Fans are Great--Most of the Time

There is no question that great home town fan support helps get players adrenaline flowing and can result in better perfomances. Consider how much nicer it is to have 30,000 fans behind you at Minute Maid Park than it has to be for the Pittsburgh Pirates and their "crowds" that often only barely reach five figures.

That whole opening paragraph was a simple prelude to how fans can hurt the home team, too. One did just that on Sunday when he reached over and touched a live fair ball that had been hit by Hunter Pence and was on the way to the deep left field corner. Two runs would have scored. Except by touching the ball it was dead and Pence and all base runners were awarded two bases. That mean Carlos Lee who expended as much energy scoring from first base as he had in the last two years was returned to third. That is where he died. At the time that cut the Astros lead from 3-1 back to 2-1. The Astros eventually got a third run, but as it turned out they really needed the one they lost.

When Jose Valverde crashed in the ninth by walking Marcus Thames with two out and then giving up a tape measure home run to Brandon Inge the Astros lost by a run... that one run that would have at least kept the game tied.

So fans are great. Their ticket and concessions purchases pay the large bulk of the bills. You can't play major league baseball without them. But sometimes they can be a part of the game that they have no business being. Sunday was one of those days.

OFF TO SAN DIEGO
The Astros left for San Diego following the Sunday game. They will have four games there. Beginning the series they will be three games under .500 and four games out of the top spot in the NL Central. A win Sunday would have made it one under and three off the top spot. That is again how important that game was. Still, the club won two of three from a good Detroit team a
nd have finished interleague play at 6-9. Not good, but not near the bottom in that department. Roy Oswalt gets the start in game one.

WILL ANYONE GET HOT IN THE NLC?
At the moment the answer appears to be no. However, for all you doubters out there, do not discount the Astros chances. Lots of good signs including Lance Berkman looking much better at the plate, Kazuo Matsui stroking the ball well and the starting pitching staff so solid that Coop actually has a tough call on who will make up the main five. If you look at earned run averages it doesnt look as good as it has been performing the last month. Only Wandy Rodriguez and Russ Ortiz actually have good ERAs, but others are well under what the numbers show. Felipe Paulino the best example, but you can include Brian Moehler and Mike Hampton. No one has been absolutely solid ever game out...including Oswalt and Rodriguez. But on balance this staff is coming along. Can anyone say with certainty that the Cards, Brewers or Cubs will get hot? None of them have yet. The NL Central at least for now is a legitimate grab bag. Don't automatically discount the Astros.