’t want to send his players into a dangerous situation. HOW DARE HE CARE ABOUT HIS PLAYERS!

as the Cubs were at the beginning of a tailspin at Wrigley on a ‘phantom’ HBP to Lance Berkman. I believe replays determined Berkman was never clipped, but he sold the incident well, much to the consternation of Michael Barrett. This contributed to a 4-run 1st inning off Kerry Wood. The Cubs were never really in the game, losing 15 to 6.

The game was August 27, 2004…

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN200408270.shtml

This series — this game, actually — started a 12-game Houston winning streak which was the major factor (along with the implosion of Dusty’s Cubs) propelling the Astros past the Cubs to the WC.

Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?? Stuff happens.

On a ’lighter" note…This game also featured Kyle Farnsworth being hung out to dry in the 9th, as he was pounded by the Astros for 6 runs. Dusty wanted Farnsworth to finish out the loss. As the inning finally ended, Fansworth threw his glove into the stands— and subsequently broke his toe , effectively ending his season (I believe it was his toe) as he kicked an electric fan on his way to the clubhouse.

I think this game also started some of the controversy between Caray/Stone and Dusty/Kent Mercker, but I’m sure Al can clarify…

The I-Cubs have had to deal with flooding at their park TWICE that I can remember:

This year, the floods here in DSM soaked the warning track pretty good. After a lot of nail-biting, the club wound up playing a game in front of a paid attendance of 0. Result: the I-Cubs won their division.

In 1993, the field was totalled. Plus all of DSM was without water and very hard to get to. I seem to recall a lot of rescheduled/relocated games. Result: the I-Cubs WON the American Association championship.

Floods aren’t hurricanes, and both of these floods happened in July, not September. But if an AAA team can work through this (and is smart enough to, y’know, make other arrangements to get the games in BEFORE all hell breaks loose), why would a MLB franchise, with a larger budget, more staff, etc. have ANY problem making arrangements?

I think the easiest solution is to force each club to come up with a contengency plan for nasty weather. If the league office had had one of these on file, Mr. McHesitate-and-be-lost would have had no room to complain.

a waaaaah burger with some frenchcries

I remember watching the Cubs file quietly out of their dugout and the last person sitting and staring at the confetti and screaming masses from the team was Matt Murton .. they focused in right in on him.

Now turnabout’s just fair play now, ain’t it?