Totally Astrotious

It has been a rough four years for the Houston baseball fan. Four losing years, and then the announcement that the team would be changing leagues, which will remove all of the team's traditional rivals from its schedule. That can't help to sell tickets, can it?

I was hanging around at NotGraphs the other day and the Astros were the subject of a recent post.  If you are a baseball fan, and haven't hung out at NotGraphs, you are definitely missing out. If you are in the mood for a little baseball related bric-a-brac, it is a one stop shop. It's also a free shop, where you can take home the memory of a .gif or unedited tweet, or even enjoy a little Dick Allen in great works of literature, for no initiation or membership fees.

The Astro's post in question was this one. And someone in the comments thought it might be helpful, perhaps even enlightening, to find all the other instances of the Astro's that were .gif-able, and to put them in one spot. I don't thing this was suggested with the Houston Astros fanbase in mind, because I would have to believe that putting all of the Astro's moments together like this, is a form of torture any real fan. Especially one who is watching and hoping that they suddenly turn it around. If you are one of those fans, this is your chance to avoid the train wreck. The rest of you can join me after the jump.

Lineout CF

Baseball plays are, over time, reduced to simple phrases and numbers. E6, F9, K. They get to the bare bones of what happened, and from a scoresheet, you can reconstruct a game, much like a dot to dot in a colouring book. The subtle ways in which each F9 or 6-4-3 double play differ are lost in the piles of scoresheet data. You cannot copy a Rembrant using dot-to-dot. In baseball some plays deserve to be treated better, and better treatment is what I will give the following play: F8.

Colby Rasmus does not give the impression of being in a hurry. His pace from the dugout to the on deck circle, then to the batter's box, is deliberate. His words are chosen deliberately in interviews. He gives the impression of not really being pumped up for much of anything. Many of baseball's quickest outfielders give a much different impression. Bourjos, Gardner, even Rajai Davis, give the impression of a coiled spring, bouncing all over the place. Side by side with those guys, Colby looks like Eeyore to their Roo. This guy:

 

Courtesy Zimbio.com

He is responsible for patrolling the vast expanses of centre field. There has been some doubt about his presence there in the world of Blue Jays fans. He hasn't been around very long.

Take away the reporters, take away the 'practice' label. Definitely take away the saddest attempt at portrait photography I've seen since grade three. Now, put him in a nice clean uniform and glove, and put him in centre field in front of 48,000 screaming fans. Put him somewhere where a little magic can happen.

That's where he was in the third inning on April 9th, 2012, Jarrod Saltalamacchia was at the plate for the Red Sox. Salty is a left handed hitter, but Rasmus was shaded well into left field. When the hitter made contact, it was a looping liner into short right-centre. And all 48,000 fans got to see what Colby Rasmus saves up his energy for.

Big shout out to @james_in_to for this follow him on twitter!

No doubt in his mind, no concern for his body, nothing but webbing. F8, but really, so much more than that. F8 + spectacular.

Come back here when you are down and out about a dropped ball or bobbled relay, and remember where the magic happens.


You can find me on Twitter at @coolhead2010.