Nowadays, it’s de rigueur to dog on Drayton McLane. The long-time Astros owner is cheap and an overspender, too concerned with marketing and driving fans away with losing teams, leaves impact prospects to rot on the vine in the minors and won’t draft good players. I’m pretty sure he’s responsible for seasonal flooding and mosquitoes, too. But let’s hop in the Houstonist DeLorean and take a second look at the erstwhile Uncle Drayton.
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Results tagged “baseball”
Or at least some new horses. On the heels of a horrible road trip last week, and a choke-job at home against the Rangers this weekend, the Astros moved decisively yesterday, calling up almost every promising player they had at Round Rock. The new guys probably won’t be the catalyst for a drive to the World Series, but they will provide a taste of what the 2012 Astros could look like. Let’s take a look at who's coming to Houston.
Now that all the appropriate (or inappropriate) public and private gestures have been made, it's clear that the Astros and Roy Oswalt have decided to start seeing other people. An ace pitcher of Oswalt's caliber doesn't often make it to the trade market, so what should Ed Wade be looking for, and who has something to offer?
Or, How To Pick The Right Basket In Which To Put Your Eggs
Drive by a billboard advertising the 2010 Astros season, and you're likely to see one of four players: Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman, Michael Bourn, or Hunter Pence. Even poorly-performing teams have to have marketing campaigns, and the Astros have built theirs around these players. Two are slugging veterans, and two are hot young outfielders; one assumes that the pitchers were too inconsistent in 2009, or too awkward looking (coughOswaltcough) to plaster on a billboard.
Pop quiz, hot shot! It's the fourth inning, there's a runner on second base and no outs. You're at bat. What do you do? If you said, "get a hit", then you don't know the half of it, according to former Astros third baseman Morgan Ensberg. But not to worry, he's here to help.
The Good Ship Astros isn't exactly winning the America's Cup, but it isn't sinking like it was two weeks ago. The Astros are winners of 5 of their last 7 going into this weekend's series against the predictibly horrid Pirates, who roll into town having been beaten by the Brewers by a couple of touchdowns. It would still be a stretch to expect great things from the hometowners this year, but the main reason that they won't be an embarassment is because of the return of the Puma.
Okay, so the Astros suck. They are not good, they're bad. Why are they bad? Wandy has inherited Jose Lima Syndrome, Carlos Lee has aged more quickly than the bad guy at the end of Last Crusade, and Hunter Pence is hitting worse than supposedly Adam Everett, Jr. (Tommy Manzella). Ouch. Now what?
A photo gallery of the Opening Day Street Festival that was held at Minute Maid Park on Monday, April 5th.
As the Astros continue to prepare for the 2010 major league season, two local municipalities are making their own preparations for baseball. Sugar Land and Montgomery County are both in the process of exploring the idea of bringing minor league baseball to the greater Houston area. So what would this look like, and what would it mean for fans?
In light of the very un-spring-like weather we’ve enjoyed recently, it might come as a surprise that baseball is just around the corner. But in a similarly brisk part of central Florida, the 2010 Astros are taking shape. After a disappointing and often muddle-headed 2009, the team is looking to rebuild and remain respectable at the same time. Let’s take a look at the primary storylines to follow as the team awakens from its winter slumber in Kissimmee.
Like the scene at the end of any "raised it from a baby" animal movie, the time came for the Astros to put Pudge Rodriguez back where he belongs: in a Texas Rangers uniform. With the Rangers leading the AL Wild Card race, and the Astros floundering, plus the Rangers' loss of catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia to the disabled list with an excess of letters, the stars were aligned for a trade sending Pudge back to the city where he made his name.
Let's face it: the Astros' late season mojo isn't probably isn't going to come through. The team has been flirting with .500 like a nervous guy at last call, and will probably watch either the Cards or Cubs go home with their date to the playoffs. But that doesn't mean that you should stop watching and wait for football season to start.
Fortunately for the long-term future of the team, several talented minor league pitchers are ready for a shot at the big leagues. So read on, so that when your friends are just as confused as Milo Hamilton about who's pitching this week, you'll be in the know.
Astros first baseman Lance Berkman belted his13th home run of the season today in the second inning against Kansas City Royals pitcher Brian Bannister to give him 1,001 career RBI.
