Friend of the blog, Old Pro pointed out that John Lodge of the Moody Blues passed away last week, leaving only Justin Heyward still kicking from the original five Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. This was always one of my very favorite bands, especially their classic first 7 albums (kids ask your great grandparents what an album is).
In honor of the Moodys, Dan P has decided to spin an Astro-centric post tied to some of the Moody Blues top songs.
Isn’t Life Strange. Go back a decade plus to 2011-2013 and the biggest questions about the Astros had to do with when they would hit the 100th loss on the season. Or whether the Astros would ever settle their broadcasting problems and have more than 30-40% of their local fans able to watch them.
Now we have gone from the equivalent of third world baseball problems to first word baseball problems where our favorite team barely missed the playoffs despite having buzzard’s luck on injuries.
Isn’t life strange.
Question. The current Astros don’t have just a question. They have many questions. Who is going to fill out their rotation in 2025? Who might they trade? Who might they trade for? How much will they spend in free agency? Who will they keep in arbitration? Who will they let walk in arbitration?
And that is just the first set of those questions?
Your Wildest Dreams. Again, sitting back in 2013 with a team losing 111 games – could you ever in your wildest dreams think that within two seasons the team would make the playoffs, and within four seasons would turn into playoff warriors winning two World Series championships and four AL titles?
Go Now. The craziest part of the Astros’ Golden Era has been their willingness to let star after star go. Gerret Cole, Justin Verlander, Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton, George Springer, Carlos Correa, Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman and perhaps Framber Valdez are all top contributors that the Astros have watched leave or in Tucker’s case be pushed out. And yet they still win, even if they do come up a little short.
Ride My See Saw. This is a more recent addition to the Astros’ arsenal. In 2024, they stunk in the beginning of the season, but bounced back to once again win the AL West Division. However, in 2025, they went the other way, overcoming injuries to be 20 games over in July with a record at the top of baseball. But then…..the seesaw came swinging back and they limped into the off-season staring at the playoffs from the outside.
Legend of a Mind. Most Astro fans still believe that their success even through their second championship in 2022 goes back to the mad baseball scientist, Jeff Luhnow. Folks can say he would have gotten nowhere without the team tanking or without the team cheating, but in truth he brilliantly mapped out a path that took advantage of not only their early position in the draft, but also in bringing in so many international bargain players and in utilizing high tech tools in judging and developing the team’s youngsters.
Should he have known about and stopped the cheating? Yes. And that is the Scarlet Letter he will have to wear on his chest the rest of his professional life.
A Simple Game – In many ways the Astros turned a very complex and difficult sport into such a simple game. They were able to harvest unknowns and the unloved (such as Colin McHugh, Charlie Morton, Will Harris, Ryan Pressly and others) and created dominating pitching staffs. They grabbed Yordan Alvarez and Yainer Diaz for a song. They pulled Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Bryan Abreu, Jose Urquidy and others from the cheap end of the international market.
Their pitching staff took many a questionable pickup and made the best of them.
They were able to reach the playoffs eight straight seasons and move to at least the ALCS championship in seven of those seasons. Their confidence in the playoffs was evident even if they did not always appear to have the most talent in their matchups.
They made baseball look like such a simple game.
New Horizons. And here we stand at the potential end of an unprecedented golden age for Astros’ baseball. What types of New Horizons are out there for this organization and its fans?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
14 responses to “Even the Astros get the Moody Blues”
The founder of the blog – Chip Bailey has just published a book – and here is a link for those who are interested!
https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Noise-Timeless-Unshakeable-Purpose-ebook/dp/B0FSXCPRYH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=VR1UM3ZYWLKL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.DRwspEJDVatN-YWV3pakcJ1qnEKjhIUBuDgFIXgZY0axwjllzDCN6V670PH4HQzflTzW98UsAVWSuGm54xCYesGEiPCdZzuVDqjgLQuMkkRigcI34ZJbv0O6H8su08ar5TjFIdS7GH_pfhYDemeTK9YwKp7BxBOd0GHeSxF6h3kTWcbEgL7BLUlFsdMXlrQelP7096kbrGvlsx05-X-gWikvuuI6sID9BRvrkiKmC1s.Z8_v8JPX6q57TibWIjQPzd6nfSp2OEx71G3w9UOXy28&dib_tag=se&keywords=chip+bailey&qid=1761599076&sprefix=%2Caps%2C259&sr=8-1
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You really have to take a step back and consider it’s been a Long Train Runnin’ full of postseason appearances from 2015 to 2024 with narrow misses in 2016 and 2025. We may never see excellence like that again.
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Wow, I really screwed that one up. It’s almost like I was a Yankee’s fielder in the playoffs.
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Yeah that was a little bit of the Doobie Brothers – but still appreciate the effort.
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Thanks for the shout out Dan! Here’s the kicker on the book. Bill Brown (aka Brownie) wrote the foreword. It has been the #1 New Release on Amazon for the past few days, so we’re excited to share it!
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Knights in Orange Jerseys.
I Know You’re out There Somewhere. Our next superstar.
Why Can’t We Ever Get An Answer? Will he return to the field this season?
Forever Autumn. Astros and the playoffs.
Steppin’ in a Slide Zone. Altuve running the bases.
Had to Fall In Love. That was me in April, 1962, after my first Colt 45’s game
The Day We Meet Again. The afterlife of a forever Astros fan.
To Our Children’s Children’s Children. Who gets my Astros commemorative World Series rings.
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Let’s see
Melancholy Man (and women) – almost all Astros’ fans this off-season.
Voices in the Sky – Todd Kalas and Robert Ford?
Lovely to See You – Dan P greeting all his readers
Watching and Waiting – Every off-season
Lost in a Lost World – Astro fans facing no playoffs this year
Strange Times – ditto
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It’s just about 2:00 AM out here, too late for baseball unless it’s the Astros.
Jamaica, not built to handle what’s coming its way needs a miracle that they’re not going to get.
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All prayers going to them – this is always a terrible thing to happen.
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I made it through 16 last night. So many missed opportunities that served to make the game even more of a classic.
Tonight could be the series. Jays have to gut one out against Ohtani.
Go Now…the Astros have been willing to let contracts play out historically. Only Tucker was moved for controllable talent. That’s got to be the way of the future. I won’t even ask again what we could have gotten for Bregman and Framber.
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Go Now was from an early Moody Blues album before John Lodge and Justin Hayward joined the Moodys. It was a Denny Laine song. One of the best versions of the song comes from when Denny was part of Wings – Paul McCartney’s post Beatles band. On the live Wings Over America (a 3 album set back in the day) they do an excellent version of it.
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https://www.si.com/mlb/astros/onsi/news/this-teenage-astros-prospect-impressive-debut-season-dsl
Nice news from the DSL!
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Bill Murphy is gone…
https://www.mlb.com/news/bill-murphy-to-be-pirates-new-pitching-coach-source
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Sorry, I was not in the mood to do a full song. And I may or may not have some “shoulder discomfort” with return TBD.
Once upon a time
Our hitters used to grind
I remember guys
With patience in their eyes
I wonder where they are
I wonder if Joe
Preaches hit to all fields
Once upon a time
In our Astronaut dreams
Once spin rate was new
And fingers felt like tacky glue
We beat our foes all day
Shifted fielders to make double plays
The numbers geek squad bared
The numbers took us to October
Once upon a time
In our Astronaut dreams
And when chin music plays
And when bruises don’t heal tomorrow
When chin music plays
I fear recovery will not follow
Once upon a time
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