“Don’t stop, thinking about tomorrow
Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here
It’ll be, better than before
Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone”
… Fleetwood Mac
On the psychological plane, it’s still the same old story, a flight for love and glory, a case of do or die. And, at the rate they are going, in the end, will the fans still love the rebuilding Astros, as time goes by? I guess it all ends up in how things pan out for golden success in the long run, In the meanwhile, the question takes a sharp practical term: If it takes another two to three years to know that the club is moving back into status as a contender, and that may be harder to figure now as the team moves into the American League with its different rules about playing the game of baseball, how many empty seat seasons is the new ownership willing to tolerate on the way back to winning?
Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t see big crowds flocking to watch the kind of baseball they are now playing at Minute Maid Park for the next two or three years. Neither do I see them bumping the turnstiles much to watch a club that’s been fixed enough to hope for a .500 ball finish. It’s just how we are in this town. Once you get past the hard-core of a few fans who might even show up to watch people like me play, the bulk of Houston fans want to watch winners who are capable of winning now.. That’s what the buzz with the Houston Texans is all about. Fans really are buying into the idea that Houston already has a football team that is capable of reaching the Super Bowl at the end of this season.
In baseball, we can’t stop thinking about tomorrow, but most fans won’t translate that into serious ticket-buting until they are convinced that the team’s tomorrow is at hand this year.
How do the Astros sell their “hang in there” message now and still sell tickets for the balance of 2012 and 2013? Those are the big operational questions. Or should be.
After losing in extras last night in the Nationals@Astros series opener, Houston is now 36-74, .727 – en route to a probable 53-109 finish by season’s end – or a full three games worse than 2011. How does the club get fans to buy season tickets for 2013 on the back of this load?
It won’t be easy – and it will take some great salesmanship. Winning is the only real permanent salesman, but, given the club’s new dedication to long-term success, the marketing pitch is going to have to make an appeal for whatever remains among fans as an appreciation for delayed gratification in this era of microwave lunches and digital social networks.
Good Luck, Astros!
The Pecan Park Eagle 
August 7, 2012 at 3:11 pm |
I ask myself the same question. How can the Astros, with a new cable channel to sell, be so suicidal in their short-term planning? Do they really expect more games with the Rangers to save them?
Jeff Luhnow hints there will be free agent signings this winter but they’ll be the bargain bin variety like Chris Snyder and Jack Cust, not a Josh Hamilton or anybody you’ve heard of.
So how will they market themselves the next few years and will their fan base respond? If they can’t or won’t make a bold move, I just don’t see them being able to woo fans until 2015 at the earliest.
August 7, 2012 at 9:51 pm |
I have my ticket for the last NL game ever to be played in our city. I am one of those who will not be following the local team to the junior league. Rangers, Yankees, Red Sox have no interest to me. Another 100+ loses & 17 to 3 games do not interest me. I will be looking forward to my trips to St Louis (14 hours) & Atlanta (12 hours).
August 10, 2012 at 4:31 am |
Houston 36 77 .319 31 25-31 11-46 424 574 -150 Lost 5 1-9 0.0
This is a AA team at best. I’d like to understand what Mr. Luhnow’s long-term plan is and the steps he’s mapped out for getting there. I hope it will make some good sense when spelled out. I definitely don’t want to hear people referring to him as Mr. Luhney.
August 10, 2012 at 4:42 am |
Take a close look at that run differential. Wondering what the major league record is while drinking in the reality that the team has allowed 150 runs more than it has scored.
August 12, 2012 at 4:11 pm |
Here’s an excerpt from a Jayson Stark column on ESPN.com:
I might have to create my own category for the Astros. They’re not just astounding anymore. They’re Astrounding. But they’re also in the midst of a gravitational plunge unlike anything most living humans have ever witnessed:
• In their last 38 games, these Astros are 4-34. I’m shocked to report that no National League team has endured a 38-game stretch that grim since the legendary 1899 Cleveland Spiders finished their season with an attractive 1-40 debacle. And any team that winds up in the same sentence as those Spiders needs to ingest a lot of Tylenol immediately.
• The only other teams in modern history to win no more than four times in any 38-game stretch? Clyde Vollmer’s 1949 Washington Senators (4-34) and Whitey Witt’s 1916 Philadelphia Athletics (2-36). And that’s it.
• At least the ‘Stros won’t leave home again until Monday. And why is that such good news? Uh, they’re 2-24 on the road since June 14. That’s why. They’re also 6-37 since they won in Pittsburgh on May 11, and 11-46 away from Houston for the season. Trouble Ahead Alert: They’ll need to get cranking if they want to avoid the record for fewest road wins in a 162-game season. Which is 17, by Rod Kanehl’s 1963 Mets and Lastings Milledge’s 2010 Pirates.
Think this team has a 7-17 stretch in it? It had better!
August 12, 2012 at 4:12 pm |
Wow, the Houston Astros and the 1899 Cleveland Spiders in the same sentence. Now there’s a legacy for a GM.