The Major League Baseball draft is easily the most anticlimactic of all the major sport drafts. The players drafted will take years to develop into major league talent, if they ever make the big club in the first place. You're not going to go out an buy the jersey of your team's draft pick the next day. However, for a club like the Astros, who are in the process of restocking their minor league system, the draft is the first step toward rebuilding a young, healthy team.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Randy Johnson added one more milestone to his future Hall of Fame career by becoming the 24th member of the elite 300 win club.
Tampa Bay Rays outfielder and Jefferson Davis High alumnus Carl Crawford tied a MLB modern-day record by stealing six bases on Sunday.
Houston, today is the greatest day known to man. It's Opening Day!
Opening Day is Monday, and the Astros are almost done whittling down their roster as Spring Training winds down. Following the loss of Aaron Boone to season-ending heart surgery, the 'stros acquired Reds infielder Jeff Keppinger to fill out the right-handed side of their third base platoon (with Geoff Blum). The Geoff-Jeff show isn't going to replace the stellar production that the team got from Ty Wigginton last year, but it won't be a black hole in the lineup, either.
The Houston Astros have signed 14-time All-Star catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez to a one-year, $1.5 million contract.
The boys from Kissimmee-by-way-of-Houston have won a grand spanking total of one game in Spring Training so far, to go along with fourteen losses and two ties. (Yes, there are ties in baseball, apparently) The pitchers are getting lit up, and the bats are odiously silent. Is this what the regular season will be like? Should fans ready the torches and pitchforks?
Texas A & M came back from a 3-0 fourth inning deficit to defeat UH 5-3 in the final game of the Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park Sunday night.
Craig Biggio will be signing copies of his book, The Final Game, tomorrow from 2-4 p.m.at Events (1966 W. Gray) which is located in the River Oaks Shopping Center
It's day two for Houstonist's Mt. Rushmore of Sports and today, Mr. Astro, Craig Biggio joins Earl Campbell.
ESPN did their take last week on the four best athlete's from each state. For Texas, Lance Armstrong, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan and Tom Landry were selected as Texas' Mt. Rushmore.
According to Chicago Tribune writer Phil Rogers, the Houston team is looking "to plan a sneak attack on the Cubs" by trying to sign New Caney, TX native Adam Dunn to a one-year deal.
Mr. T would be proud: now he won't have to save the community center by himself. Drayton McLane and Major League Baseball have put their money where their mouth is, and they're bringing first-class baseball facilities to one of Houston's most neglected neighborhoods.
With one year under his belt, Astros manager Cecil Cooper is ready for the 2009 season to begin. After a rough first half which saw the Astros at 6-12 to start the season, Cooper and his team got hot after the All-Star break to go an best 42-24 while just missing a Wild Card birth by 3.5 games. We can all thank Hurricane Ike and Bud Seling for that.
Houstonist caught up with the Astros skipper at Thursday's Baseball Writers Association of America Awards Dinner to talk baseball.
Coach, with spring training just right around the corner, how exciting is it for you this time of the year?
Well, it's extremely exciting. We want to make a stronger showing than we did a year ago and we think we have a chance to do that. It's pretty exciting to get there (spring training) knowing that I'll pretty much have the same team that I had a year ago and we'll be familiar with each other knowing we can just go out and play baseball.
What was the difference between the first half and second half of last year? It was a rough start, but the team rebounded for a strong second half finish.
Well, I think number one, they got used to our style of doing things. Then I think everybody's role was really determined a little bit better and then I thought the biggest key was that Carlos Lee got hot and Roy Oswalt became the Roy Oswalt that we all know and love.
The interview continues after the jump.
Like a furry rodent prognosticating the weather, a sign of the impending return of spring is upon us. The Astros 2009 schedule kicks off with their Winter Caravan, a goodwill tour that annually precedes Spring Training, with players, coaches and alumni signing autographs for the unwashed masses. The Caravan starts this weekend in the Houston area, and will travel to Austin, San Antonio and (gasp!) Louisiana before everyone heads off to sleepaway camp in Kissimmee.
Like many other businesses around the country, your hometown baseball team is feeling the financial crunch. Two big sponsors (AIG and Bill Heard Dealerships) won't be contributing to the coffers in 2009, leaving owner Drayton McLane unable to raise his payroll going into next season. How to improve the team in these circumstances? That's General Manager Ed Wade's task at the MLB Winter Meetings in Las Vegas this week.
This afternoon Houstonist was parked on at a patio enjoying a tasty burger when we spied Craig Biggio rolling through the drive through. As he pulled forward, we noticed what looked to be a Texas Rangers "T" stuck on the back window of his SUV.