Revised Houston Review

[Gantry]

After playing a few series with Houston against my brother, I have altered quite a few things with my Houston synopsis.   Feel free to discuss:

http://dee-nee.com/rbi/houston.shtml

[danehill917]

Ah, a thread devoted to my favorite RBI team, the mighty aStros...

That's a solid lineup Gantry and some good stuff!

Here's one alternate Houston lineup I use, with the changes in bold:

1 Billy Hatcher: I will not argue with those who yank The Hatchet in inning 1. As a hitter, he is one tick above the mendoza line. But in this alternate lineup I am leaving him in for his speed and because it allows me some other moves, including pinch hitting for him later in the game.
2 Jose Cruz
3 Davie Lopes: Lopes' skill set makes him a great 3 hitter.
4 Glenn Davis
5 Kevin Bass
6 Billy Doran
7 Craig Reynolds
8 Phil Garner: To have success with the Astros, you will need contributions from Bass, Doran, and/or Reynolds. When one of them gets on, Garner is a solid RBI man at the bottom of the lineup.

This lineup leaves you with a bench of Terry Puhl and Dick Thong, a nice bonus considering just about every other version of the Astros is going to use three subs in the first inning, leaving just one bench player. Puhl and Thon are not bombers, but they're a decent L/R combo with surprising pop. Anytime Hatcher comes up in an RBI situation, you should consider the pinch hit.

I play extremely aggressive on the basepaths with Houston, always testing the defense.

Ryan is a beast, and if you're playing 2sp, he and Mike Scuff can eat some innings. Dave Smith is only safe for 1-2 batters. Use him in middle relief or as a setup man. Kerfeld is my closer, and I am not afraid to bring him in in the 8th. He can go two innings under ideal circumstances. His sidearm motion will throw some off.

[TbT]

I never pull hatcher.  That offense is shit and all you have is speed.  utilize it with the top 3 and hope to score a couple runs on account of it.  I think i use garner after bass though...to try and utilize a little pop incase someone does get on base early.

Kerfeld is a nice starter if your opponent struggles against sidearmers...or a lefty heavy line-up.  STL is a great start for Kerfeld.

[danehill917]

Doran is a better hitter than Assby, Walling, or Hatcher IMHO.

And he's got above average speed.

[JoeDirt]

They all suck.  The entire team.  That's it and that's all.

Their P is pretty stellar, though.

[danehill917]

Davey Lopes' mustache doesn't suck.

[danehill917]

Davey Lopes' mustache just hit a gapper to left center off you.

The mustache is taking the turn at second, going for a triple!

The disembodied mustache is safe.

[edfan]

Their P is pretty stellar, though.

Joe likes their p

[JoeDirt]

tastes good

[bigbrothermuscle]

Houston's batting is the worst.

Anemic hitting, no power and awful swings.
Kevin Bass is easily the most frustrating hitter/player in RBI. Period.
Denny Walling is DP material to the max explosion. Simply awful.

Houston's pitching is the second best in the game behind Boston.

Ryan is a solid starter, Kerfeld is nasty as hell and Mike Scott is a decent 2nd starter. I never use Dave Smith so I don't know.

The scales are heavily tipped in favor of defensive pitching, but other than that, Houston is terrible.

[bonny]

They all suck.  The entire team.  That's it and that's all.

Their P is pretty stellar, though.

Uniforms are the best too.

[Stock]

Houston's batting is the worst.

Anemic hitting, no power and awful swings.
Kevin Bass is easily the most frustrating hitter/player in RBI. Period.
Denny Walling is DP material to the max explosion. Simply awful.

Houston's pitching is the second best in the game behind Boston.

Ryan is a solid starter, Kerfeld is nasty as hell and Mike Scott is a decent 2nd starter. I never use Dave Smith so I don't know.

The scales are heavily tipped in favor of defensive pitching, but other than that, Houston is terrible.

Why would you leave Walling in the game?  He is the weakest hitter on the team as far as power goes.

[defen]

Houston's batting is the worst.

Anemic hitting, no power and awful swings.
Kevin Bass is easily the most frustrating hitter/player in RBI. Period.
Denny Walling is DP material to the max explosion. Simply awful.

Houston's pitching is the second best in the game behind Boston.

