The Astros should be no worse than 6-3 after their first nine games. I'm feeling confident about that. I've been feeling a little bamboozled as to how you're projecting such a dismal season, Flastros. You'd think the Astros traded away all of their all-star caliber players this past off-season, with the way a lot of people are anticipating such a bad year. There's too much talent on this team not to remain a competitively solid ball club. Sure, there's some weaknesses and concerns entering the season ( catcher, third base ) but it's nothing that's going to hold the team back from winning at least 90 games, assuming the team stays relatively healthy.

Unlike most people, I'm not as concerned with Michael Bourn's lack of progression in center field, from an offensive standpoint. Nor am I worried about the starting rotation. There's too many veterans who know how to pitch on the starting staff. If it were a young and inexperienced group, I'd be a lot more concerned.

Let's wait until the games start to count in the standings, before we deem this season a losing year. I'm still holding out hope for another magical season just like 2005. Except this time, winning the World Series. I go into every season thinking big things, otherwise it would be a waste of my energy to expect nothing but mediocre results.