Cal.E's Korner

Ralph:  A one, a two, a one two three four

Houston has the Astros

The greatest baseball team

d.: Hold it, Ralph. The Astros lost yesterday, getting swept out of the Wild Card Round of the MLB playoffs by the Detroit Tigers, so the Astros aren't playing today. Ironically, the Tigers are managed by the Astros’ manager that led them to their first ever World Series championship, so props to A.J. Hinch and the Detroit Tigers. Good luck in future rounds of the playoffs.

C.: I'm calling in from the Planet of the Talking Cats to host Cal.E.'s Korner today. I have my cohost, Astros’ fan d.c. scot on the line.. d.c. is such a big fan that he always wears his Astros’ cap.

d.c., the Astros lost yesterday and the day before. They didn’t score many runs and the pitching was good, but wasn’t great in pressure situations, as has become the Astros’ trademark during their dynastic run in which they’ve been to the American League Championship Series seven straight times, garnering two World Series championship and two other World Series appearances during that time, but they struggled this year and didn’t get the timely hitting they needed. Is this the end of a dynasty?

d.: Maybe, but probably not. They went out and bolstered the bullpen, getting Hector Nerris back when he was available. Tough luck with five starters in the rotation put them at a disadvantage at the beginning of the year, and two of those starters won’t be ready when Spring training begins. It may be mid-season before we see Lance McCullers, if at all. Luis Garcia may or may not be ready by the beginning of the season, and Christian Javier and Jose Urquidy are also question marks. If all those pitchers are able to pitch next year, the Astros will have a surplus of starting pitching, although Justin Verlander and Yusei Kikuchi are almost certainly gone. That surplus, though, may come in handy for trades if Alex Bregman is wearing a different uniform for the first time in his MLB career next year, as expected.

C.: Well, d.c., it appears that you’re taking this loss philosophically, but I’m not sure that the same can be said of the Astros’ double play combination. We had our roving camera on the street following Jose Altuve and Jermy Pena. Let’s listen to the conversation one of the best double play combinations in baseball is having.

JP: Jose, you’ve been around for a while, and you played on some bad teams before this dynastic run. Those teams weren’t playing in October, so what did you do this time of year?

JA: Let me get out of the batting cage and we'll talk about this. I do want to stay sharp for our next World Series run, though.

Hmmm...It’s been so long, it’s hard to remember. I know my wife doesn’t ant me around except on my off days because it throws off her schedule…Hmm. Winter ball doesn’t start for another month, but I seem to remember that another sport is being played in October. Yes, it’s football. I watched some football games on TV!

JP.: Is the World Cup Series still going on?

JA.: No, I meant American football.

JP.: I thought that started in November, when the World Series was over.

JA.: No, I think it starts before that, while our regular season is still going on. There’s both college and professional American football going on, so you can watch it all weekend, as well as on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays now.

JP,: So, they play as many games as we do?

JA.: No, it’s just so popular that televisions schedules different teams on every day of the week.

JP.: Well, if it’s that popular, maybe I’ll watch some of it. Thanks, Jose.

JA. Another youngster mentored. I’ve done my work for today.