Ryan is a solid starter, Kerfeld is nasty as hell and Mike Scott is a decent 2nd starter. I never use Dave Smith so I don't know.

The scales are heavily tipped in favor of defensive pitching, but other than that, Houston is terrible.

Why would you leave Walling in the game?  He is the weakest hitter on the team as far as power goes.

I lost a game to Stock for solely this reason

[Stock]

Houston's batting is the worst.

Anemic hitting, no power and awful swings.
Kevin Bass is easily the most frustrating hitter/player in RBI. Period.
Denny Walling is DP material to the max explosion. Simply awful.

Houston's pitching is the second best in the game behind Boston.

Ryan is a solid starter, Kerfeld is nasty as hell and Mike Scott is a decent 2nd starter. I never use Dave Smith so I don't know.

The scales are heavily tipped in favor of defensive pitching, but other than that, Houston is terrible.

Why would you leave Walling in the game?  He is the weakest hitter on the team as far as power goes.

I lost a game to Stock for solely this reason

I think you lost because you picked Houston.

[defen]

Houston's batting is the worst.

Anemic hitting, no power and awful swings.
Kevin Bass is easily the most frustrating hitter/player in RBI. Period.
Denny Walling is DP material to the max explosion. Simply awful.

Houston's pitching is the second best in the game behind Boston.

Ryan is a solid starter, Kerfeld is nasty as hell and Mike Scott is a decent 2nd starter. I never use Dave Smith so I don't know.

The scales are heavily tipped in favor of defensive pitching, but other than that, Houston is terrible.

Why would you leave Walling in the game?  He is the weakest hitter on the team as far as power goes.

I lost a game to Stock for solely this reason

I think you lost because you picked Houston.

Wasn't it the old don't look at the controller and pick a team?  I forget, I was wasted.  We should do that again at some point.

[Stock]

Houston's batting is the worst.

Anemic hitting, no power and awful swings.
Kevin Bass is easily the most frustrating hitter/player in RBI. Period.
Denny Walling is DP material to the max explosion. Simply awful.

Houston's pitching is the second best in the game behind Boston.

Ryan is a solid starter, Kerfeld is nasty as hell and Mike Scott is a decent 2nd starter. I never use Dave Smith so I don't know.

The scales are heavily tipped in favor of defensive pitching, but other than that, Houston is terrible.

Why would you leave Walling in the game?  He is the weakest hitter on the team as far as power goes.

I lost a game to Stock for solely this reason

I think you lost because you picked Houston.

Wasn't it the old don't look at the controller and pick a team?  I forget, I was wasted.  We should do that again at some point.

You're right, and we do need to do that again some time.  I also remember the game being much closer than it should have been, especially since we were playing str8 pitch.

[bigbrothermuscle]

Walling is the worst. Kevin Bass is the worst. It's really a raw deal because their pitching is pretty top notch, but their offense flat out blows.

Houston is TERRIBLE!

[Stock]

I think this is their best lineup.

Lopes
J.Cruz
Garner
GDavis
K.Bass
D.Thon
Rynlds
Ashby


That's actually not that much worse than NY or SL.  At least you have some decent speed and 4 lefty bats in the lineup. 
Sometimes they are sneaky enough to win some games especially with two top starters, and decent relief pitching.

I think it's fun to take people on with Houston as it is a no-win situation for the opponent, and if you win, you get to rub it in forever.

[bigbrothermuscle]

I've had a lot of luck with the New York Mets lately. Lee Mazzilli came in and hit a pinch grand slam off of Bert Blyleven last time I played. I'm also a really big sucker for using Tim Teufel. That guy is awesome.

Lenny Dykstra is awesome and this is where I disagree with the Dee Nee guys. He and Mookie work well if used right. Gary Carter either hits the shit out of it or he whiffs wicked bad. Strawberry clobbers it and thats about it.

Pitching isn't the greatest aside from Gooden & Orosco. Offense is key here.

I'm a Red Sox fan, so is it weird to really like this Mets team? If possible, I'll get out of the Houston review tab and start a whole new thing on why the Mets are one of the best teams.

[BeefMaster]

Since Gantry & Co. play straight pitch, I think they put more emphasis on homers, so speed guys aren't as valuable - that's probably why they don't care for Dykstra as much.