Baseball Historians

It’s bad when all you can say about your team is that they playing to stay out of last place.  And they needed a seven game losing streak by the Pirates just to lose that distinction.  The Astros are also playing to avoid 90 losses, which they can do if they go 6-3 in their […]

With the trade deadline a couple of weeks and the Astros facing a near insurmountable climb to even contend in the division, it’s time to figure out who to build the team around.  While the Astros definitely have some nice parts, there’s also some holes as well and if you could deal a guy like […]

Craig Biggio finally did it and what a game it was.  He went five for six and it was just his second five hit game of his career.  It couldn’t have come at a better time because that third hit was the 3,000 of his career.  That game alone boosted his season batting average from […]

This has kind of been a typical Astros start, at least compared to the last few years.  They get off to a slow start and sort of hang back just on the edge of contention.   Then they storm back in the second half and make a run at the division or the Wild Card.  Last […]

I apologize for the lack of content.  The network had some system wide Wordpress problems that prevented me from posting so I had a couple of weeks off.  In the meantime, the Astros have picked themselves up, won four straight and seven out of eight and they now just sit 4 1/2 games back of […]

I know the Pirates are a bit better, but this is a little ridiculous.  And the Astros were doing so well there for a while and now they’ve lost six straight and the only thing keeping them out of the cellar are the Cubs.  Oy.
Tuesday’s game was probably the worst because the Astros were shutout.  […]

The Astros had a very nice run and with five straight wins, the showed they might contend in the Central this year.  The bad news is, after the five wins, the Astros lost two straight and dropped their three game series with the first place Brewers.  So the Astros are in second place, which is […]

Alright, after the poor start, the Astros are heating up and they’ve done it with four straight wins.  They did it by scoring a bunch of late runs off of a mediocre Reds pen to steal two games.  On Wednesday, the Astros were down most of the game until they scored five in the eighth.  […]

The Astros are getting back on track and they won two more games this week in their sweep over the Marlins to push their record up to an even 6-6.  In the first game, Mark Loretta got it done with two hits, two RBIs and a run while Wandy Rodriguez threw a nice game.  He […]

More nasty weather rolled in and it turned a three game series into a two game series this weekend.  The end result was a split and the Astros once again fell short of hitting the .500 mark.
In Friday’s game, it was all Carlos Lee.  He homered three times and he drove in six runs in the […]

Alright, a little winning streak.  The Astros strolled into Chicago, ruined the Cubs opening day, and proceeded to win another one to put together their first winning streak of the season.  The Astros may be in fifth place, but at least they have a few more wins.
On Monday,  Adam Everett hit a huge two run […]

I guess it could be worse.  The Astros could be 0-6 and they did win a game.  Anyway, the Astros sit at the very bottom of the NL Central with a 1-5 record.  They’re not hitting the ball and their pitching has been spotty.  Hopefully they’ll turn it around quick before they dig themselves a […]

I’m not getting a good feeling here.  I know it’s early, but these are the Pirates.  Jason Jennings put together a decent start but once again, the bats couldn’t get things going and the pen couldn’t hold the lead.
Speaking of Jennings, he gave up a single run on five hits and a walk with seven […]

The Astros took a 2-0 lead into the eighth inning and Roy Oswalt looked fairly dominating.  Then he gave up a solo shot and the wheels fell off the wagon as the Pirates proceeded to homer in each of the final three innings of the game.  The end result was a 4-2 loss in ten innings.
Oswalt […]

Lisa Grey previewed the Astros at the Hardball Times today.  In the column, she asks and answers five questions that talk about everything from the starting rotation to what effect Craig Biggio’s quest for his 3,000 hit will have on the team.  She even throws in a bonus question on Roger Clemens.

MiLB.com takes a look at the Astros spring training season with a slant towards the minor leagues today.  Their big question is when Hunter Pence will join the team and there’s a Q&A with Beau Torbert.  The column closes with some general comments that the Astros system isn’t as deep as it once was but […]

ESPN.com’s Buster Olney posted an interview with Astros’ closer Brad Lidge today.  They talk about closers entrance music and how Brad Lidge picked up the number 54.  It’s a pretty casual Q&A but it’s interesting to get the know the guy behind the mitt.

This is only temporary, but Hunter Pence was sent down to the minors yesterday and he’ll report to the Astros Triple A affiliate in Round Rock when the season kicks off.  He was having a great spring but Phil Garner just must have thought there wasn’t room for him in Houston and that he’ll get […]

Beyond the Boxscore previewed the Astros today and the prognosis isn’t good.  The question marks in in the rotation are troubling and while they do seem to think the Carlos Lee signing will help, they fall short of predicting a playoff appearance for the team.  This is a nice look at the team though.  They […]

Will Carroll took on the task of examining what the Astros need to do to win the World Series, and he does it in tragedy form. Interesting read.

In a great article at Baseball Prospectus, Joe Sheehan talks about how Craig Biggio’s quest for his 3,000 hit could potentially hurt the team because he’s not the best option at second base.  Chris Burke is.  He discusses the Astros projected lineup and then goes into what the lineup would be based on who’s projected […]

John Sickels recently threw up his projections on what he thinks Chris Burke might do with his career.  2007 looks like it could be the best year of his career based on this and I could live with that.

The Astros got some timely homeruns from two of their big bats today and Roy Oswalt pitched through a rough few innings as the Astros picked up the win. Craig Biggio hit a solo homerun and he scored twice and Morgan Ensberg had a huge three run shot sixth inning that ended up being the […]

The Astros were beat up today by the defending AL champs, the Detroit Tigers and some of their better pitchers took it on the chin.  Roy Oswalt was hardly sharp and he gave up three runs while Brad Lidge and Scott Sauerbeck were both drilled for four.  Journeyman Rick White did throw two shutout innings […]

This is a great story on Craig Biggio and how he’s coming up on the 3,000 hit mark.  The gist of the story is that Biggio is a grinder.  Good stuff.

There’s no doubt that Roy Oswalt is the team’s ace.  With Andy Pettite and Roger Clemens gone (at least for now in Clemens case), the number two spot in the rotation will fall on Jason Jennings shoulder.  Jennings was brought over from the Rockies in a trade for Willie Taveras and pitching prospects Taylor Buchholz […]

Do the Astros have what it takes to compete in 2007?  NBCsports.com recently takes a look at this question in their Astros preseason preview.  I’m a little pessimistic because I think teams like the Cubs and Brewers are close to breaking out and the Cardinals will be right there as well.  Adding Carlos Lee is […]

Hunter Pence tops Baseball America’s list of top ten Astros prospects.  Pence had a great season at Double A and he was on his way to a great season in the Arizona Fall League before his legal difficulties hit.  There’s room for Pence on the big league club so if he doesn’t start 2007 with […]

This is the kind of thing you like to see.  Brad Lidge had a rough year last season and by year end he had been given a break from his closer duties.  It seems Nolan Ryan specifically asked to work with Lidge at his Elite Pitchers Camp, which is normally for minor league pitchers in […]

Having a good catcher is pretty important.  Whether you buy into whether a catcher can influence the game through how he works with pitchers or not, having a solid backstop is usually something you find on the elite teams.  Fortunately for the Astros, they have several young catchers who all have the potential to become […]