Prior to a Mark Loretta single in the last of the 7th today at Miller Park, the Astros had been held hitless by the Cubs’ combination of Carlos Zambrano and Ted Lilly (above) for 15 innings. Having spent a good portions of a sleepless weekend contending with Hurricane Ike in Houston, the Astros were at enough of a competitive disadvantage as is without being forced to play at Wrigley East. While not leaving Bud Selig off the hook, the Houston Chronicle’s Richard Justice is quick to hold local ownership accountable.
Drayton McLane shouldn™t be given a pass. He refused to believe predictions that a monstrous storm was headed for Houston. He wanted those three home games against the Chicago Cubs so badly that his judgment was clouded.
Had he acted earlier, had he acknowledged that the Astros and Cubs simply weren™t going to play at Minute Maid Park, this series could have been played at a true neutral site over the weekend.
Anywhere else would have been better than what the Astros walked into Sunday night. This was a home game for the Cubs. Plain and simple. And dumb.
If this was the best baseball could do, this series should have been played after the season.
Sure, such a decision would have conflicted with Fox™s television schedule. Big deal.
Get it right on the field and then worry about when the television show starts.
The Astros left Minute Maid Park at 8:45 Sunday morning. Their plane took off at 11:50. They arrived at their hotel around 2 and left for the ballpark at 4.
Players™ moods ranged from angry to very angry about the decision to play here. Maybe they™ll end up channeling that anger in another direction.
They can be angry at Selig and McLane when the season is over. For now, there™s still the chance to do something incredible, something they™ll remember for the rest of their lives.
Had to read this a few times. I’m just not used to someone complaining about all the unfair, lucky breaks the Cubs get.
I’m not sure the Astros could have played particularly well whether the game had been in St. Louis or Tampa or Round Rock. Who knows?
But it’s positively Muschnickesque of Justice to suggest that Fox’s TV needs can just be put aside. I mean, what sports world has he been covering for the past 10 years. Besides, it’s a straight-up contractual obligation (baseball’s to Fox, and Fox’s to its advertisers).
Had the games been moved to Round Rock, Chicago would’ve played to the same gang that shows up for all the I-Cubs’ visits.
Trust me, I know from where Justice writes: An owner beholden to tv contracts, a team playing under bad conditions, just plain bad luck, all resulting in embarrassing defeats … I’m just not used to the Cubs benefiting from all that misery.
Still, other teams manage to play on the road and not get no-hit, play four months of the season in 4th and 5th place, and grasp at straws in the last two weeks of the season so that something like this can make or break your year.
Ben
true ’nuff. But they usually aren’t fucked by their own ownership, either. Can we imagine the Yankees or Red Sox agreeing to give up a pair of home games during a pennant race?
what cubs misery? not that i’m gonna feign extra added concern to an already shitty sitch in houston but i mean what the hell are you talking about? some asshat reaching over the fence to catch a ball? yea talk to the orioles. a fucking goat? a black cat crossing ron santo’s path? give me a fucking break.
the only good thing to come of this for houston is maybe they’ll wake up and realize that if they had a pitching staff (or a gm worth a shit…or a farm system) they wouldn’t have to blame this shit on getting screwed by an owner that everyone already knows is a jackass or a league that everyone already knows is run by a jackass…but that won’t happen in houston because the collective we just figured out that it’s alright to have more than one brown guy on your team this season. don’t expect any progress in any direction from these fucking schmucks.
can i still act like we got screwed instead of getting what was coming to us anyway though? thanks in advance.
Feel free, Matt — altho the Cubs misery I speak of is 60 years of lousy ownership, beginning with donating the lights for Wrigley Field to the war effort in the 1940s and forcing the Cubs to play only day games from 1942-1988, or whatever, while even towns like Cincinnati had more modern ballparks. Trust me, it’s a long list of such decisions, not just Steve Bartman’s catch.
I agree with much of what you and what Gerard said. Can I imagine the Yankees and Red Sox giving up two home games during a pennant race — no way. But then, they’re winners. The Cubs have never played, until recently, with that mentality.
Ah, but Ben, you guys are just another Red Sox Nation waiting to happen. Who wants that?
And I dunno, Justice is basically arguing that Drayton’s greed, er, devotion to the fans of Houston, is the reason why he lost control over how and when the game would be played. Question is, could Selig have ordered around John Henry like he ordered around Drayton, or is his authority his authority? I assume there is also something in the MLB rules regarding capacity that allowed him to veto Round Rock (my own Express years were all AA so I never experienced Cubs fans in the park).
Vegas’ Cashman Field hosted an Oakland A’s “homestand” in 1996 when renovations to the Oakland Coliseum extended into April. Cashman has a smaller capacity than Round Rock’s Dell Diamond.
And the weather was fine right? I gotta admit, seeing what’s happened in Cincinnati and St. Louis the past few days makes me slightly more sympathetic to the notion that it had to be at a roofed stadium no matter what. I also think Drayton simply made more money off two days worth of half-capacity major league ticket sales to Cubs fans than he would have to far fewer fans at lower prices close to home. But he gives all that money to Baylor right?
there were no weather issues to speak of in Williamson County on Sunday or Monday. You might be correct about Miller Park’s half capacity sales being more lucrative for McLane, however they’ve not had a problem packing the Dell for say, an Andy Pettitte rehab start announced on short notice. Playing the game in a Triple A stadium was always a longshot but given what the Astros had to put up with in Houston on Friday and Saturday, it should’ve been given more consideration.
Jason – I refuse to have a whose got it worse contest with you, since I have a family reunion coming up and will have more than my fill then, and the cubs would never lose that debate. justice’s lack of access, or reportorial initiative, leaves out what the cubs insisted on for these games. Maybe they refused locales, as well. As for not an mlb ballpark, what about the dodgers, nats, and other teams that have played nfl and other venues?
But these were Cub *road* games- why should they have had veto power over venue (other than insisting on an MLB-caliber setting)? If they objected, MLB could have enforce a less advantageous alternative- shoehorning the games into any remaining offdays and/or at season’s end, decimating their pitching staff. From my take the team that really should have been pissed was Milwaukee, before they forfeited fuming rights with their own sorry weekend performance- seeing a divisional rival get handed two extra home games, in their own back yard to boot, and spared of the pitching nightmare noted above that could have provided an opening.
Let’s face it- the Astros weren’t going to pass both Philly and Milwaukee anyway. When I look at their roster I have a hard time finding 70 wins, which puts Cecil Cooper at the head of the Manager of the Year running for me (but of course it’ll be a Lou coronation).
Dude, Ben, I had no idea you were at Big Z’s no no:
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/tools/med/2008/09/ipt/1221600406.jpg
Congrats brah!