HOUSTON — When Chris Carter dropped a throw at first base, when he bungled a potential double-play grounder and when he was thrown out trying to reach second base on a ball that bounced off the left-field wall — all in the first three innings — it was not necessarily viewed as a disaster for the Houston Astros.
It was simply collateral damage.
Carter owes his spot in the lineup to his ability to hit the baseball. All the rest — the shaky fielding, the high number of strikeouts and the slow-as-a-Southern-drawl base running — is just part of the package.