Astros deserved a voice in Ike aftermath

Thursday, September 18, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

Galveston native Brandon Backe didn't make it out of the second inning, and the Astros got pounded again Wednesday, as Jesus Ortiz writes; that's four straight losses and counting since their season was interrupted by Hurricane Ike.

Look, it's very possible the Astros' players have been deeply affected by their concerns about their families and neighbors and homes. It's possible that the Astros, as a pro baseball club competing for a playoff spot, were merely affected by having their momentum halted for a couple of days at a time when they were on a serious roll. It's possible that in playing the Cubs and Marlins this week, the Astros ran into two good-hitting teams at the worst possible time. It might be that Houston was just due for a slump after posting the best record in baseball for the first two months after the All-Star break.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

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