Of course as an Astros fan it was hard to stomach when i heard that Houston hadnt offered Clemens arbitration.  Thus far the Astros have done just fine without the Rocket on the mound.   They currently lead their division with a 10-5 start and have showed an unexpected display of hitting ability at the plate.  Last year's World Series team was hindered all season long by poor offensive production.  Whats changed?  Not much.  With the exception of inserting Preston Wilson into the lineup the Astros roster is virtually the same as it was last year. 

The biggest question going into this year was how much depth does Houston's starting rotation have outside Oswalt and Pettitte.  Brandon Backe, who few know of outside of Houston, has played very well.  In last year's playoffs Backe had a better run then any of the staff with the exception of Oswalt.  Youngster Wandy Rodriguez has also shown a lot of promise so far into this young season posting a  2-0 record with a 2.84 era in 3 starts.  The bullpen also played very well in the playoffs last year.  Springer, Qualls, and Wheeler all pitched well in the postseason.  Brad Lidge was a monster all year until the NLCS and World Series.  However, I wouldnt expect that to become a trend.

With the season still very young its hard to say what will happen for the Astros.  I can say that I have been impressed so far with their 10-5 start.  I figured that they would be hovering around .500 at this point but they have been showing that they can actually score more than one or two runs in a game.  I can only hope that this will continue.  Can they win the Central this year and make a run at the Series again this year without the services of the Rocket?  I think so.