The upcoming Houston series

[Sanfran327]

I'm hoping we sweep those guys. With all of the crying about how they're ruining the American League by padding AL West records, we need to join the party and pound them for three days and recharge the bullpen.

I realize they're a major league baseball team, but I will lose my mind if we lose even one game to them. I'd be beside myself if we managed to lose this series, but I don't think that's likely. We're a very good road team, and they're terrible.

Here's to expecting domination.

[SteveA]

I'm hoping we sweep those guys. With all of the crying about how they're ruining the American League by padding AL West records, we need to join the party and pound them for three days and recharge the bullpen.

I realize they're a major league baseball team, but I will lose my mind if we lose even one game to them. I'd be beside myself if we managed to lose this series, but I don't think that's likely. We're a very good road team, and they're terrible.

Here's to expecting domination.

The Houston Astros have the longest current winning streak in the major leagues, at 4 games.

[Rene88]

Good thread, thinking the same thing. And yes, the Astros are playing the best baseball of their season right now. However, that isn't saying much, we could use the sweep quite badly.

[BarclaySouthway]

Well, the A's are 9-0 against Houston and .500 against the rest of MLB. It seems that pounding Houston will be de rigueur if you want to be in the playoff hunt (especially in the West--but also in the wildcard hunt.)

[Sanfran327]

The Angels have lost the first two games of the series to the Astros..and they lost them AT HOME.After sweeping the Yankees, the Mets lost the

first two games they played to the Marlins. Nothing is a sure thing.

Of course not. But we should pound them to dirt.

The Houston Astros have the longest current winning streak in the major leagues, at 4 games.

So? They're still [expletive deleted].

Set the bar high.

[ShaneDawg85]

I'd already called it yesterday that some on here would be mad losing one game to the Astros, and if they lose the series of somehow got swept this place might implode. Nothing is a given in baseball. Absolutely nothing, especially in a ballpark where most guys have never played and against a pitching staff most have never seen.

[LookitsPuck]

The Astros pitching has been stellar the last week or so. Won 4 in a row. They've been playing very well as of late.

[Flacco Machado]

Anybody else thinking that this was an interleague series? I still don't think of the Astros as an AL team. (Insert joke here) Going to take 2-3 years to get used to this.

[ChipTait]

I think I'm going to attend Wednesday's game. Anybody else going?

[Flacco Machado]

I think I'm going to attend Wednesday's game. Anybody else going?

Not unless you have a round-trip ticket to Houston. Us city slickers are going to watch it on the ol' boob tube. Yee Haw! :thumbsup1:

[Lester Freamon]

The Angels have lost the first two games of the series to the Astros..and they lost them AT HOME.After sweeping the Yankees, the Mets lost the

first two games they played to the Marlins. Nothing is a sure thing.

That's right! As fans, because I'm not in any way worried about the team doing this, we shouldn't get too cocky abut this series. Again it's baseball, not football, anything can happen. Inferior teams, and the Astros are no doubt inferior to our O's, knock off better teams all the time. Sometimes, with no seeming rhyme or reason. (although, in reality there is always some reason).

I mean, ask Roy about Kevin Gausman today.

In any event. I'm hoping we can somehow sweep these guys and pick up some games on our competition, start to make up a little bit for that 6-game losing streak and JJ's blown saves.

[Malike]

Take no team lightly. Ever.

[Sanfran327]

Take no team lightly. Ever.

Good thing I don't play for the O's. I still don't think it's unreasonable to virtually expect a sweep heading into a series against the worst team in the league.

[CA-ORIOLE]

Take no prisoners. Ever.

Fixed it for ya.

[Sanfran327]

Let me explain my stance just a little bit. I'm not trying to be cocky or arrogant, I am just extremely confident in our team. I think we're stumbling a little bit on takeoff at the moment, but we're still well above .500 and right in the thick of things. If I had to pick a division winner today, I'd feel good picking us. I think Buck will find the winning combination for the pitching staff, and I think we have the best group of two-way position players right now (Detroit, NYY, and LAA are obviously formidable as well).

But there's more.

I'm no longer in "glad to be here" mode. Last year was a great season, and so much fun to follow the team as they broke their losing streak. But I was oddly comfortable with losing the ALDS because I was still pretty happy with where we got considering it was from out of nowhere. This year, we're proving it's not a fluke, and I can smell blood. I think we should have that mentality as a collective fan base. I don't think we should be ignorant about it (I don't think expecting a sweep in HOU is ignorant, but feel free to disagree), but I think this team has proven that they belong in the conversation, and I'm not worried about a 2005-esque meltdown with Buck and DD at the helm.

So yeah, any given Sunday and all of that: totally valid points. But I'm not going to be a humble fan anymore. That doesn't mean that I'm going to go around an point my finger in other fans' faces and declare myself the winner before we ever play (that's what a message board for my team is for), but amongst ourselves, I think it's okay to set the bar high and hope our team hits the next gear.

If that all sounds a bit contradictory, maybe it is. But I still want three wins in Houston.