The 2005 Houston Astros seem to be going down the same path as last season when they got off to a torrid start, but the similarities probably will end there. Last season they made a key trade to jumpstart their lackluster season. Along with acquiring Carlos Beltran, Houston made a managerial change firing Jimy Williams and hiring Phil Garner from the suburbs. After the team got acquainted with its new pieces, the 'Stros took off and wound up winning the Wild Card over their division rival Chicago Cubs. The momentum did not spot in the playoffs as Houston took down the NL East Division Winners in five games and had the Cardinals down 3-2 in the next series needing only one more victory to earn a trip to the World Series.

St. Louis held strong at home in game six and Roger Clemens ran out of gas in game seven, blowing a lead late in the game, bringing the Astros magical season to an abrupt end. Despite the loss everything appeared to be in order for a strong run in 2005, but a troubling off-season and numerous key injuries to start the season have made the Astros one of the worst teams in baseball. As of this writing, the Astros have only two road wins on the entire season.

Carlos Beltran had a remarkable postseason and the Astros certainly got their money worth acquiring him in a mid-season trade from the Kansas City Royals. The problem was that Beltran did too well and priced himself out of the Houston market for the remainder of his career. Beltran jumped ship to New York and second baseman Jeff Kent, who had a walk-off homer in game five, left for the West Coast. This left the 2005 Houston Astros with two major gaps to fill and they have been left empty for the entire season.

The Astros' executive branch believes this team could still compete because of their strong pitching rotation. Andy Pettitte would be coming back healthy and Houston did spend the money to keep Roger Clemens around for one more season. These two along with Roy Oswalt give Houston the best 1-2-3 punch in the majors. They go along nicely with Brad Lidge closing games making the Astros one of the most feared pitching teams in baseball.

The pitching has gone as planned for this team, the problem is that the offense has been non-existent for the entire season. Jeff Bagwell played through pain in his shoulder for the first month of the season before shutting it down in May, possibly for his career. Bagwell did opt for surgery on his arthritic shoulder and will try and come back next season. Lance Berkman started the season on the disabled list and has not been able to find his form from past seasons. The career .301 hitter can only muster a .179 average this season. This leads me to believe that he is not fully recovered from the injuries that plagued him to start the year.

This goes to show that pitching alone cannot win games in Major League Baseball. Houston is seventh in team pitching, but has two of its starting pitchers in the top 19 based on E.R.A. Roger Clemens leads the league in E.R.A. for starting pitchers. However, Houston is last in team batting, hitting only .245 as a team. They average only 3.6 runs per game and have been shutout seven times. They are an old team and appear to be going on a downhill slide with no end in sight.

Great pitching can only take you so far. This team is full of old and slow players that struggle to manufacture runs. They ground into numerous double plays and have had hardly any clutch hits to speak of this season. I would recommend going against Houston whenever the line dictates it. Clemens has pitched well this season but only has three victories to show for his league leading E.R.A. Betting against the 2005 Houston Astros at -130 or less will fill up your pockets with cash.

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