Baseball is Over. Are the Texans Heading the Same Way?

The Giants are the champions of major league baseball.  They were able to beat Cliff Lee twice and that was the bottom line story.  Had the roles been reversed the Rangers might be on the verge of winning the championship.  But that's baseball.  Tim Lincecum was enough better than Lee to make the difference.  Sure, he had more offensive help.  The Rangers who led the majors in batting average during the regular season hit only .190 in the series with a major dearth of clutch hits.  But did they fail...or was the Giants pitching just that successful.

Since good pitching almost always takes care of good hitters I tend to lean toward the latter.  The pitching which was much deeper than just Lincecum, the two time NL Cy Young Award winner.  The Giants won thanks to some clutch hits, but mostly thanks to superb pitcher.

That brings up to the home town team.  The Astros have the beginnings of a very good pitching staff.  Can it be built enough more that the club can overcome offensive problems.  Don't kid yourself those offensive problems will be evident again in 2011 even if young players like Tommy Manzella, Jason Castro and Brett Wallace perform much better than they did in 2010.  None of them are on track to be all-stars yet.  The pitching will have to be almost "Giant strong" to allow the club to contend.  Nothing is baseball is impossible otherwise the Giants and Rangers would not have been meeting in the World Series.  Still, the Astros will have to do some work.

AS FOR THE TEXANS....

Many of us were able to at least "spot check" the Texans-Colts game on Monday night while focusing on the Series.  (Yes, I know many were doing the reverse, but the way things turned out I liked my way.)  The Texans--as they have on too many occasions--proved they are not worthy of being considered one of the better teams in the NFL.  I did watch the opening series.  Passing right off the bat against a team that has not stopped the run?  Too often offensive co-ordinators/head coaches think they have to "trick" the opposition.  "If they expect us to run let's pass instead."  Huh?  Why not shove the old Green Bay Packer Lombardi Sweep philosophy?   Sure, football is more sophisticated than in was in Lombardi's Green Bay days, but one thing has not changed.  If you beat your man and your teammate beats his man the play works.  Lombardi preached and practiced over and over and over fewer plays, but had his team perfect them no matter what the opposition defense showed.  At the point his players could no longer get the job done he got new players.

All that is likely too simplistic now.  For one thing so much more money is invested in players they cannot be discarded like bent playing cards.  But something has to be done with the Texans.  Everyone says they have talent.  Do they really?  The same has been said about the Cowboys.  Do they really?

If either or both of those teams DO have talent then guess where the finger points?  It may be too late for this season, although the Texans at least right now are still over .500 and a post season contender.  The way things are going right now new head coaches in both Arlington with the Cowboys and in Houston could very well be in the cards for next year.  Alas, there are no Lombardis around.  There IS a hard nosed guy who has won named Cowher taking a TV hiatus.  Hmm.