Congratulations to the Astros, who will manage not to lose 100 games for the first time since the 2010 season. The Astros' success this year, if you can call it that, was not enough to save the job of manager Bo Porter. Apparently it wasn't the Astros' win-loss record so much as it was tension between him and general manager Jeff Luhnow that cost him his job after less than two seasons. I was skeptical of the Porter hire at the time - I felt the Astros were in such dire condition that they needed a manager with more experience - but I wish him the best nevertheless. The Astros' next manager will hopefully be somebody with experience as well as the ability to see eye-to-eye with team management.
The Texans, meanwhile, proved me wrong by opening their 2014 season with a 16-7 victory over the Redskins last Sunday, to notch their first regular-season victory in 51 weeks. The Redskins are awful, mind you, so I'm not prepared to declare the team's troubles over, but hopefully they'll do better than 2-14 this fall. The talent is definitely there on defense - it's not hyperbole to call J.J. Wat the best defensive player in the entire NFL - but the squad needs to stay healthy. In that regard, the injury to first-round draft pick Jadeveon Clowney, which was apparently caused by a seam in the grass at NRG Stadium, is not an encouraging way to start the season. Fortunately, he will only miss a handful of weeks and is not out for the season.
The Texans only managed 10 points on offense (the other touchdown was the result of superb special teams play on a blocked punt), which is not going to win many games. I'm still not sold on new quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, but he's only the second-most important player in this offense. Please, Arian Foster, stay healthy.
Oh, and the Dynamo won last weekend as well. That's their third win in four games, but they still have more work to do if they want to make it to the MLS playoffs.
All in all it was - relatively speaking - a good weekend for Houston sports.
(And yes, this will probably be the last time I mention the Astros or the Dynamo on this blog for awhile.)
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