Wishful thinking

Ugh. Paper due tomorrow (no biggy, just metaphysics) and my Russian professor is riding my ass. Really thinking about dropping that class. But I only need to finish it to complete my foreign language requirement. Why the fuck do we need 12 hours of a foreign language to graduate?

And I can't get hold of my mom. I called Saturday morning, and she was alright, but I've heard that the power in Montgomery county might be out for "weeks." If that's the case, she really needs to get out to Dallas to stay with my uncle. No reason a 60 year old woman needs to be staying in a house without power for weeks, even if the alternative is Dallas.

Nor will I be able to watch the Astros game (probably not, anyways, unless I can get that proxy server to work and trick MLB.tv into letting me see a blacked out game). I hate that the Astros have sold Sunday games to my20. Bunch of bullshit.

So days like this get me thinking. Joe Posnanski has an article about Jackal at his website, the typical fellating bullshit about how he could be the greatest player of all fucking time. I don't usually buy that "he could be the greatest if he just tried harder" crap. The man is 31. He is what he is, and he's a professional ballplayer. He tries hard every game.

Nevertheless, the New York media is going to ride his ass. He's like A-Rod; he's always going to be second-best to whomever the media loves at the moment (Reyes/Jeter), and will always be not quite good enough for their affections.

It's intriguing to me that writers don't think he "fits" New York. Maybe Beltran feels the same way. Maybe he thinks that New York isn't the place for him, that he'd be a better fit for Kansas City or Atlanta or Milwaukee or (dare I say it?) Houston.

People loved him when he was in Houston. He was a young superstar in a team that included plenty of other superstars. We loved his abilities. We loved his performance in the playoffs. He was immediately another Killer B. He could do no wrong.

Until he played the Astros for suckers. Then, he got booed at every Mets-Astros game.

And why did he leave? It's come out that the Astros offered him more money than the Mets gave him. The Yankees didn't want him (but he desperately wanted them). The Mets were his consolation prize.

So what happened? He had an off year in 2005, posting a .266/.330/.414 line for the season. OPS+ of 96. He was badmouthed in New York. And I'm sure he might have started questioning his decisions of December of 2004, as the Astros went to the World Series without him and the Mets played golf.

Had he stayed here, he would have been a star. Even if he had the same season in Houston, no Chronicle employee would eviscerate Beltran in the paper. He would never have been booed in Minute Maid. Just as the Hispanic community has fallen behind Carlos Lee, they would have embraced Beltran as representative and chosen son. Even if he had struck out every AB in the 2005 playoffs, the guy would have been loved.

You don't have to be great to be loved in Houston sports. We embraced Ensberg and Luke Scott . We didn't care about Everett's shitty batting line. You just have to show up every day and pretend you care. Granted, Astros fans' behavior towards Lidge in 2006 was despicable, but still.

So I think about the 2005 that might have been, had Beltran been re-signed and had Hunsicker stayed on.

Kent's option would still likely have been dropped, if only to have paid for Beltran's salary. This would place Biggio back at 2B, just as in the real 2005. If not, then the Astros would likely have kept Bidge in LF, at least until Bagwell went down. Maybe the Astros would have gone for the Reds' proposed trade of Adam Dunn. That would have been awesome. If Kent were still with the team, then he might have been moved to 1B, or possibly over to third. If not, the Berkman takes his rightful place at first.

Imagine that lineup! A Berkman-Beltran-Dunn-Ensberg lineup looks a lot better against the Chicago pitchers than the Berkman-Ensberg-Bagwell lineup of reality. Beltran would have possibly gotten that WS ring.

Ahh, to dream.

Fuck Carlos Beltran. Stupid fucking fuck.