USA Today's Chris Duncan looks into his mystical crystal ball and discovers that the reason the Astros are bad right now is because of the offense. You don't say...
Duncan:
Houston ranks last in the majors in runs (28), batting average (.215), on-base percentage (.240) and home runs (3). The Astros have been shut out three times and scored two runs or fewer in seven of their first 12 games.
From the start, the Astros knew they had unproven bats at the back of the lineup. Rookie shortstop Tommy Manzella had only five career major-league at-bats and catcher J.R. Towles was hitting .149 over the previous two seasons.
But the dependable hitters are the ones slumping the worst so far.
Pence:
"That's just the way it goes sometimes and you've just got to keep battling. Once you get hot, hitting gets contagious and it starts to feel easy, and when it's going bad it feels very difficult. You've just got to keep your mind right, keep preparing and keep believing it's going to happen."
Mills:
"There's a lot of talent there, and the talent right now isn't able to do the things they've been able to do in the past. It's only a matter of time before they do. We'll try to shorten that as much as we can. But the guys are getting their work in and doing the things they need to get done...
...We purposely didn't look back at those losses because that frustration begins to build. So that's not what we wanted. That's not an advantage to us. So we tried not to look back and kept correcting those mistakes, but looking forward at what we were trying to accomplish. So in saying that, it builds."
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
