Unstuck, at least for one day

I haven't written a post on this blog in 10 days.   Largely because I haven't had any inspiration to do so.

Then I looked at the pile of cards to my left on my desk, and this card was on top of the pile.

Stadium Club gold parallel of Matt Duffy.  Nothing inspiring about that, right?   Well what created the inspiration for this post is what's on the padding just to his left on the photo.

Astros.com  

I've never been big on congratulating teams and their fan base when they celebrate championships, but I feel that I do owe a few words for the Astros and their fans.

First, I do want to say that I'm glad that the two best teams in baseball this year made it to the Series.  I honestly thought that the Dodgers were going to steamroll their way to a Series title, but as usual I was wrong (sorry to Greg, Oscar and the other Dodger bloggers, I probably jinxed it for you).

But one thing happened during the summer that really made me wonder about fans these days. 

The July 31st trade deadline came and went, and the Astros didn't make a significant trade to bolster their club.  The lynch mob rose in great numbers and wanted the management team run out of town.

Then at the end of August, the Astros pulled off the biggest coup of all.   They added Justin Verlander for 3 minor leagues.  Detroit is even going to pay $8 million of Justin's salary each of the next two years.  Verlander promptly goes 5-0 with a 1.06 ERA and a 0.647 WHIP in September, and then add in a 4-1 postseason and you may have one of the best acquisitions ever for a pennant/championship run.

The guy I was happiest for through all this was Jose Altuve....

I'm putting my vote in for Altuve as the best player in the game offensively over the past 4 years.

• .334 combined average with 845 hits
• averaging 39 steals a year
• 4 silver slugger awards
• Averages 156 games a year, so no DL stints 

Chicks may dig the long ball, but I get a charge out of guys who have 1250 hits in their first 6.5 seasons in MLB, play every day and do it in the relative obscurity that is the southeast coast of Texas.  If he's in Chicago, LA or NY, he's a rock star.

It's time to give this guy some love, seriously.

To the folks of Houston, after seeing what you went through with Hurricane Harvey, I am glad that your team won the Series.  But there are a lot of fans out there that should let the management team run things.

Looking at the season that the 'stros just had, I think they've got an idea what they're doing.

Just my opinion though....

Thanks for reading, Robert