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On June 12, I wrote an article called "Ten Reasons the Astros Aren't Historically Awful." At the time, the Astros were 26-35. Since then, they've gone 10-39, and 6-31 since June 27th. It's probably time to revise that article.*

*The Astros have already revised their team. Three of the 10 reasons I wrote about now play for the White Sox, Pirates, and Marlins, respectively.

Houston's latest loss came against the Nationals on Monday night. The Astros rallied in the ninth to tie the game against Tyler Clippard but lost 5-4 in extras after the Nats scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th. On a Kurt Suzuki bunt. With a runner on first. You know, the way teams typically lose.

If you wanted to be charitable about it, you could say that the greatest legacy of this terrible team will be the young, cost-controlled talent that takes its place. But Astros fans who have actually watched the Astros over the last several weeks probably aren't inclined to be charitable. If an Astros fan were to make a 2012 Astros time capsule, they would probably put J.D. Martinez and his -2.0 WARP in it, because if J.D. Martinez were in a time capsule, he couldn't play for the Astros. If I were making a 2012 time capsule, I'd just preserve this play:

On the bright side, no one was there to see it!

Thank you for reading

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tlpacker
8/07
Wait...not to defend J.D. Martinez...but he plays left field! The right fielder there is left-handed and I assume is Brian Bogusevic. Your 1B culprit looks like Steve Pearce.
bornyank1
8/07
Yeah, I didn't meant to imply that Martinez had anything to do with that play. I was referring to the fact that Martinez has been the Astros' least-productive player. Just added his WARP total in there to make that more clear.
rgrunder
8/07
Play of the year. Awesome.
boards
8/07
I'm glad I went to bed at the end of the ninth.
CalWhite
8/07
I'm 54 years old, weigh 300 pounds, play first base on my softball team because my busted up old arm can't make the throw from third anymore and yet, somehow, this clip makes me feel that my chances of playing major league baseball aren't necessarily dead. Anyone have a phone number for Houston's GM?
sam19041
8/07
The Keystone Kops couldn't have done any better. Wow. That's a major league team?
DNicholas
8/07
I was tracking this game on MLB.com; when I saw the video of this play I had a feeling it would end up here. My favorite is the third baseman flying in, diving in the air and trying to block the throw to first. That part of the play shows up better in the replay, around the 45-second mark.
dianagramr
8/07
I don't think the 3B was diving trying to block the throw ... I think it was a collision and subsequent tripping ....
gweedoh565
8/07
I just love the disgust in the announcer's voice at the end:

"...and one of the worst plays you'll ever see... ...I mean you got guys hurt because they ran into each other..."
jfranco77
8/07
C'mon, you can fess up... this is really video that Jason Parks took while scouting little leaguers, isn't it?
TGT969
8/07
Houston fans know what it's like what it has been like for we Pirate fans for the
last 20 years.
tomterp
8/08
2012 Astros, meet 2009 Nats.